Tiziana N. Beltrame, University of Padua, Italy
&
Yaël Kreplak, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Title: Conserving and transforming heritage. Enquiries in the storerooms.
A presentation of the book Les réserves des musées. Écologies des collections, Les Presses du Réel, Dijon, 2024.
Abstract: Inspired by science and technology studies, and combining museological and sociological approaches, the collective work we present questions the places, devices, materials and practices of professionals involved in the conservation of objects when they are not on display. We consider the relationship between their visible and invisible parts, the issues involving their storage and movement, and the work involved. Far from being a place where objects lie dormant between exhibitions, the storerooms have been transforming over decades. By moving out of basements, being managed by dedicated professionals and even opening up to the public, they are increasingly asserting themselves as conservation centers dedicated to the preservation and study of collections - like another center of the museum. Conservation implies the transformation of the ecology of collections, changes that also affect the meaning of what heritage is in practice.
The introduction to the book (in French) is available here : https://www.lespressesdureel.com/ouvrage.php?id=11524&menu=0 (scroll down)
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Tiziana N. Beltrame is an anthropologist, currently a research fellow at DiSSGeA (Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World), University of Padua, Italy. Her research focuses on conservation practices in art, ethnography, natural history and science museum collections.
Yaël Kreplak is a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Delphine Lévy Chair in ‘access to art and heritage’ & HiCSA laboratory), specialising in the analysis of conservation practices for works of art.