International symposium Contemporary Art: Who Cares?
Research and practices in contemporary art conservation

International symposium for (up-and-coming) professionals, from diverse
disciplines, who are connected to the conservation of modern and
contemporary art. It is the successor of the leading symposium in the
nineties about this subject Modern Art: Who Cares?. The symposium will
take place in Amsterdam at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) from 9 -
11 June 2010. A pre-symposium reception is on the evening of the 8th of
June.

Contemporary Art: Who Cares? will feature plenary lectures as well as a
choice of circa ten parallel sessions per day; panel discussions,
workshops and behind-the-scenes tours. There will also be time allocated
to poster presentations and networking sessions.

The three-day programme is based upon three phases in the 'conservation
continuum': different aspects of conservation that take place during
the 'lifespan' of an artwork. The point of departure is the concept
that conservation issues related to contemporary art cannot be dealt
with without considering the relationship to artistic and museum
practice.

Day 1: Artistic production and collection development
Day one focuses on conservation in relation to the production of
contemporary art as well as the transition process when a contemporary
work of art enters a museum collection.

Day 2: Care and conservation
The second day deals with conservation in a more familiar sense by
looking to experience from practice and how theory is developed out of
the restoration studio and collection management.

Day 3: Access, presentation and the public
Day three will look at how contemporary art can be made accessible to
the public and the role of conservators and conservation information in
this process.

Tickets to the symposium cost EUR 290 for professionals and EUR 160 for
students. Included in the price of the ticket is a copy of the book
Inside Installations (working title), which is due for launch in March
2011.

For details and to register go to www.incca.org/contemporaryartwhocares

Contemporary Art: Who Cares? is organised by the Netherlands Institute
for Cultural Heritage (ICN), the Foundation for the Conservation of
Contemporary Art (SBMK) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA)

The symposium programme has been created in collaboration by a group of
experts from 35 organisations who are working together in the INCCA
affiliated European project PRACTICs (2009-2011). Most of these
individuals worked together during the EU project Inside Installations
(2004-2007).

PRACTICs is an International Network for the Conservation of
Contemporary Art (INCCA) affiliated project and made possible with the
support of the Culture Programme of the European Union and the Mondriaan
Foundation.