Historical buildings impacted by the 2021 floods in Belgium, and churches in particular, took several years to dry. In the meantime, mould developed on the furniture and became a recurring phenomenon in some places, where climate control was not possible and the maintenance limited. The project RE-MOLD, elaborated at KIK-IRPA, was an attempt to design new eco-friendly methods to keep control of recurring mould for non-professional users such as parishioners.
The Domaine de recherche et d’innovation majeur (DIM) Patrimoines matériels – innovation, expérimentation, résilience (PAMIR) is the Ile-de-France research network dedicated to the study of heritage sciences. In 2022, the ‘Research and Restoration’ working group was set up within the DIM with the aim of developing mechanisms to meet the funding needs of conservators’ research and the organisation of events to promote these actions. The purpose of this article is to present these initiatives and report on the themes and discussions held as part of two half-day conferences and round tables organised in 2023 and 2024.
This work presents the characterization of the pigments in the painting by Prayat Pongdam, one of the most essential artists in the history of Thai contemporary art. The painting that was studied is named “Cats and Birds (1957),” oil on board, from the collection of a private collector. XRF measurements were carried out utilizing a portable system and mapping scanning. XRF revealed substantial information about the pigments in the painting and the artist’s technique. Lead white (Pb) was presented in or near the ground layer. A mixture of barium (Ba) and titanium (Ti) was applied in almost all areas but less in the blue areas, presumably because these two pigments were used on top of the ground layer. Zinc (Zn) white was mixed with the cerulean blue (Co, Sn) for the blue regions. Chromium-based green (Cr) and red ochre (Fe) were in the palette in green and red areas, respectively. A layer of gold was applied to some areas, assuming the artist wanted to make it a highlight. Metallic pigments containing copper (Cu) were also revealed.
The study of White Rock Line, an artwork by Richard Long dating from 1990, was entrusted to us in December 2011 by the CAPC, museum of contemporary art in Bordeaux. This was a first, comparative, study, looking at two possible options, restore or remake. In addition, the feasability and costing of the operations on work comprising 18 tonnes of stone 40 metres in length was necessary. This study used a sample of around ten original stones and the same number of newly harvested ones, with cleaning tests followed by « laboratory » experiments on the persistance and traces of the active products.
In this interview, the authors (two curator-restorers at the Musée d'ethnographie in Geneva, and a museology researcher) examine museum conservation practices and their aims in the light of the means employed and their sometimes unexpected effects. While chemical treatments of collections were intended to stabilise the material condition of artefacts, their toxic effect on professionals, the objects themselves and the public concerned was often not taken into account when they were used. From a broader decolonisation perspective, the question arises as to how conservation-restoration can help to move beyond unilateral decision-making on the part of museum professionals to ensure that the choices of the people and communities concerned are heard and prioritised.
