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Ephemeral Yet Enduring: Challenges in Contemporary Conservation

Doris Salcedo, A Flor de Piel (detail), 2013. Rose petals and thread. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. G. David Thompson, in memory of his son, G. David Thompson, Jr., Class of 1958, by exchange; purchase through the generosity of Elaine Levin in honor of Mary Schneider Enriquez; and purchase through the generosity of Deborah and Martin Hale, 2014.133.
© Doris Salcedo. Photo: Joerg Lohse; courtesy of the artist and Alexander and Bonin, New York, and White Cube, London.

Lecture

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This event was recorded. Please view the lecture here.

Narayan Khandekar, director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies and senior conservation scientist, and Angela Chang, assistant director and conservator of objects and sculpture, will discuss the various issues that arise in conserving contemporary art. In particular, they will focus on how Doris Salcedo, as evidenced in her works in the current special exhibition Doris Salcedo: The Materiality of Mourning, takes a seemingly impossible idea and makes it a reality. The presentation will conclude with a detailed examination of Salcedo’s A Flor de Piel—which is comprised of rose petals and thread—and a discussion of the challenges involved in maintaining the work.

Following the lecture, the special exhibition galleries will remain open until 8pm.

The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway.

Free admission

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Co-presented by the Harvard Art Museums and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS).

The exhibition has been made possible by the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family, the Charles O. Wood III and Miriam M. Wood Foundation, Marguerite Steed Hoffman and Thomas W. Lentz, Catherine Marcus Rose and William Rose, Bridgitt and Bruce Evans, Mark N. Diker and Deborah A. Colson, and Elaine Levin. In addition, the following endowed funds have provided crucial support: the Agnes Gund Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art; the Alexander S., Robert L., and Bruce A. Beal Exhibition Fund; and the Harvard Art Museums Mellon Publication Funds, including the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund.