Transmaterial
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from Technology Review -
The Year in Materials
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The search for new and innovative materials can often yield solutions to technical problems encountered in the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage. Keeping tabs on the latest development in the field of material science must become part and parcel of a conservator's job.

Link via Make Blog here and here.
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from Getty Conservation Institute -
Experts' Roundtable on Sustainable Climate Management Strategies
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A most useful range of topics and papers that discusses the current thinking and understanding of the for professionals working in the heritage conservation sector to be more proactive in reducing environmental damage.

Link via IIC News

Also see ealrier posts:

"From Gray Areas to Green Areas: Developing Sustainable Practices in Preservation Environments"

"Climate change and museum collections"
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from The New York Times -
Museums Look Inward for Their Own Bailouts
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Perhaps the biggest overhaul needed is not merely a financial one but more of a spiritual one which must seek answers to the question:"What use is a museum?"
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from The Los Angeles Times -
How old is that photo, really?
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An update of an important on-going project at the Getty Conservation Institute which studies the material characteristics of photographs as they evolve over history - so as to better understand them. And the spin-off is to be able to authenticate and date actual historical photographs.

Also see earlier post here.
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from The Guardian -
Google brings masterpieces from Prado direct to armchair art lovers
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Google Earth's Prado can't compete with the real thing
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Online gallery zooms in on Prado's masterpieces (even the smutty bits)
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If the experience of art is devoid of the human scale (size of room, size of painting, height of display) and the means to vary that scale (by walking to and away from the artwork), then should one even bother?
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from The Art Newspaper -
The time has come for a statute of limitations
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from The Guardian -
Should all looted art be returned?
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In the complex (and excruciating) debate on restitution of cultural artefacts, the motivation for advancing such claims are often hidden. Financial gains, national agenda, or just simple pride, are all thrown into the mix. And often, one motivation is often cited while the real driving force is yet another.

It is near impossible to accurately divine motivations. Hence the next best approach is to put in place a set of agreed practices. Acquisitions to be made by museums are already governed by internal guidelines and international conventions on establishing provenance.

However, the sticking point is what to do with cultural artefacts already in the collection of world-renowned museums. Long-standing efforts by various countries to recover cultural artefacts are seeing moderate success, in turn fueling fears that well-established museums will be left empty.

See earlier posts:

"Sharon Waxman's 'Loot': A Definitive History of the Antiquities Wars"

"Towards a Ceasefire in the Antiquities Wars: The Next Step"

"Antiquities, the World Is Your Homeland"

"Finders, keepers"
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from The Art Newspaper -
Private rooms in the Forbidden City shine again
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An update on the on-going conservation efforts at the Forbidden City in Beijing funded by the World Monuments Fund.

See earlier posts:
"American Philanthropists to Return 'Forbidden City' to Former Glamour"
"Rebuilding the Forbidden City"
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from Scientific American -
How Old Is That Book? DNA May Hold the Answer
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An interesting approach to dating unknown samples by cross-referencing with DNA signatures on parchment manuscripts with known dates. However, the practice of "recycling" earlier manuscripts for later use - by scrapping down and cutting manuscripts - would present problems in terms of dating the *later* creation.

See also earlier posts on other dating techniques for paper-related artefacts.
"Water pores reveal age of paper"
"Print Clock: A method for dating early books and prints"
"'Print Clock' Dates Antique Books"
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