Rites of passage: a conservator’s perspective on the incorporation of performance artworks into museological collections

Despite the growing interest in performance artworks, museums worldwide still show some reservations when it comes to incorporating such works into their collections. This paper aims to explore the conservation challenges that these works present for museums. Through the analysis of the relevant literature, the practices and theories surrounding the conservation of performance-based artworks are contextualized and examined. Notions of the conservation of performance artworks are reassessed in the light of ideas relating to archives and repertoires (Taylor 2008), which can be considered essential to the study of these works. By combining reflections about performance art acquisition and performance art conservation, a new conceptual framework based on an expanded view of conservation, which regards preservation as a process that includes presentation strategies, is proposed. In order to illustrate this examination, two case studies are presented as examples: sexyMF (2006) by Ana Borralho and João Galante (f. 2002, Lisbon) and Ad Verbum (2010), by Vasco Araújo (b. 1975, Lisbon)

Becoming Difference: on the Ethics of Conserving the In-between

Notions of authenticity underpinning conservation practice have been challenged by artistic and museum practices that contest the mere possibility of singular material existence of objects. These practices work within the liminal, in-between, space some objects currently occupy. But how can conservation conciliate the preservation of an object’s material manifestation, with the ethical need to recognise its other material possibilities? The ethical implications of conserving objects whose existence is contested are discussed. Drawing on feminist theory, it is argued that the path towards a fairer, inclusive, and sustainable conservation practice is dependent on the recognition of difference. The ethical ramifications that emerge from practices of conservation that reflect on performative in-betweenness, here called liminality, are explored. By demonstrating that the act of observation is always contingent, the ways we understand and conserve objects materially change them. How those changes can exclude their material possibilities and their becomings, are discussed. A possible ethical approach to conservation is proposed, that goes beyond modernist views of the object being conserved, recognising the exclusions inherent to any process of conservation, celebrating the diversity of material existences of objects we ought to protect

The aim of documentation: Micro-decisions in the documentation of performance-based artworks

The preservation of performance-based artworks, such as installations and performances, is often accompanied by frequent discussions regarding their documentation. How can performance- based artworks, which are unrepeatable and contextual, be documented after the event? This paper aims to reflect upon the purpose of the documentation of performance-based artworks and about how the micro-decisions conservators make during the documentation process can influence and are influenced by their intentions. In this context, the concepts and practices of documentation are critically examined. With this goal in mind, the artwork Identificación (1975) by the Portuguese artist Manoel Barbosa (b. 1953) and the documentation produced in two different contexts by two different people (a choreographer and a conservator) are discussed

From the periphery to the centre: Community engagement and justice in conservation decision making

Conservation nowadays is understood as a broad concept that considers objects as contextual and contingent. The social dimensions of the conservation object, however, have been successively overlooked in most conservation endeavours. Although communities are considered an important stakeholder in conservation decision-making processes, engagement with communities in practice is clearly deficient. The lack of communication with these communities can be understood as a symptom of the overall misrecognition of this peripheral stakeholder that raises questions concerning the justice of the conservation process in its social context. The aim of this paper is to explore how the notion of justice can be applied to conservation decision-making through the example of two performance-based artworks. Finally, a reflective approach that acknowledges the ‘documentation of absence’ is suggested

The challenges of documenting Francisco Tropa’s oeuvre : variability and interartworks relationships

As part of the “Documentation of Contemporary Art” research project, several installations by Francisco Tropa (b. 1968, Lisbon) were studied. These installations were, at first, part of three different projects initiated by the artist, and later become autonomous and dispersed into several different collections. This paper addresses the documentation process of these installations, regarding both its challenges and the applied preservation methodologies. Tropa’s works are meant to change as part of a living process, creating different trajectories. According to the artist, artworks from the same project establish tangible and intangible relationships among them. The documentation process of such a variable and interconnected œuvre presented unpredictable challenges, which ultimately acted as a catalyst to analyze the documentation process itself. As a result of this analysis, new theoretical frameworks are proposed and the role of the conservator is reflected upon regarding the ways it affects the preservation of variable and interconnected artworks