Modern Art: Who Cares?

Abstract

The conservation of contemporary art should not be a static process carried out behind closed doors but dynamic and open to discourse. New media and new materials constantly present issues which traditional conservation methods cannot address and a continual search for new techniques is therefore required. This dynamic research may include interviews with artists; documentation of artists’ materials; the recording of image, word or sound of performances; installations, temporary and ‘permanent’ visual art; scientific research into the identification, composition, ageing and preservation of modern materials.