In July 2024, INCCA-AP organized a Café about the role of the conservator in the acquisition process. The event consisted of four presentations of 10 minutes each followed by a Q&A session at the end. We had 82 participants joining for this Café.
The Café started with a talk by Kim Hwanju (Conservator, Daejeon Museum of Art, Korea) focusing on different issues surrounding conservation and artwork management in the acquisition process of different national and public art museums of Korea. This includes the review of regulations, standards and scope of conservation assessments required during the acquisition process to facilitate institutional mechanisms and overcome challenges faced by the museum team, its collection registrars and conservators.
Then, Mar Cruz (Digital and Time-Based Media Conservator, Heritage Conservation Centre, Singapore), introduced the newly established workflow and protocols designed for supporting the specific requirements of Time-Based Media Art and presented a case study, Tan Zi Hao’s The Mercurial Inscription, for demonstration. The changes presented include the adoption of specific terminology, the creation of new forms of documentation, the addition and evolution of various workflows for care, preservation and display and a rethink of how and when conservators should be involved in the overall process.
Lisa Mansfield (acting Senior Time-Based Art Conservator, Art Gallery New South Wales, Australia) presented A concave space (2023) by UK-based Australian filmmaker and artist Sam Smith, a complex installation recently acquired by AGNSW as both a site-specific three channel installation and as a single channel work. The display and ongoing preservation of this work highlighted the need of collaboration of different expertise from multiple teams including TBA Conservation, AV Exhibitions, ICT, Lighting and Digital Preservation. Lastly, they highlighted the recently updated preservation specifications for collecting bespoke synchronised lighting.
Jihyun Choi (Modern and Contemporary Art Conservator, Leeum Museum of Art, Korea) presented the case study of Kim Beom’s Patient series, part of the collection of the Leeum Museum of Art for over two decades and particularly ‘Patient #403’, a work of art that had been inoperable for an extended period of time. Supported by the artist, who participated in every stage of the exhibition process, eventual acquisition and series of interviews, the team was able to identify key elements of the piece that needed to be preserved and rebuild its documentation while developing strategies to maintain its experience and effectiveness when exhibited. This Café showed how the role of the conservator in this context can be more broadly defined than merely ensuring the preservation of the work while working together with artists and collections researchers.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Café! It was undoubtedly a great occasion for connection and discussion.
Find the speakers bio here.