AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

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In response to the Equity and Inclusion Committee’s “Recommendations for Advancing Equity and Inclusion in the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works”, effort has been made over the past several years to bring awareness of the conservation profession to more diverse communities and encourage them to consider it as a career. These have been welcome opportunities and experiences to those who hadn’t previously seen space for themselves in the field. However, there has not been training offered to mentors to provide guidance on creating an inclusive environment that accounts for a more racially and culturally diverse group of professionals. While the principal target has been to increase racial and cultural diversity, intention to include gender, abilities, beliefs, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, among other human aspects is imperative to creating a holistically inclusive environment.

The goal of this workshop is to collaboratively work as members of this profession to improve our practices of inclusivity and belonging. Through facilitated discussions and reflection on our own experiences, we will identify the characteristics of effective mentorship and formulate recommendations for training to increase access to mentorship skills. The discussion and your feedback will help inform a series of professional development programs with the ultimate goal of training mentors to support an inclusive and supportive environment that will sustain a more diverse workforce. A summary of insights from the workshop will be shared with the AIC community at large at a later date.

Registration is open to all Annual Meeting attendees with some spots reserved for emerging professionals. Space is limited, so we ask that you only register if you plan to attend the workshop and commit to reflecting on and sharing your experiences with the group. The instructor will work to create a safe space. This is an interactive and participatory workshop. We understand that some may not feel comfortable sharing their experiences in person. If this is the case and you are uncomfortable or unable to attend the session and still wish to participate, we have provided an anonymized form in this link for you to contribute to the conversation (no registration is needed to participate in this way). The information gathered during the workshop and in this survey will be used to help inform future workshop development.

In the mid 1990’s, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, Canada, accepted a large donation of historic European picture frames from an anonymous collector. Over 1,500 frames, dating from the 16th to the early 20th century, arrived at the gallery in two batches, in 1994 and 1997. While some frames were unwrapped, catalogued and even briefly displayed in a special exhibition (Framing History: European Frames 15th - 19th century, 1995), the vast majority remained stored, concealed in their original shipping material until now.

The AGO’s conservation and curatorial departments had tried, with mixed success, to deal with the collection since its acquisition. In 2022, the AGO Frame Project was launched as an institutional initiative to develop a program to care for and use the frames in accordance with current standards of museum practice. The AGO hired Senior Frame Conservator Hubert Baija, recently retired from the Rijksmuseum, on a one year contract, as well as a frame conservation fellow, two dedicated art handlers, and a dedicated photographer. They worked with the AGO Senior Framer, curators, and registrars to finally unwrap, examine and document the collection.

Now in its second year, the AGO Frame Project aims to foster a supportive environment in which to understand and care for this vast collection, which represents over four hundred years of European frame history. Education and knowledge sharing has been a crucial part of this initiative, increasing appreciation and respect for the collection not only in the conservation department but also among curators, framers, collections experts, and other departments. A symposium on the history and conservation of frames in May, 2024, hosted at the AGO, will introduce this collection to the frame community and, we hope, open even more opportunities for exchange and collaboration.

Ultimately, the goal of the AGO Frame Project is to make this important collection more accessible for study and for lending. As custodians of this collection, the AGO is committed to the idea that pairing historic frames with appropriate artworks is an important aspect of their conservation, as it preserves their function. It is our hope that a digital database will lead to pairings of these frames with works of art at other galleries and museums as well as our own.

This paper describes the AGO Frame Project’s collaborative process, the surprises and opportunities we have encountered along the way, and what was revealed when we finally unwrapped the frames.

Domestic Jain house shrines, ghar derāsars, exist in a handful of collections around the world, and only a few retain their polychrome and gilded surfaces. The elaborately carved, detailed surfaces are exquisite examples of Gujarati architecture but are largely understudied with few dedicated publications. The Jain shrine in the Cincinnati Art Museum is an important example of a domestic Jain shrine. Acquired in 1962, it’s thought to date to the 17th century and retains its metal overlay and polychrome. An architectural piece, comprised of over forty-four intricately carved parts, it stands over 7ft tall. The shrine had been in storage for a decade and was in poor condition when a donation was made to renovate a gallery to display it. The timeline for construction gave only eight months for the treatment of this unique object.

