tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/cultural-conservation-9993/articlesCultural conservation – The Conversation2016-12-04T19:08:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/693462016-12-04T19:08:25Z2016-12-04T19:08:25ZImitation game: how copies can solve our cultural heritage crises<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148209/original/image-20161201-30244-x7zd3v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Otsuka Museum of Art in Tokushima features a full-sized replica of the Sistine Chapel. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kzaral/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visitors to the <a href="http://o-museum.or.jp/english/publics/index/16/0/#page">Otsuka Museum</a> in Japan are offered the chance to see through time. Two life-sized copies of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper are hung on opposing walls, one showing it before the major 1999 restoration, and one as it is today.</p>
<p>Visitors can pivot their view to observe changes in colour on the paintings in front of them. The true-to-scale copies are painted on ceramic tiles, which the Museum claims can maintain their colour and shape for over 2000 years. </p>
<p>The Museum offers visitors the ability to literally walk through the history of Western art’s greatest works. Other recreations include Vincent Van Gogh’s lost Six Sunflowers painting, which was destroyed in 1945 by US airstrikes on Tokyo. Art lovers can view paintings in a manner rendered impossible in real life. </p>
<p>As the world faces ongoing cultural heritage crises – from poverty, to war, to natural disaster – is the creation of copies the answer?</p>
<p>Increasingly sophisticated technology, including 3D printing, offers an alternative to traditional preservation techniques. However, while these new technologies may solve problems of accessibility to precious antiquities they also raise other problems of authenticity and trust.</p>
<p>The New Yorker recently profiled the work undertaken by the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/28/the-factory-of-fakes">Factum Arte workshop in Madrid</a>, which uses advanced 3D printing technology to recreate ancient artefacts that are being ravaged by time and modern life.</p>
<p>The head of the project, Adam Lowe, describes the new artefacts as “rematerialized” facsimiles. Notable projects include a full sized reproduction of King Tut’s burial chamber, built out of extraordinarily detailed scans. The original tomb is at risk of deterioration due to thousands of tourists breathing on ancient plaster, as well as possible excavations to uncover what could be Nefertiti’s tomb next door.</p>
<p>Despite these successes, there are objections to the practice of creating copies. Critical theorist Walter Benjamin famously argued that art loses its “aura” when it is reproduced: the impact an original artwork creates when it’s <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/walter-benjamin-art-aura-authenticity/">uniquely present in time and space</a> vanishes as soon as copies are made. </p>
<p>Yet ultimately, the transferral of art into a new medium and context allows entire new audiences to have a brand new – and possibly deeper – connection to our greatest treasures.</p>
<p>Anyone who has battled the crowds in front of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch in the Rijksmuseum or the mass of selfie sticks in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, will appreciate how Otsuka Museum affords the visitor the opportunity to experience a painting’s colours, composition and artistic impression.</p>
<p>Of course the experience of these “rematerialized” paintings and artefacts will be different from that of the original pieces. Tutankhamen’s replica tomb, while set near the original in Luxor, is missing the authentic musty smell of the ancient rooms. It also features a digitally restored panel destroyed when the tomb was originally opened. </p>
<h2>Where is the harm?</h2>
<p>But as long as the audience clearly understands that these are replicas, from the perspective of preserving cultural heritage, where is the harm in appreciating these objects in a new medium?</p>
<p>Visitors to the Otsuka Museum and Factum Arte are under no illusion that what they are viewing are originals. These are not fakes, as the attention grabbing headlines claim, but replicas and copies, the distinctive feature being a lack of intent to deceive. Honesty with your audience is of paramount importance. </p>
<p>The issue of restoration and conservation is historically fraught, and intensified now by various economic and cultural tensions. As noted in the New Yorker article, visiting Egypt right now is an unusual experience due to that country’s recent political upheavals. Aside from the chance to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World without battling hoards of tourists, the issues of preserving of the country’s cultural and archaeological assets are obvious.</p>
<p>The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has limited air-conditioning, with cracked showcases and storage units on display in the main exhibition spaces alongside many priceless relics. They are awaiting the new museum, which has been under construction for many years.</p>
<p>Ironically, the museum collection features a copy of one of the most important Ancient Egyptian artefacts, the Rosetta stone, with the original version found in the British Museum, over 2000 miles away. </p>
<p>In contrast, a different response to cultural heritage concerns can be seen in the vast temples at <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/88">Abu Simbel</a>. Originally carved into the side of a mountain over the Nile, the temples came under threat with the construction of the Aswan High dam in the 1960s. Under the supervision of UNESCO, the temples were cut out and moved 65m up and 210m northwest.</p>
