from Art Museum Network News
Smithsonian to Open "Visible Conservation Center"
go to article

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
go to article

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
listen to audio report

War and heritage preservation simply do not mix. No further comments.

from BBC News
Effort to save UK's web heritage
go to article
go to press release
go to web-site

Another effort in the string of projects to preserve digital culture and heritage.

from The Guardian
End the exile
go to article

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
go to article

from New York Times
Use of Bacteria in Art Leads to Federal Inquiry
go to article

from The Guardian
Art becomes the next suspect in America's 9/11 paranoia
go to article

from Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Ex-CMU art prof entangled with Feds
go to article

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
go to article


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
go to article

Oligarchs line up to buy listed buildings ...
go to article

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
go to article

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
go to article
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.