The project presented several challenging and complex components. The most concerning condition issue was a very thick/blackened coating completely obscuring the delicate gilt and painted details. The three-dimensional surface meant it would be difficult to remove the coating evenly. The large size and multiple disassembled parts made it difficult to devise a cohesive treatment suitable for all parts. The short time frame added further complexity to planning and executing the treatment.

The main treatment priority was to remove the coating to reveal the painted details. Removing the thick coating with solvents alone was ineffective. Solvent gels were tested as a typical method for removing coatings on carved surfaces, however the abrasion caused when removing the gel made this option too risky for the paint and gilt layers. Evolon® CR has been a successful option for applying solvents to flat surfaces to remove varnishes and coatings with minimal abrasion. Although not typically used for high relief surfaces, Evolon® CR was tested as an available non-abrasive option. It proved successful in removing the coating without risking the paint and gilt beneath, however it proved challenging to work with on the carved surfaces. Purpose made weights and unconventional clamps overcame this challenge, demonstrating that Evolon® CR can be used just as effectively on carved surfaces, providing an excellent low abrasion alternative to solvent gels. Though this treatment method was effective, it could not be completed on such a large object within the given timeframe. As rushed treatments often lead to negative outcomes, extending the timeframe was essential to the success of this project. Through early collaboration with curatorial and marketing departments the timeframe was successfully extended. Using social media updates of treatment and creation of an informative treatment video, we were able to balance the interests of the museum, donor, and conservation, while also generating public excitement for the eventual installation.

The presentation of this treatment will demonstrate an effective method for coating removal on decorative wood with carved high relief surfaces using Evolon® CR. It will also discuss the challenges and decision-making process in treating a complex object under a tight deadline, and how to advocate and negotiate for support to allow for effective treatments.

This poster aims to take a closer look at the materials and techniques used in the creation of Tibetan furniture. This understudied area of East Asian furniture production has been the focus of only one English-language conservation publication despite pieces being held in many collections throughout the United States. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s group of Tibetan furniture forms includes approximately 30 pieces of furniture in large part drawn from the Hayward Family Collection. The Hayward Family seeded significant works throughout other major collecting institutions.

As part of the EU Horizon 2020 GREENART project (https://www.greenart-project.eu/), several pieces of furniture were selected for technical study, with a particular focus on their original paint stratigraphies and later-applied coatings. The poster will share preliminary findings from these pieces with an emphasis on the elaborately painted and gilded surfaces. The primary case study presented will be Altar Table with Dragons and Auspicious Symbols (https://collections.lacma.org/node/214797) which includes several colorants, metallic flakes and leaf, and raised grounds. Samples were collected from this group of objects. Several analytical techniques (e.g. SEM/EDS, FTIR, XRF and Raman) were used to help characterization of the pigments and organic binders.

Many of the objects in the LACMA collection exhibit tacky, darkened coatings which both obscure original surfaces and make storage difficult. It is hoped that this poster can serve as a jumping-off point for conversation around Tibetan furniture with the end goal of promoting greater understanding between both conservators and those with traditional source community knowledge. This study will provide a foundation for the eventual design and implementation of sympathetic, nuanced conservation interventions.

The identification of wood with the use of visibly induced ultraviolet fluorescence has been used mostly for the timber industry and has only briefly been explored in the field of Art Conservation. Making use primarily of relatively large core samples dispersed in solvent, the need for a more reliable, faster, and less invasive technique for wood identification is of pressing importance. Thanks to the recent advancement in Fiber Optics Spectroscopy (FOS) the possibility of creating repeatable fluorescent responses from wooden art objects has become more of a possibility. This poster explores the potential application of Fiber Optic Spectroscopy (FOS) in the ultraviolet (UV) range for the minimally invasive identification of wood species, in the context of art conservation and cultural heritage.

The study focuses on the identification of various wood species commonly found in cultural heritage institutions, including Mahogany, White Oak, Walnut, Poplar, and Ebony, through UV-induced fluorescence spectra and compares the results to known fluorescing species such as Staghorn Sumac. Notably, many of these woods are not known to visibly fluoresce under UV light with the results revealing that FOS in the UV range can produce identifiable spectra for wood samples, even in cases where visible fluorescence is absent. The emission and absorption bands for each wood species are analyzed, providing characteristic spectral fingerprints.

