A Recap of IIC’s Point of the Matter Dialogue on Viral Images and Protest Art

On February 14th, conservators, archivists, curators, educators, artists, historians, and activists gathered in the Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the International Institute for Conservation’s (IIC) Point of the Matter Dialogue, “Viral Images: Exploring the historic and conservation challenges of objects created for social protest and solidarity.” When organizers began planning this event two years ago, they could not have predicted just how timely this Point of the Matter Dialogue would be, in light of increased social unrest resulting from recent political and global events. Appropriately, a pink knitted ‘Pussy Hat’ could be spotted in the audience — a symbol of protest and solidarity from the historic Women’s Marches held worldwide just three weeks earlier.

The program focused on creative and expressive imagery used for social protest. Fine art, photography, and graphic design are all subject to endless replication and adaptation, becoming “viral images” that spin outwards on social media and the news – carrying with them powerful messages and gathering new meanings. Viral images can function as symbols for a specific social cause or an entire movement, can themselves become flash-points for social action, or can serve as documents of historic moments. Ephemeral by nature, they can prove to have long-term influence. IIC’s Point of the Matter Dialogue aimed to address the challenges involved in archiving this form of cultural heritage.

The organizers posed a series of questions as a starting point for discussion:

  • What happens to the artwork when the protesters leave?
  • Was it ever intended to be collected or preserved?
  • Is there a precedent for archiving these ephemeral materials?
  • Who is collecting them?
  • How do we preserve the intent and impact of these creative works for posterity?

The event included short presentations by panelists and a Q&A, both of which were live-streamed online and can now be viewed here. Before recording began, the program kicked off with a sneak preview of “STREETWRITE,” a musical film written and directed by Blanche Baker about street art and freedom of expression. This was followed by a performance and presentations by Artists Fighting Fascism: Rebecca Goyette, Brian Andrew Whiteley, and Kenya (Robinson). Those watching the video of this program may be interested in learning more about these artists and their work, as they were active participants in the Q&A session and their projects were cited several times by panelists and audience members (specifically Goyette and Whiteley’s recent video collaboration, (Robinson)’s #WHITEMANINMYPOCKET project, and Whiteley’s Trump Tombstone piece).

The panel included six speakers, who represented various stakeholders and decision-makers in this discussion: those who produce, document, collect archive, preserve, and study protest art and viral images. Ralph Young, a Professor of History at Temple University, discussed the history of dissent in America, touching on themes covered in his recent book and courses on this subject. A historical context for the concept of “viral images” was provided by Aaron Bryant, Curator of Photography and Visual Culture at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Bryant discussed his approach as a curator for a history museum to collecting images and objects that represent historic events, changing ideas, and social movements (including Black Lives Matter protests).

Michael Gould-Wartofsky, a sociologist and author, related his experience reporting on Occupy Wall Street in 2011, highlighting the key role of social media and viral images for broadcasting protesters’ messages, and the challenges in reconstructing this digital archive. A case study for the practice of archiving this form of cultural heritage was provided by Lidia Uziel, Western Languages Division Leader for the Harvard Library: shortly after the 2015 terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris, the university created an archive devoted to collecting and documenting the visual and textual materials produced in response to the event.  

Gregory Sholette, an artist, activist, and writer, discussed his personal involvement in the East Village art scene in the 1980s and the afterlives of artworks created for social movements as they are moved into the museum. In this vein, Christian Scheidemann, a conservator of contemporary art, presented examples of artworks created either as a form of protest or from protest materials and considered the decision-making process involved in exhibiting, preserving, and restoring these works.