<p>In this case what has been replicated is not the physical temples of Ramses II but the original location and authenticity of the experience as it was originally intended. </p>
<p>The move meant that the temple’s axis is no longer aligned as it was during Pharaonic Egypt. The structure was created so the sun lit up the statues inside the temple twice a year, on February 21 and October 21. The so-called “miracle of the sun” still occurs, just one day later.</p>
<p>Whilst there is no attempt to conceal the relocation, one cannot help ascribing perceived defects to the move. When did Ramses lose his beard? Was it dropped?</p>
<p>Jonathan Jones recently argued in The Guardian that we should leave the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/apr/11/palmyra-isis-syria-restored-3d-printers-vandalism">crumbling remnants</a> of the Isis-ravaged Syrian town of Palmyra alone, and recognise that the destruction of this sacred site forms part of its history and newfound fame.</p>
<p>For Jones, the authenticity of Palmyra is its decay, not the “faked-up approximation” that a <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-3d-print-a-new-palmyra-57014">3D printed version</a> might offer visitors.</p>
<p>But we are constantly battling the push and pull of authenticity and heritage. While Jones may deride the inauthentic replication of Syrian archaeological sites, we must confront the issue of preserving our cultural heritage in manner that is accessible in the future. </p>
<p>When these remnants are no more than dust and rubble, would a future generation really rebuff a “rematerialized” 3D printed version? So long as the creation of a replica does no harm to authentic version, where is the problem in creating a coherent copy?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felicity Strong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Increasingly sophisticated technology allows us to make close-to-perfect copies of everything from paintings to burial chambers. Can a replica bring artefacts to new audiences?Felicity Strong, PhD Candidate - Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/365792015-02-03T05:12:17Z2015-02-03T05:12:17ZThe condemnation of memory: what’s behind the destruction of World Heritage sites<p>Recently in Aleppo, Syria, the Jabha Shamiya militia has started carrying out a new urban warfare strategy: tunnel bombing. Aside from the human damage wrought by this tactic, it is also extremely damaging to Aleppo’s Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site. </p>
<p>In addition to the collateral destruction caused by warring religious and political sects, the destruction of World Heritage sites is often associated to the absolute iconoclasm of several Islamic fundamentalist groups. Recent examples include the <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/world/afghanistan-world/bamiyan-buddhas/">demolition of the Bamyian’s Buddhas in Afghanistan</a> and the destruction of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/30/us-mali-crisis-idUSBRE85T04E20120630">Timbuktu’s Holy Shrines in Mali</a>. </p>
<p>However, these are only the most visible examples of a broader threat to cultural heritage around the world. And Middle Eastern extremist groups are far from the only ones responsible; profitable looting, unchecked industrial and urban development, and collateral damages during conflicts – all have led to the destruction or disappearance of cultural heritage. </p>
<h2>An international collaboration</h2>
<p>Cultural heritage can be either tangible (sculptures, monuments), or intangible (oral traditions, performing arts); movable (paintings, manuscripts), or not (archaeological sites). They can represent a number of things: they can memorialize an important era in history, symbolize a nation’s power or act as a profitable source of income. For these reasons, they’ve been the object of manipulation and destruction for millennia, whether it was the looting of the pharaohs’ tombs 2,500 years ago, or Scipio’s complete annihilation of Carthage in 146 BCE. </p>
<p>In November 1945, representatives from different nations gathered to ponder the causes of two consecutive global conflicts. The group, made up of politicians, scientists, philosophers, and artists, identified part of the problem as mankind’s “ignorance of each other’s ways and lives” – an inability to understand, appreciate and preserve different cultures.</p>
<p>At the end of the conference, thirty-seven countries created UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and signed its constitution; a year later, twenty countries ratified it. The institution was dedicated to the promotion of “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” through the advancement of cross-cultural knowledge, and the protection of cultural expression in its many forms. Through international collaboration, the organization soon went to work, preserving endangered cultural sites like the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt. </p>
<p>In November 1972, during UNESCO’s 17th session, the state parties adopted the “Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,” and created the “World Heritage” designation, which they assigned to extraordinary cultural achievements, such as the Andean road system and the Great Wall of China, and natural landscapes, like Iguazu Falls and Turkey’s Göreme National Park.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70850/original/image-20150202-13049-176co85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">World Heritage sites can include natural landscapes, like Iguazu Falls, located at the border of Argentina and Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Iguazu_Décembre_2007_-_Panorama_3.jpg/640px-Iguazu_Décembre_2007_-_Panorama_3.jpg">Martin St-Amant/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Convention mentioned that “The deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world.” It also emphasized the global ownership of this heritage, along with the responsibilities of future generations. </p>
