Samuel Jones
Researcher
Samuel Jones is a researcher at Demos. His research interests include culture and the arts, museums and galleries, creativity and the communication of ideas and knowledge through the cultural sector. In particular, he is interested in cross-cultural communications and the role of culture in international relations. In other work, he has focused on Global English and conversations. Recently, he has undertaken research in both the US and China.
at 3:17pm on Thursday, 14th February 2008
Conservation tends only to figure in the media, and hence the public imagination, when individual cases throw the spotlight on the restorative skill of conservators. The Qing vases at the Fitzwilliam Museum provide a good example.
Today, this example of how to restore a Stradivarius violin after it had been crushed figured on the BBC's homepage, no less.
The point about conservation, however, is that much of it focuses on preventive work - 'how do you stop vases getting smashed' etc. - and the work that goes into caring for the collections that play so integral a part in shping our collective identity or in caring for objects of importance to individuals. This, however, isn't going to make the BBC homepage, which means that the tremendously valuable work that conservators do and all the symbolism that it represents in terms of caring for our cultural environment can easily go unnoticed.
In this project, and in the light of the impending closure of some conservation schools as a result of budget cuts, we're examining how to raise awareness of the sector's importance and how, in a world in which cultural provision itself will play a different role, the skills base that conservators will need is likely to change.
Today, this example of how to restore a Stradivarius violin after it had been crushed figured on the BBC's homepage, no less.
The point about conservation, however, is that much of it focuses on preventive work - 'how do you stop vases getting smashed' etc. - and the work that goes into caring for the collections that play so integral a part in shping our collective identity or in caring for objects of importance to individuals. This, however, isn't going to make the BBC homepage, which means that the tremendously valuable work that conservators do and all the symbolism that it represents in terms of caring for our cultural environment can easily go unnoticed.
In this project, and in the light of the impending closure of some conservation schools as a result of budget cuts, we're examining how to raise awareness of the sector's importance and how, in a world in which cultural provision itself will play a different role, the skills base that conservators will need is likely to change.
LOGIN to add comments
Comments