Artist Dane Mitchell's installation, Iris, Iris, Iris (2017), was developed in Japan as a result of a co-commission between Mori Art Museum and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Following acquisition into the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the relational and conceptual contemporary installation—removed from its cultural context of Japan—has experienced a slide toward an object-focused monumentality. The broad theoretical and technical skillset unique to conservators is utilised in the proposal to destroy a critical element of the artwork, with the aim of regenerating conceptual salience in the contextual shift to Aotearoa New Zealand. Underscored through interviews with Dane Mitchell, a feminist critical methodology and a model of version control locate the research within an New Zealand/Australian context? to consider destruction as form of conservation.
The work presented here aims to expand the use of Japanese paper for loss compensation in leather objects as an alternative to the more common and less sustainable use of acrylic media. The research builds out of earlier work by Charlotte Ridley (Citation2017) and Yue Li (Citation2021) and is focused on texture-capture based on a minimal palette of materials. This article demonstrates the comprehensive testing of Japanese paper for casting fills for textured leather and compares the results with fills made from the more common medium, BEVA® 371. Several different weights of Japanese paper and concentrations of Klucel G in ethanol were press-moulded into silicone rubber casts taken from both coarse and fine-textured leather objects. The moulds were also used to make BEVA®371b fills for comparison. The two types of fill were applied to the same objects from which the moulds were taken and while the BEVA® 371b fills capture more of the two textures, the paper fills were found to be easier to integrate into the leather with the use of 4 gsm Japanese paper with 15% Klucel G producing the most defined texture comparable to the BEVA®371b.
He Tohu is the permanent exhibition of three of Aotearoa New Zealand's constitutional documents at the National Library of New Zealand. In 2012, Minister for Internal Affairs Chris Tremain announced the documents would be moved from Archives New Zealand to a new purpose-built exhibition space at the National Library. In 2013, it was announced the move and opening deadlines for the exhibition could not be met. A subsequent review highlighted lack of consultation with stakeholders, particularly with Māori. In response, a new project established a Crown-Māori partnership, including the role of Principal Advisor, Māori, to ensure meaningful engagement and care for the exhibition's mauri (life force). A Conservation Work Group (CWG) was also formed to set conservation parameters and advise the Chief Archivist and project teams.Drawing on semi-structured interviews with project members, this paper outlines the context of the CWG and the Principal Advisor, Māori role and the tensions in creating a bi-cultural exhibition process in a Crown-managed framework. The paper also introduces the Mauri Model, an indigenous risk analysis framework, as an alternative to conservation approaches like the Ten Agents of Deterioration. The inclusion of this model aims to provoke discussion on integrating indigenous perspectives into conservation practices.
This case study presents the conservation and partial restoration of Aotearoa New Zealand's first particle accelerator constructed by University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau in the early twentieth century. The accelerator built upon recent breakthroughs with voltage multipliers and became the first instrument of its kind for teaching and research in Aotearoa New Zealand. The accelerator was in use by the University until it was superseded and donated to The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland in 1989. The paper briefly covers the introduction and background of the MOTAT accelerator history, and then highlights the condition, treatment and installation processes for display. Key decision-making process for conservation versus restoration outcomes as well as the use of risk assessments and other considerations for managing treatment approaches for large industrial collection items are summarised. Finally, the paper offers pertinent examples of multidisciplinary research required to make decisions around large industrial scientific object care, use and interpretation. The project utilises recorded oral histories, personal communications and treatments carried out with numerous stakeholders inclusive of the early physicists who developed the accelerator as well as conservation, curatorial and engineering staff, external commercial contractors and volunteers.
In 2022 the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) instigated a 12 month project to identify film substrates in the Spencer Digby / Ronald D. Woolf (Digby / Woolf) collection. The presence of cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate was determined using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. During the initial stages of the FTIR analysis it was hoped that the recording of film notch code data with correlating substrates could potentially lead to identification without the need for testing. This approach proved ineffective due to the dissimilarities in the way film manufacturers employed notch codes. A shift in focus towards establishing a cut-off date for cellulose nitrate sheet film in the Digby / Woolf collection ultimately led to a vast reduction in the amount of testing required. The establishment of this discontinuance date was further reinforced by research into the photographic companies that exported to Aotearoa New Zealand during the period. A priority was to confirm if these manufacturers followed a similar timeline for ceasing the use of cellulose nitrate as a substrate.
