UCL hosts event on conserving contemporary art
As part of UCL Art Museum's exhibition The composition has been reversed , a group including curators, artists, a historian and a conservator met yesterday to discuss issues unique to the conservation of contemporary art. The composition has been reversed emerged from UCL Art Museum's ninth annual collaboration with the UCL Slade School of Fine Art and involves the work of five artists from the Slade - at different stages of their education - participating in a residency. As part of the residencies, the artists were tasked with working with the collections already held by UCL Art Museum, using ideas from the archives to influence their contemporary practices. Artists Grace Richardson and Cyrus Hung both created artworks that raise questions relevant to the keeping of contemporary art. These were discussed during the event. Grace Richardson spoke about how, inspired by paintings made by 17th century artist Hans Troschel on velum held in UCL Art Museum, she created artificial skin that is intended to degrade over time. Her work interrogates fragility and impermanence: how things are kept and how they fall apart.
