Breaking Meanings and Sustaining Disagreements

It is an obvious trend to observers that the conservation of contemporary art has become increasingly complex over the years.  There is also an attendant awareness that traditional models of decision-making can sometimes be of a hindrance, even with the best of intentions.

It is against this background of seeking new ways of working with contemporary art in the larger   context of a university museum collection that the following poster was presented at the "Contemporary Art: Who Cares?" symposium held at the Tropenmuseum (Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam), 9 - 11 June 2010.

For more information on the symposium, click here.  For a video gallery of the invited speaker presentations, click here.

Poster (PDF; 567 KB)

Building A Cost-Effective Portable Infra-Red Imaging Camera

The use of technical examination is now considered an integral part of conservation treatment process.  However, the availability of equipment has always been limited to institutions or organisations with substantial resources.  With the recent advances made in consumer electronics, it is now possible to use off-the-shelf components to achieve basic results which otherwise would need deep pockets.

A working infra-red imaging camera was successfully constructed and tested using a web-cam and items easily gotten from various sources.  The overall cost was kept to under US$100, excluding manpower time. 

It is hoped that by sharing the information that goes into the making of the camera, more conservators can have at their disposal another tool in making conservation treatment decisions as well as uncover some interesting information along the way.


The poster was presented at the symposium "In situ technical imaging for art and archaeology" organised by the British Museum on 15th July 2010.

Do get in touch as we would love to hear your experiences. 

Poster (A3 size) - PDF; 1.86 MB

Poster (A4 size) - PDF; 827 KB