Marcal, H; Castriota, B; (2021) Always already fragment: integrity, deferral, and possibility in the conservation of cultural heritage. In: Schädler-Saub, U and Weyer, A, (eds.) The Fragment in the Digital Age. Opportunities and risks of new conservation-restoration techniques. Schriften des Hornemann Instituts

Text Marcal_Always already fragment- integrity, deferral, and possibility in the conservation of cultural heritage_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (1MB)

Abstract

Conservation discourses often entail discussions around integrity, loss, and recovery. Recent developments in the field have highlighted the agency of conservators in the making of the entities being restored, and digital technologies have afforded new forms of memorialisation in relation to cultural heritage objects. But in which ways does the fragment figure in international charters and policies that underpin our practice? How do these documents confirm or confront the bespoke practices that are seen in the care of a myriad of media and physical objects, in a multitude of contexts, forms, and geographies? This paper examines how integrity and loss have been invoked both in conservation literature and international charters and policies. Drawing on a variety of philosophical and theoretical sources, and through reflection on different kinds of heritage objects, this paper considers how all cultural heritage exists in a state of incompleteness or fragment, and the implications this may hold for conservation ethics and practice.

Download activity - last month

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as JSONCSVXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item