Monday, June 7 and Friday, June 11 at 12-2pm Eastern Time
Instructors: Louise Lawson, Helia Marcal

This workshop will draw on the practice of conservation developed at Tate to explore the material possibilities afforded by the care of performance art. Instructors will focus on their documentation processes to reflect on how the situatedness of the museum frames the documentation that is produced and the purposes of said documents. Participants will participate in exercises of re-situating practices, where forms of data collection and analysis will be framed through case-studies and discussion, using key tools developed, as well as how to adapt these tools and develop bespoke strategies for their own institutions.

Documenting performance art seems to be a conundrum that is particularly hard to resolve. Tate started to collect this form of artistic practice in 2005 and has since acquired over 25 performance artworks that range from simple instruction-based works to performances that depend on bodily and material engagements that are hard to understand and even harder to capture. With the aim of safeguarding a whole collection to generations to come, the museum’s structure is keen to create categories and other processes of standardization. However, performance art often challenges those standards and categories. What are the affordances of the museum to the documentation of performance art? And how can we re-situate museum practices to accommodate non-conforming bodies of practice?  This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the challenges that performance art poses to conservation professionals and recognize how performance art plays with notions of care, authenticity, sameness, and transformation.

Louise Lawson,

Hélia Marçal,

Monday, June 7 and Friday, June 11 at 12-2pm Eastern Time
Instructors: Louise Lawson, Helia Marcal

This workshop will draw on the practice of conservation developed at Tate to explore the material possibilities afforded by the care of performance art. Instructors will focus on their documentation processes to reflect on how the situatedness of the museum frames the documentation that is produced and the purposes of said documents. Participants will participate in exercises of re-situating practices, where forms of data collection and analysis will be framed through case-studies and discussion, using key tools developed, as well as how to adapt these tools and develop bespoke strategies for their own institutions.

Documenting performance art seems to be a conundrum that is particularly hard to resolve. Tate started to collect this form of artistic practice in 2005 and has since acquired over 25 performance artworks that range from simple instruction-based works to performances that depend on bodily and material engagements that are hard to understand and even harder to capture. With the aim of safeguarding a whole collection to generations to come, the museum’s structure is keen to create categories and other processes of standardization. However, performance art often challenges those standards and categories. What are the affordances of the museum to the documentation of performance art? And how can we re-situate museum practices to accommodate non-conforming bodies of practice?  This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the challenges that performance art poses to conservation professionals and recognize how performance art plays with notions of care, authenticity, sameness, and transformation.

Louise Lawson,

Hélia Marçal,

Exhibitor Showcase

Visit our Exhibitor Showcase Schedule to see who will be presenting.

Presentations in This Session

• How to Cure a Headache: A Collaborative Approach to Unfreezing the Motion of Claes Oldenburg’s Ice Bag
  Céline Chrétien
• Exhibitor Experience: BMS CAT
• I See What I See: Identification of Gas Composition of “Neon” Light Units in Artworks
  Taylor Healy
• Problem d5-Solved! Removing Adhered and Imbedded Tissue Paper from the Entire Surface of an Oversized, Heavily Impasto, and Topographical Contemporary Acrylic Painting Using the Modular Cleaning Program
  Elise Yvonne Rousseau

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View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems...

Presentations in This Session

• Spaces That Evolve and the Artist’s Intent: Integrity in Public Art Conservation
  Ruth del Fresno-Guillem and Rita Amor
• Exhibitor Experience: Onset
• Adapting for the Long Term: The Realization of Robert Gober’s Untitled, 1992 as a Lasting Installation
  Samantha Owens and Austin Anderson
• Phantom Thread: Research and Preparation for the Care of a Delicate Silk and Metal Sculpture by Doris Salcedo
  Megan Salas

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems...

Presentations in This Session

• Collecting in the Shadow of the State: Acquiring performance at IMMA and institutions of care in the Irish context
  Brian Castriota
• Exhibitor Experience: Picturae
• Building Preventative Conservation & Documentation into a Private Digital Art Collection
  Kate Weinstein
• Divergent Conservation: Cultural Sector Opportunities and Challenges Relating to the Development of Time-Based Art Conservation in Australasia
  Asti Sherring

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems...

An opportunity to enjoy a beverage of choice and meet up with colleagues across the world.

