ON CHALLENGES AND POTENT IALITIES

In March 2007, after a period of three years, the European research project Inside Installations came to an end. The project participants (mainly conservators, conservation researchers, curators and registrars) finalised the case study research they had been carrying out, and the results of their research were disseminated through the project's website. Some of the project participants had found answers to the questions they formulated at the beginning of the project; others had discovered new questions along the way. On the occasion of the project's closing meeting, hosted by Tate Modern in London, all participants were invited to gather around in small working groups and to formulate, on the spot, what they thought to be the main insights gained from the project. The first two observations formulated by the project participants of the working groups deserve particular attention, as they epitomise today's thinking about contemporary art conservation:

To start with the latter: here, caring for installation artworks is depicted as unsettling and uncomfortable. This statement clearly reflects the feeling of uncertainty that stems from entering into new territory. It refers to the challenges and difficult decisions conservators are confronted with when they engage with installation artworks. Moreover, it suggests that as a conservator involved with installation art, you should be willing to let go of long-accepted certainties. The statement reflects that in the care of installation artworks, routine practices and long-held assumptions are being questioned. Secured positions and accomplished expertise (as found in conventional scientific conservation, for example) can no longer be relied upon. Installation art calls upon the need to rethink fundamental concepts such as authenticity and artist's intention, to re-examine commonly accepted treatment procedures, and to restructure established work divisions and routine practices. Entering into these less familiar directions often involves a sense of uncertainty as well as a strong urge to look for alternative grounds of stability.