from Dwell Blog -
Smog-Cutting Concrete
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from 5 Witness News -
35W sculptures aren't just for looks
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Incorporating a photo-catalytic coating (see earlier posts and links here) on a free-standing structure in an attempt to clean up urban pollution. This would be an idea to have near museums and archives so that the necessary indoor air-filtration system is not subjected to overloading.
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from Cebu Daily News -
Heritage training for tunnel workers
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Getting on-site workers clued up on heritage and historic artefacts sounds like a cost-effective idea. However, to think that a lowly-paid construction worker who now recognises artefacts (which might fetch a tidy sum on the black-market) will be more than happy to turn his find in - that's quaint.

Link via SEAArch.
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from SEED Magazine -
In Defense of Difference
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"Experts have long recognized the perils of biological and cultural extinctions. But they've only just begun to see them as different facets of the same phenomenon, and to tease out the myriad ways in which social and natural systems interact."

The increasing awareness of the inter-related nature of existence adds credence - and even urgency - to heritage and cultural preservation efforts. In essence, the point is not so much on the actual vestiges of culture that are preserved but to have a store of a range and variety of cultural expressions to guard against irreversible and total loss.

"It's the ability of a system — whether a tide pool or township — to withstand environmental flux without collapsing into a qualitatively different state that is formally defined as "resilience." And that is where diversity enters the equation. The more biologically and culturally variegated a system is, the more buffered, or resilient, it is against disturbance. [...] Homogeneous landscapes — whether linguistic, cultural, biological, or genetic — are brittle and prone to failure."

This adds yet another reason for heritage preservation to the one mentioned earlier.
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from International Conservation News -
Climate change and museum collections
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go to PDF document (2.5 MB)

An important discussion - though on somewhat unfamiliar technical territory - which will determined the long-term viability of the profession as a whole.

To paraphrase one pertinent point from the discussion - if our current preservation work contributes to or hasten the depletion of the planet's resources, then for whom and which future generation are we preserving our heritage for?

And this was before the current financial meltdown. Now, there is a compelling reason to slash cost by reviewing energy consumption - issues of preservation vis-a-vis sustainability - within institutional contexts such as museums and archives (also see news story here).
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from Technology Review -
Water-Repelling Metals
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Using a specially formulated coating to treat metal surfaces so that water roll off effortlessly. This would be a great idea for outdoor sculptures and also historic building structures - reducing the risks of degradation due to accumulated water.
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from The Guardian -
Solved: mystery of The Ugly Duchess - and the Da Vinci connection
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Syphilis and a frenzied stabbing
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An interesting approach to art historical reading that relies on medical observations. Perhaps pointing to the need for a new category: medical art history.
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from UNFRAMED - The LACMA Blog -
Photography, Unveiled
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An age-old preservation device - using a curtain to control direct illumination on actual display cases or frames - that somehow has an interesting resonance in today's museum-going context.
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from Scientific American -
Sticky Science: Gecko Toes Key to Adhesive That Doesn't Lose Its Tackiness
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from Technology Review -
Sticky Nanotape
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from Discover -
Scientists Make a Super-Strong Nanotech Glue Modeled on Gecko Feet
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A direct practical application - of the result from the study of gecko feet in the "invention" of a sticky tape that resembles closely it's versatile adhesion mechanism - could be in the field of cultural heritage preservation. In particular, in the display of fragile artefacts, such as fabric and textiles, whereby ensuring both the ease of removal and adequate strong support during display is of paramount concern. Looking forward to when this becomes a reality - and you read / heard it here first!
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from The Art Newspaper -
The reassuring rise of the museum curator
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Not to sound self-absorbingly triumphant. But the recent appointment of curatorial heavy-weights for the posts of museum director could be a harbinger of better things ahead - addressing the problem of museum leadership head-on (highlighted earlier here and here) - or just a blip on the horizon in hind-sight.
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from NY Times
Cheap Seats - Bad times, good times
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Ironically, Monday's meltdown has not dampened everyone's mood. Maybe it has but there should be always time to lift up spirits! It's good to see everyone still spending (for a good cause) at downtimes. Not a bad way to destress, spring up the economy a little, and perhaps re-build the nation with confidence again through great motion of arts. This is definitely cash in the right pocket.

Now, fly me to NY.

from Emerging Technology -
Photo prize for virtual autopsies
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An interesting development in the field of 3-dimensional imaging that first gathers data from a combination of different imaging techniques and then using software to merge and present these data in a composite but coherent image.

Such a technique would be useful in the investigation of enclosures and other inaccessible areas of a cultural artefact that might reveal invaluable information.
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from The Washington post -
Babble On, Say Researchers In 'Linguists' Documentary
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Another good reason for keeping record of dying languages, other than just preservation or documentary:

" '[S]cience is playing catch-up in many respects to the people who have lived there for thousands of years and know about that ecosystem,' says Anderson. 'So since all of these ecosystems are under collapse now, it would behoove us to not just throw away this knowledge that people have accrued over the millennia.' "

from Nanoarchitecture.net -
Finding A Lost Painting
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A video to accompany the story posted earlier here.


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from The New York Times -
Archaeologists Unveil Majestic Roman Ruins That Rival Riches of Pompeii
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go to imges

An unusual find that was kept from public view for more than 4 decades - which may be in some ways good from a preservation angle. Even then:

"Humidity has forced conservators to detach many frescoes from walls and transfer them onto panels before returning them to their original locations. 'It’s necessary, but it causes immense sorrow whenever we have to do that,' Mr. Pellegrino said."

from The Getty Conservation Institute -
GCI Bulletin
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The newly launched GCI Bulletin containing the lastest news on programmes and projects happening at the Getty Conservation Institute. Sign up for an electronic copy here.
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from The Guardian -
Industrial vacuum cleaner blamed for Cutty Sark blaze
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This just in ... and the cause of the devastating fire on the historic ship Cutty Sark was an over-heated motor of a vacuum cleaner used in the restoration of the ship itself. Sadly ironic ...

See earlier posts here.
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