POPART

POPART Highlights website ! The results of the project

alban fournier — 2012-06-18T15:13:57Z

After 4 years of international collaboration, the new website gathering many materials from our researches on preservation of plastic artefacts in museum collections is now available!

It includes all the lectures of the conference, extracts from the book, posters presented at the conference, the samco database and much more.

Discover the website here:

http://popart-highlights.mnhn.fr

POPART book

alban fournier — 2012-03-15T09:44:39Z

POPART consortium has released a book presenting the results of the research done through the 4 years of POPART project.

"Preservation of plastic artefacts in museum collections"

Edited by the CTHS

Order the book here:

at the CTHS éditions

e-mail of the CTHS éditions

on amazon

POPART book

alban fournier — 2012-03-15T09:34:35Z

POPART consortium has released a book presenting the results of the research done through the 4 years of POPART project.

"Preservation of plastic artefacts in museum collections"

Edited by the CTHS

Order the book here:

at the CTHS éditions

e-mail of the CTHS éditions

on amazon

2012

alban fournier — 2012-02-29T13:11:29Z

Workshop "Working with Plastics", INP, St Denis, France, 12th-14th March

Workshop with Thea van Oosten, Senior conservation scientist (RCE) and Anna Laganà, Conservator in contemporary art.

Conference "POPART final conference", INP, Paris, France, 7th-9th March

Full program here.

Workshop in Paris : "Stage de formation sur l'identification, la conservation et la restauration des plastiques"

alban fournier — 2012-02-01T17:07:12Z

Suite à la conférence POPART (7, 8 et 9 mars), l'Inp propose, du 12 au 14 mars, un stage d'approfondissement animé par Théa van Oosten, scientifique (Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) et Anna Laganà, restauratrice d'art contemporain qui abordera de façon pratique, adaptée aux situations de terrain, l'identification des plastiques et les méthodes de conservation et de restauration s'y rattachant.

Plus d'information ici

Release of a new book: "PUR Facts: Conservation of Polyurethane Foam in Art and Design"

alban fournier — 2012-02-01T16:57:50Z

Release of a new book by Thea van Oosten, published by the RCE, Amsterdam University Press.

Flexible Polyurethane (PUR) foams have been used since the 1950s in textiles and furniture upholsteries, and in art and design objects that can now be found in museum collections. Composed from “short-life” consumer materials, these objects present severe conservation problems as they age. This book presents an in-depth examination of the challenges presented by PUR foams; the case studies of preservation of two works by the artist Piero Gilardi; and a manual on preparing and applying a light stabilizing system that can protect new PUR foams from degrading and restore the flexibility of old foams.

POPART final conference 7-9 March 2012, Paris

alban fournier — 2011-05-30T15:48:16Z

“Preservation Of Plastic ARTefacts in museum collections”

The POPART project

POPART consortium organizes an international conference to disseminate the results of the project.

7 - 9 March 2012, PARIS, France

Venue: Auditorium Colbert, 2 rue de Vivienne, 75001 Paris, France

More info and registration here

POPART Conference 7-9 March 2012

alban fournier — 2011-05-23T14:12:17Z

POPART consortium organizes an international conference

“Preservation Of Plastic ARTefacts in museum collections”

The POPART project

7 - 9 March 2012, PARIS, France

The organising committee thanks all the participants for the success of POPART conference.

We have been more than 200 participants from all the continents, sharing knowledge on preservation of plastic artefacts.

THEME

Since their rapid development during the first half of the 20th century, plastics have infiltrated every aspect of modern daily life. Unfortunately, many plastics have a short lifetime and degrade via irreversible chemical reactions that result in dramatic changes in appearance and significance to museum artefacts. This symposium aims to present knowledge gained from the European commission funded project POPART over 4 years (http://popart.mnhn.fr/). The symposium will address the fields of identification, assessment of degradation and care of plastics artefacts. A poster session will be organised where new research, conservation treatments or case studies can be presented by symposium participants.

VENUE

Auditorium Colbert

2 rue Vivienne

75002 Paris

PROGRAMME

The programme consists of plenary lectures during the mornings (9 am -1 pm) and workshops or visits in the afternoons.

Download the full programme with speakers here.

