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Parallel session
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Title
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The Role of Science in the Conservation of Contemporary Art
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Type
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discussion
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Date, time
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Thursday 10th June, 14:00-16:00
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Organisation
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Tom Learner, Senior Scientist / Head of Modern and Contemporary Art Research, Getty Conservation Institute
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Guests
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Lydia Beerkens, private conservator / SRAL conservator of modern and contemporary art
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Alberto de Tagle, Chief Scientist, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage / ICN
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Susan Lake, Director of Collections, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
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Lynn Lee, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Conservation Science, Harvard Art Museum
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Bronwyn Ormsby, Senior Conservation Scientist, Tate
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Thea van Oosten, Senior Conservation Scientist, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage / ICN
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Click here to download biographies
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Description
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Few would argue that scientific research will continue to play a crucial role in the study, documentation and conservation of modern and contemporary art. However, has the conservation science field responded effectively to the range of new conservation needs and challenges being constantly thrown up by these works of art? Or is the more traditional approach, based principally on materials identification, still largely followed? And how do we strike the correct balance between technical study and documentation needs, with research into conservation treatments? Encouragingly, a number of longer-term projects have been recently set up with specific components dealing with investigating conservation treatments of works of art made with modern materials, eg POPART (12 European partners), and the Modern Paints project (Tate/GCI). But is this an overall trend within the field? This roundtable discussion will consider these and other questions with a view to examining the ways in which the scientific research being carried out is being guided by, and feeding into, the changing needs of the modern and contemporary art conservator.
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Biography
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Tom Learner is Senior Scientist and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art Research at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles. He has a PhD in chemistry (University of London, 1997), and a Diploma in conservation of easel paintings (Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 1991). Before joining the GCI in 2007, he was senior conservation scientist at Tate in London, where he coordinated a major collaborative research project into the conservation issues of modern paints, culminating in the Modern Paints Uncovered symposium, held at Tate Modern in 2006. He now oversees a number of scientific research projects at the GCI, including: Modern Paints, Outdoor Painted Surfaces, and Preservation of Plastics, and organized the Object in Transition conference at the Getty Center in 2008. He is currently the coordinator for the Modern Materials and Contemporary Art working group of ICOM-CC, and sits on the advisory committees for INCCA (the International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art), and RPM (Rescue Public Murals). He has published widely, including two books: The Impact of Modern Paints (2000) and Analysis of Modern Paints (2004).
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