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The winter 2016 edition of VoCA Journal launches with a series of articles that explore the role of artists’ intent regarding the display and preservation of their work. In this issue, Katherine Sanderson (Assistant Conservator of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) unpacks the nuanced conservation issues encountered when treating Matthew Brandt‘s altered photographs. Together Brandt and Sanderson confront the question, “which aspect of the piece is more important, the physical materials or their destruction?” Maria Theodoraki (artist and doctoral candidate at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa) offers a reading of the “mode of address” intended by Lygia Clark with the production of her “Bicho” sculpture series (1960–64) and the resulting ethical challenges attached to their display. A think piece by Christian Scheidemann (Senior Conservator, President at Contemporary Conservation Ltd.) contextualizes artist interviews within a broader research portfolio for contemporary art conservators, observing that, “when an artwork departs from the artist’s studio… it joins the greater network of all the moving parts that comprise the art world, and thus its relationship to the artist changes.” An interview between James McElhinney (oral historian and artist) and Ronnie Landfield covering Landfield’s experiences as a painter working in Manhattan since the 1960s and his recent relocation to a new studio in upstate New York reflects a primary attachment to the textures of anecdote and the spoken word.
VoCA Journal is a digital information-sharing platform for artists and their collaborators. Our contributors—including fabricators, curators, conservators, registrars, art handlers, collectors, gallerists, and those responsible for artist estates and foundations–are invited to discuss innovative, cross-disciplinary approaches to the research, display, and conservation of contemporary art. Published three times yearly (fall, winter, and spring) VoCA Journal highlights and archives progressive artist-centered projects, thereby creating a dynamic repository for these initiatives while also connecting members of our network both locally and across the globe.
VoCA’s mission and programming is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, White Flag Foundation, Suzanne Deal Booth, Charles and Jessie Price, and Marguerite Hoffman.
For more information about VoCA and our upcoming programs, or to subscribe to our newsletter, please visit our website.
VoCA Journal—winter 2016
“Balancing Preservation Strategy and Artist Intent: Treatment of a Unique Chromogenic Print by Matthew Brandt,” Katherine Sanderson
“Issues of Display: Protecting the Object, Damaging the Artwork,” Maria Theodoraki
“Why Not Ask the Artist?,” Christian Scheidemann
“Art & Influence: A Conversation with Ronnie Landfield,” James McElhinney
