We are pleased to announce a new, online edition of the NICAS colloquium on Thursday 8 April 2021 from 12.00 to 13.00 hrs. The colloquium will take place online through Microsoft Teams.
Throughout the year, NICAS organises a bi-weekly Colloquium consisting of two short research lectures. It provides researchers with the opportunity to present ideas for, updates on or results of their activities. The NICAS Colloquium allows people to stay informed on a regular basis about the latest developments and results of research and to exchange information and expertise.
The chair of this colloquium will be Victor Gonzalez (Rijksmuseum)
The presenters are:
► Jan Dorscheid – The Japanese Lacquer Cabinets from Huis ten Bosch: examination and material analysis
Abstract:
Japanese lacquer of the highest quality commonly exclusive for the emperor and high officials in Japan is decorating the two cabinets from Huis ten Bosch Palace. Made in c. 1680 for the Dutch market the cabinets are representative for the unique Dutch-Japanese relationship in the 17th century. Japanese motifs executed in fine powders and strewings of different gradations and alloys of gold, copper, and silver are combined with depictions of the Dutch VOC trading post Deshima in the port of Nagasaki and the annual tribute procession to the shōgun‘s court in Edo passing by mount Fuji.
Following the exhibition Asia in Amsterdam in 2015 the two cabinets remained at the Rijksmuseum to be treated. Under the influence of light the once so pristine lacquer has become increasingly dull due to propagating micro-cracks. The embedded strewings are at risk to be dislocated and ambient air causes the silver powders and particles to corrode. The treatment was accompanied by material research to identify the materials and decorative techniques the cabinets were made with and better understand degradation processes.
Bio:
Jan Dorscheid is working as Furniture Conservator at the Rijksmuseum since 2015. He studied conservation of wooden artefacts at the University of Applied Science in Potsdam, Germany, after a three-year apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker. Following his studies, he completed a year-long post-graduate internship at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and an Andrew W. Mellon fellowship at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
► Aga Wielocha – Collecting Archives of Objects and Stories: On the lives and futures of contemporary art at the museum
Abstract:
This study, conducted within the research programme New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art (NACCA) takes as its focus the triangle of relationships between an artist, a museum and a contemporary artwork as collectible. It investigates how contemporary artworks by Mirosław Bałka, Danh Vo and Barbara Kruger are collected, documented and conserved in today’s institutions and looks at how new methods developed in the field of contemporary art conservation, such as the artist’s interview, are adopted by museums. By approaching contemporary art as a new paradigm of artistic practice and building on notions such as musealisation, art project as art form and art object as document, this study works towards a theoretical model that addresses the incompatibility between a traditional museum approach to collecting and preserving and the features of contemporary art. For more about the project, see here.
Bio:
Aga Wielocha is a collection care professional and a researcher specialised in contemporary art. Currently, she holds the position of Conservator, Preventive at M+ in Hong Kong. She holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture. Her doctoral research carried out within the program “New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art” (NACCA) situated at the crossroads of art history and theory, conservation, museology and heritage studies was focused on the lives and futures of contemporary art in institutional collections, particularly on works which are variable and unfold over time. Prior to her doctoral studies, she served as a conservator at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.