Presentations in This Session

• In Search of Sustainable Care for Digital Art: Establishing Networks, Enhancing Collaboration and Shifting from Ownership to Commons
  Panel with Annet Dekker, Marina Valle Noronha, and Aga Wielocha
• Exhibitor Experience: Gaylord Archival

View Abstract and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems...

Presentations in This Session

• Sine Waves, Sounds and Sensations
  Agathe Jarczyk and Sophie Bunz
• Exhibitor Experience
• The Installation and Long-Term Preservation of Alex Da Corte’s Rubber Pencil Devil at the Dallas Museum of Art
  Elena Torok
• Why Ask a 60 Year Old to Run a Daily Marathon? the Conundrum of Documenting and Displaying Kinetic Art by Jean Tinguely
  Jane Gillies

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems/AIC/AIC2021/MyProgrammes#Entry.ItemPage.12317.0.EntryDefinition.da80d6bd-1d48-43b5-9694-97166eaef84d

To access this program, you must receive a confirmation email from the Getty Conservation Institute and use that link to access the session. You won’t be able to access the session through this meeting portal.

How have recent advances in scientific technologies impacted your work?  Are you able to look at things in new ways and uncover new types of information?  Are you overwhelmed with data?  The development of portable and seemingly easy to operate instruments (e.g., handheld XRF spectrometers, new imaging technologies) has led to a rise in the amount of scientific analysis being done for technical studies and conservation treatments.  As technology is poised to play an ever-expanding role in our work – from gathering data, to new algorithms for extracting information, to new methods of communication (think virtual!) - and offer many benefits, we need to make sure we are using them wisely, utilizing the right tool(s) to answer the right questions, and balancing the role technology plays in how we approach understanding, conserving and describing cultural heritage with other approaches.  Join Karen and Lynn for a conversation about how advances in scientific instrumentation, and XRF spectrometers in particular, are transforming how scientists, conservators and curators work together.  

What is the Virtual Lounge?

Join a Getty Conservation Institute host for a coffee break or happy hour (depending on your time zone) in the Virtual Lounge, every Wednesday during the conference for an informal conversation focused on a different theme.  There will be a limited number of participants so that everyone will have a chance to engage in a relaxed environment and meet some new colleagues. 

Registration and additional information about this week's topic: https://getty.zoom.us/meeting/...

6 -7:30 PM  - Journey around the world to view outstanding collections without leaving your Living Room.

6 -6:30 PM - Books and Plants: Dr. George Engelmann and the Origins of the Missouri Botanical Garden

Peter H Raven Library, Missouri Botanical Garden

The collections of the Missouri Botanical Garden are encyclopedia in scope. It is impossible to encompass them in their entirety in a brief tour, so we have decided to introduce you to MOBOT’s collections through the life of the person most responsible for their existence—an immigrant to the United States named George Engelmann.

Born in Germany in 1809, Dr. George Engelmann immigrated to the United States in 1832 after receiving his M. D., joining family members in St. Clair County, Illinois. He established a medical practice in nearby St. Louis in 1835 and devoted considerable time to botany and other scientific and cultural activities.

Moderator: Laura Eklund

Tour Leader: Susie Cobbledick

 6:30 - 7:00 PM - An Ongoing Transformation of Storage at the University of Wisconsin Geology Museum

University of Wisconsin Geology Museum

The University of Wisconsin Geology Museum is in the process of transforming the storage of its geological and paleontological collections to create a new collections facility that (1) improves the long-term preservation of the permanent collection; (2) increases collection security while also providing improved access for researchers, museum staff and students; (3) decompresses the collection, further protecting specimens; (4) builds more storage capacity, which is essential for accommodating future growth; and (5) provide storage space to facilitate the rotation of objects on exhibit. 

Over the course of an 18-month period, project activities include the relocation of roughly 7,200 geological and paleontological specimens, installation of the new compactor shelving, and the rehousing of museum specimens in the new museum-quality drawers and sshelves. During this project we have been collecting data on the number of specimens relocated and rehoused (and the time it takes to do so), the number of permanent staff, student, and volunteer hours needed to complete the project, and the accuracy of our moving inventory as a tracking tool.

