{"id":316,"date":"2026-05-19T12:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/?page_id=316"},"modified":"2026-05-26T14:12:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:12:36","slug":"preservation-of-the-plastic-objects-in-the-harvard-art-museums-fluxus-collection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/preservation-of-the-plastic-objects-in-the-harvard-art-museums-fluxus-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Preservation of the Plastic Objects in the Harvard Art Museums\u2019 Fluxus Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Preservation of the Plastic Objects in the Harvard Art Museums\u2019 Fluxus Collection<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Susan Costello and Georgina Rayner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volume 4 (2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download Article (PDF, 9MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Preservaci\u00f3n de los objetos pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n Fluxus de los Museos de Arte de Harvard<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Susan Costello y Georgina Rayner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 4 (2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DESCARGAR ART\u00cdCULO (PDF, 9MB)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keywords<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

plastics, Fluxus, Fluxkits, polystyrene, rehousing, artist interviews, rubber, PVC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Harvard Art Museums (Museums) focused on the preservation of the Barbara and Peter Moore Fluxus Collection after a recent survey revealed 70 percent of the works of art contained plastics. Of particular concern were the Fluxkit multiples, many of which included unstable plastics, especially plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and rubber. The Museums\u2019 preservation strategies, driven by the nature of Fluxus and the Collection\u2019s need to remain accessible for teaching and research, focused on minimal intervention and often required compromise to allow components to stay in their original boxes. After identifying the plastics via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-GCMS), the bulk of the work was preventive to improve housing and storage, while interventive conservation treatments formed a smaller portion of the allotted time. The latter involved stabilization necessary to handle and display the objects safely, and two recent polystyrene treatments will be presented along with highlights from the evaluation of polystyrene treatments completed almost twenty years ago. In addition, works of art were digitally recorded to capture their interactive nature, and existing and new artist interviews helped inform how to care for the Collection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Palabras Clave<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

pl\u00e1sticos, Fluxus, Fluxkits, poliestireno, reembalaje, entrevistas con artistas, caucho, PVC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resumen<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Los Museos de Arte de Harvard (los Museos) centraron sus esfuerzos en la preservaci\u00f3n de la Colecci\u00f3n Fluxus de Barbara y Peter Moore despu\u00e9s de que un estudio reciente revelara que el 70 % de las obras de arte conten\u00edan pl\u00e1sticos. Una preocupaci\u00f3n particular eran los m\u00faltiples Fluxkit, muchos de los cuales inclu\u00edan pl\u00e1sticos inestables, especialmente policloruro de vinilo (PVC) plastificado y caucho. Las estrategias de preservaci\u00f3n de los Museos, determinadas por la naturaleza de Fluxus y por la necesidad de que la colecci\u00f3n permaneciera accesible para la ense\u00f1anza y la investigaci\u00f3n, se enfocaron en una intervenci\u00f3n m\u00ednima y a menudo, requirieron concesiones para permitir que los componentes permanecieran en sus cajas originales. Tras la identificaci\u00f3n de los pl\u00e1sticos mediante espectroscop\u00eda infrarroja por transformada de Fourier (FTIR) y pir\u00f3lisis\u2013cromatograf\u00eda de gases\u2013espectrometr\u00eda de masas (py-GCMS), la mayor parte del trabajo fue de car\u00e1cter preventivo, orientado a mejorar el embalaje y el almacenamiento, mientras que los tratamientos de conservaci\u00f3n interventiva representaron una proporci\u00f3n menor del tiempo asignado. Estos \u00faltimos incluyeron la estabilizaci\u00f3n necesaria para manipular y exhibir los objetos de forma segura. Se presentar\u00e1n dos tratamientos recientes de poliestireno junto con aspectos destacados de la evaluaci\u00f3n de tratamientos de poliestireno realizados hace casi veinte a\u00f1os. Adem\u00e1s, las obras de arte fueron registradas digitalmente para captar su naturaleza interactiva. Las entrevistas existentes y nuevas con los artistas ayudaron a orientar el cuidado de la colecci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Citation<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Costello, Susan, and Georgina Rayner. 2026. \u201cPreservation of the Plastic Objects in the Harvard Art Museums\u2019 Fluxus Collection \/ Preservaci\u00f3n de los objetos pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n Fluxus de los Museos de Arte de Harvard.\u201d In Contemporary Art Review, Vol. 4. Edited by Austin Anderson, Jessica Walthew, and adrian hernandez. Washington, DC: AIC. 1\u201318.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Preservation of the Plastic Objects in the Harvard Art Museums\u2019 Fluxus Collection Susan Costello and Georgina Rayner Contemporary Art Review, Volume 4 (2024) Preservaci\u00f3n de los objetos pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n Fluxus de los Museos de Arte de Harvard Susan Costello y Georgina Rayner Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 4 (2024) Keywords plastics, Fluxus, Fluxkits, polystyrene, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":315,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-316","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/316\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}