The poster concludes by highlighting the potential of FOS in UV fluorescence as a minimally invasive tool for wood identification, particularly in art conservation, offering a new potential approach to addressing this aspect of the field. The need for further research is emphasized, including the expansion of the sample size to encompass a broader range of wood species, investigation of how growing environments affect spectral responses, and the creation of a comprehensive spectral database for future comparative analysis.

This paper will detail the technical examination, digital planning, and physical reconstruction of missing pieces of a 17th century kas, or Dutch cupboard, in the H.F. Dupont Winterthur Collection (object number 1952.0049). Review of the kas before its inclusion in an exhibition of New York furniture at the Winterthur Museum revealed stylistic inconsistencies with other 17th century New York kasten as well as evidence of obvious compositional changes with regards to the design over time prompting the question: does the current appearance of the kas reflect its early 17th century appearance?

The kas was subjected to thorough visual examination and instrumental analysis to answer this question. Documentation in varying light sources (visible, ultraviolet, x-radiation) allowed for identification of clear areas of intervention on the exterior. Surface coatings were analyzed through pyrolysis gas chromatography mass-spectroscopy (PyGCMS), x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and optical microscopy, to identify and compare coating histories across the object. Wood identification of select decorations provided information about materials’ provenance. Findings of the combined analysis supported the hypothesis that the kas had been significantly altered since its creation and no longer reflected its original appearance. Given the Winterthur Museum’s designation as a research collection and the curatorial goals to return the kas to display as an example of 17th century American furniture at the museum, the kas was reversibly altered to reflect a more likely original appearance. Digital alterations of the kas based off of gathered evidence and historical cognates were drafted and shared for peer review. The agreed upon missing or altered pieces of the kas were then constructed from congruous materials and attached in a reversible manner which preserved evidence of original construction and past treatment to the kas to allow future study.

The Dahshur Boat at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA is one of only four preserved in museum collections today. These boats were built from cedar wood and originally constructed for use in association with the pyramid complex of the 12th Dynasty pharaoh Senwosret III. The boat measures some 9.2 meters in length and is comprised of a total of 27 hull planks and 46 deck planks. It was originally excavated by French archaeologist Jacques De Morgan in 1894 and purchased for the museum in 1901. The boat was housed off site for five years while construction on the museum was completed. It was installed in 1905 and remained on view until 1976, when it was disassembled and put into storage. In the late 1980s the boat was studied and prepared once again for exhibition, where it remained until 2022.

In 2022 after a major leak in the museum’s roof, the boat was deinstalled for its own protection. It suffered water damage, with some of the hull and deck planks warping, cracking, and staining. Previous deterioration includes brown rot (microbial attack) and soluble and insoluble salts which covered most of wooden surface. Most concerning is the surface abrasion and graffiti dating to the 20 years (1956-1976) when the boat was on open display. During that time, the wood was treated with an unknown wood preservation product called “Wife’s Pride,” which has caused staining on the surface of the wood and increased the fragility of the wood fibers.

This paper details the work of the museum’s conservation team to analyze the impact of the leak and the previous wear and tear sustained from years of display. It includes an overview of the current treatment plan and an evaluation of preliminary research conducted in 2022 prior to and just after the deinstallation of the boat. The proposed treatment plan includes photography, architectural documentation, assessment survey, and scientific analysis using XRD, XRF, FTIR, and SEM. In addition, multispectral imaging will help to expand the results of the 1989 and 2017 searches for pigment remains. The goal of this paper is to present the team’s initial findings and obtain feedback on the proposed treatment plan.

The utilization of 3D scanning and printing technology for loss compensation has been used in conservation for some years. However, it has largely been confined to larger institutions with substantial budgets, rendering it beyond the reach of the average conservation laboratory. Recent advancements in 3D scanning technology, driven by developments in the medical and gaming sectors, have resulted in more accessible and cost-effective solutions. This has opened up new possibilities for smaller conservation labs to harness the advantages of this time-saving technique.

This paper discusses the acquisition and evaluation of consumer-level handheld 3D scanners and a smartphone application in comparison to the conventional photogrammetry technique. The objective is to investigate the feasibility of incorporating these budget-friendly options into the toolkit of a conservation lab. Key parameters considered during the testing phase encompass cost-effectiveness, ease of operation, post-processing capabilities, and the accuracy of the resultant 3D scans.

