Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas and Uncomfortable Truths - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0750682019 ISBN 13: 9780750682015

Publisher: Routledge, 2009

Synopsis

'Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas, and Uncomfortable Truths' presents multi-perspective critical analyses of the ethics and principles that guide the conservation of works of art and design, archaeological artefacts, buildings, monuments, and heritage sites on behalf of society. Contributors from the fields of philosophy, sociology, history, art and design history, museology, conservation, architecture, and planning and public policy address a wide range of conservation principles, practices, and theories from the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, encouraging the reader to make comparisons across subjects and disciplines. By wrestling with and offering ways of disentangling the ethical dilemmas confronting those who maintain and sustain cultural heritage for today and tomorrow, 'Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas, and Uncomfortable Truths' provides an essential reference text for conservation professionals, museum and heritage professionals, art and cultural historians, lecturers and students, and all others invested in cultural heritage theories and practices.

Alison Richmond, as a Senior Conservator in the Victoria and Albert Museum and Deputy Head of the Conservation Department at the Royal College of Art, maintains teaching and research roles in conservation theory, principles and ethics, and has developed decision-making tools for conservators. She is an Accredited Conservator-Restorer (ACR), a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation (FIIC), and a Trustee of the UK's Institute of Conservation (Icon) since 2005.

Alison Bracker received her PhD in the History of Art from the University of Leeds, and manages the Events & Lectures programme at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. As co-founder of Bracker Fiske Consultants, she advises on the presentation, description, documentation, and care of artworks comprising modern media, and lectures and publishes widely on the theoretical and practical issues arising from the conservation of non-traditional and impermanent materials in contemporary works of art.

* Conservation ethics and principles, such as minimum intervention, integrity and authenticity of an object, addressed from a wide range of professional and academic viewpoints, including contributions from curators, museology theorists and philosophers
* Theory and principles presented and analysed both from a Western perspective and outside the boundaries of North America and Europe
* Brings together conservation theory relevant to collections, historic buildings, monuments and archaeological sites

About this title

About the Author:

By Alison Richmond, Conservation Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Alison Bracker, Bracker Fiske Consultants, UK

Review:

"A recommendable book for all those who have interest in contemporary conservation thinking and a must suggestion for a gift box, competent library, students' complementary reading material or just for the vocational conservator."

Christabel Blackman, E- Conservation magazine

"A timely contribution to a complex and evolving debate."

Mary M Brooks, ICON News

"Having read the book I began to see how museum conservators could benefit from the contributions and perspectives provided by those in related disciplines. In this respect the collection of papers reads like a journey, commencing with Ruskin and Morris, and concluding with a paper on Andy Goldsworthy and Installation Art, but travelling by way of the archaeology of conservation, cultural significance, and issues surrounding the presentation of indigenous artefacts. In short, the book achieved its aims. There is much that provokes thought and argument spread across its twenty-one chapters."

Keith Emerick, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0750682019
• ISBN 13: 9780750682015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 268
• Editor: Richmond Alison, Bracker Alison