from Art Museum Network News
Smithsonian to Open "Visible Conservation Center"
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Having conservation work always on view may sound like a good idea in the context of a museum display - but it must be added that just viewing the conservation work processes alone would not make much of a sense unless accompanied by some intelligent form of commentary and explanation. Without this added component of interaction and dialogue, conservation work can actually appear rather boring and uninteresting in itself. The other question would be whether is there no other way to present conservation to the public, other than being on constant view? Would we next ask for a glass-fronted office design for all museum curators so that visitors can understand the creative and often complex processes that go into the making of an exhibition?

from The Art Newspaper
Versailles: feud jeopardises interior restoration but gardens are completed
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At the risk of gross generalisation, it could be surmised that the spirit of the best of heritage preservation efforts are primarily driven by a deep-seated sense of public service, which can often be at odds (or in direct conflict) with a profit-driven enterprise approach. Perhaps this latest news from the French front could serve as a harbinger of things to come in 2 recent developments posted earlier.

from NPR
U.S. Base Damages Ancient Babylonian Temple
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War and heritage preservation simply do not mix. No further comments.

from BBC News
Effort to save UK's web heritage
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go to press release
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Another effort in the string of projects to preserve digital culture and heritage.

from The Guardian
End the exile
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This is the latest salvo in the long-running and extremely polarised debate on the return (or not) of the Parthenon (or Elgin) Marbles. However, lost amongst this current raging argument is a previous cleaning controversy - which happened more than 60 years ago - in the more technical world of conservation/restoration. That controversy was also publicly debated with the various documentary records and artefactual evidence scrutinised at the British Museum in 1999.

from Wired News
Twisted Tale of Art, Death, DNA
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from New York Times
Use of Bacteria in Art Leads to Federal Inquiry
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from The Guardian
Art becomes the next suspect in America's 9/11 paranoia
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from Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Ex-CMU art prof entangled with Feds
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First they come for the artist who uses "biotechnology" as part of his work - next will be the conservator who uses bacteria to grow marble?

from Conservation Research Laboratory, Texas A&M University
METHODS OF CONSERVING ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIAL
FROM UNDERWATER SITES
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This on-line conservation manual has attempted to present the current state of conservation of archaeological material from marine environments.
This link consists of 16 conservation files, topics are

1.OVERVIEW OF CONSERVATION IN ARCHAEOLOGY; BASIC CONSERVATION
PROCEDURES
2.ADHESIVES AND CONSOLIDANTS
3.CONSERVATION OF BONE, IVORY, TEETH, AND ANTLER

and many more... Hope it is a good reference.

from The Art Newspaper
Come buy our palaces
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Oligarchs line up to buy listed buildings ...
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Two parallel developments from Europe on the "privatisation" of the preservation of heritage. In both instances, it is clearly recognised that preservation endeavours entail vast amount of resources - financial, expertise knowledge, time and other intangible contributions from the community at large. However, the sad decision made in both situations were to reduce the solution to one of approaching the problem from a narrow financial perspective - and mistaking that as the utmost priority. This will surely have unintended consequences in time to come, and most likely negative ones.

from The New York Times
A Computer That Has an Eye for Van Gogh
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Using a computer to compare sections of an artist's known works from a database of images, it is claimed that certain tell-tale signs in the use of materials or techniques can be determined, almost like "invisible signatures". All this for the purpose of authentication. It would be interesting to see how much of restoration or overpaints on a painting would return a "fake" result during analysis?

from Science @ NASA
Bacterial Integrated Circuits
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go to technical paper (pdf format)

Indoor air pollution poses a real and harmful threat to heritage artefacts if left unchecked (see article by Morten Ryhl-Svendsen). The standard method of monitoring is to use the technique of sampling of the indoor air and having that sample analysed.

The new detection method being tested by NASA researchers would provide a real-time detection system, combining micro-biology and photo-electronics, called Bioluminescent Bioreporter Integrated Circuits (BBICs). Monitoring for pollutants would also be much cheaper and simpler than on-site chemical sampling methods that are currently possible.

These BBICs are useful on Earth, too. They can detect formaldehyde emitted by pressed wood furniture or hard-to-detect molds often implicated in sick building syndrome. "If this device works as planned, it could turn out to be a very inexpensive kind of monitoring system," says Sayler. "You could go to your corner drugstore, buy one of these, take it home and stick it up on your wall. It could tell you whether your carpets are degassing, or whether you've got problems like black mold."

The circuit chips can also be customised for the detection of different particulate, gaseous or biological pollutants - and even ultra-violet radiation! - depending on the type of microbe that is bio-engineered. The size of the chip is also extremely small and inconspicuous - 2 mm by 2mm - hence, perfect for museum display use.

from UNESCO: Culture
Cultural Pluralism
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12321&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Conservation can be controversial. Why do we do what we do? A decision may appear more acceptable to one but less appealing to another. Understanding a culture perhaps could be one good way in first learning to comprehend and empathise the whys.

"People invent, refine and embellish their cultures through contact with and by borrowing from other cultures. Cultures are ways of living together".

from BBC news
Eco glass cleans itself with Sun
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Imagine a world where there will be no more cleaning of window glass panes! This is achieved by depositing an extremely thin coating of titanium oxide on the glass surface, which will react with the surface dirt in the presence of ultra-violet radiation (plentiful in sunlight). With the subsequent arrival of rain, the surface dirt is easily washed away in a uniform manner. Now imagine if this technology can be applied to outdoor sculptures or heritage structures!

from The International Herald Tribune
Architecture: Saving a jewel of Shanghai
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and
from The New York Times
Salvaging Jewish Heritage in China, Block by Block
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Yet another story of urban development standing in the way of heritage preservation. Or is it the other way round - depending on whose side one is on?

from The Guardian
Down with this access pottiness
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When an argument is made in favour of "art-for-art's-sake" by a government minister, no less - no longer being merely justified as a social implement to enhance the quality of life of citizens; nor as a means of social inclusion or forging of a national identity; nor as an economic cash-cow, in the case of the Creative Industries - then it must be recognised as an unmistakable sign of a significant arts policy shift. Yet again, the UK has shown its leadership mantle in the arena of arts and culture.

It is a case of quality being of far, far greater importance than quantity, in the case of arts and culture. Quoting James Fenton in the Guardian article above:

What [Tessa] Jowell [Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport] says in her document, although not precisely in these words, is that there is no point in fetishising access, if access means access to crap. "Access to the substandard is access to disappointment which will translate into an unwillingness to keep paying. It will not inspire or raise levels of aspiration, and in the end is not worthwhile. That is why excellence has to be at the heart of cultural subsidy, and that is what we must insist on."

Hear, hear! Now politicians can go figure.

from Voice of America
American Philanthropists to Return 'Forbidden City' to Former Glamour
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go to audio report (RealAudio format)

A praiseworthy effort to reach across cultures by funding a large-scale preservation project, which otherwise might not materialise. However, one cannot help but wonder whether national pride would come into the picture? Or is the historic complex a mere curious cultural relic (and a tourist trap) in present-day China which has done away with dynastic monarchism?

Perhaps, what is most curious is the selection of the particular restoration site - a retirement lodge of the Emperor Qianlong, who had been credited in opening up the Middle Kingdom to the influx of Western (imperial) influences. The lodge had previously functioned as a private theatre pavilion and contained an admixture of Chinese ornate motifs and Italian paintings executed in the 18th century. It makes one wonder whether the decision to select the site for this worthy cause could have been an unconsciously (or consciously) "political" one?