To assess the practicality of these scanners, a 19th-century gilded compo dealer's frame from the Madison County Historical Society in Oneida, New York, was selected for treatment. The frame was in a state of disrepair, exhibiting substantial losses, particularly in the form of missing decorative compo elements, including all four corners. The selected 3D scanners were employed to capture the existing corners, and subsequently, these scans were amalgamated into a single, comprehensive model. This consolidated model served as the basis for 3D printing and molding processes, enabling the creation of compo fills to restore the frame to a whole state.

This research seeks to contribute valuable insights into the applicability of consumer-level 3D scanning technology in the realm of art conservation, particularly for conservators operating within constrained budgets. By focusing on the case of the gilded compo dealer's frame, this study examines the practicality, affordability, and effectiveness of these emerging technologies in facilitating the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage artifacts. The findings will inform conservation practices and potentially expand access to 3D scanning and printing resources within the broader community of conservation labs.

For more than 50 years, American artist Gary Hill has pushed the boundaries of moving image art and technology. An early innovator of video art and interactive computer-based installations, Hill’s work has been foundational to the development of intermedia and expanded cinema. This presentation focuses on the recent conservation of Hill’s Tall Ships (1992), a sixteen-channel interactive video installation built upon the combination of custom analog and digital technologies, now migrated to newer technologies while maintaining the unique imaging system at the core of the work.

Tall Ships was originally commissioned for the exhibition documenta IX in Kassel, Germany in 1992 and would go on to tour the world throughout the following decade. Tall Ships consists of sixteen black-and-white CRT projectors custom-built by the artist that hang in a long, completely dark corridor. Each projector is connected to one of sixteen laserdisc players that are controlled by a DOS-based computer with software coded by multimedia designer and frequent collaborator Dave Jones. Appearing in the image of each projection is a person sitting in the distance. When visitors walk into the corridor, the only light emitted comes from these faint figures. The images are high contrast yet soft with an ethereal quality, with no border framing the projection. As a visitor walks closer to the image, their steps trigger electronic switches in the floor that then signal the figures in the video to get up and walk toward the visitor, meeting them face-to-face. The figures stand there, life-size, wavering, staring back at the visitor until the visitor steps away, triggering the figure to also step away and walk back to the distant position where they initially sat.

Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland has worked closely with Small Data Industries of Rochester, New York and artist Gary Hill to conserve the work for future preservation and exhibition. Necessary to its original creation and now its conservation has been tinkering with technologies in unexpected ways. This presentation will walk through the process of maintaining the custom projectors that are essential to the look and feel of this work, while detailing the migration from a DOS-controlled, LaserDisc source to a streamlined Raspberry Pi-based backend, and novel methods that were devised for assessing the fidelity of the new iteration to the original. The authors will also discuss the unexpected positive outcomes of an estimated reduced energy use and carbon footprint for exhibiting the work with the updated technologies. This presentation sheds light on the unique challenges and approaches inherent to working with custom analog and digital moving image technologies and best practices for preparing them for a fast-moving future of ever-evolving time-based media art.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has been acquiring media works since the 1970s, and in 1987, SFMOMA formed one of the earliest Media Arts curatorial departments in the United States. A cross-departmental collaborative group Team Media began in 1994, but it was not until 2006 when the Photography Department welcomed their first media art accession. PhotoFlicks and PhotoFictions was created by Lucas Samaras in 2005, and it showcased the artist’s interests in self-portraiture and image manipulation. The artist replicated his workstation at his studio for viewers to explore his photographic and audiovisual archives. The work comprises 4,432 photographic files in iPhoto and 60 iMovie files on a Mac Mini, presented with an Apple Cinema HD Display 23” monitor, an Apple mouse, a custom printed mouse pad with instructions, portable speakers, an Ikea Hannes Desk, and three Design within Reach Bellini chairs. At the time of acquisition, interviews were conducted in order to explore strategies related to acquisition, display, loan and long-term preservation.

After learning the work was selected for the Sea Change exhibition in 2023, seventeen years after its first installation, members from Curatorial, Conservation, Registration, and Collections Technical collaborated to revisit past records and documentation. We discovered that speakers and furniture were selected and provided by the gallery. They were neither used at the artist studio, nor were they the same style or model used by the artist. With this key information, we were able to set up our scope of work to focus on the Mac. After experimenting with different tools and options, QEMU was employed to emulate Mac OS 10.3.8 systems. It allowed us to exercise the work in its native environment and observe unresolved and emerging challenges ranging from technological obsolescence to gallery maintenance requirements. We also came across seventeen slideshows in iPhoto that were not listed in artwork medium descriptions. Together, we examined the viability of some past proposed solutions. We carefully laid out a roadmap to perform various levels of migration for both software and hardware components, and investigated potential implications and changes associated with each approach.