<p>As of today, 779 cultural properties, along with 31 mixed sites (natural and cultural) are listed in 161 state parties throughout the world. For the past 70 years, a set of conventions, recommendations, and declarations, have contributed to the development and implementation of new regulations, which tackle issues such as illegal trafficking, protection of cultural heritage during conflicts, and defining what should be considered “intangible cultural heritage” (such as “male-child cleansing ceremony of the Lango of central northern Uganda,” or “Mongolian caligraphy”). </p>
<h2>Present day problems</h2>
<p>However, as of 2015, in addition to the non-listed cultural heritage features, <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/danger/">46 World Heritage sites</a> and <a href="http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/?pg=00174">38 cultural practices</a> are considered endangered. </p>
<p>For instance, in Crimea and Ukraine, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has raised concerns about the lack of measures in place to protect archaeological and cultural resources; the destruction of several historic churches and fortresses has already occurred. Meanwhile, in Yerevan, Armenia, corruption and misplaced nationalism has led to an almost complete eradication of the old city, which dates from the 18th and 19th centuries. In Bolivia, extensive mining activities is threatening the survival of the 500-year-old Potosí colonial settlement. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70851/original/image-20150202-13045-nw6c08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An aerial shot of Potosí, a 500-year-old city in Bolivia. Note the mining activities in the top-left corner of the photograph.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Potosi_air.jpg">Gerd Breitenbach/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>America hasn’t emerged unscathed. In New York City, much of its modern architectural heritage – like the American Folk Art Museum – is being neglected. It’s also estimated that up to 80% of the archaeological sites in the US have been looted and damaged.</p>
<p>Finally, rampant looting has taken place in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and large parts of Southeast Asia, due to an illegal antiquity trade market <a href="http://museumanthropology.net/2007/07/07/mar-2007-2-2/">estimated to be worth upwards of a billion dollars per year</a>. Some of these pirated artifacts will end up for sale <a href="http://www.saa.org/AbouttheSociety/GovernmentAffairs/LettertoAmazon/tabid/222/Default.aspx">online</a>, on the auction block at <a href="http://art-crime.blogspot.com/2013/12/sothebys-sells-symes-marble-matched-by.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">Sotheby’s</a> – even in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/06/stolen-statues-ngas-indian-artworks-found-to-be-looted-shouldnt-surprise">national museums</a>.</p>
<h2>Shared memory: the ultimate common denominator</h2>
<p>Why, despite international efforts such as the UNESCO, is cultural heritage still under attack worldwide? </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZGyuVXFvssC&pg">Some have blamed nationalistic regimes</a>, which often attempt to politicize cultural artifacts, using them to reinterpret the past for specific ideological purposes. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/887647/Organised_crimes_in_Art_and_Antiquities">Others have highlighted</a> the striking contrast between the massive profit created by the illegal antiquity market and the relatively low penal risk tied to it. <a href="http://these-de-doctorat-chloemaurel.blogspot.com">And some have also pointed to</a> the lack of enforcement of UNESCO regulations; they’ve also suggested the creation of modern-day “<a href="http://www.wmf.org/journal/remarks-bonnie-burnham-president-world-monuments-fund-press-conference-heritage-and-conflict">Monument Men</a>” – individuals tasked with safeguarding at-risk areas of cultural importance in countries at war. </p>
<p>But above all, there seems to be a disconnect among nations and individuals in how they comprehend the concept of world heritage, and its importance as a means to safeguard mankind’s memory. </p>
<p>When the UNESCO convention was signed, the world had just emerged from two global conflicts. While each nation had its own agenda, all the attending state parties sought to find common denominators: shared goals that would persevere beyond ideology, politics, power and economics. It’s an ambient universalism that’s particularly well represented in the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70853/original/image-20150202-25825-sttjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The creation of UNESCO was undoubtedly influenced by the destruction caused by two World Wars, in which entire cities – along with countless structures of cultural importance – were left in ruins. Here, a decimated Cologne, Germany is pictured in 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Koeln_1945.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The challenge of the UNESCO participants, then, was defining a set of universal values that would preserve and promote a culturally diverse world. To the assembled parties, the modification and re-interpretation of the past was one of the greatest threats to world peace. This was particularly conspicuous in the creation of the <em>Ahnenerbe</em> during Nazi Germany. This research institute, headed by Himmler, was charged with studying “Aryan culture” and finding evidence supporting Hitler’s imperialist and racial ideology.</p>
