University Museum and Art Gallery

The understanding that art conservation is solely a practical profession, with a narrow focus on acquiring just the information necessary to treat an object, is an outdated perception of the field. More akin to the history of art— which concerns itself with contextualizing art, for example, with more immaterial concepts of iconography, audience, and economics— conservation has evolved into a complex and conceptual field, while still rooted in craft traditions. In this class, we explore how conservation can be further opened to theoretical lines of inquiry about what, for instance, differentiates an artwork from other kinds of things. How does one establish the cultural value of an artifact? Or what is the nature of permanence when considering treatment? We will strongly emphasize the intended purpose of an artifact and how that core functionality may, and often will, change over time, highlighting the dynamic social life of objects and how this impacts their care.