We presented our findings and migration plans to the artist’s representative and collaborator to gain their feedback. Approved by the gallery and our curator, we started exploring different methods to export digital content out of iPhoto to Photos in macOS Ventura. During the process, Conservation and Collections Technical worked closely with our staff from IT to tackle unexpected issues. To name a few obstacles, iPhoto 5.0 and Photos 7.0 have drastically different interfaces and display mechanisms, and slideshow was not designed to be transferable. Additionally, we implemented different tools to limit access to a variety of functions in OS Ventura to reduce gallery maintenance. Addressing the rapidly changing and proprietary nature of Apple systems and products, we aim to share our strategies and thinking process to adjust our practices to preserve, assess, migrate and provide access to the work on our internal server and in our gallery spaces.

This presentation will discuss the outcomes of The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa National Time-Based Media Art Capability Building Project 2023 - 2024, which was implemented to strengthen the long-term care and preservation of the national collection of time-based media art.

The project has an internal Te Papa-focused component and an external outreach component that aims to build capability across Aotearoa, New Zealand’s gallery and museum sector. The work program has been built around the guiding principle of Mana Taonga, which is a key statement for our National Museum and at its core is the recognition that there still exist living relationships and connections between taonga and their cultures of origin.

The internal capability project had five key focus areas: review, policy and procedure development, collection management, education and strategy development. The national gallery sector capability building project will be achieved through a series of workshops aimed at institutions that collect time-based media artworks in both metropolitan and regional centres.

Rose Cangadis-Douglass has been appointed to the fixed-term role of Assistant Conservator Time-Based Media Art – the first role of its kind in New Zealand. The project will also draw on expertise from staff across Te Papa, and Asti Sherring, Manager of Changeable and Digital Collections at the National Museum of Australia. Te Papa’s initiative in collaboration with the National Museum of Australia has provided the opportunity for discussion of real-world challenges and opportunities and has fostered a national community of practice around the preservation of time-based media art in New Zealand.

This thesis research – The Landscape of Blockchain-based Art Preservation: Risk Assessment of 81 Horizons by Rafaël Rozendaal – written by Olivia Schoenfeld (University of Amsterdam) in June of 2023 aims to pinpoint the vulnerabilities and future prospects of blockchain-based art (also known as non-fungible tokens or NFTs), including its conservation. Blockchain-based artworks are still considered to be in new and relatively uncharted territory in terms of conservation. While it may seem soon to be worrying about the obsolescence or deterioration of a technology that is so new, it is an inevitable truth. There are misunderstandings by the public and professionals that believe simply adding artworks to the blockchain preserves them for the future. This misconception exists due to the narrative referring to blockchain as a omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent entity. A correct understanding of the technology is essential and gives the basis required for conservators to become knowledgeable advocates that push for further preservation strategies to be implemented.

This is especially true since well-known artists such as Beeple, Damien Hirst, Erik Calderon, and Rafaël Rozendaal use this technology and have been acquired by museums, institutions, and private collectors more often. Unfortunately, blockchains have a plethora of failure points. It is essential to conduct risk assessments and have protocols set in place to help mitigate not only any loss of information about an artwork but also its significance and authenticity. Since blockchain-based artworks likely do not completely fit the mold of existing methodologies – whether it be risk assessment, preservation strategies, or institutional documentation protocols – they necessitate more research into where the bottlenecks are in the conservation of these artworks.

The research is conducted according to the Brokerhof risk assessment methodology for the case study of the blockchain-based artwork series 81 Horizons (2021) by Rafaël Rozendaal. The risk assessment methodology begins by compiling documentation of 81 Horizons’ making, history, and context. The series’ intricate anatomy, character, and identity are described using various research methods including interviews. After establishing the artwork’s meaning and values, the pertinent risks to 81 Horizons are identified and described. These risks are deemed applicable to many other blockchain-based artworks, as well. The last portion of the assessment pinpoints the biggest threat to the artwork, where technological obsolescence is found to be the front-runner. This largest risk is discussed in terms of existing preservation strategies drawn from the conservation of variable media artworks - storage, migration, emulation, and reinterpretation – and is analyzed in the context of 81 Horizons. The ensuing obstacles and ethical dilemmas that arise from such strategies are reflected upon, followed by the legal and sustainable issues that still remain and are in need of more research.

