Joint Interim Conference of the ICOM-CC Working Groups: Wood, Furniture, and Lacquer and Sculpture, Polychromy, and Architectural Decoration, kindly supported by the German Association of Conservator-Restorers (VDR) Specialty Group: Furniture and Wooden Artifacts.
Hosted in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
Access the conference website
Date: 8-10 April, 2016
Location: University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Set within the historic gardens and palaces of Potsdam, this conference will focus on site-specific wooden works of art of a composite nature. Included in this broad theme are the exploration of the purpose and the complex means used to create these works consisting of multiple elements and mixed materials as well as the conservation strategies designed to preserve and display them.
This three-day conference will bring together an international roster of conservators, art historians, conservation scientists, and artists to share new research, past experiences, and their specific and varied expertise.
The conference will be divided into two days of presentations and followed by a day with guided tours of historic sites, museums and conservation studios. Lunch and coffee breaks will be accompanied by posters displayed in the main hall.
Presentations will focus in sessions on the following themes:
– Assemblages in-situ: Architectural interiors
– Conservation in-situ: Methods and challenges
– Assemblages set in the museum context: Western, non-western and religious
– Innovative techniques for documentation, conservation technology and analysis
The conference will be held in English
Program
Friday April 8th
SESSION 1: ASSEMBLAGES – HISTORICAL APPROACH
Keynote lecture – Speaker TBD
The paradise bed & the painted chamber of Westminster Palace c.1486
Helen Hughes
Charlemont medal cabinet (1767-68) designed by Sir William Chambers: A consideration of its past and future
Paul Tear
Conservation and recreation: The restoration of Sir John Soane’s private apartments at 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
Helen Dorey, Lyall Thow, Jane Wilkinson
Tegel Palace (1822-1826): A unique survival of the interiors designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for Wilhelm von Humboldt
Martina Abri, Jörg Weber
SESSION 2: CONSERVATION IN SITU – METHODS AND CHALLENGES
The hall of catalogues and the hall of globes: The laser scanner survey and data collection of two complex 19th century libraries located within the Accademia delle Scienze, Turin
Stefania de Blasi
The Junkerhaus (1850-1912), Lemgo – An exposed wooden house and its contents: A review of the preventative conservation measures installed in 2001-2004
Norbert Grote
The Eremitage of the Neuer Garten in Potsdam: Investigation of the interior panelling and the original appearance
Gerald Grajcarek
SESSION 3: DOCUMENTATION, TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYSIS
Modern methods of documentation for conservation: Photogrammetric evaluation of historic recordings
Gunnar Siedler, Sebastian Vetter
The scientific investigation of 18th and 19th polychrome furniture from the collections of the House of Esterházy, at Esterhazy Castle, used to inform conservation-restoration decisions
Sabine Stanek, Martina Griesser, Václav Pitthard, Susanne Kaefer, Florian T. Bayer
Capturing the history of finishes: A documentation tool for architectural paint research
Edwin Verweij and David Edvardson
Choir stalls (1537) from Transylvania: A conservation challenge saving every millimetre – the use of 3D laser scanners and digital techniques for their reconstruction
Gerdi Maierbacher-Legl, Christine Fiedler, Gunar Grossmann
SOCIAL EVENT IN THE EVENING
Saturday April 9th
SESSION 4: MUSEUM PRESENTATIONS – WESTERN ASSEMBLAGES
A rococo room from a Grachtenhuis in Amsterdam (1743-1748) in the Rijksmuseum: The reinstallation of the original fittings – and a streak of sunlight
Paul van Duin
The Bernstorff Suite at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Its presentation and interpretation from the 18th to the 21st Century
Cynthia Moyer
The Period Rooms in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich: The 1898 installations conserved and reinstalled
Gaby Petrak
Building Backwards: Ornament defines structure in the installation of the Worsham-Rockefeller bedroom (1881) at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
F. Carey Howlett
“Are you still cooking or already eating?” – The reinstallation of a Frankfurt kitchen (1926-1931) provides a new understanding of built-in furniture of the period
Christian Dressen
SESSION 5: MUSEUM PRESENTATIONS – NON-WESTERN ASSEMBLAGES
Petioles, paint and steel: The conservation and re-installation of the Mariwai Village Kwoma ceremonial house ceiling at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007
Beth Edelstein, Christine Giuntini
The Alhambra Cupola in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin:The history of a 14th century wooden ceiling, current conservation challenges and new prospects for a Nasrid masterpiece
Julia Gonnella, Anne Mollenhauer, Jutta Maria Schwed
Ornate panels from 18th and 19th century Damascene ʿajamī interiors: Conservation issues and Western perceptions of the ‘Orient’ revealed
Anke Scharrahs
SESSION 6: RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLAGES
Three Baroque Altarpieces in the Church of Our Lady in Aarschot (Belgium): Insights into the working methods of Antwerp sculptor and designer Pieter Scheemaeckers
Ingrid Geelen
The investigation and treatment of a 17th century wooden Jain Shrine (house-temple) from Gujarat, Western India
Part 1. Context
Part 2. Treatment
Kathleen M. Garland, Kimberly Masteller, John Twilley, Cathleen Duffy
Q&A AND CLOSING REMARKS
Sunday April 10th
TOURS
Several post-conference tours will be offered to allow participants to explore museum collections and conservation projects in Potsdam and Berlin.