Show Description:

A primarily object-based study of art offers both enormous possibilities and specific limitations, and increased dialogue between the fields of art history and conservation can only prove beneficial in better defining these parameters. This two-day conference aims to foster such communication by presenting joint research from art historians and conservators on specific case studies-in many instances with the objects in question available for viewing-and by spurring intensive dialogues among professionals from both fields regarding some of the pressing and difficult issues manifested by objects made from modern materials. Artists Rachel Harrison, Paul McCarthy, and Doris Salcedo join curator Elisabeth Sussman and conservator Christian Scheidemann in discussing the often complex production process of their art works, the ephemeral nature of some of the modern materials from which they are created, and the implications this may have for the long-term survival of their art.