NACCA 2018 Symposium and Summer School

The two-day NACCA 2018 Symposium gathered together two hundred professionals, researchers, and students from the field of conservation, art history, fine arts, anthropology, museum studies and law. Eight keynote speakers and 15 NACCA PhD researchers from eight countries took up to the challenge exploring a broad range of urging issues and questions related to conservation, presentation and authenticity of contemporary art.

Five sessions covered the following subjects: Intent, authorship, authentication with Marina Pugliese, Antonio Rava, Nina Quabeck, Maria Theodoraki, and Tomas Markevicius, chaired by Erma Hermens; Production and reproduction with Ursula Schädler-Saub, Ulrich Lang, Sophie Lei, Marta García Celma, and Panda de Haan, chaired by Glenn E. Wharton; Challenging institutional conventions with Renate Buschmann, Johannes Gfeller, Artemis Rüstau, Claudia Röck, and Iona Goldie-Scot, chaired by Pip Laurenson; Musealisation with Salvador Muñoz Viñas, Hanna Hölling, Brian Castriota, Joanna Kiliszek, and Aga Wielocha, chaired by Renée van de Vall; and finally, Cross-disciplinary networks with Renata Peters, Caitlin Spangler-Bickell, Dušan Barok and Zoë Miller, chaired by Julia Noordegraaf. The symposium was concluded with a tribute to Heinz Althöfer, a pioneer in the theory of contemporary art conservation, presented by Carlota Santabárbara Morera.

The symposium offered high-quality sessions and served as a great forum for developing and strengthening the networks among the participants. Furthermore, the NACCA Cologne Summer School included PhD research feedback and training sessions as well as visits to Cologne cathedral, the Thomas Schütte Stiftung and Museum Insel Hombroich. One day session was dedicated to brainstorming the Decision-Making Model for Contemporary Art Conservation. This research initiative, organized by CICS, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) and Maastricht University, and generously supported with funding from the Wüstenrot Stiftung, aims to update and revise this model. The 35 invited international experts discussed the complex decision-making process and key terms related to the authenticity, conservation and presentation of contemporary art.

The final NACCA symposium will take place in Maastricht in conjunction with the Annual MACCH conference in March 2019.