AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

In recognition of the emerging field of contemporary art, New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center will expand its course offerings by establishing a specialization explicitly for the conservation of TBM artworks—the first of its kind in this country. This innovative course of studies will require students to cross the disciplinary boundaries of computer science, material science, media technology, engineering, art history, and conservation. The Conservation Center prepares students for careers in technical study and conservation through a four-year graduate program leading to a dual degree – an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology and an MS in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. The program is committed to maintaining its traditional strengths in paper, books, paintings, and objects conservation, while adding TBM as a new specialization. During the curriculum planning phase from 2016-2017, the core competencies and skill sets for future TBM conservators were identified based on meetings with experts from European programs and potential employers and practitioners in the U.S. The learning objectives have been organized to fit into the most suitable teaching formats and built around the best possible time line for acquiring specific skills. As with other specialties within conservation, the core competencies of future TBM conservators are grounded in conservation ethics, conservation methodologies, and conservation science. The conceptual framework of modern and contemporary art conservation alongside modern and contemporary art history and media theory will provide the basis early in the student’s education. Building on that foundation, specifically designed courses will cover topics such as electrics / electronics, computer science / programming, audio / video technology, digital preservation, and photo-chemical processes to develop a solid knowledge of each TBM media category, such as film, slide, video, audio, software, performance, light, kinetic, or internet art. Furthermore, the equipment associated with each media, the signal processing and characteristics of different display and playback devices, needs to be understood in context to assess the visual and aural integrity of a TBM artwork. In addition to the technical competencies, communication skills and the ability to create a network of experts are equally important. To gain physical and intellectual ownership of an artwork, future TBM conservation students will learn and practice how to identify the work-defining properties of an artwork and to understand and document all components in context, which requires close communication with all stakeholders involved. Students will learn how to draw a preservation plan for a TBM collection, which will translate into the general skills needed to promote advocacy for TBM works in an institution, to build and grow a lab, and to establish workflows. This presentation will outline the major steps planned for the education of future TBM art conservators and how this program will augment the body of knowledge in response to the needs of a rapidly growing art conservation discipline. The inaugural class will be launched in the fall of 2018. The development of the TBM art conservation curriculum has been generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.