BACK, NOW, AND, THEN 2023.
Understanding Dieter Roth’s POeMETRIE series & the Age of Plastics.

The aim of this conference is to bring together national and international professionals from different disciplines, such as conservators, artists, and scientists from Universities, Museums, and conservation laboratories who work with modern-contemporary art to focus on the challenges related to art in the Age of Plastics, guided by a focus on the POeMETRIE series of Dieter Roth. We will examine and discuss the issues these works face, their relevance to plastic heritage in general, and how they reflect the evolution of the development of plastics.
The 2-day symposium will take place in presence; the lectures and poster presentations will deepen the understanding of the following subjects:
- Research in conservation-restoration of organic materials, object contingency, mutability, decay, and human interactivity embedded in contemporary art challenges conservators and collections to develop new processes for conservation strategies.
- Comprehension of materials and techniques involving plastic-based artistic objects, particularly the POeMETRIE series of Dieter Roth.
- Ageing and Degradation mechanisms and conservation strategies for plastics in museum collections.
- Plastic and technological development.

Date: Thursday, 12/Oct/2023
8:00am - 9:00am R: Registration

9:00am 1MS: 1st Morning Session
Session Chair: Carolin Bohlmann

9:00am - 9:30am Op: Opening
Rector Johan Hartle, Carolin Bohlmann, Katja Sterflinger, Valentina Pintus

9:30am - 10:00am K1: Keynote speaker 1
Ina Jessen (Dieter Roth Hamburg Foundation, DE)
POeMETRIE. The Luxury Edition in Dieter Roth's Artist’s Book Oeuvre

10:00am - 10:20am 01: Oral presentation 1
Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT)
Book. Container. Accumulation.
Performative Aspects in the Work of Dieter Roth

10:20am - 10:40am O2: Oral presentation 2
Maria Kokkori (Northwestern University, US)
On “decay objects”: Dieter Roth’s Taschenzimmer (Pocket Room)

10:40am - 10:50am CD1: Collective Discussion 1

10:50am - 11:20am C1: 1st Coffee Break and Poster Session

11:20am 2MS: 2nd Morning Session
Session Chair: Valentina Pintus

11:20am - 11:50am K2: Keynote speaker 2
Sonja Alhäuser (Artist, DE)
The Never-ending Work: Material Transformation in Drawings and Sculptures

11:50am - 12:10pm O3: Oral presentation 3
Carolin Bohlmann (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT)
Collaboration as Conservation: Following Dieter Roth´s Artistic Production

12:10pm - 12:40pm K3: Keynote speaker 3
Maria Loerzel (LVR-Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Amt für Denkmalpflege, DE)
Plastics and Conservation Ethics using the example of the Transparent Figures

12:40pm - 12:50pm CD2: Collective Discussion 2

12:50pm - 2:00pm L1: Lunch 1st Day

2:00pm 1AS: 1st Afternoon Session
Session Chair: Ina Jessen

2:00pm - 2:30pm K4: Keynote speaker 4
Claartje van Haaften (Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM), DE)
Plastics. We Think We Know Them, But Do We Really?

2:30pm - 2:50pm O4: Oral presentation 4
Mary Coughlin (George Washington University, US)
Low-tech, Low-cost Monitoring of Plasticized PVC

2:50pm - 3:10pm O5: Oral presentation 5
Livia Marinelli (Sapienza University of Rome, IT)
Mattel's Barbie: Conserving the Materiality of a Symbol. Film-forming Innovative Formulations for Plasticizers Leakage Prevention

3:10pm - 3:20pm CD3: Collective Discussion 3

3:20pm - 4:00pm C2: 2nd Coffee Break and Poster Session

4:00pm - 6:00pm SE: Social Event
Visit to the Paintings Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

7:00pm - 11:00pm SD: Social Dinner
Dinner at Glacis Beisl

Date: Friday, 13/Oct/2023
9:00am 3MS: 3rd Morning Session
Session Chair: Mary Coughlin

9:00am - 9:30am K5: Keynote speaker 5
Yvonne Shashoua (National Museum of Denmark, DK)
The Legacy of the Plastics Age

9:30am - 9:50am O6: Oral presentation 6
Sofia Jane Lo Bianco (Art Gallery of NSW, AU)
A Spectroscopic Examination of a Contemporary Study After Michelangelo, From the Series Two Suns (c. 2015) by Adrián Villar Rojas: Developing and Testing a Surface Cleaning Treatment for a Degraded Mixed-media Epoxy Putty/non-drying Modelling Clay Sculpture

9:50am - 10:10am O7: Oral presentation 7
Christina Elsässer (Deutsches Museum, DE)
Celluloid 3D-Objects: Are They Safe in A Frozen Storage Condition?

10:10am - 10:20am CD4: Collective Discussion 4

10:20am - 10:50am 3rd Coffee: 3rd Coffee Break and Poster Session

10:50am 4MS: 4th Morning Session
Session Chair: Yvonne Shashoua

10:50am - 11:20am K6: Keynote speaker 6
Paula Gassmann (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT)
Towards the Understanding of PVC and Minced Mutton Meat - the Ageing Behaviour in an Artwork by Dieter Roth

11:20am - 11:50am K7: Keynote speaker 7
Tjasa Rijavec (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, SI)
PVC: Modelling of Decay Processes for Improved Preventive Conservation

11:50am - 12:10pm O8: Oral presentation 8
Francesca Izzo (Ca' Foscari University of Venice, IT)
Animation Cels Unveiled: Degradation Problems of Cellulose Acetate and Nitrate-Based Materials for the Italian TV Animation Between the 1950s and the 1970s

12:10pm - 12:20pm CD5: Collective Discussion 5

12:20pm - 2:00pm L2: Lunch 2nd Day

2:00pm 2AS: 2nd Afternoon Session
Session Chair: Francesca Caterina Izzo

2:00pm - 2:30pm K8: Keynote speaker 8
Elena Gómez Sánchez (Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, Materials Science DE).
Identifying, Prioritising, Preventing. Current Research Efforts Against the Degradation of Polymeric Materials From The Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum

2:30pm - 2:50pm O9: Oral presentation 9
Aleksandra Papis (Auschwitz Birkenau State Muzeum, PL)
Conservation Challenges of Plastic Objects in the PMA-B Collection

2:50pm - 3:10pm O10: Oral presentation 10
Gunnison Anne (Yale University Art Gallery, US)
Characterizing Polycaprolactone in Work by Matthew Barney

3:10pm - 3:20pm CD6: Collective Discussion 6

3:20pm - 3:30pm SS: Symposium Summary

3:30pm - 4:00pm C4: Farewell Coffee and Poster Session

4:00pm - 5:00pm Organizer's Meeting: Organizer's and Committee Meeting