March 7th:

Morning: Which plastics are in the collection?

(History, collection assessment and issues)

Afternoon, workshops:
Cleaning

Surveying collections

March 8th:

Morning: What is the condition of the collection?

(Damage assessment for plastic artefacts)

Afternoon, workshops:

Identification of polymers by observational methods
Portable tools for identification of polymers-NIR, Raman, FTIR
Polymer analysis (Py GC-MS)

March 9th:

Morning: What are the conservation challenges ?

(Active conservation of plastic artefacts: cleaning, consolidation)

Afternoon: visits

Poster session during the 3 days.

Time limit for registrations: Friday 17 February 2012

For more information, contact Alban Fournier.

This symposium is made possible by the EC funding, Grant agreement 212218 for the POPART project*: Preservation of plastic artefacts in museum collections It will be organised by the Centre de recherche sur la conservation des collections (CRCC) in collaboration with the CNRS and the INP.

* The POPART project, devoted to the preservation of polymer artefacts in museums, is funded by the European commission for 42 months from October 2008 to March 2012. Twelve partners from 8 countries are involved bringing a wide range of expertise. It includes the Centre de recherche sur la conservation des collections and the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France both from France, the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), the National Museum of Denmark (Denmark), the Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" (Italy), the Instituut Collectie Nederland (Netherlands), Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovakia), Arc-Nucleart (France), SolMateS BV (Netherlands), Morana RTD (Slovenia), the Centre for Sustainable Heritage UCL (UK) and the Getty Conservation Institute (USA).

2011

alban fournier — 2011-03-03T15:29:24Z

Conference "Future talks 011", Technology and Conservation of Modern Materials in Design, Munich, Germany, 26th-27th October

Link to the conference site

Conference "ICOM-CC Triennial 16th Conference ", organized by ICOM-CC, Lisbon, Portugal, 19th-23th September

Oral presentations by different partners. Poster by the CRCC.

Link to the conference site

Conference "NIR spectroscopy for cultural heritage", organized by IIC Arabic Group, Cairo, Egypte, 24th May

Oral presentation by matija Strlic (UCL)

Conference "Futureproof plastics", organized by the Arts University College, Bournemouth, UK, 18th May

Oral presentation by Brenda Keneghan (V&A): PopArt – the first EU-funded project addressing the problem of plastic objects in heritage collections

Conference "Science for contemporary art", organized by the Italian Association of Archeometry, Ferrara, Italy, 1st-4th March

Oral presentation by Costanza Cucci (IFAC-CNR), Thea Van Oosten (ICN), Agnès Lattuati-Derieux (CRCC-CNRS), Gianluca Pastorelli (UCL)

2 books about plastic conservation

alban fournier — 2010-07-06T12:37:00Z

Conservation of Plastics: Materials science, degradation and preservation

By Yvonne Shashoua (POPART partner: Natmus)

Plastic objects are included more than ever in museums and galleries collections these days, but these items can start to deteriorate when they a just a few years old. In this book Yvonne Shashoua provides the essential knowledge needed to keep plastic pieces in the best possible condition so that they can continue to be enjoyed for many years.

The historical development of plastics, as well as the technology, their physical and chemical properties, identification, degradation and conservation are all clearly and concisely covered within this single volume, making it an invaluable reference for the increasing number of conservators and curators that are encountering plastics in their day to day work.

Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (August 6, 2008)

Plastics in Art

By Friederike Waentig (POPART Advisory Committee)

In this book, the development and manufacture of plastics, since the nineteenth century, is discussed within their economical and cultural context. Various plastic materials are characterized, their ageing Behavior described and conservation examples given. Finally the issue of storage is addressed. The main focus lies in recent experiences in the conservation of plastics in art. Plastic objects are ubiquitous in our daily life, and are found in a myriad of types and forms in design and art works. However, their ?modern? appearance when compared to traditional materials ? like stone, wood or ceramics ? can lead to an erroneous perception of ?permanence?, with no special need for care or conservation. The reality is different. Plastics age faster than traditional materials, and therefore it is imperative to understand. Their ageing mechanisms and conservation requirements.

Publisher: Michael Imhof Verlag (May 1, 2009)