International symposium Contemporary Art: Who Cares?
Research and practices in contemporary art conservation

International symposium for (up-and-coming) professionals, from diverse
disciplines, who are connected to the conservation of modern and
contemporary art. It is the successor of the leading symposium in the nineties
about this subject Modern Art: Who Cares?. The symposium will take place in
Amsterdam at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) from 9 - 11 June 2010. A pre-
symposium reception is on the evening of the 8th of June.

Contemporary Art: Who Cares? will feature plenary lectures as well as a choice
of circa ten parallel sessions per day; panel discussions, workshops and behind-
the-scenes tours. There will also be time allocated to poster presentations and
networking sessions.

The three-day programme is based upon three phases in the 'conservation
continuum': different aspects of conservation that take place during
the 'lifespan' of an artwork. The point of departure is the concept that
conservation issues related to contemporary art cannot be dealt with without
considering the relationship to artistic and museum practice.

Day 1: Artistic production and collection development
Day one focuses on conservation in relation to the production of contemporary
art as well as the transition process when a contemporary work of art enters a
museum collection.

Day 2: Care and conservation
The second day deals with conservation in a more familiar sense by looking to
experience from practice and how theory is developed out of the restoration
studio and collection management.

Day 3: Access, presentation and the public
Day three will look at how contemporary art can be made accessible to the
public and the role of conservators and conservation information in this
process.

Tickets to the symposium cost € 290 for professionals and € 160 for students.
Included in the price of the ticket is a copy of the book Inside Installations
(working title), which is due for launch in March 2011.

For details and to register go to www.incca.org/contemporaryartwhocares

Contemporary Art: Who Cares? is organised by the Netherlands Institute for
Cultural Heritage (ICN),
the Foundation for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (SBMK) and the
University of Amsterdam (UvA)

The symposium programme has been created in collaboration by a group of
experts from 35 organisations who are working together in the INCCA affiliated
European project PRACTICs (2009-2011). Most of these individuals worked
together during the EU project Inside Installations (2004-2007).

PRACTICs is an International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary
Art (INCCA) affiliated project and made possible with the support of the
Culture Programme of the European Union and the Mondriaan Foundation.