As more and more artworks using blockchain technology find their way into institutions, there will be increasing pressure to have possible future preservation protocols put into place for their battle against obsolescence, among other risk factors. Thus, the research on the use of an existing risk assessment approach to help identify vulnerabilities and diagnose preservation solutions is well-timed and much needed.

Deeply reflecting the new and swiftly evolving technological landscape of their time, Robert Rauschenberg’s Carnal Clocks(1969) serve as a prime example of collaborations between artists, engineers, and manufacturing companies, and the use of innovative materials and processes in contemporary art. A unique series of 15 timepieces conceived by the artist, the free-standing artworks feature a concealed clock-mechanism with custom-made electronics and 48 incandescent light bulbs that subtly illuminate mirrored, silkscreened photographs on acrylic sheets to convey the passage of time. In this presentation, a condition survey of 11 Carnal Clocks in the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (RRF) collection will be discussed as a case study to offer new insights into the management of temporal and material changes in time-based media art conservation. In addition to historical and comparative analysis, the authors conducted an experiment to measure time drift and accuracy across each of the Clocks. Their idiosyncratic behavior prompted questions not only about how their material properties have changed over time, but also about how their function as “clocks” hinges on fluctuating cultural perceptions of time. As a result of this research, the authors presented recommendations to the RRF for an acceptable threshold for clock drift and a solution for its correction, aiming to strike a balance between presenting the artwork authentically and aligning with the technological and institutional needs and values of the present. This proposal has undergone deliberations with RRF collection managers, as well as curators and conservators from other institutions with Carnal Clocks in their collections. Drawing from these conversations, the applicability of contemporary values and challenges associated with present-day exhibitions is discussed, addressing time and staffing constraints in exhibiting institutions, the growing significance of public programming and engagement, and the management of obsolete technology. Through this research, the authors shine a light bulb on how we value time in time-based media conservation.

This project was made possible by the generous support of Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA) and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. VoCA played a crucial role in establishing the partnership between the RRF, the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, and the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University

Keywords: Values-based decisions; Contemporary art; Time-based media art; Carnal Clocks; Robert Rauschenberg

Chance Words, by poet, translator and literary critic Augusto de Campos was conceived in 2006 by the poet himself, using the technology of the software Flash. Thus, Augusto de Campos, who had just acquired his first computer, was able to further his research on color and form as poetic elements, while adding effects made possible by the computer, such as movement and sound. It has been 26 years since De Campos' clipoems first appeared, and during that time, the works have become increasingly endangered, not only due to the end of Flash, the software with which he created his works, but also due to the obsolescence of hardware such as the CD player, which has become an increasingly rare device.

Chance Words brings to light the interesting journey leading up to the encounter between Concrete Poetry and the digital environment. Chance Words takes on new aspects with the discovery of the virtual medium, which lends itself perfectly to the experiments of the Concretist vanguard: the interactivity between reader and object was transferred to the click. The typographical experiment is stimulated by chromatic options that suggest, with varying degrees of emphasis, the gradual transformation of Chance Words into its final form, Change Worlds. Chance Words was originally built with Flash technology, which announced the end of its activities in December 2020. This particular work by Augusto de Campos, like many other significant artworks which are part of the history of digital art, was at risk of disappearing.

aarea (www.aarea.co), an online platform founded in 2017 to showcase artworks created specifically for the internet, got in touch with Augusto de Campos to remake some of his digital works that were made in the Flash program. One must take into account that the restoration of digital artworks is subject to the transformations of society and consequently find itself in a permanent state of evolution. In the version presented by aarea, the piece was reprogrammed by Adriano Ferrari, aarea’s technology consultant, in order to ensure its continued existence. But what we discovered in this process of reworking the work is that the poem Chance Words was also present in the code of Flash, since the color used in the work was guided by a special nomenclature of the code.

The presentation we propose here takes into account the "lost" poem, since the original code is no longer present in the new version of the project.

