The Conservator’s Cupboard, 2017
Mark Dion (b. 1961)
Glass, paper, metals, wood, pigments, plastics, rubber, and other mixed media, 104 × 73 3/4 × 24 in. (264.2 × 187.3 × 61 cm)
Commissioned by Bard Graduate Center, New York City
Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Inspired by restoration studio display cupboards and cabinets of curiosities, such as that depicted in the 1655 engraving of Ole Worm’s Museum Wormianum, Mark Dion’s The Conservator’s Cupboard contains a collection of tools and materials used by conservators in the 1980s. While the cupboard presents itself as a reconstruction of past restoration practices, some of its elements are more discursive. Several of the books’ titles are by the artist and by Peter N. Miller, co-curator of this exhibition, and refer to questions about the future of conservation. What tools might the conservator’s cupboard of the future contain?