Thinking Conservator

This site is a collaborative project between participants in the 2019 and 2016 course "Critical Issues in Art Conservation" at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, and the 2015 graduate students at the Center for Curating the Archive, University of Cape Town, South Africa

[thinkingconservator]

Thanks to everyone who came on the journey with our class “Critical Issues in Art Conservation” over these past five months. We now close this account until the next time the course is taught, with new seekers on the path. With much gratitude and good wishes to you all on your onward journeys. With thanks to the Piscataway people who have cared for this land before us, and continue to guide us. #artconservation #piscataway #voyage (at Baltimore, Maryland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxxNM3fAXzc/?igshid=1007jx8qhl2db

[thinkingconservator]

Due to the history of the Notre Dame Cathedral, restoring it after the recent fire is actually not very simple. The building itself is mostly a 19th century restoration, and the organ has a long history of not being restored but rather being replaced through time. So should we restore the cathedral and if so, what approach should we take? - Mateo A Image: Rolling Stone — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2HlXBfR

[thinkingconservator]

For my final project, I wanted to take a more practical approach to addressing the issue In creating the issue of conservation’s accessibility to the public. So I came up with the proposal for a tour of the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum. In coming up with the concept for this tour, I had a few goals. The first was to understand the importance for the public to engage with conservation and issues of conservation, especially in a museum space. I also aimed to understand why layering a new narrative over an already existing museum space was the best method to do this. Lastly, I wanted to determine how will this change public perceptions of objects, conservation, and museums. #artconservation #museums #museumeducation Image: JHUAM website — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2EckuAB

[thinkingconservator]

My final paper looks at 19th century conservation practices which restored artifacts to a near pristine condition. This image shows the Ceglie Vases which were conserved by Gargiulo in the 1820’s. His work went so far as to paint in whole scenes that were missing and he did whatever possible to disguise his conservation interventions. I argue that this work is just as much a part of the history of the vases and should be remembered as such. — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2WKBl4B

[thinkingconservator]

My final paper looks at how museums, as educational institutions held in the public trust that see conservation as part of their mission, need to make conservation accessible to their visitors. One way to accomplish this is by providing placards, like the one seen on the right, that let visitors know what parts of the object they are viewing are not original. The image on the left shows what the object looks like de-restored, but the middle picture is how Leda and the Swan appears on display at the Getty. Without such a placard, museum visitors would be unaware of the extensive work that has been done on the object. The public has a right to and desire for information about conservation. SH — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2E9WON8

[thinkingconservator]

My final paper looks at the Earth and it’s natural landscapes as something we should consider to be a cultural heritage. I look at photography as a way we can preserve both the memory of evolving landscapes as well as inspire change for the future. Most people are too far removed to see the effects we have on the environment. I look at how we can reconnect people to the environment through “visual voices” and push for positive lifestyle changes. JRP — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2WKBjK1

[thinkingconservator]

Jason De Leon shows the connection between the debris left by immigrants to their individual experience of surviving in the desert. How can we reconstruct individual experience without generalizing the communal experience of immigration using ‘’trash”?#conservation — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2L8jt2v

[thinkingconservator]

How do we” save structures for future generations in order to allow them to better interpret our experiences” without typologyzing pr turning past trauma into spectacle? #conservation — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2UKPBbH

[thinkingconservator]

The Manhattan Project National Historic Site is not just one location, but multiple sites that tell the “story about the people, events, science, and engineering that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, which helped end World War II” (NPS.gov). When we are thinking about conservation or preservation, we often think of a single object or site. How can we preserve with the idea of objects and sites in relation to others in mind? How can we create contexts that span multiple spaces? #historicpreservation #artconservation #nps Image credit: Peter Reinold — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2ITEYB8

[thinkingconservator]

“This canyon is their world. A brief moment of time in which they create an understanding that is embedded in the existence of experienced... All the while the people continue on in their journeys, building upon knowledge of previous ancestors, each generation adding their own energies to a collective knowledge as they face an uncertain future.” Lyle Balenquah — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2IKdGOy

[thinkingconservator]

The B Reactor Museum preserves the memory of “what humans can do if pushed to the limit,” as cited in Paul Williams article about the preservation of the world’s first nuclear reactor. How should we preserve something in a way that does not convey glory? How should we understand this museum as a place to “contemplate war” rather than a tribute to the technology? — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2ISvG8G

[thinkingconservator]

Christopher Swift saved the material making up part of the fence from the apartheid prison on Robbin Island. Much of this fence has been exhibited or sold off as art for profit. Should pieces of such a painful and important past be available for sale? Does the dispersal of the fence memorialize the horrors of apartheid or does it commercialize it? Who owned the fence once it was removed to be thrown away? — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2IHY5ij

[thinkingconservator]

“This understanding provides a continual connection between modern Hopi people and their forebears. This connection is contained within landscapes, where Hopi ancestors interacted with their natural environments, leaving a legacy behind that their descendants must now strive to continue.” - Lyle Balenquah. How do we honor this connection? How can we preserve this connection and work to protect sacred locations or is this even possible? #conservation — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2W5UGNu

[thinkingconservator]

“My approach to use wear seeks to show the intimate connection between people and objects and how those connections leave traces. When analyzed, these traces can open up new understandings of crossing techniques and migrant ways of being in the desert.” - Jason De León. It is interesting to consider how the wear and tear on objects tells a greater story beyond its individual use. The evidence left behind can teach us about patterns, and ways migrants interact with each other. This opens up so many possibilities if we take this concept beyond the topic of present day migration. This reminds us to be even more careful when it comes to handling and restoring artifacts. #immigration #conservation #sonorandesert #arizona — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2DBf41A

[thinkingconservator]

“Ruins make us think of the past that could have been and the future that never took place, tantalizing us with utopian dreams of escaping the irreversibility of time” (Svetlana Boym in Duane Jethro, “Liberated Waste,” 2018) The recent scholarly interest in ruin, particularly in a non-physical sense, can help us to think about the way sites of trauma and ruin can be used to heal, remember, and learn, like the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg. How can reworking spaces such as this be put to different uses and be valued for their history/heritage at the same time? #artconservation #museums #culturalheritage #heritagepreservation — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2GB7TY9

[thinkingconservator]

After the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the RIACT group (Robben Island Art Company and Trust) turned the fence of the Robben Island Penitentiary into upscale jewelry for sale. While RIACT argued that it was symbolizing the liberation of Robben Island and helping the community through job creation, should we understand this commodification and rebranding as ethical? Is it authentic? — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Px8Pkj

[thinkingconservator]

“The humble objects that are systematically selected, used, and discarded by migrants in the desert tell us a great deal about people’s perceptions and attitudes towards the process of border crossing as well as how they physically experience it...The material culture of desert border crossing reflects a migration-specific habitus that includes people’s dispositions towards how to avoid Border Patrol, how to survive the desert, how to act once they encounter agents and what types of physical suffering they should expect.” —De León, on the material culture of undocumented migrants #materialculture #migration — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2Pu9tPu