The topic of heritage preservation and the study of different materials, especially in modern art, seems to be of great interest these days. Ca’ Foscari has just inaugurated the new Centre for Cultural Heritage Technology at Vega, in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), with the purpose of developing innovative technologies and materials in the field of cultural heritage preservation and study. We asked professor Elisabetta Zendri, coordinator of the Master’s degree in Conservation Science and Technology for Cultural Heritage, to give us more details on these themes.
How has the attitude toward this research field changed in the last few years?
The topic of contemporary art preservation has been the center of a ten-year long debate, both for its methodological aspects and the juridical and ethical ones. There are important economical factors revolving around contemporary art and this has helped maintain a strong focus on the topic of conservation, but, with time, people realized that traditional methodologies were not up to par. In many instances, we deal with conceptual artworks, where materials play a fundamental role in the meaning of the artwork itself. Many times, diverse materials with different durability get mixed and this factor has required (and requires) the development of new techniques, not only for preservation, but also for the study and evaluation of environmental impact.
All these characteristics explain the increasing attention to the topic of contemporary art preservation, where the figure of the Heritage Scientist plays an important role both in the study of materials and in the proposal of new methodologies to intervene and prevent damages.
The intervention for the preservation of a contemporary artwork is considered like the outcome of cross-disciplinary interactions and for this reason, seminaries on this topic are frequent and attract many experts in the different disciplines involved (historians, scientific experts, restorers, gallery owners, artists etc.).
On November 23 and 24, the Scientific Campus in Mestre will host the 8th International Color and Conservation Convention, titled “Support and Image”, organized by CESMAR7 in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University. This 2018 edition will be dedicated to the topic of structural and consolidation interventions in contemporary paintings. The theme will be approached in its different declinations, from the proposal of new materials to the development of new methodologies and the realization of operations on particularly complex artworks.
Given the participation of international experts with different backgrounds, the presented works will surely inspire future research projects.
What activities are you currently developing and in which sectors?
The interests in our reserach team range from the study of artistic, archeological and architectonic materials, to the evaluation of their interaction with the surrounding environment, to the study of new intervention systems for the preservation of cultural heritage and the development of methodologies to monitor and prevent artwork damages.
Our research activities are currently focused on some very important projects:
- The Tintoretto project, in collaboration with the Scuola Grande San Rocco and Venice in Peril, to study the ceiling teleri in the Chapter House of the Scuola and to analyze the influence of the environment on the stability of these extraordinary works;
- A project on the study of the effects of saltwater on architectural structures in Venice, which will hopefully bring to new methods in damage containment, in partnership with CORILA and IUAV;
- A project for the development of new protection systems for the conservation of supports in art and architecture, in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology of Genoa;
- A project for the study of new materials and manufacturing techniques of artistic items through 3D printing, in collaboration with businesses and universities of the Veneto region.
Staying in Venice means having a privileged observatory and a vast area of potential intervention. What is the relationship between research and territory? Can you tell us more about the prestigious collaborations you’re developing with the museums of the city?
Through the years, we have built a solid network of collaborations, with many institutions and companies of the territory which are allowing us to get to know and deal with real conservation needs of the Venetian cultural heritage. We get asked pragmatic questions, to which we give concrete answers and, in the meantime, we seized the opportunity to launch research projects that develop with time frames and methods of the University, involving experts from different institutions. We created an inclusive system, with the common goal of safeguarding the Venetian heritage.
The research work we’re carrying out on Tintoretto’s teleri in the Scuola Grande San Rocco is a concrete example of active interaction with the territory, where topics surrounding the conservation of this priceless treasure are approached in a direct manner, with the purpose of finding answers and proposing new effective and durable solutions in the shortest amount of time.
At the same time, we had the chance to study Tintoretto’s painting technique, employing different non-invasive methods, and to experiment new environmental impact evaluation tools.
Our collaboration with the institutions has been also “officialized” through agreements with the Musei Civici di Venezia Foundation and the Superintendence of Venice. This allows us not only to deal with real, complex and stimulating topics, but also to involve the students of the Bachelor’s degree in “Technologies for the Conservation and the Restoration” and in “Conservation science and technology for cultural heritage”, to engage them in concrete projects, giving them the opportunity to put what they learned into practice and to also gain awareness on the complexity of the cultural heritage system.
One example would be the activity carried out during the “Chemical methods and technologies for cultural heritage materials” course, which was developed in close partnership with the International Modern Art Gallery of Ca’ Pesaro. Every edition of the laboratory offers extraordinary case studies, which the students approach from a diagnostic point of view, with the purpose of developing intervention systems for conservation. We are also planning other activities with the City of Venice, focusing on stone slate artifacts with atypical conservation problems.
For some time now, you have established a fruitful collaboration with other Ca’ Foscari researchers in the field of archaeology and, last summer, you worked on archeometry surveys and material diagnostics with the archaeologists at the excavation site of Torcello. Could you describe to us what was your contribution to the project?
This collaboration began with a 2011 Interreg project and, since then, we have managed to fine-tune the interaction between the two teams, making it increasingly effective, so much so that we generated a cultural and research area of great interest and certain future development. We started with a very traditional approach, where the two figures of the Archeologist and the Scientific Expert consulted each other from opposite sides of the digging site, and now we finally succeeded in working together, during the excavation and, quite literally, in it, with very different approaches but a remarkable ability in interacting.
We took part in the excavation of Torcello, learning the archaeological jargon and teaching ours, to study the artifacts and the excavation environment.
This way, we contributed to the reconstruction of the island, to the study of ancient everyday objects and manufacturing techniques in Torcello and, lastly, to the development of conservation methods with a low environmental footprint.
This peculiar interaction between conservation sciences and archeology, brought each one of us to a significant cultural growth, which will not end with the site in Torcello, because it is a treasure in itself and we will take good care of it, by further fostering this cross-pollination.
In your opinion, what developments and applications could the field of material conservation experience in the future?
This is a crucial matter that we need to face with intellectual honesty and openness, without prejudices. The conservation of cultural heritage is first and foremost a social theme, so the “preservers” in all their cultural and professional aspects, have to deal with society in its whole and with its mutations. Otherwise, traditional scientific experts risk finding themselves confined in marginal roles, where they can satisfy their necessities as scientists, but without any clout in the decision-making process for the future of conservation.
This means that we need to build a culture of conservation, where every actor has to be able to recognize the importance of different contributions. We have been saying this for years and years, but sometimes we still argue on the value of one approach over the other, and this means that the idea of interdisciplinarity has yet to be completely assimilated.
The future of material conservation is our future and I believe that no one wants to question this point. The approach and the attention to previously overlooked topics will change and have already changed. Designing and developing less expensive methods that can produce little to no waste and that don’t affect the health of people and environment, will become increasingly important. But it will also become fundamental to switch from the concept of “restoration” to the ones of “prevention” and “maintenance”. We’ve been talking about this for a long time and we already took some steps in the right direction, now we need to be ready to share these necessities with institutions and businesses and to give concrete answers to current issues of our cultural heritage.