Whereas our exhibits and educational programs are highly visible to our university community and the general public, our collections and the work that goes into their care and management are less so. This storage expansion and specimen rehousing project are providing us with a great opportunity to showcase the essential museum work that is done behind the scenes and educate faculty, students, and the general public about the importance of collections care and preservation. This project also helps us train the next generation of museum specialists by converting a makeshift repository into a professional one. As a museum in a university setting, it is crucial for the UWGM to be an ambassador of best curatorial practices and to share those ethics and ideals with the museum professionals of the future.

Moderator: Laura Eklund

Tour Leader: Carrie Eaton

7 -7:30 PM  - Pivoting in a Pandemic: The World Ethnology Collections Move at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

In June 2020, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science received a $150,000 National Endowment for the Humanities CARES grant to partially support salaries for 10 staff to document, move, and rehouse 3200 objects from the African and Central and South American collections into the Avenir Collections Center. This collection had particular needs in that it was the least researched and understood subcollection in the Anthropology department, so we knew we would encounter unknowns and surprises. The project scope also included data cleanup and improving intellectual control of the collection. This grant created a unique opportunity for the humanities staff at DMNS to focus on a shared, single goal. How do you decide what to focus on and prioritize in six months? What did we learn? This presentation will cover: adapting the rehousing process with limited staff on-site in a pandemic; a detailed breakdown of each 5-day move cycle; conservation assessments, photography, and data cleanup; collections research by curators; before and after photos; and takeaways, lessons, and future directions.

Moderator: Laura Eklund

Tour Leader: Dominique Alhambra

Presentations in This Session

• New Art and New Ways of Institutional Collecting: From Possession to Partnership
  Aga Wielocha
• How to Lose Control and Learn to like It (the Story of Planetary)
  Jessica Walthew and Ben Fino-Radin
• Trust and Oral Tradition as a Proposed Strategy for the Conservation of Performance Art: Indigenous Approach and Inclusivity
  Ruth del Fresno-Guillem

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems/AIC/AIC2021/MyProgrammes#Entry.ItemPage.12322.0.EntryDefinition.da80d6bd-1d48-43b5-9694-97166eaef84d

Presentations in This Session

• Stop Digitizing YOUR Collection: Notes from Idigbio’s Southern Rocky Mountain Thematic Collections Network to Help Strategize Digitization across Consortia and Regional Projects
  Ryan Allen
• Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES: Turn and Face the Strange, Amounts of Ecological Data Hidden in Natural Resource Surveys
  Randy Singer
• Exhibitor Experience: Picturae
• Exhibitor Experience: OPUS Instruments (ATIK Cameras)
• Arctos: The Community Model for Museum Biorepositories
  Mariel Campbell
• Appreciating the Little Things in Life: Molecular Technologies Driving New Methodologies in Specimen Preservation and Management
  James Macklin

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems/AIC/AIC2021/MyProgrammes#Entry.ItemPage.11949.0.EntryDefinition.da80d6bd-1d48-43b5-9694-97166eaef84d

Presentations in This Session

• Murals and the Matter of Cultural Heritage
  Lorraine Lezama Lazard
• SFMOMA Policy on Reprinting: New Challenges and Opportunities
  Roberta Piantavigna
• Exhibitor Experience: REL, Inc.
• Developing a Community of Practice between M+ and AGNSW for the Preservation of Two Editions of a Complex Time-Based Media Installation Artwork, Yin Xiuzhen’s Beijing Opera (2000, 2001)
  Asti Sherring and Rebecca Barnott-Clement

View Abstracts and Speaker Bios: https://flame.firebird.systems...

• Contemporary Art Network 2021 Business Meeting

Join members of the AIC board, staff, and the Membership Designation Working Group to discuss the second draft of the Member Designation Proposal Designation Proposal. 

Join the Electronic Media Group (EMG) for their annual Business Meeting, then stick around for some fun. The EMG Social Event will be held directly after the EMG Business Meeting, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. EST. The EMG Social Event is a fun casual environment where EMG members can mingle and network with other colleagues. You can also play Tetris. The EMG Social Event will be held on Gather's platform, which has a delightfully retro feel. AIC/EMG membership is not required. If you're interested in joining, RSVP here in order to get a link to the platform emailed to you the day before: forms.gle/3up9W9X2Gw9jWhUp6.