The return of four pou tīpuna (ancestral carvings): Te Hūmenga, Te Hauwaho, Te Kāuru o te Rangi and Pouāmate to Waiohiki Marae (complex of buildings around the meeting house) was a highly significant moment for the Hawke's Bay hapū (subtribe), Ngāti Paarau. The momentous occasion resulted from a journey and challenges spanning over 100 years. The pou (post[s]) are significant to Ngāti Paarau being tīpuna (ancestors) killed in battle in 1824 and later honoured in carved form. They were commissioned by Ngāti Paarau chief Tareha Te Moananui in the late nineteenth century for Hau te Ananui, a wharenui (meeting house) at Waiohiki Marae. In the early twentieth century, the pou were removed and eventually housed in the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery (now known at MTG Hawke's Bay), after the 1931 earthquake. Over time they have been in storage and on display including one pou, Te Kāuru o te Rangi, joining the international Te Māori exhibition in the 1980s. Upon Te Kāuru's return to Aotearoa New Zealand, negotiations for the eventual return of our pou tīpuna home to Waiohiki began. Aunty Taape Tareha-O'Reilly, a direct descendant of the tīpuna was involved throughout the process and played a crucial role. The contribution of generations of Ngāti Paarau hapū members led to the return of the pou tīpuna in 2021, during the COVID pandemic, in conjunction with the build of a new wharenui, Hau te Ananui. It was a large-scale effort to successfully get the pou home. This paper looks at the successful return and ongoing care of ancestral pou using robust conservation processes and procedures combined with Tikanga Māori (Māori protocols). This paper also shares the opportunities and challenges of repatriation and caring for Taonga Māori (Māori cultural items/treasures) in a marae context. During the process a conservation management plan was developed by a Ngāti Paarau conservator, to establish the optimum environment, practical handling procedures, tikanga, future risk management and identify hapū members responsible for the ongoing care of the pou tīpuna.
This paper reflects on the National Gallery of Victoria and its Exhibitions Conservation section over its 30-year history, and assesses the development of sustainable approaches within its programming. The author has managed the section since its inception, providing a unique insider opportunity to examine three decades of exhibition management within a large state institution, working with lenders and borrowers to manage both local and international loans. The paper describes the Exhibition Conservation section before reviewing a selection of exhibition files spanning the period 1975–2020 to evaluate 'change' with respect to the mid-range environmental parameters. Relative Humidity, usually considered the most significant issue for lenders, will be the main focus. Experience gained in lending to non-compliant environments is described and the Exhibition Conservation library is reviewed for discussions of sustainability of the profession more generally. Change is discussed in light of the fundamental rethink of collection management occurring within the profession. Finally, tools are offered to assist in the management of loans between differing environments.
This paper develops an understanding of the complex interplay of perspectives implicit in the multifaceted practice of Cultural Materials Conservation, as it pertains to individuals, larger organisational structures, and contemporary social contexts. The research takes the form of a six-week online qualitative group interview, which captures a range of opinions and attitudes from a cross-sectional group of conservation practitioners. The data is presented as a complete de-anonymised interview transcript, available as a supplementary material, which describes the experiences and perspectives of individual practitioners, their day-to-day challenges, and the decision-making processes conservators face in their practice. A central argument in this paper is the value of the concepts of humanness and reflexivity in twenty-first-century conservation thinking. Reflecting on the role of individual practitioners as custodians of cultural heritage, with the view on what it means to be a conservator in practice today, is a valuable contribution that can shed light on the conservation decision-making and evolving practice that is focused on sensitivity and fluid responsiveness to cultural changes, personal values, and diverse relationships involved in the conservation of cultural heritage.
