Conference Day 3 – PM
Conserving contemporary artworks that may challenge the very notion of art and its materiality, has seen the practice and profession of conservation expand to webs of relationships and infrastructures that have direct impact on the Planet. This conference asks questions about the sustainability of those practices and networks of care. SUSTAINING ART sees conservators, artists, curators, technicians, collectors, researchers and more, coming together to challenge assumptions, examine practices, and imagine equitable futures. Through experience pieces, research talks, panel discussions, workshops, and short films the sustainability of people, practices, and the planet will be pursued in relation to the conservation of contemporary art.
Dr Maja and Dr Reuben Fowkes
Planetarity on the Brink: Responsive Practices for a Climate Disaster
The Climate Emergency, declared three years ago by thousands of cities, states and museums, is now tipping inexorably towards disaster, as the IPCC warns that it’s “now or never” to cut carbon
emissions and avert a catastrophic ecological breakdown. Climate uncertainties are multiplying as heatwaves and droughts trigger further crises, worsening crop failures and deepening poverty, while scientists are joining activists in non-violent direct action to demand systemic change, amplifying calls for a planetary turn towards ecological practices.
As the future of biological life on the planet hangs in the balance, how are artists responding, in what ways is the climate crisis
transforming curatorial practices and the structures of the artworld, and what questions does it pose for contemporary art conservation? These issues will be addressed with reference to the exhibition Colliding Epistemes, which explored the ways in which the ecological predicaments of the Anthropocene are reshaping knowledge production to overcome the divide between natural sciences and the humanities, bringing scientific and artistic methodologies into productive friction to address the intractable problems unleashed by climate change.
How might thousands of years of vegetal decomposition in boglands might be preserved in a drawing by using ink made from its gaseous excretions? What kind of environmental conservation is possible in a world of micro pollution and hybrid natures, and how might the preservation of fragments of marine plastic in artefacts articulate the fractured temporalities of the Anthropocene? And to what extent is the rationale of contemporary art conservation challenged by art practices that problematise the longevity of modern materials, the limitations of technologies of preservation and the sustainability of museological infrastructures in an age of climate breakdown?
About Dr Maja Fowkes and Dr Reuben Fowkes
Dr Maja Fowkes and Dr Reuben Fowkes are art historians, curators and directors of the Postsocialist Art Centre (PACT) at the Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL. They are the authors of
Art and Climate Change (Thames & Hudson, 2022) and curators of ‘Potential Agrarianisms’ at Kunsthalle Bratislava (2021) and ‘Colliding Epistemes’ at Bozar Brussels (2022). www.translocal.org
Caitlin Southwick
About
Caitlin is the Founder and Executive Director of Ki Culture. She holds a Professional Doctorate in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam. Caitlin has worked in the conservation field and in museums around the world, including the Vatican Museums, The Getty Conservation Institute, and Easter Island. She was a professional member of the American Institute of Conservations Sustainability Committee and is the Secretary of the Working Group on Sustainability for the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
Kim Kraczon
Role of the conservator as mediator in the dialog surrounding sustainable packaging materials
Over the past few years, we as practitioners in cultural heritage have experienced a heightened sense of urgency to reduce the volume of single-use, synthetic packaging materials in the
transport of contemporary art. These materials, while tried and tested for the safe transport of artworks, are petrochemical -derived plastics with large carbon footprints, resistance to biological decomposition, and few recycling options at their end-of-life scenario. Alternative packaging materials manufactured with naturally-derived, renewable resources, however, are not only questionable from a conservation standpoint but also in their suitability to protect artworks in
transit.
The Gallery Climate Coalition, an international charitable organization with the goal of facilitating the decarbonization of the visual art sector and promoting zero-waste practices, formed the Packaging and Materials Research Committee in 2021 to address the issues and challenges in sustainable art transport. The committee, comprising art handlers, technicians, registrars, and conservators, aims to provide best practices in packing artworks through collaborative research and field testing. Kim Kraczon, lead of the Gallery Climate Coalition’s Packaging and Material Research Committee, will provide an overview of the committee’s ongoing projects as well as outline the role of the conservator as the mediator among stakeholders and practitioners in the dialog surrounding sustainable packaging materials.
About Kim Kraczon
Kim Kraczon is a conservator of modern materials and contemporary art specializing in sustainable practices in the art sector. Kraczon is the Director of Materials at Ki Culture, lead in
the Gallery Climate Coalition’s Packaging and Materials Research Committee, and one of the founding members of the Gallery Climate Coalition Berlin branch. She holds a BA in History from
University of Massachusetts and a BA in the Conservation of Modern Materials and Technical Cultural Heritage from the University of Applied Sciences Berlin and is currently pursuing her
Master’s in the Conservation of Contemporary Art at the University of Amsterdam with a focus on plastics, time-based media, and sustainable materials in contemporary art. Her previous professional experience includes resident conservator at Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, where she developed sustainable strategies for production and packing materials, and working with
museums and independent conservators in Germany.
Marta Palmeira
Sharing as a way to reduce waste – The importance of second-hand goods
Since the beginning of our company 14 years ago, we have considered reducing our consumption of goods. Although, at that time, our primary purpose was to save money because we were all young and recent graduates, so much furniture we still have in our studio was mended after receiving it from friends who discarded it, some materials were ours from high school and college, and some were purchased second-hand or reused from renovations we took part in.
We grew up, became more aware, and became mothers, and our concerns changed. We want a better planet for our children and everyone else. So in our daily practice, we try to reduce the
amount of waste as much as possible; we use fewer solvents and more gels or other aqueous treatments; we reuse materials till exhaustion, we repair our equipment, but it is never enough.
So we thought of creating a platform – @2021_circular to unite the art professionals, not only conservators but also artists, craftsmen, art handlers, designers, framers, to share our materials, the ones we do not need anymore, the spare ones, the manufacturing residues, the “waste” of ones, that could be the raw material for others. The main goal is to reduce or even eliminate waste in the art world, but there are other benefits; who gives/sells their goods gets rid of uninteresting stock, who receives/buys does it at much lower prices, democratizing access to these materials, the network grows, and exciting projects can arise for both stakeholders.
About Marta Palmeira
Marta Palmeira graduated in paintings conservation; is co-founder of 20|21 Conservação e Restauro since 2008, a company based in Porto with advanced expertise in all the life cycle of art,
from creation, to storage, transportation, exhibition and the restoration of modern and contemporary artworks in Portugal and abroad. Responsible for the organization of the 20/21 Masterclasses, bringing specialists from all over the world to teach the most advanced techniques to conservators. Also responsible for the co-talks, “Conservation Talks” during the
pandemic that gathered conservators and friends to share their knowledge, stories and answered to some questions. Marta is also the enthusiast behind 20|21 Circular, an online community,
through social media, that has the main goal to reduce waste in the conservation and arts world. Mother of two, urban-cycling advocate and a more respectful society
.