After short presentations by the panelists, an hour was devoted to questions from the audience. The dialogue between the panelists and audience members moved beyond the prompts posed by the organizers, and included both practical and theoretical questions. The discussion touched on the life cycle of viral images and protest art, and the relationship of this ephemeral material to fine art. Participants considered the practical problem of how to determine what material to save in the aftermath of historic events when resources for its preservation are limited. Questions were also raised about the social and ethical responsibilities of conservators and archivists, our role in constructing and framing historical narratives, and the impact of our individual and innate biases. This in turn led to a frank conversation about the lack of diversity in the conservation field, a concern that has motivated the formation of the AIC Equity and Inclusion Working Group (NB: Readers may be interested in Sanchita Balachandran’s talk “Race, Diversity, and Politics in Conservation: Our 21st Century Crisis,” presented at the 2016 AIC Annual Meeting). These questions pointed to a number of potential topics for future events in the Point of the Matter Dialogue series.

Thank you to IIC and the Point of the Matter Dialogue organizers for such a productive and thought-provoking program! To watch the full program, click here.

Panelists and organizers for the IIC Point of the Matter Dialogue on Viral Images. (Photograph courtesy of Sharra Grow)
Back row: Christian Scheidemann, Michael Gould-Wartofsky, Aaron Bryant, Lidia Uziel, Ralph Young
Middle Row: Gregory Sholette, Blanche Baker, Rebecca Rushfield, Amber Kerr;
Front Row: Kenya (Robinson), Rebecca Goyette

 

C2CC Webinar 2/16: Practical Solutions: Quilt Care and Display

Join Connecting to Collections Care next week for our next webinar, Practical Solutions: Quilt Care and Display, with Camille Breeze, Director and Chief Conservator for Museum Textile Services in Andover, Massachusetts. February 16, 2017, 2:00 – 3:30 EST. As usual, the webinar is free.  http://www.connectingtocollections.org/quilt-care-and-display/ 

The Connecting to Collections Care Online Community is a program of the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC). We offer professional development opportunities, resources, and assistance to help smaller cultural institutions to provide well-informed care for their collections. All content in this Community is provided at no cost thanks to generous funding by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Call for Papers – Cultural Heritage Management Sessions (ASOR 2017)

Session Chairs: Glenn Corbett, American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), and Suzanne Davis, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan

We are seeking abstract submissions for the Cultural Heritage Management session(s) of the American Schools of Oriental Research annual meeting, which will be held in Boston, MA, November 15-18, 2017. This session welcomes papers concerning archaeological conservation and heritage management in terms of methods, practices, and case studies in areas throughout the Near East. For the 2017 meeting, we are especially interested in presentations focusing on:

·         site conservation and preservation activities

·         site management planning

·         engagement and education of local communities

Interested speakers should submit a title and abstract (max. 250 words) by February 15, 2017. Please see ASOR’s call for papers and instructions for submission here: http://www.asor.org/am/2017/papers.html. Note that professional membership ($130) and registration for the Annual Meeting (~$175) are required at the time of abstract submission. Student rates are discounted.

Please send inquiries or questions to Glenn Corbett (joeycorbett@yahoo.com) and Suzanne Davis (davissL@umich.edu).

Cultural Heritage Research Experience for Students in the Netherlands

Undergraduates and graduate students can apply for international research experience, all expenses paid.

This unique 8-week opportunity will provide selected students with a valuable interdisciplinary experience abroad with cultural heritage scientists who are leaders in their fields. Each participant will have dedicated American and Dutch mentors.  While in the Netherlands, the student cohort will address questions related to important works of art using a variety of analytical tools associated with each research streams spanning Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, as well as Cultural Heritage Science.

To learn more about this opportunity and for application information: http://sites.northwestern.edu/ires/.

Further questions contact Dr. Marc Walton, marc.walton@northwestern.edu / nu-access.ires@northwestern.edu, Northwestern University.