Conservation practice increasingly seeks to include community participation. This article reflects on such a collaborative process, through the case study of the community-driven conservation of a stage curtain painted in 1897 for the Mechanics Hall of Bullumwaal, a remote township in the state of Victoria (Australia). From fundraising efforts and navigating grant applications to managing the conservation project, the challenges faced by the local community in order to conserve their curtain and keep it in situ are examined in light of current heritage preservation policies and practices. Close collaboration with the conservators and flexibility with all preconceived plans resulted in a successful negotiated outcome that respected both community values and ethics of preservation. Social events are now planned to advertise the curtain’s presence and attract people to the township. The conservation treatment also triggered more research by local historians, expanding knowledge about the place and its people and opening the Bullumwaal community to new connections with other parts of Victoria. This case illustrates the importance of living cultural heritage within a community and conservation’s contribution to strengthen identity, social cohesion and sense of place through the preservation process.
The world of collections storage is changing. While storage is often a challenging problem to solve because of the ever-increasing footprint requirements and associated resource costs, there is a shift within the Galleries, Libraries, Archies and Museums (GLAM) sector involving greater public access to our vast and hidden collections. This is causing some discomfort but also many opportunities. Purpose-built facilities are being designed using sustainable materials and methods, and the behind-the-scenes is being revealed. This is bringing the back-of-house to the front and generating greater awareness, value, new investment, and partnership models. This paper will share the transformational storage project at Arts Centre Melbourne referred to as the APAC Reveal. It will present the challenges and issues of developing, managing, preserving, and sharing a significant State Collection within Australia's largest performing arts organisation. It will also impart the journey of change through innovation and how building relationships, working collaboratively, thinking creatively, and testing revised ways of working, can produce opportunities which unlock the potential for a collection, staff, industry, stakeholders, and communities.
The twenty-first century conservator is more regularly involved in collection-based community engagements. This is in response to and influenced by the revised roles of cultural institutions as social spaces that recognise the importance of inclusivity, community participation and sustainability. Despite this focus on communities, the practical details and the care needed to undertake this work are not adequately documented. The challenge for conservators, needing to stay relevant and connected, is how best to engage participants from diverse backgrounds in structured and meaningful ways. This research sought to develop practices around conservation that is engaged with communities, working with culturally diverse groups in an exhibition setting.
With the increasing ubiquity of digital media engagement it is worth considering how heritage artefact digitisation can evolve and adapt. Twenty-first century computing developments bring low-cost three-dimensional (3D) imaging into reach, creating opportunities for cultural materials conservators to implement efficient and comprehensive new avenues in non-contact documentation and engagement. This research presents a workflow for combining efficient photometric stereo capture workflows with structure-from-motion photogrammetry for comprehensive modelling of high- and low-frequency artefact geometry and surface texture. Presenting a range of potential applications in conservation, the excellent topographic mapping of planar surfaces brings granular accuracy and unparalleled detail to condition documentation and digital reproduction of flat objects with finely textured surfaces, such as paintings or printing plates.
The deaccession (removal) of items from a collection involves assessment of an item's significance or value to that collection. Though ultimately a curatorial decision, cConservators aid this curatorial can play a key role in the decision-making process where by providing expert advice on the item's condition. Aadvanced deterioration diminishes or negates thiscan alter the object to such a degree that its significance and value are reduced or even lost entirely. Museums Victoria's deaccession record was examined in search of such information. Six case studies relating toinvolving the 'gross deterioration' of plastics were examined from Museums Victoria's deaccession record, for information that illuminates how an object's material condition affects in perceived significance.of plastics as the main criteria for deaccession were located and a A further eight case studies included commentary on where the condition of plastic components was discussed, even if condition was not a contributing factor to the argument for deaccession. In determining resource allocations for managing plastics in collections, these case studies suggest it may be useful to prioritise preventive interventions for objects made entirely or substantially from at-risk plastics such as cellulose acetate, polyurethane, or rubber; objects that are stand-alone examples of their kind; and objects intended as 'single use', such as stage props and other ephemeral items. Further, for social history collections, deterioration such as yellowing, surface abrasion and hardening may not make a critical difference to an object's value. Change that significantly alters an object's original shape is more likely to result in deaccession, such as crumbling or severe distortion.
