www.dezeen.com: Conservation is often misunderstood as a practice concerned with the past. Really though, like the best science fiction, the subject of conservation is the present. Or more exactly, it is the site of intersection for ideas about the past, framed within the morality and ideology of the present. Its tools and techniques, for example, are both highly traditional and cutting-edge. Think of the conservation studio like a cross between an emergency room and a medieval workshop. A place where X-rays and linseed oil converge. And now, of course, where digital technologies too join the deployed to image, scan and otherwise document the artefacts of human culture.
1 comment:
This article is one of the most interesting reads yet. I had heard about the art students who ‘stole’ Nefertiti’s bust, and my initial reaction was “Why is that even considered stealing?”. I find it funny that the museum acquired the bust by send an expedition of Germans to break into ancient, culturally important Egyptian sites where they physically removed the bust, but that’s not stealing. Yet two artists who take a glorified picture that didn’t cause any harm to the actual statue are considered the thieves. This kind of replication technology is amazing, and more people should be doing things like this. In theory, museums don’t need actual artifacts, they just need replicas. Because the whole point a museum is to educate people about a culture, which could probably better be done with more interactive exhibits and less valuable possessions. They also wouldn’t be disturbing a site of historical significance or quite literally stealing national treasures. Countries should be able to both preserve and spread their history, and the copy is incredibly important for that. Our society should be encouraging ‘copies’ like this, not the other way around.
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