C2CC Webinar 1/26: Preserving Film Collections for the Future: A Web Application

On January 26, 2017, 2:00 – 3:30 EST, C2C Care offers a free webinar about using the online tool: www.filmcare.org. You can learn more about this webinar, Preserving Film Collections for the Future: A Web Application and sign up at http://www.connectingtocollections.org/preserving-film-collections/

The Connecting to Collections Care Online Community is a program of the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC). We offer professional development opportunities, resources, and assistance to help smaller cultural institutions to provide well-informed care for their collections. All content in this Community is provided at no cost thanks to generous funding by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

 

Workshop: The Art Historical Image in the Digital Age, American Academy in Rome (AAR)

  • Dates: June 19-23, 2017
  • Application Deadline: February 10, 2017

The Art Historical Image in the Digital Age at the American Academy in Rome is a five-day, intensive course designed to equip scholars of art from any historical period with the basic skill necessary to excel in the digital humanities: digital image management, organization, and analysis.
Since its inception, art history as a discipline has been based on the collection and reassemblage of images. Just as the ability to reproduce and circulate images through photography revolutionized the study of art in the nineteenth century, so too digital reproduction and online image banks have transformed the field in the twenty-first. The ease and speed with which digital images are now created, using a variety of apparatuses, from cell phones to high-tech digitization rigs, has meant that art historians have access to and create ever-growing numbers of images, from reproductions of artworks to scans of archival documents, books, and other primary sources. This profusion of digital images has transformed research practices in our field and raises several both practical and conceptual questions. How can individual scholars manage their own image data? What constitutes art historical “image data”? How can this data be classified, organized, and analyzed? In what ways can art historical research or publication practices leverage digital imaging tools and methods, while retaining the value of the material object?
This course takes advantage of the unique resources of the American Academy in Rome to prepare scholars to chart new directions in art history in the digital age. Using as a case study a set of art historical image data in Rome, a city Academy founder Charles F. McKim deemed the very best place to study art, the course will familiarize participants with the basics skills necessary to organize and manage digital images. Participants will learn the key concepts and vocabulary to discuss image data and its integral role in the digital humanities. They will also develop skills to manage image data most effectively for art historical research, such as the creation and manipulation of image metadata and digital tools like Mirador. As part of their investigation of digital images, participants will also discuss the impact of digital technology on our experience of art using Rome as an example.
The course is ideal for graduate students and scholars who are eager to develop new methodologies in art history using digital strategies. Participants will be selected on the basis of their ability to formulate compelling research questions about the conjunction of digital humanities and art history. While projects that address issues in art from antiquity to the modern era are welcome, preference will be given to those that would benefit from access to resources in Rome.
2017 Co-Directors

  • Emily Pugh, Digital Humanities Specialist, Getty Research Institute
  • Lindsay Harris, Andrew W. Mellon Professor, School of Classical Studies, American Academy in Rome

Eligibility: The program is intended for graduate students and early career scholars in art history, but those who work in history or visual culture will also be considered. The program is open to candidates of all nationalities with a sufficient command of English.
Required Equipment: Participants are required to bring their own computers and hardware (cables, adapters, etc.). All software used in the course will be open source and thus downloadable free of cost.
Costs:Tuition: 873.76 euro or $968
Housing is available at the American Academy for those who require it:
·  Shared twin room (without bathroom) – € 225 for 6 nights
·  Double room for single use (without bathroom) – € 450 for 6 nights
·  Double room for single use (with bathroom) – € 600 for 6 nights
·  Single Room (without bathroom) – € 385 for 6 nights
·  Single room (with bathroom) – € 520 for 6 nights
Room availability cannot be guaranteed and applicants should indicate their need for housing in their application. Housing at the Academy is recommended as it makes participation easier and adds to the communal experience.
Meals: Meals can be purchased at the Academy (€15 for lunch and €27 for dinner). Meals may also be prepared in the AAR’s communal kitchens.
How to Apply
Please send your CV and a brief description of how this course will enhance your current art historical research (maximum 500 words) to: image-digital-age@aarome.org
Deadline for tuition payments is May 1, 2017.
Accepted participants should send a check in dollars for the TUITION ONLY, made out to the American Academy in Rome, with an indication in memo line of  “Art Historical Image” to:
American Academy in Rome
7 East 60 Street
New York, New York
10022-1001 USA
For those wishing to pay tuition in Euros you can:
·  send a check in euros made out to the American Academy in Rome to the Rome address 
(Via Angelo Masina, 5 – 00153 Roma) to the attention of Francesco Cagnizzi or
·  make a bank transfer to the  American Academy in Rome (Unicredit Bank IBAN IT 50 X 02008 05031 000400543095, BIC SWIFT CODE   UNCRITM1015)  or
·  provide us with your credit card details by phoning  +39 06 5846426
Once we have received all housing requests, accepted participants who have been granted housing at the Academy will be contacted by the institution to pay a housing deposit online via credit card.
For more information, visit: aarome.org/apply/summer-programs/art-historical-image-digital-age

