Open access has hit contemporary art preservation and conservation as well. Ever more publications are appearing with free access for all researchers worldwide.
We have compiled a list of English-language monographs, conference proceedings, and journal issues from our field. Currently the list contains fifteen titles, and will be expanded periodically.
Barranha, Helena, and Susana S. Martins (eds.), Uncertain Spaces: Virtual Configurations in Contemporary Art and Museums, Lisbon: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2015, 251 pp. Based on the conference produced in the framework of the Unplace project.
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Beerkens, Lydia, and Tom Learner (eds.), Conserving Outdoor Painted Sculpture, Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2014, 145 pp. Proceedings from the interim meeting of the Modern Materials and Contemporary Art Working Group of ICOM-CC, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, 4-5 June 2013.
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Dekker, Annet (ed.), Archive2020: Sustainable Archiving of Born-Digital Cultural Content, Amsterdam: Virtueel Platform, 2010.
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Dekker, Annet ed., Speculative Scenarios, or What Will Happen to Digital Art in the (Near) Future?, Eindhoven: Baltan Laboratories, 2013, 144 pp.
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Depocas, Alain, Jon Ippolito, Caitlin Jones (eds.), Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, with Montreal: Daniel Langlois Foundation, 2003, 137 pp. Outcome of the research project Variable Media Network (2001-04).
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Interventions 4(1): “Object Lesson: Conservation and Contemporary Art”, eds. Anna Linehan and Béatrice Grenier, New York: Columbia University, Jan 2015.
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Lavédrine, Bertrand, Alban Fournier, and Martin Graham (eds.), Preservation of Plastic Artefacts in Museum Collections, Paris: CTHS, 2012, 325 pp. Outcome of POPART project.
PDFs (in respective website sections)
Media-N 11(1): “The Aesthetics of Erasure”, eds. Paul Benzon and Sarah Sweeney, New Media Caucus, 2015.
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Noordegraaf, Julia, et al. (eds.), Preserving and Exhibiting Media Art: Challenges and Perspectives, Amsterdam University Press, 2013, 428 pp. Outcome of the research project (2007-10).
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Revista de historia da arte, 4: “Performing Documentation in the Conservation of Contemporary Art”, eds. Lúcia Almeida Matos, Rita Macedo, and Gunnar Heydenreich, Lisbon: Instituto de História da Arte, 2015, 196 pp. Proceedings of the 2013 conference.
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Reyes-Garcia, Everardo, Pierre Châtel-Innocenti, and Khaldoun Zreik (eds.), Archiving and Questioning Immateriality: Proceedings of the 5th Computer Art Congress, Paris: Europia, 2016, 466 pp.
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Rivenc, Rachel, and Reinhard Bek (eds.), Keep It Moving? Conserving Kinetic Art, Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2018. Proceedings from an ICOM-CC MMCA meeting organized in Milan, 2016.
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RTRSRCH 2(2): “
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Scholte, Tatja, and Glenn Wharton (eds.), Inside Installations: Theory and Practice in the Care of Complex Artworks, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, 2011, 266 pp. Outcome of the Inside Installation project.
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van Saaze, Vivian, Installation Art and the Museum: Presentation and Conservation of Changing Artworks, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, 2013, 226 pp. Based on author’s dissertation.
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VoCA Journal, ed. Robin Clark, New York: Voices in Contemporary Art, since 2015. Published three times a year.
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Wijers, Gaby, Evert Rodrigo, and Ramon Coelho (eds.), The Sustainability of Video Art: Preservation of Dutch Video Art Collections, Amsterdam: Foundation for the Conservation of Modern Art, 2003, 167 pp. Outcome of the research project Preservation Video Art (2000-03).
PDFs: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Do you have any further recommendations? Please leave them in the comments!