Since the mid-1970s, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has acquired artisan furniture for gallery seating. For 48 years, the seating served simultaneously as visitor seating and accessioned art. 75 seats and growing, this collection portrays the diverse work of American studio furniture makers, from new interpretations of historic designs to futuristic creations in aluminum and steel.

This paper reviews the conservation practices for Please Be Seated, in light of their continued use in the museum’s galleries.

Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) was an American architect and former dean of the school of architecture at Yale. After his passing in 1997, the Library of Congress acquired a significant amount of the Rudolph's archive, including several architectural models. The models were made across a range of dates and from a wide variety of materials, including foamcore, blotter, plywood, acrylic sheeting, thick veneer, coated wire, cast aluminum, dried moss, and basswood. Several pieces have been stored in their original shipping crates in off-site storage, and not accessed for some time.

Four of the models were selected for loan as part of a retrospective on Rudolph's work slated to open in September of 2024. Two of the large models were in poor condition, and had been on open display in the archive before coming to the Library. They had accumulated a significant amount of dust and grime on their surfaces, some of which had become concreted after a water event prior to acquisition. The wet wooden elements had severely curled, loosening some of the joins. Insufficient support during shipping also caused significant damage, particularly on the model of the Colonnade. The Colonnade is made of four floating modules which slide over a central tower. Each module is supported by two metal pins which are not fixed in place. Jostling during shipment caused some of these pins to shake loose, which led to the partial collapse of the modules. Because of its extensive damage, the Colonnade tower model was selected for this talk. It had sustained both water and physical damage, requiring cleaning, humidification, consolidation, and recreation of both plastic and wooden elements. Treatment of the tower, standing at 68 inches when fully assembled, was a collaborative effort between the lead conservator and several technicians, and included training on wet- and dry-cleaning methods, stain reduction using gels, cleaning and reattaching plastic elements, and recreation of missing pieces.

Rainy Day Canapé is one of a small subset of three-dimensional work in the catalog of the artist, Dorothea Tanning. She had a long and varied career as an American artist whose work spanned seven decades and crossed media boundaries. While Tanning is best known for her Surrealist paintings, her collective works include commercial illustrations, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, set design, costume design, fiction, and poetry. Between 1965 and 1982, Tanning created 15 individual sculptures and one room installation that included an additional 6 sculptures. The sculptures are all cloth covered; she used found objects and stuffing to achieve her intended forms.Rainy Day Canapé is one such object and has been in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) since 2002 (accession number 2002-86-1).

The PMA’s sculpture was made in 1970 and features intertwined body parts emerging from the upholstery of a loveseat. The sculpture’s materials are listed in the PMA records as upholstered wood sofa with wool, polyester, and rayon plainweave cover, wool batting, cardboard, and ping-pong balls. However, in 2018, a small area of degraded polyurethane foam was discovered in the form of powder emerging from a gap in the seam of the tweed cover near the bust of the reclining figure. This was an interesting and unexpected find as Tanning was not known to have used polyurethane in her work. However, due to the nature of the sculpture’s construction, identifying the internal materials and their various conditions would be difficult and invasive. Furthermore, Tanning has been quoted saying that she felt these cloth sculptures should have the lifespan of an ill person. How does the conservator/curator/institution tasked with preserving such works for future generations navigate the ethical challenge of such a specific artist’s wish, especially when faced with the knowledge that the work features a rapidly degrading material that has the potential to fundamentally change the form of the sculpture?

It became clear that this work required focused attention to plan for its future. Rainy Day Canapé has been requested for loan many times since it was acquired by the museum in 2002, and the 2019 retrospective of Tanning’s work held at two popular museums in Europe will only increase her visibility and interest in her sculpture. By conducting extensive object examination and multiple forms of documentation, literature review, personal interviews, and archives research a more in depth understanding of the complex nature of this work and the artist was gained. Is there a way to honor the artist’s wishes/expectations while also making the sculpture available to both present and future audiences? This presentation will discuss Tanning, Rainy Day Canapé, and the actions and recommendations necessary to manage these seemingly conflicting goals.

The husband-and-wife duo Charles and Ray Eames are some of the most influential designers of the 20th century. The Eames’ designs, organic and inspired, softened industrial materials, bringing them into the homes of a wide consumer base. While they experimented and worked with a range of materials, they are particularly known for their pioneering use of molded plywood. Released in 1946, the FSW (folding screen in wood) exemplifies the Eames’ design philosophy.

