Sanchita Balachandran is an objects conservator with her own company,  Objects Conservation Studio, based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.  She also  teaches undergraduate-level courses at the Johns Hopkins University on the  philosophies, ethics and history of conservation.  

One large section of one  of her courses is devoted understanding the complex issues surrounding the conservation of contemporary art. Students read articles and watch artists'  interviews to familiarize themselves with some of the major concerns of this field, including discussions of artists' intent; the conservation challenges of unstable materials and/or new media; the changing role of the conservator as collaborator/perpetuator or even destroyer of an artist's work; the idea of some art works as performances, and so on.  This past semester, undergraduate students interviewed student artists at the local Maryland Institute College of Art to gain a sense of these young artists' intentions, how they expected their current work to be preserved (or not), and gathered information about their working methods, materials and philosophies.  These video interviews were then presented to the class as part of the course's final project.  A segment of one of these videos will soon appear on the Johns Hopkins Museums and Society Website http://sites.jhu.edu/museums/about.html .

Sanchita has regularly turned to the INCCA website to find new and thoughtful articles on the conservation
of contemporary work as well as information on artists' interviews and working methods.  She is especially interested in how materials (and their possibilities and limits) play such powerful roles in how an artist's
vision is carried out.  She welcomes any email from other educators working in the conservation field, and would be grateful for any additional artists interviews that can be shown to students in her courses.  Please feel free to email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .