For All the World to See. Improving Public Awareness of Conservation Achievements and Challenges

Conservation and preservation are unarguably key areas of business for museums, archives and libraries – and they mostly take place behind the scenes. That makes it all the more important to draw attention to the difficult situation facing public collections and gather support. Conservators, curators, scientists and patrons are struggling with the increasingly pressing question of how to more effectively inform the public about the preservation and conservation issues facing their collections. This symposium offered an opportunity to present and discuss successful public awareness concepts.

An event hosted by the KUR Programme for the Conservation of Movable Cultural Assets, initiated by the Federal Cultural Foundation and Cultural Foundation of German States.

Download the complete german event programme as a PDF here (opens in a new window).

13 October 2010
Lectures: Best Practice

Axel Rüger, Director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam:
Media Competence – Successful public relations concepts in the Netherlands

Dr. Elisabeth Niggemann, General Director of the German National Library:
Brittle Pages – Acidic Ages. The phenomenology of a widespread problem

Silke Beiner-Büth, Conservator at the Museum of Hamburg History:
Awoken with a kiss! Live conservation as an exhibition concept

Prof. Dr. Friederike Waentig, Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, University of Applied Sciences:
I Spy with My Little Eye. Integrating the public into university instruction

Prof. Dr. Matthias Knaut, Vice President of the University of Applied Sciences Berlin:
Interdisciplinarity and Solidarity. The influence of networks on public awareness

Dr. Katrin Janis and Marion Biesalski, Bavarian Administration of State-owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes, Conservation Department:
And...Action! Taking cues on conservation from New Media

Poster session: Exclusive presentation of all 26 KUR projects

Podium discussion: Cui bono? Limits of conservation
Representatives from cultural, scientific and political circles discussed to what extent preserving our cultural heritage makes sense from an ethical, philosophical and cultural perspective. What barriers of communication do conservation concepts encounter and at what point does the reconstruction of the past become a paradox of the present?

Dr. Anja Dauschek, Stadtmuseum Stuttgart
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaschuba, Institute of European Ethnology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Prof. Dr. Antje Potthast, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
Prof. Dr. Harald Meller, State Agency for Historic Landmark Preservation and Archaeology in Saxony-Anhalt
Prof. Philipp Oswalt, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Moderator: Thomas Bille, MDR Figaro

Get to it! The KUR Slam
Evening event at the Riff Club on the Kulturinsel
Conservators and scientists presented the results of their work with the aim of winning over the audience as the jury. Similar to “science slams”, the scientific merit of the project is of less importance than the information and entertainment value of the presentation.

Moderator: Felix Römer, slam poet, member of the poetry-slam boy group SMAAT

14 October 2010
KUR on location: Parallel excursions to KUR projects in the region

Händel-Haus, Halle:
Research on the statics of historic keyboard instruments (opens in a new window)

State Museum of Prehistory, Halle:
Conservation and professional storage of iron artefacts (opens in a new window)

German National Library, Leipzig:
Sustainability of mass de-acidification of library collections (opens in a new window)
with shuttle service

Concert in the chamber music hall at the Händel-Haus Foundation
Presentation of a fortepiano by J. B. Schmidt, Salzburg, built around 1790, the object of research in the KUR project by the Händel-Haus Foundation. Concert performance featuring Claudia Osterwald. For more information about the concert programme, visit the Händel-Haus Foundation Website (external link, opens in a new window).