Call for papers--Performing Documentation in the Conservation of Contemporary Art

Call for Papers

Performing Documentation in the Conservation of Contemporary Art
20--21 June, 2013
Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian
Lisboa, Portugal

Contemporary art conservation requires a re-assessment of the
distinction between the work and its re-configuration in
documentation. Although documentation is crucial for the survival of
many contemporary works of art, it is never neutral: all approaches,
formats, media and systems have their own inherent affordances and
blind spots and always transform what they document. Furthermore, in
process-centered, technology--based or performative artworks in
particular, we often can no longer make a sharp distinction between
an original work and its subsequent documentation or replication:
documentation is part of the work's very core. On the other hand,
even the most meticulously documented works will need to be
re-installed or re-performed regularly in order to survive, because
otherwise important tacit know-how will get lost. The role of the
artist in this process is central, but contested: what if s/he
changes her mind, loses interest or is no longer available? And what
if the authorship of the work is distributed over several actors?
Also, the role of the conservator has taken new dimensions:
conservation responsibilities and tasks are now distributed over a
diversity of agents.

Presentations and discussions will evaluate existing documentation
techniques and approaches with regard to these fundamental questions
and assess their benefits and limitations. Also, the role that less
obvious approaches, agents and areas of knowledge can
play--especially in the process of documenting process-centered,
technology-based and performative works of art--will be strong
topics under examination and debate. We encourage proposals that
discuss one or more of the following topics in connection with the
above mentioned types of artworks:

    Oral testimony in documentation of tangible and intangible
    elements in contemporary art;

    The role of social sciences and humanities in documentation of
    contemporary art;

    Documentation in conservation practice;

    The changing role of archives in documentation of contemporary
    art;

Dissemination of documentation practices: the role of museums,
interaction with the public and the use of media technologies.
Authors interested in presenting a paper are invited to submit an
abstract of up to 500 words by 15 January 2013 to
performingdocumentation<-at->gmail<.>com. The work must be original and not
previously published. Contributions should be in English and include
the contact information for the author(s) (affiliation, address,
telephone and e-mail). You will be notified whether or not your
paper has been selected by 28 February 2013. Selected authors will
be required to submit a draft of 4000 words by 21 May 2013 for
review and future publication after the conference. Performing
Documentation in the Conservation of Contemporary Art is jointly
organized by the research project Documentation of Contemporary Art
and the Network for Conservation of Contemporary Art Research
(NeCCAR).

Documentation of Contemporary Art is a research project developed by
researchers of Instituto de Historia da Arte (IHA) and funded by
Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT). Partners are
Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de
Lisboa; Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade do Porto; Fundacao de
Serralves; Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian; Fundacao Caixa Geral de
Depositos - Culturgest; Museo Estremeno Iberoamericano de Arte
Contemporaneo (MEIAC).

NeCCAR is an international collaborative network of researchers and
conservation professionals based at the Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences and funded by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific
Research (NWO). Partners are Maastricht University; Faculty of
Humanities, University of Amsterdam; Museo del Novecento, Milan;
Triennale Design Museum of Milan; Pisa University; Universita degli
Studi della Tuscia di Viterbo; Instituto de Historia da Arte (IHA),
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade
do Porto; Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences; Royal Academy
of Arts London; School of Culture and Creative Arts (SCCA),
University of Glasgow, and Tate. <URL:http://www.tate.org.uk/NeCCAR>


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:23
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 31, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-23-002
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