Symposium on conservation of synthetic materials

Symposium on conservation of synthetic materials
Vitra Design Museum
Weil am Rhein
March 25-26, 2003

The diversity of synthetics in industrial furniture production:
Since the 1960s, synthetic materials have become increasingly common
in interior furnishings. The utilization of plastics and other
synthetics in the production of furniture and household objects and
the associated new technical possibilities allowed the creation of
forms that would have been inconceivable with standard materials
like wood.

Those employing synthetics at the time had not yet accumulated
empirical experience on the durability of the new materials. Decades
later, however, we now see the emergence of problems related to the
aging process for which new solutions have to be found.

At the outset, the production of synthetic objects was not primarily
concerned with long use and durability. The task facing museums and
collectors today, however, is the preservation of these documents of
technical and design-related developments. The need for action is
acute, for often there is a lack of suitable conservation measures
able to halt the changes in the different synthetic materials caused
by their particular composition or external influences. To date,
procedures for restoration, conservation and abatement of the
incipient processes of materials change are at best rudimentary and
often non-existent.

The goal of the collaboration between AXA Art and the Vitra Design
Museum is the development and application of new techniques for
conservation and restoration of synthetic objects. Created within
the framework of the project, the conservation lab at the Vitra
Design Museum in Weil am Rhein offers the opportunity to develop and
document new conservation methods and processes as well as the
chance to carry out treatments.

The symposium on March 25-26 will examine the following questions:
Which synthetics are used, what characteristics do they exhibit and,
most importantly, what conservation and restoration processes have
been established and in which areas do new techniques have to be
found.

The participation fee for daily symposium materials, 2x lunch,
refreshments and documentation comes to 75 euros.

Information and registration:

    Vitra Design Museum
    Alexa Tepen
    alexa.tepen [at] design-museum__de
    +49 7621 702 3153

Kathrin Kessler
Conservator
AXA Art Conservation Project in Cooperation
    with the Vitra Design Museum
Vitra Design Stiftung gGmbH,
Charles-Eames-Strasse 1
79576 Weil am Rhein,
Germany
+49 7621 702 3182
Fax: +49 7621 702 4182


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:52
                 Distributed: Wednesday, March 12, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-52-007
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