21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

The development of industry since the beginning of the twentieth century has flooded society with a multitude of products that involve the composite use of a variety of materials. Like these products that surround us, and perhaps sometimes to an even greater degree, works of contemporary art may be said to be created out of the mixture and interposition of diverse media (elements including both materials and techniques).
Although contemporary artists continue to apply innovative materials to art in the pursuit of expressive possibilities, we find more than a few instances in which new materials whose physical properties and durability are in the first place unclear have caused unexpected deterioration in artworks, and it is undeniable that the use of composite materials complicates the conservation and restoration of a work. What steps to preserve and care for such so-called “mixedmedia” artworks can we take to ensure their long-term availability to the public?
At this symposium, we bring together specialists involved in art preservation from the US, Hong Kong, and South Korea to think about the conservation and restoration of art collection, drawing inspiration from their own respective practices.