In an effort to reconsider the pejorative character of the word “damage,” sometimes “doing it wrong” makes it “come out right,” Scheidemann remarked, referring to the work of Ryan Sullivan. The conservator’s role is represented by the arc that spans the life of the artwork-and Scheidemann made the important point that artworks most often come to the studio during a change of ownership. The arrow of time runs through this life, as the object accumulates history-“contemporary” definition notwithstanding. Scheidemann presented a diagram illustrating the “life of the artwork,” from the object’s initial creation through its often transitory life: traveling with art handlers, being displayed at gallery exhibitions, being bought by collectors or by museum collections.

The curator of the symposium and its first speaker, Christian Scheidemann introduced the day’s themes as well as some key issues arising from Contemporary Conservation’s experience in the studio. It represents the point where art is conceived, made and its trajectory begun and in some cases during its life, destined to find itself in a conservation studio.Ĭhristian Scheidemann – The New Role of the Conservator Furthermore, as a symposium that addresses the “life of an artwork”- as Christian Scheidemann would describe next-it is apt that the event be hosted by School of Visual Arts. Nesin pointed out two aspects of this symposium that make it unique and constructive: the interpellation of value in the discussion of contemporary art conservation and the curatorial perspective of a private practice studio.

The second was about Robert Rauschenberg, his cardboard constructions in the early 1970s, and his response to an incredulous collector who said, “I’m supposed to invest in that?!” –according to Nesin, Rauschenberg replied, “How much did you pay for your car? How long do you expect it to last?” One was about Willem de Kooning achieving that “gloopy” surface of his paintings with mayonnaise in the 1950s: an unusual and highly perishable addition to Art, perhaps the beginning of a new world of conservation problems that now range from the chemical and biological to the digital. In his opening remarks, Jeff Nesin, Provost of School of Visual Arts, recounted two historical anecdotes that could serve as the origin myth of the contemporary issues that compelled this symposium.

Presentation assistant crack