<p>UNESCO decided that the sum of all of mankind’s experience and achievements was to be safeguarded and shown as the heritage of all. It would serve as the ultimate common denominator. Some of the charter’s lessons are simple: the past belongs to no particular nation, no culture is a hermetic entity, and it is a fluid concept, always gaining new elements. </p>
<p>A relativist perspective on the concept of World Heritage would question the right of institutions to meddle in the affairs of individual countries. I would argue that the huge number of people risking their lives on a daily basis to preserve pieces of their cultural heritage is the strongest evidence of a universal devotion to safeguarding our shared memory. </p>
<p>In order to support this effort, increasing international collaboration between different institutions has occurred at the scientific, law enforcement and judicial levels. The ongoing efforts of UNESCO, the International Council on Monuments and Sits (ICOMOS), INTERPOL have led to positive results, such as the registration of art dealers and the closure of loopholes that allowed artifacts from looting to enter the legal antiquity market. </p>
<p>Of course, more needs to be done. </p>
<p>In Ancient Egypt, one of the worst punishments an individual could receive was the chiseling off of his or her name from all monuments and statues – the idea being that the person would be doomed to be forgotten for eternity. In Ancient Rome, this type of post-mortem sentence was named <em>damnatio memoriae</em>, the condemnation of memory.</p>
<p>It is the opposite – the preservation of mankind’s shared memory – that is at the core of World Heritage. As war continues to rage <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/09/24/war-has-damaged-all-but-one-of-syrias-world-heritage-sites-satellite-images-show/">in places like Syria</a>, the same countries that have pledged to preserve the world’s heritage should consider what’s also at stake – beyond politics, beyond economics – and recognize how much can be lost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bastien Varoutsikos is affiliated with SAFE and Heritage for Peace.</span></em></p>Recently in Aleppo, Syria, the Jabha Shamiya militia has started carrying out a new urban warfare strategy: tunnel bombing. Aside from the human damage wrought by this tactic, it is also extremely damaging…Bastien Varoutsikos, Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/271472014-05-25T05:09:05Z2014-05-25T05:09:05ZRestoring Glasgow School of Art to its original design will be impossible<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49387/original/myfpgc4j-1400988895.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A place of aging graceful beauty that cannot be replaced by some youngster with perfect features.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Robert Perry</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I woke up yesterday to a sunny Saturday morning in Melbourne and an SMS message from my eldest son in Glasgow: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I guess you will have heard but there was a major fire at the Glasgow School of Art today. Unfortunately looks like a lot is lost. </p>
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<p>This stark message did little to prepare me for the shock of the images from <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-27541883">UK news channels</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49388/original/mpt45qt3-1400989909.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Students look on as fire crew tackle a major blaze at the Glasgow School of Art, May 23 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> EPA/Robert Perry</span></span>
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<p>The <a href="http://www.gsa.ac.uk/">Glasgow School of Art</a> building, built between 1897 and 1909, is recognised by architects across the world as one of the major architectural masterpieces of the 20th century. Many architects here in Australia have told me of being overwhelmed by the beauty of the building when visiting Glasgow. </p>
<p>I have special reason to feel enormous pain and loss as I watch this iconic building ripped apart by flames. In 1992, I completed my PhD studies of the building – the PhD that led me into an academic career and ultimately to Australia and my current post.</p>
<p>In the weekend’s news reports, the building is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-27544122">referred</a> to as the work of Scottish architect <a href="http://designmuseum.org/design/charles-rennie-mackintosh">Charles Rennie Mackintosh</a>. While Mackintosh is rightly feted as a great artist, designer and architect, neither he nor the building were so well regarded even in their home city in the mid-1900s. At one point, there was consideration of bulldozing this and other Mackintosh buildings as part of the city’s post-war renewal.</p>
<p>The building was the product of the architectural practice of Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh, with the young C.R. Mackintosh the junior partner. </p>
<p>While Mackintosh is frequently referred to as the sole designer of the building, I argued in my PhD thesis – examined by world authority on Mackintosh, Professor Robert Macleod – that while Mackintosh’s hand was clear on the drawings and in the visual aesthetics, the functional planning skill of Honeyman and the technical knowledge of Keppie were evident in the layouts and in the heating systems respectively. Sadly, both these virtues may have contributed to the severity of the fire.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cut away of the Glasgow School of Art Library Tower - the most famous part of the building and which appears to be badly damaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author's own PhD drawings</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The spatial composition of the School is a work of genius, such that it functioned as a working art school for over a century, with student work appearing to be the root of the fire. I understand that in a survey of the School’s property portfolio at a time when it included several buildings from the latter part of the 20th century, the original building was found to be the only one fit for a practical purpose. </p>
