AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

Conservation theory has embraced sociological approaches to understand the complex care of modern and contemporary art. In these contributions (and in case-study based conservation literature) decision-making processes essentially assume museum-like conditions. Often implicitly, the artwork is naturally seen as a permanent part of a collection with indisputable cultural value and symbolic meaning. The predominant task for conservation practice is to preserve contemporary artworks for posterity, and to enable its exhibition for visitors willing to ‘experience’ art as a means of their personal, cultural enrichment.

Contemporary art for sale, however, is often viewed by a very different public: while galleries or auction houses are open to visitors, it is those individuals who seek to own art that matter most to dealers. Within the hierarchically structured art market, it seems the standing of such trade-partners (buyers and sellers) can be just as relevant during a transaction as the artwork itself. An artwork is not only considered for its cultural or symbolic meaning, but for its ideological value (to underscore a collector’s prestige or a dealer’s success), and its financial investment-potential.

Both sides of the trade scrutinize the work to reduce the uncertainty of such hard-to-define values. During this moment of ownership-transition, an artwork appears precariously vulnerable. This is where conservators' expertise is usually called upon to evaluate a more tangible (though no less fragile) aspect, the artwork’s physical condition. They may suggest and execute treatment; their written (condition or treatment) report becomes crucial for the sale.

The art market relies on the beneficial effects of conservation. Yet conservation activity is hardly made explicit as traces of conservation appear to signal instability and an increased investment risk. This can have detrimental effects on the potential sale and even on the conservator’s reputation.

Private practice conservators work in a field full of tensions: balancing their ethical standards with market expectations; providing a discrete service while fostering their reputation of expertise; treating often unusual materials under tight deadlines; preparing the artwork for an unknown trajectory of belonging. They are business managers, too.

After more than a decade of working in New York City’s art market environment, I aim to investigate how conservation in private practice is done and what its role is in the context of the art trade. This topic has become my PhD research at Maastricht University (NL), and it will highlight three central issues: stakeholder networks, authority negotiation, and knowledge organization.

As more and more contemporary art never enters a museum collection, its care falls on conservators in private practice. I am focusing my research on their daily professional challenges to expand the theoretical contexts of conservation. To do this, I am taking a critical sociological perspective using qualitative methods combined with literature reviews of conservation, sociology of art, and economic sociology.

This presentation will start with an introduction of the research scope and will focus on common stakeholders in the art market environment, their (various) ideologies, and on observations on how conservators navigate this hierarchically structured network.