http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/savedforthenation/ en-us Copyright 2008 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:06:48 -0100 Latest items from Saved for the Nation on http://www.demos.co.uk/ - the thinktank for everyday democracy Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:06:48 -0100 http://www.demos.co.uk/items/12022 http://www.demos.co.uk/items/12022 Textile Conservation Centre.  I presented the interim thinking from our project, Saved for the Nation.

I've put the speech and the presentation I gave on the website.  They outline one of the ideas we are developing in the project, which is about the symbolism of caring for the material world, and what it means in relation to wider agenda, from identity and communities, to building cultural literacy.]]> Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:06:57 -0100 samuel[dot]jones@demos[dot]co[dot]uk ( Sam Jones ) http://www.demos.co.uk/items/11501 http://www.demos.co.uk/items/11501 an article in Good Friday's Guardian in which he made the case that 'the dazzling walls of medieval England deserve a bold restorer'.  It's good to see conservation getting coverage. As discussion of identity intensifies, culture and heritage are increasingly being looked to as sources for that identity, and points around which we can commune.  However, what is often forgotten in this debate is that much of that culture and heritage exists only because it is cared for and that care, in itself, has symbolic value.  Care for our past can be undertaken at a number of levels, from items of national importance and similarly grand complexity, like the Mary Rose, to the more personal decisions we take not to leave a treasured photograph in the sunshine or not to put a valued ornament in a vulnerable position.  Each of these is a point on the same spectrum that relates to the care - and value - of the material world around us.

The ultimate point of Simon Jenkins' article is that conservation provides us with means to reassess the past and approach aspects of our history anew.  While he focuses on medieval wall-painting, he might just have easily have written about the National Trust's conservation of the Maori meeting house at Clandon, in which members of the Maori community worked with conservators to ensure that the project reflected their concerns, and that - as a focus for the UK Maori community - the symbolism of caring for the meeting house is observed and its meaning presented to others.

As we continue our work on the sector, this is a theme we will develop.  Conservation has much to offer, not simply in playing an integral role in the heritage sector, but also in providing the means to engage communities in caring for the world around them. ]]> Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:37:21 -0100 samuel[dot]jones@demos[dot]co[dot]uk ( Sam Jones ) http://www.demos.co.uk/items/11263 http://www.demos.co.uk/items/11263 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.]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:16:55 -0100 samuel[dot]jones@demos[dot]co[dot]uk ( Sam Jones )