The FSW in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s modern and contemporary collection is composed of six molded plywood segments joined in sequence with woven hinges. The plywood segments are veneered with mahogany and have a bell curve-shaped profile. Fully extended, the screen measures 58 ½ in long and 68 in tall.

Pieces of furniture are enmeshed in the events of daily life that occur around them, capturing records of those activities in the form of wear from regular use, or scratches made by young children and stains from a spilled drink. The Eames FSW is a particularly dynamic object, meant to be moved, opened and closed, and repositioned in endless configurations. The Met’s screen bears the markings of an actively used domestic object, including home repairs likely made with materials the original owner had on hand.

In a museum context, the purpose of The Met’s FSW has changed. It is no longer a specific screen in the home of a specific family—it has become an archetypal example of a design object. Evidence of the screen’s previous life now distracts from its most important attributes, chiefly form and materiality. The surfaces of the Met’s FSW exhibited deep scratches in the finish as well as fourteen patches of overpaint that starkly contrasted with their surroundings. Two sections of one of the woven hinges had detached from their housings.

This paper will detail the treatment of The Met’s FSW, completed as part of the author’s 3rd year graduate internship. Rather than focus on specific outcomes, it will describe the decision-making process that guided the treatment. This process was complicated by the screen’s finish, which was identified as containing cellulose nitrate using the diphenylamine spot test. Working within the limitations imposed by the sensitive finish, retouching using Maimeri Ketonic Resin Colours with ShellSol D38 was ultimately decided to be the best course of action for addressing the overpainted patches. The scratches in the finish were re-saturated with 20% Plexigum PQ611 in Shellsol D38 and the woven hinge resecured with Lascaux 498 HV. With this paper I hope to illustrate the challenging decisions involved in treating a consumer object that has undergone changes both intentional and incidental.

Electronic media works often pose challenges with preservation and display, but when the electrical components are 60 years old, even more complicated decisions must be considered. With the 1963 mixed media artwork Wall Structure in Nine Parts, Each Containing a Work of Art by Other Artists by American artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), there was concern about exhibiting the work with the aged thermal flasher relays and electrical wiring, as well as accurately representing the original Artist intent.

The artwork consists of nine boxes joined together in a 3x3 orientation, each containing an artwork by a different artist that is revealed by lights flashing on and off. The corner boxes are each illuminated by a 10-watt lightbulb, and the remaining boxes are illuminated by a single 75-watt lightbulb in the center box. The lights are wired on two different thermal flasher relays: one for the four corner bulbs and one for the central bulb. The relays turn their corresponding lights on and off. Switching at slightly different rates, the corner bulbs and central bulb oscillate over time between switching in unison and switching oppositely.

In 2022, a full condition assessment was carried out, and while the sculpture could still be turned on, the original electrical components were in various states of degradation. The relays were causing the lights to turn on and off sporadically and inconsistently. Glenstone’s conservation team and electrician were concerned about the possibility of electrical arcing or an electrical fire when the relays ultimately fail, as the mechanics of thermal flasher relays leave them prone to gradual degradation over time. There was also some concern about yellowed wires and splices held together with degrading electrical tape.

Conversations with the Artist’s Estate, the LeWitt Collection, and a conservation colleague who had treated a similar LeWitt sculpture were influential in developing the most sympathetic and authentic treatment approach for Wall Structure in Nine Parts, Each Containing a Work of Art by Other Artists. These discussions lead to a consensus about how to best preserve the electrical functionality in the long term.

The Estate-approved treatment was carried out in collaboration with Glenstone’s licensed electrician to properly address the aged electrical components. The project involved rewiring the entire work without altering the original appearance of the piece. New relays were programmed to best approximate the existing timing. Lightbulbs were replaced with modern equivalents to ensure they do not burn out during the duration of an exhibition. Additionally, a stockpile of lightbulbs was acquired to ensure the artwork can be displayed in the future. The original electrical components removed from the Artwork were accessioned in the museum’s Artist Material Archive for safe storage and future reference. The poster showcases a successful collaborative treatment of an aging electronic media artwork that allows the piece to be safely displayed as the Artist intended, while ensuring the possibility of any necessary future modifications.