<p>So, it was always occupied by students, using various highly flammable materials, respecting the space but not treating it as the hallowed museum piece that its reputation might imply.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is very likely that the old heating system – abandoned in the 1920s – contributed to the speed with which the fire spread from its basement origin to overwhelm the roof space and upper floors. </p>
<p>Built largely of wood, there were many vertical air ducts in the building, running through the full height and no doubt filled with dust, paint particles and other flammable materials. This system was, however, little recognised and until my study an unknown part of the School’s world-class contribution to the history of building.</p>
<p>Contrary to prevailing views that the origins of true air-conditioning – the ability to raise and lower both temperature and humidity independently – lie in the United States in the first decade of the 20th century, these were shown as evident in the Glasgow School of Art. </p>
<p>Keppie had worked with Scottish engineer William Key who, with Robert Tindall, had in 1891 lodged a previously unknown patent that shows the mechanics of true air conditioning. My survey work in the School found traces that clearly showed the integration of Key and Tindall’s air conditioning into the School’s design.</p>
<p>One factor that I unearthed in undertaking my study was that none of the original architects’ drawings showed the building exactly as built. Many details of the design had been subject to fine tuning during construction. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The West Wing of the Glasgow School of Art, where the fire burned from basement to roof.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author's own PhD drawings</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, many bits had been modified – with varying degrees of respect for the original – during the life of the building. As such, unless there has been more recent survey work completed, there is likely no record of what exactly existed at the time of this devastating fire.</p>
<p>This brings me to what, for many, may be both a painful and apparently disrespectful conclusion.</p>
<p>The UK chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/24/glasgow-school-of-art-fire-uk-government-help-pay-repairs">already promised</a> central government will give millions of pounds if necessary to restore the world-renowned building.</p>
<p>But I know that to rebuild the Glasgow School of Art to its original design is impossible. Not only are the records likely to be incomplete, but modern reconstruction will require elimination of the fire risks inherent in the wooden construction, open ducts and flowing circulation spaces of the original. </p>
<p>The building as it stood before the fire was, as I stated, not a museum. It was a living space, with plenty of wear and tear, paint spatters everywhere, students’ names carved into bits … a place of ageing graceful beauty that cannot be replaced by some youngster with perfect features. Glasgow has enough modern Mackintosh and Mockintosh.</p>
<p>Today I feel great pain and sadness at this loss – feelings I know I will share with others the world over. But I make a call now for what is left of the Glasgow School of Art to be carefully stabilised and preserved, then for great architects to be invited to design a worthy intervention that will breathe new life into the school. </p>
<p>The memories of the original features that are lost can then be accommodated into a suitable gallery space for reflection on loss, while a new body of students enter a re-born Glasgow School of Art.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27147/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Cairns completed his PhD thesis, The Glasgow School of Art – An architectural totality, at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and the University of Glasgow in 1992.</span></em></p>I woke up yesterday to a sunny Saturday morning in Melbourne and an SMS message from my eldest son in Glasgow: I guess you will have heard but there was a major fire at the Glasgow School of Art today…George Cairns, Professor of Management, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/249702014-05-09T04:38:00Z2014-05-09T04:38:00ZExplainer: what does an art conservationist do?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46610/original/8mdwjzhw-1397703645.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Intervention by a conservator on an object has to be reversible.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IAEA Imagebank</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cultural conservation is concerned with how cultural material is preserved as it moves from the past, through the present and into the future. This material may be books in libraries, documents in archives, objects or artwork in museums, or items owned by a community, a family or an individual. </p>
<p>It is the conservator’s job to help ensure the material’s protection and safe passage into the future for as long as is possible. </p>
<p>Art conservation is a complex and highly interdisciplinary task, requiring a knowledge base that may include methods of manufacture, the mechanisms of damage and the cultural significance of an object. Art conservators use history to understand why and when an artwork was made and science to understand how it was made and what has happened to it over time. </p>