Workshop: APT Documentation Technologies & Vanishing Treasures

The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is partnering with the National Park Service Vanishing Treasures Program to bring the Documentation Technologies Workshop to the picturesque and historic Point Reyes National Seashore just north of San Francisco in California!
Originating at the Quebec APT Conference in 2014, this workshop has been formatted for travel in order to be hosted by local chapters across the country. Now, the APT Western Chapter has the unique circumstance to host the workshop at an amazing National Park with special access to the site as well as the NPS staff’s expertise. Presenters are traveling from around the country and the local regional chapter to provide an exceptional workshop focused on documentation technologies from Measured Building Survey (MBS) and NDE tools to photogrammetry and HABS/HAER documentation.
Overview
In rehabilitating important existing structures, it is crucial to begin by fully and accurately gathering data on geometry and current conditions. Documentation data form the platform for condition analysis and the basis for engineers and architects to develop designs, from the planning phase through implementation during construction.
Through a combination of presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions, participants in this workshop will learn about the latest technologies for obtaining the information and data critical for project planning, analysis, and diagnostics. Participants will also learn how to assemble an effective data gathering strategy to fit differing project needs.
AIA credits will be available! We are applying for HSW credits so stay tuned!
Where?
Point Reyes National Seashore
Headquarters and Lifeboat Station
Point Reyes Station, CA
Nearest hotel lodging is Tomales Bay Resort.
Several other inns and B&B’s are nearby as well.
When?
Mark your calendars for February 8 & 9, 2017!
The 2-day workshop will include classroom presentations, field demonstrations at the Lifeboat Station, tours and discussions.
For more information, visit: www.apti.org/index.php?src=events&srctype=detail&category=Events&refno=207

Workshop: Getting Started – A Shared Responsibility, Caring for Time-Based Media Artworks in Collections (MOMA)

