Asti Sherring, Rebecca Barnott-Clement, Alessandra Guarascio, and Marta Garcia-Celma
Electronic Media Review, Volume Seven: 2021-2022
ABSTRACT
Contemporary art conservation literature emphasizes the importance of collaboration, communication, and negotiation to ensure the long-term display and preservation of time-based media installation artworks. In practice, however, it can be a challenge for conservation professionals to openly share knowledge and personal insights gathered between artist, curator and conservator beyond long-lasting institutional parameters.
This stark reality sits in conflict with the very notion of learning. However, as demonstrated through the concepts of a ‘community of practice’, learning is embedded within social practice and community engagement and as such is a fundamental process by which we learn.
This presentation applies a ‘community of practice’ theoretical framework to analyze a collaborative exhibition and preservation approach undertaken by conservators at M+ Museum, Hong Kong, and The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney on the time-based media installation artwork Beijing Opera (2000, 2001) by contemporary Chinese artist Yin Xiuzhen.
Through this case study, the authors explore the conservator’s role in collaboratively establishing the identity of an artwork, sharing knowledge gained through documentation, including artist questionnaires and iteration history reports, and working together to manage the variability and changeability of the artwork for the purposes of long-term preservation and faithful display. This presentation argues that the preservation of time-based media installation artworks can be better achieved when conservators apply a community of practice approach which reflects the fundamentally social nature of learning and embraces the opportunities afforded by seeking collective answers to complex questions together.
AUTHORS
Asti Sherring
Senior time-based art conservator
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Rebecca Barnott-Clement
Junior time-based art conservator
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Alessandra Guarascio
Installation Art Conservator
M+ Museum Limited, Hong Kong
Marta Garcia-Celma
Photographic materials and contemporary art
M+ Museum Limited, Hong Kong