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Description
When thinking about artworks and artefacts, conservation provides an extensively rich area of study of their modes of conception, creation, dissemination, display and perpetuation. This is due to the premise that in order to engage with an artwork, conservation first and foremost seeks to understand what the work is and how it functions within and beyond its historic moment. Outsiders often refer to conservation as a homogenous field of activity that aims at prolonging the cultural objects' lives into the future. But there are, in fact, different conservations that operate with respect to diverse theories, types of artefacts, institutional settings, historic contexts, and the cultures that produce them. During this module, we will sketch a picture of conservation that always exists between a set of dichotomies of hands and minds, practice and theory, the tangible and the intangible, and the traditional and the new. By putting today's conservation into an historical perspective, we will examine how more recent conservation became of necessity a reflective, critical practice. Visits to museums and sites of conservation, and special tasks will enrich classroom discussions.
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Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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