  • Application Deadline: February 1, 2017

This workshop is part of The Museum of Modern Art’s Media Conservation Initiative. This initiative seeks to advance new strategies for the field of time-based media art preservation and restoration. Rethinking the role of the conservator in the museum setting as well as the knowledge and skills that future media conservators should possess, a series of media conservation workshops and peer forums will address these serious challenges, explore best practices, and identify long-term approaches to the care and collection of time-based artworks.
Workshop Dates: May 2 – 5, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – participants are expected to attend the full program
Workshop Description: Does your institution have a collection of time-based media works in need of a long-term preservation plan? Are you uncertain where to get started? This four-day hands-on workshop will provide an in-depth overview of the processes and workflows which can be implemented at collections without dedicated time-based media conservators. Participants will leave with the knowledge and tools to design and execute action plans at their institutions.
Caring for time-based media collections is broadly acknowledged as a pan-institutional endeavor requiring direct involvement from curatorial, conservation, audio visual, IT, registrar and collection care staff. This will be reflected throughout the workshop curriculum as well as in the application itself which requires pairs of colleagues from the applying institution.
The 4-day workshop schedule includes:
May 2, Foundations
–Group session: collections and case studies
–Time-based media art: Part 1, a history of art production
–Practical session: Media format history
–Time-based media art: Part 2, a history of technology
–Conducting a media art collection survey
May 3, Acquiring Media Art
–Acquisition, step-by-step workflows and processes. This session will cover pre-acquisition, documentation, budgets, contracts, and rights, deliverables, registration, artist interviews/questionnaires, policies.
–Practical session: Acquisition, four case studies. This exercise will cover a broad range of challenges, including a range of media (analogue to born digital), legacy and dedicated equipment, fixed and variable parameters for installation.
May 4, Exhibition: Treatment and Decision Making
–Practical session: seeing and hearing demonstration of the effects of different display equipment and the material characteristics of film and video.
–Documentation critical to the preservation of media arts. The session will cover exhibition history, artist interviews, curatorial perspective, art historical context, assessment of media elements, and case studies.
–Practical session: preparing an artwork for exhibition 360 degrees.
May 5, Advocacy: Establishing institutional media conservation
–Practical session: Creating exhibition documentation and installation instructions for loaning media artworks.
–Building infrastructure in-house for safe handling. Support network of outside partners and vendors.
–Storing media artworks: physical, digital, and equipment storage, with approaches for small to large collections.
–Roundtable: growing media conservation practice within institutions. This will include advocacy for building capacity, priorities, external collaborators, policy and procedures.
–Growing media conservation practice within your institution: a dialogue with leaders in the field.
Eligibility: This workshop is open to pairs of applicants who are responsible for the care of a time-based media art collection. Applicant teams must include a curator and the person directly responsible for the care of the time-based media. This could be a conservator, audio visual technician, collection specialist or manager, etc.  Priority will be given to those with significant collection needs, a critical need for staff training and demonstrable institutional desire to take action. Enrollment is limited to allow for a collaborative working environment. Participants will be required to conduct basic preparatory work prior to the workshop and provide feedback in the form of a report or survey after attending the workshop.
How to Apply: Applicants should each submit a CV, a joint letter of interest, fill out the online Collection Data Form and submit one letter of institutional support. The applicants’ letter of interest should:
1) describe why participation in this workshop is important to their collection;
2) provide a brief history of the collection;
3) describe the applicants’ work with the collection to date; and
4) show how this workshop directly applies to their day-to-day work. Prior institutional action, and experience with the topic or lack thereof should be noted as well as any relevant conferences or workshops attended on related topics.
Travel and lodging expenses may be reimbursed, based on need. Please submit a basic budget of anticipated travel costs as part of the application. There is no fee for this workshop; English will be the language of instruction. Applications should be submitted to Allison_Spangler@MoMA.org, no later than February 1, 2017, with notifications expected by March 3, 2017.
The Museum of Modern Art’s Media Conservation Initiative is made possible through a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Workshop: Lithography for Conservators and Museum Professionals: Hands-On Stone and Plate Lithography , Houston, TX

 
February 22-24, 2017
Burning Bones Press and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
**Open to conservators and museum professionals**

Lithography is a complex, chemical printmaking process that requires first-hand experience to fully grasp the technique and potential artistic applications. Conservators and museum professionals are often responsible for the technical identification of prints without having hands-on printmaking experience themselves. This workshop introduces participants to various lithographic processes and techniques commonly utilized by artists and studios, both historically and up to this day.

The workshop consists primarily of hands-on printing activities at Burning Bones Press but will also include lectures, group discussions and examination of prints in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) collection. A comprehensive resource binder will be assembled by the participants throughout the workshop from a combination of lecture slides, notes, printing materials (plates and prints), and other useful references. This will allow participants to walk away with a strong understanding of the technique and have invaluable resources at their fingertips.

This three-day intensive workshop is geared towards both emerging and established conservation and curatorial professionals, especially those who work regularly with lithographic prints.

With financial support from the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Follow the link for more details and registration:
http://www.burningbonespress.com/lithography-for-conservators-and-museum-professionals-hands-on-stone-and-plate-lithography/