dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark

MACHINERIES
were introduced, but all these R&D activities are
currently under scrutiny and their future is uncertain.
The use of new conservation techniques is not only
questioned in terms of efficiency and compatibility
with artefacts. The conservation decision process is
also based on socio-economic, ethical, and humanistic
considerations that also include aspects of costs,
benefits, and hazards. The conservation community
is now more circumspect about chemical treatments
and, no doubt, more concerned about the implications
they may have on the integrity of the work and about
their impact on the environment. This is not limited
to the conservation field but has reached all levels
of industrial societies. The assessment of damages
caused by excessive use of medications (such as
antibiotics) or fertilizers have contributed to the
public’s resistance towards mass chemical treatment.
Cultural and technological contexts have also changed
tremendously. The explosion of digital technology
tends to reduce the use of original documents that
can be preserved under optimal conditions. This
awareness has also contributed to the development of
preventive conservation. In the field of audio-visual
heritage, it has lead to the promotion of cold storage to
slow down deterioration, and also to the development
of tools to monitor the state of deterioration. The
Danish Film Archives is a good example. Thus, if the
application of freeze-drying is widely accepted, other
mass treatments such as gamma-ray irradiation and
ethylene-oxide disinfection will tend to disappear. It
is true that the development of digital technology has
played a significant role in the way our society is now
considering these issues. Digital technologies have
22
INNOVATIVE MATERIALS
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
NEW OBJECTS, READY MADE
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Fig.1: The impact of industry on the museum collections: with
the achievement of industrial developments, museum collections
have gradually inherited a different kind of artefacts.
opened new possibilities in conservation-restoration:
fast access, tools for documentation and imaging
of works of art (from photograph to multi-spectral
images), digital image processing for the recreation
of damaged parts, etc. All this has proved useful for
conservation work, from the decision-making process
for restoration to the education of the general public
(19).
Conclusion
For over 100 years, industrial development has
been the backbone of our society and the source
of our economic prosperity. It is therefore justified
that we observe its repercussions in the field of
cultural heritage. In fact, mass production was
never intended to directly serve the field of cultural
heritage, for it is a too-limited market for such a
development. However, several mass-produced
materials, objects, techniques, and technologies are
nowadays in museum collections or have multiple
applications and implications in the museum field,
from the constituents of works of art to conservation
activities. We could certainly list the most remarkable
innovations as well as the more problematic ones
for cultural heritage, but this would only consider
the tangible aspect. The contribution to our field
lies also in methods and approaches borrowed from
the industry: the practises of standardization (e.g.,
accelerated aging tests, the blue wool standard, the
Teas triangle) and quality control (e.g., the statistical
survey of collections) were inherited from industrial
practices. It is likely that the next industrial evolution
will be connected to environmental issues. The
“green industry” and the growing public interest
in sustainable development will probably have a
great impact on cultural heritage. This proves that
industries are able to move ahead and take seriously
into consideration new societal problems such as
preservation of nature and environment. This is a
good opportunity to remind ourselves that it would
make sense to consider the preservation of cultural
heritage as well.