from New York Times
Looks Brilliant on Paper. But Who, Exactly, Is Going to Make It?
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As artists use fabricators more and more for highly complex work, both in terms of structure and material composition, it begs the question:

"But if artists no longer possess the technical skills to produce their own work, who does?"

And more importantly in the context of preservation, could we trust artists' accounts about the nature and material processes of their works. Maybe it is high time that art conservators pay more attention to the swarm of assistants that prop up the reputation of artists.

from UNESCO
Intangible Heritage Messenger
go to newsletter - Issue 1 (PDF version, 276 KB)
go to newsletter - Issue 2 (PDF version, 358 KB)

It is timely that UNESCO has launched its Intangible Heritage Messenger newsletter in February 2006, which covers various global effort in preserving intangible heritage. This will boost awareness of the issue which had been previously highlighted on this weblog (see various previous posts).

[Thanks to World Heritage Forum for the link.]

from Rolex Awards News Update
Reviving Silk Tradition
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An update on Kikuo Morimoto, who had helped to revived the traditions of hand-made silk in Cambodia in the local community (see previous post). The project has now expanded to included a village, in Chot Sam, which complements the original silk factory, in Siem Reap, all based on a sustainable model of development. This would be without doubt a model of preservation (of heritage and the environment) par excellence.

from NY Times
At Museums: Invasion of the Podcasts
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How podcasting is taking off in the major museums in US. The good thing about it? It frees the audio tour from the physical confines of the museum. You can download and listen to them anywhere but I'm also mindfully aware that nothing beats looking at the real thing yourself at designated spaces. Art is afterall a visual and "bodily" experience. Podcasting offers secondary information and experience.

from Southeast Asian Archaeology
Palmer Road Wang Hai Da Bo Gong Temple
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go to site report (3.46 MB, PDF)

An update to the archaeological dig at an unassuming historical site, which might even pre-date the arrival of Stanford Raffles in Singapore, tucked away at one end of Keppel Road. See satellite map of the area with the temple centered in the map.

Thanks to Lim Chen Shien for first news of the update on the Singapore Heritage Mailing List.

from Southeast Asian Archaeology
Fort Tanjong Katong
go to update (scroll down)
go to preliminary site report (2.27 MB, PDF)

An update on the popular archaeological dig (see previous posts here and here) which has confirmed the existence of a fort beneath the present-day park and also discovered several other features of the fort which were otherwise undocumented. Due to uncertainty on the next phase of the project, the team has decided to back-fill the exposed site in order to protect the archaeological finds, and await further development.

There is also a link to a previous architectural student project (397 KB, PDF) at NUS on "Exhibition of Design Ideas for an Interpretive Center at Katong Park" (8th January 2006).

For those not familiar with the location of the dig, here is a link to a satellite map of the area with the park in the centre.

Thanks to Lim Chen Shien and Chua Ai Lin for first news of the updates on the Singapore Heritage Mailing List.