<p>When the history of a painting is unclear, conservators will turn to art history to contextualise the work and to science to investigate the evidence of the date and method of manufacture. </p>
<p>Thorough examination and documentation is always the first step in conservation. This involves assessing the original structure and materials of the object, the extent of deterioration, damage and loss, and to ascertain previous restorations or other interventions.</p>
<h2>Restoration and preventative conservation</h2>
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<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Walters Art Museum</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The terms “conservation” and “restoration” are often used interchangeably, but they represent very different activities. </p>
<p>Restoration seeks to modify the appearance of an object to reduce the visual impact of deterioration or damage and to restore visual continuity. Although conservation may involve restoration, more usually it’s engaged with preventing damage and deterioration. </p>
<p>Preventive conservation brings knowledge of the mechanisms of deterioration to provide the best options for the long-term care of cultural material. Take the example of a newspaper page turning yellow and brittle in the hot summer sun – knowing how the cellulose in the paper ages, that this process involves the creation of acid and that this acid contributes to the discolouration and deterioration of paper, means that appropriate steps can be taken to mitigate this process. </p>
<p>Preventative conservation is a predictive and holistic activity, often involving whole collections. </p>
<p>The operational aspects of air conditioning in museums are often the concern of conservators. Chemical and physical reactions involved in deterioration increase with higher temperatures and with cyclic changes in humidity. As a result, materials may crack or become brittle. </p>
<p>On one hand it makes sense to have continuous and stable air-conditioning; on the other hand, air-conditioning is energy-intensive and expensive to run. Understanding the issues, weighing the risks and advising on the best options for the collection is the job of the conservator.</p>
<h2>Craftsmanship and ethics</h2>
<p>Conservation also requires exceptional craftsmanship and art-making skills such as those employed in the original creation of the artwork; being able to replicate the paint layers, carve a section of an object to replace a lost part, or cast a sheet of handmade paper to use as a fill for a large hole are some examples of these kinds of skills. </p>
<p>There are also conservation-specific skills. The torn edges of a painting’s canvas support may need to be rewoven thread by thread. A hole may require a patch which will then require a complex fill of the ground layer (the layer of gesso applied to the canvas to provide a smooth painting surface), paint and varnish that replicates the surrounding painting. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elizabeth Buie</span></span>
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<p>In some cases the painting’s conservator will simple “tone” areas, adjusting the degree of lightness or darkness, so that the viewer can still read the extent of damage in the image. In other cases the conservator will make the image as complete as possible by “inpainting”, reconstructing lost or deteriorated parts, so that the loss is virtually invisible. </p>
<p>Art conservation became a profession in Australia in 1973 and concerned at how best to support and develop programs for cultural materials conservation, the <a href="http://www.aiccm.org.au/">Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material</a> (AICCM). </p>
<p>Under the AICCM’s <a href="http://www.aiccm.org.au/who-we-are/code-ethics-and-code-practice">Code of Ethics and Code of Practice</a>, any intervention by a conservator on an object has to be <em>reversible</em> – in practice, that means using materials and techniques that can be removed easily in the future. </p>
<p>That’s one reason why an oil painting is never inpainted with oil paint. Oil paint cross-links with age until it forms a hard, plastic surface. In a few short decades a restoration done in oil paint will only be able to be removed with solvents that are strong enough to also remove the original paint.</p>
<p>This concept of reversibility is aligned to the concept of minimal intervention; and both require good documentation, usually a condition and treatment report accompanied by good images.</p>
<p>Because conservators are required to have a very deep knowledge about art and the way art materials age, their expertise is often sought when a work is suspected of being fake or misattributed. Authentication and attribution are complex activities that may have significant impacts on individuals or on the scholarship relating to a particular artist. </p>
<p>Conservators understand the long, silent and often invisible impacts of time and place. They are required to predict the sudden catastrophe that means instantaneous destruction. </p>
<p>Above all they are soothsayers, probing cultural materials to reveal the secrets of how and when they were made, and how they will survive into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Sloggett receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the work of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation is supported by a range of philanthropic organisations.</span></em></p>Cultural conservation is concerned with how cultural material is preserved as it moves from the past, through the present and into the future. This material may be books in libraries, documents in archives…Robyn Sloggett, Director, Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.