Contemporary Theory of Conservation

257 Pages·2004·1.994 MB·English

by  Salvador Munoz-Vinas

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Contemporary Theory of
Conservation
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Contemporary Theory of
Conservation
Salvador Muñoz Viñas
AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD
PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO
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Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX 2 8DP
30 Corporate Drive, Burlington, MA 01803
First published 2005
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
1 What is conservation? 1
A brief history of conservation 1
Issues in the definition of conservation 7
Too many tasks 7
Too many objects 8
Too many professionals 9
Conservators’ conservation 13
A note on the use of the terms 14
Preservation and restoration 15
Preservation 15
Restoration 16
Preservation and restoration act together 18
Preservation and restoration are different 19
Preventive and informational preservation 21
Preventive preservation 21
Informational preservation 23
2 The objects of conservation 27
What shall be conserved? 27
The Mustang paradox 27
The evolution of conservation objects 29
Problems of traditional categories 31
Art, archaeology and antiquities 31
Historic works 35
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vi Contents
Riegl’s ‘monuments’ 36
Heritage 37
The nihilist turn 41
The communicative turn 43
What is a symbol? 45
Webs of meaning 46
Too many symbols 50
Refining the communicative turn 50
Symbolic strength as a criterion 50
Which meanings make up a conservation object? 51
Mechanisms of symbolization 55
Changing meanings 57
Two exceptions: Riegl’s ‘deliberate monuments’
and recent artworks 58
Ethno-historical evidence 59
Summing up 62
3 Truth, objectivity and scientific conservation 65
The pursuit of truth in classical theories of conservation 65
Aestheticist theories 67
Scientific conservation 69
An observation on the role of architects
in conservation theory 71
What is ‘scientific conservation’? 74
The (missing) theoretical body of scientific
conservation 78
The principles of scientific conservation 81
Material fetichism 82
Belief in scientific enquiry 87
The pragmatic argument 88
Summing up 89
4 The decline of truth and objectivity 91
The tautological argument: authenticity and truth
in conservation objects 91
Legibility 99
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Contents vii
The notion of damage under scrutiny 101
The argument of unsuitability: subjective and
intangible needs in conservation 105
5 A brief excursion into the real world 115
Conservation and science 115
Lack of communication 117
The insufficiency of hard sciences 120
Complexity 120
An infinite variety of objects 125
A vindication of conservators’ technical knowledge 129
Lack of technological knowledge 141
Technoscience 144
6 From objects to subjects 147
Radical subjectivism 147
Re-examining the problem: inter-subjectivism 150
The expert’s zone: objectivism and authority 153
From the experts’ zone to the trading zone: the
emergence of the subject 158
Affected people 158
The stakeholders 160
The trading zone 163
Clashes in meanings: inter- and intra-cultural
issues in conservation 165
7 The reasons for conservation 171
Reasons for conservation 171
From the conservation of truths to the
conservation of meanings 173
Expressive conservation 176
Functional and value-led conservation 177
8 Sustainable conservation 183
The criticism of reversibility 183
Minimum intervention 188
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viii Contents
From minimum intervention to maximum benefit 191
The principle of sustainability 194
9 From theory to practice: a revolution of
common sense 199
Discernible restoration 199
Adaptive ethics 202
The risks of negotiatory conservation 205
Evidential conservation 205
Genial conservation 206
Demagogic conservation 208
Exerting authority: the role of the experts in
contemporary conservation 209
Conclusion: a revolution of common sense 212
Bibliographical references 215
Subject index 229
Proper names index 233
Author index 237