{"id":51,"date":"2023-05-16T19:31:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T19:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/?page_id=51"},"modified":"2026-03-21T01:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:46:56","slug":"preserving-plastics-in-the-collection-at-the-harvard-art-museums","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/preserving-plastics-in-the-collection-at-the-harvard-art-museums\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Plastics in the Collection at the Harvard Art Museums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u200b\u200b<\/sub><\/strong>Preserving Plastics in the Collection at the Harvard Art Museums<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Susan D. Costello, Georgina Rayner, Angela Chang, and Elizabeth La Duc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volume 1 (2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download Article (PDF, 260Kb)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Conservar Pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n de Harvard Art Museums<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Susan D. Costello, Georgina Rayner, Angela Chang, y Elizabeth La Duc<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 1 (2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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descargar art\u00edculo (PDF, 260Kb)<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keywords<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

survey, plastic collection, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, rubber, storage, housing, treatments, research<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In 2016, the conservation department at the Harvard Art Museums began the first comprehensive survey of polymeric materials in the collection. The survey sought to determine the scope of plastics in the collection, identify the types of plastics present, update the media information in the Museums\u2019 collection database, upgrade storage and housing, and undertake necessary conservation treatments. Based on the survey results, preventive and interventive conservation actions were prescribed. The preventive conservation measures comprise the bulk of the work and focus on slowing the deterioration of the most vulnerable plastics. Whereas the most labor-intensive portion of this work is rehousing, additional preventive measures include moving objects to a climate-controlled environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interventive conservation forms a smaller portion of the work as most of the objects surveyed are in stable condition. Two treatments have been completed to date. The first was a PVC work by Joseph Beuys exhibiting serious plasticizer migration. The second treatment was a regenerated cellulose book cover by Herbert Bayer that was broken into multiple pieces and was suffering losses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

encuesta, recogida de pl\u00e1sticos, poliuretano, cloruro de polivinilo, caucho, almacenamiento, alojamiento, tratamientos, investigaci\u00f3n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

En 2016, el departamento de conservaci\u00f3n de Harvard Art Museums inici\u00f3 su primer estudio exhaustivo de materiales polim\u00e9ricos de la colecci\u00f3n. La grave degradaci\u00f3n de la obra de Claes Oldenburg False Food Selection impuls\u00f3 esta iniciativa. Tan solo cincuenta a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s de su adquisici\u00f3n, los elementos pl\u00e1sticos ready-made se hab\u00edan decolorado, desinflado y presentado eflorescencias biol\u00f3gicas. El deterioro de la “comida” se deb\u00eda sin duda a la inestabilidad de sus materiales: una combinaci\u00f3n de poliuretano, cloruro de polivinilo (PVC) y caucho, tres de los pl\u00e1sticos de mayor riesgo en las colecciones de los museos. El estudio pretend\u00eda determinar el alcance de materiales pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n, identificar los tipos de pl\u00e1sticos presentes, actualizar la informaci\u00f3n en la base de datos de colecciones de los museos (The Museums Systems, TMS), actualizar el almacenamiento, alojamiento y emprender los tratamientos de conservaci\u00f3n necesarios. Desde mediados de 2016, los quinientos objetos examinados que conten\u00edan pl\u00e1stico inclu\u00edan treinta y siete (37) diferentes tipos de pol\u00edmeros, identificados mediante el uso combinado de espectroscopia FT-IR y pirolisis- cromatograf\u00eda de gases y espectrometr\u00eda de masas (pir\u00f3lisis-GC-MS). A partir de los resultados del estudio, se prescribieron acciones de conservaci\u00f3n preventivas y de intervenci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Costello, Susan D., Georgina Rayner, Angela Chang, and Elizabeth La Duc. 2022. \u201cPreserving Plastics in the Collection at the Harvard Art Museums \/ Conservar Pl\u00e1sticos en la Colecci\u00f3n de Harvard Art Museums.\u201d In Contemporary Art Review<\/em>, Vol. 1. Edited by Delia M\u00fcller-W\u00fcsten, Martha Singer. Washington, DC: AIC. 56\u201360.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u200b\u200bPreserving Plastics in the Collection at the Harvard Art Museums Susan D. Costello, Georgina Rayner, Angela Chang, and Elizabeth La Duc Contemporary Art Review, Volume 1 (2021) Conservar Pl\u00e1sticos en la colecci\u00f3n de Harvard Art Museums Susan D. Costello, Georgina Rayner, Angela Chang, y Elizabeth La Duc Contemporary Art Review, Volumen 1 (2021) Keywords survey, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":184,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-51","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51","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=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/contemporaryartreview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}