Slideshow given at the Rollins College Student Faculty Collaborative Scholarship summer research presentation sessions.

1. Conserving
The New
Isaac D. Gorres
(Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Art History)
and Dr. Susan H. Libby
(Art History)

2. Acknowledgements
• Student-Faculty Collaborative Scholarship Program
• Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation
• Stewart Lee Colling-Clint Foundation
• Office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts
• Scholarship for High Impact Practices Grant
• Rollins College Department of Art and Art History
• Fishback Art Scholarship
• Emily Merrill Art Scholarship
• Oliphant Art Scholarship
• Dr. Libby

3. Art Conservation
Science-based field which intends to preserve works of art,
historical documents, or other objects of cultural importance for
future generations.

4. Various art conservation laboratories at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

5. Contemporary
Art ConservationScience-based field which intends to preserve contemporary works
of art and other objects of cultural importance for future
generations.

6. Goals of the Project
• Research emerging
contemporary art conservation
methodologies
• Examine CFAM/Alfond objects as
case studies
• Recommend preservation
approaches for selected works
• Lead public events at CFAM in
Spring 2020, including a lecture,
panel, and a small didactic
exhibition

7. Contemporary Works at CFAM
Jeffrey Gibson, American.
Constellation, No. 11, 2012. Acrylic
paint on a deerhide-covered
wooden panel.
Claudio Parmiggiani, Italian.
Untitled, 2014. Smoke and soot on
painted wooden panel.
Yoshitomo Nara,
Japanese. Untitled, 2003.
Mixed media on envelope.

8. Diverse Materials
Marc Quinn, British. Self,
2006. Artist’s blood, liquid
silicone, stainless steel, glass,
perspex, and refrigeration
equipment.
National Portrait Gallery, London
Tomás Saraceno, Argentinian. Oracle
Readings, Weaving Arachnomancy,
Synanthropic Futures: At-ten(t)sion to
invertebrate rights!, 2019. Spider webs,
metal frame, and paper.
Giardini della Biennale di Venezia, Venice
Janine Antoni, Bahamian.
Lick, 1993. Seven chocolate
busts.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
DC

9. Multiple Concerns
• Diverse materials
employed
• Accelerated rates of decay
• Conservation resources
available
• Capacity of the institution
• Desires of the artist:
”destruction” artworks
Guillermo Galindo, Mexican. Ropófono, 2013.
Wood, contact microphones, and discarded clothing.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park

10. Fragile Artworks
Guillermo Galindo, Mexican. Ropófono, 2013.
Wood, contact microphones, and discarded clothing.
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park
Robert Rauschenberg, American. Preview, 1974.
Lithograph and screenprint on silk fabric and paper bags.
Textile Conservation Center, Southampton

11. A Pressing Issue
• Continual growth of the Alfond
Collection of Contemporary Art
• Unique conservation challenges
• Many contemporary artworks
incorporate organic elements
Alessandro Piangiamore, Italian. Tutto il Vento Che
C’è (Aouro), 2018. Dirt and clay.
Punta della Dogana, Venice

12. Existing Precedent:
Ethnographic Collections
Enzo Fiore, Italian. Jail, 2010. Soil, resin, roots, leaves,
insects, and steel wire on a lacquered wooden board.
Instituzione Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice
Bamana people, Mali. Kono altar (boli), ca. 1950.
Wood, cloth, soil, beeswax, animal blood, and
unidentified materials.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

13. Damien Hirst, British. The Physical Impossibility of Death
in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991. Glass, painted steel,
monofilament, tiger shark, and formaldehyde solution.
Saatchi Gallery, London
Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) preserved
in aqueous glycerol.
Western Australian Museum, Perth
Existing Precedent:
Natural History Collections

14. Contemporary Works at CFAM
Jeffrey Gibson, American.
Constellation, No. 11, 2012. Acrylic
paint on a deerhide-covered
wooden panel.
Claudio Parmiggiani, Italian.
Untitled, 2014. Smoke and soot on
painted wooden panel.
Yoshitomo Nara,
Japanese. Untitled, 2003.
Mixed media on envelope.

15. Sources“The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art.” Rollins College: Winter Park, 2019. https://www.rollins.edu/cornell-fine-arts-
museum/collection/alfond/index.html.
“Conservation and Scientific Research.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/conservation-and-
scientific-research.
Galindo, Guillermo. Artist’s Talk at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum in Winter Park, FL, February 2019.
Hornbeck, Stephanie E. “Intersecting Conservation Approaches to Ethnographic and Contemporary Art: Ephemeral Art at the National Museum of African
Art.” Objects Specialty Group Postprints 20 (2013): 207-226.
Human, Brett A., Susan M. Morrison, and Ian D. MacLeod. “Is the Megamouth Shark Susceptible to Mega-distortion? Investigating the Effects of Twenty-two
Years of Fixation and Preservation on a Large Specimen of Megachasma pelagios (Chondrichthyes: Megachasmidae).” Records of the Western
Australian Museum 27, no. 1 (2012): 7-20.
Lange-Berndt, Petra. “Processing the Undead: Damien Hirst’s Natural History,” in Damien Hirst, 89-97. Copenhagen: Arken Museum of Modern Art, 2009.
Lee, Jung Yoon. “Aesthetics of Fluid-preserved Animal and Human Bodies: An Example of Research-based Art.” PhD diss., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
2013. ProQuest (3601010).
Lennard, Frances. “Behaving Badly? The Conservation of Modern Textile Art.” Restauro 5 (2006): 328-334.
MacLeod, Ian D. “Conservation of a Museum Megamouth Shark Specimen by Changing its Preservative from Aqueous Ethanol to Aqueous Glycerol.”
Collection Forum 29, no. 1-2 (2015): 73-89.
Powell, John D. “Preserving the Unpreservable: A Study of Destruction Art in the Contemporary Museum.” Master’s thesis, University of Leicester, 2007.
“Sculture/Sculptures,” in Enzo Fiore, In the End, A Beginning: The Life of Nature, 186-209. Venice: Instituzione Fondazione Bevilaqua La Masa, 2017.
Vogel, Carol. “Swimming with Famous Dead Sharks.” New York Times, Oct. 1, 2006.
Waite, Renée B. “African Concepts of Energy and Their Manifestations Through Art.” Master’s thesis, Kent State University School of Art, 2016. OhioLINK.
Wharton, Glenn, Sharon D. Blank, and J. Claire Dean. “Sweetness and Blight: Conservation of Chocolate Works of Art” in From Marble to Chocolate: The
Conservation of Modern Sculpture, 162-170. London: Archetype, 1995.