Since November 2021, Christel Pesme holds the position of Chief Conservator at the Heritage Conservation Centre, the centralised purpose-built repository and conservation facility for the National Collection of Singapore.
Prior to this role, she worked at M+ in Hong Kong, from 2017 to 2020. There, as M+ senior conservator, she focused her efforts building the institution's capacity in the conservation, documentation and care of its collection (constituted by contemporary visual culture materials, from Hong Kong, Asia and beyond) and lead the M+ Conservation team to care for and prepare the collection for the opening of M+ in 2021.
Initially trained in paper conservation at the University Paris 1- Sorbonne program, she developed her interest and gained her expertise in preventive conservation by first interning and then working from 2008 to 2012 in the science department of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), Los Angeles. From 2008 to 2012, she worked in private practice in Europe where she developed and instructed workshops for professionals willing to deepen their knowledge on managing risk associated to light exposure and on how to use a microfade tester and interpret the results obtained to design more refined lighting recommendation.
Since she became a collection care manager, she has been exploring value-driven, risk-based and evidence-guided models on which formulating a Collection Care approach which factors in collection cultural importance, institution's mission statement and collecting strategy, collection expected use and its associated needs considering the climatic context.
Since she started at HCC, Christel is now focusing on how such model could be tested and implemented to reach more sustainable practices of care for the National Collection in Singapore.