The role of materiality in the interpretive preservation of a contemporary art world : Conceptual dynamics in relation to transience

In this thesis, work has been carried out in order to explore the role of materiality in works of conceptual art – and what possible influence the preservation of such objects might have for their meaning within the context of a modern art museum. The study is divided into three parts, where the initial one examines the concept of materiality, the second part maps the history and complexity of conservation, and the final part is based on three case studies of individual artworks. The research is carried out through a literature study within the fields of conservation and art history, as well as different kinds of institutionally produced reports along with exhibition descriptions and art reviews. Interviews have also been carried out with a curator and conservators from two museums of contemporary art, Moderna museet in Stockholm and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-westfalen in Düsseldorff. One aspect of the study has been to, from a perspective of discourse theory, investigate whether any so-called antagonistic relationships could be identified within the practices of the art museum, between different professional attitudes towards the idea of preserving artworks where the materiality may or may not be of relevance for the conceptual integrity of the piece. No such antagonism has been observed, but rather a situation where the professional boundaries are blurred in relation to the individual object. In the theoretical forms of a communicative network, conservators, curators and the artist responsible for the piece engage in the custodial presentation of the artwork. In this work, traditional notions of preservation may give way to a process-oriented relationship with the object to enable a continuous relevance toward the public and as an active part of the contemporary art scene. Even if the context of the art museum establishes the physical limits of the conceptual art composition, the preservation of the artwork may be viewed as pragmatic in terms of its materiality – where a dialogue with the artist plays an important part in the management process. The role of materiality may thus be decisive for the realization of the conceptual idea within an artwork, but as long as the work may be considered as integral to a contemporary art scene the conservation of it may focus on other aspects than its specific physical elements. When, or if, the artwork evolves into a symbolic representation of for instance the artist’s production or an art historical era – when a contemporary significance is lost – the role of materiality may possibly change and require a different conservation-based perspective concurrent with traditional types of cultural artifacts. The identity of an artwork may be considered as continuously evolving and its meaning a matter of the time it exists in, where the materiality of the object communicates its relevance