How are performances transmitted across time through the modalities of ritual? Basel's Fasnacht celebrations offer a unique opportunity to consider the relationship between continuity and change.
Change and continuity at Basel’s Fasnacht
Divergent Conservations – conservations divergentes
Some reflections on the conference “Conservations divergentes – Préservation et transmission des collections de provenance coloniale en débat” (Divergent Conservations – Debates on the preservation and transmission of collections of colonial provenance).
An invitation to dance: Tionia Nekkia McClodden at the Shed
In her recent exhibition at New York's Shed, McClodden's installation did not only present documentation of dance, but also invited viewers to experience four different types of dance floors.
Performance and inertia: Theaster Gates at the New Museum
As performance plays an ever-greater role in art exhibitions, art objects previously considered inert are made to express performative aspects of their histories or forms.
Announcing a new publication: Object—Event—Performance
This blog post celebrates the publication of a new volume, Object—Event—Performance: Art, Materiality, and Continuity Since the 1960s (2022). The volume's ten chapters consider questions of conservation that arise with new artistic mediums and practices.
Performance from A to Z: a Conversation with Performa’s Executive Producer Esa Nickle
Since its creation in 2005, the New York performance biennial Performa has played a leading role in the development and diffusion of performance art. We recently met with Performa's Managing Director and Executive Producer, Esa Nickle.
Nicole Savoy on our second colloquium
Guest contributor Nicole Savoy reports and reflects on our second annual colloquium, "Performance Conservation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives."
Looking at the moon: Davide-Christelle Sanvee and the embodiment of Swiss performance history
A recent performance by Geneva performance artist Davide-Christelle Sanvee at the Museum Tinguely demonstrates that performance itself is a tool for conserving performance art's history – and for reinterpreting it.
Looking back at Conserving “Us:” Caring for Living Heritage, Oral Tradition and Indigenous Knowledge — A Conversation with Brandie Macdonald
What does it take to care for living heritage and indigenous knowledge? What does it mean to conserve oral tradition or spiritual performance? How can museums become a space for engaging with living objects, and how to approach these through a decolonial lens? Our research team invited Brandie Macdonald, Chickasaw Nation/Choctaw Nation, senior Director of Decolonializing Initiatives at the San Diego Museum of Us to present her work and discuss these questions within the Thursday Lecture series organized at the Bern Academy of the Arts. In what follows, Emilie Magnin shares some reflections about the event.
Conservation clash: Kim Kardashian meets Marilyn Monroe
When Kim Kardashian wore a spectacular dress originally made for Marilyn Monroe to the iconic annual gala of the Metropolitan Museum's costume institute, textile conservators expressed outrage. But how might we interpret this bold act from the perspective of performance conservation?
Performance: Conservation, Materiality, Knowledge 