FROM THE CONSERVATORS’ BENCH

Conservation is most closely associated with work performed by conservators at the bench. In this section, audio and visual materials explore the physical spaces of conservation and meditate on the nature of such activity through the voices of conservators, students, and a documentary filmmaker. Some of these materials were produced in conjunction with the exhibition; others were featured over the course of the broader Cultures of Conservation initiative.

SPACES OF CARE AND REPAIR

Conservation laboratories and studios are just a few examples of sites intended for care and repair. Others include operating rooms, automobile garages, and shoe repair shops. Presented together, they underscore the pervasive role of conservation, determined not by institutions or media but by those who care and how that care takes place.

The following video slideshow titled “Spaces of Care and Repair” was arranged by Kate Sekules and produced by Bard Graduate Center.

EXHIBITION MOOD BOARDS

Bard Graduate Center students led the conceptualization of gallery spaces as part of the exhibition design process. Their mood boards express visual responses to the core questions posed by the exhibition.

THOSE THAT, AT A DISTANCE, RESEMBLE ANOTHER

With an elephant’s ivory tusk as the protagonist, Jessica Sarah Rinland’s film Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another (2019) meditates on the endless tactility of museological and ecological conservation, and invites reflection on forms of representation, replicas, and embodiments of various materials, disciplines, and institutions. The ceramic tusk replica recorded in the film is housed at the Natural History Museum in London.

Watch an 8-minute excerpt below. The complete film is available online at MUBI.

Jessica Sarah Rinland, Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another, 2019. 16 mm film, digitally transferred, with 3D-rendered animation, 67 min. (8 min. excerpt). Courtesy the artist.

An excerpt from Hand in Glove, Rinland’s work-in-progress book, continues the multilayered work of Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another and the ceramic tusk replica.

CONSERVATORS’ VOICES

How do conservators think about their work and the field’s future? Bard Graduate Center students interviewed practicing conservators and asked four questions. Listen to a selection of their responses here.

Judith Levinson (Director of Conservation Emerita, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History) interviewed by Natalie DeQuarto.

Sasha Arden (Fourth-year Graduate Student, Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) interviewed by Genny Schiel.

Kelly McHugh (Head of Collections Care and Stewardship, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution) interviewed by Kat Lanza.
Judith Levinson (Director of Conservation Emerita, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History) interviewed by Natalie DeQuarto.

Sasha Arden (Fourth-year Graduate Student, Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) interviewed by Genny Schiel.

Kelly McHugh (Head of Collections Care and Stewardship, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution) interviewed by Kat Lanza.
Kristin Holder (Research Scholar, Department of Paintings Conservation, Metropolitan Museum of Art) interviewed by Ellen Enderle.

Sasha Arden (Fourth-year Graduate Student, Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) interviewed by Genny Schiel.

Sarah Scaturro (Eric and Jane Nord Chief Conservator, Cleveland Museum of Art) interviewed by Kate Sekules.

Judith Levinson (Director of Conservation Emerita, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History) interviewed by Natalie DeQuarto.

Sasha Arden (Fourth-year Graduate Student, Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) interviewed by Genny Schiel.

Kelly McHugh (Head of Collections Care and Stewardship, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution) interviewed by Kat Lanza.

Sarah Scaturro (Eric and Jane Nord Chief Conservator, Cleveland Museum of Art) interviewed by Kate Sekules.