BGC for Conservators

The Bard Graduate Center Gallery produces multiple exhibitions and publications each year, serving as a vital center of learning and a catalyst for engagement in the interrelated disciplines of decorative arts, design, and material culture. The gallery is celebrated in the museum world for its longstanding legacy of landmark projects dedicated to significant—yet often understudied—figures and movements in the history of decorative arts and design; these exhibitions and publications typically represent the definitive intervention on the artists and objects they investigate. BGC Gallery is also committed to generating and supporting a vast range of diverse presentations, small and large, that challenge traditional approaches to object inquiry; these examinations of material culture explore the human experience as manifest in our creation and use of “things” of all kinds. Whether originating in internal research and expertise, or in collaboration with external subject specialists, these endeavors prioritize rigorous scholarship while seeking to adhere to the field’s highest standards in production and design.

Close up of "The Conservator’s Cupboard" (2017), Mark Dion. Commissioned by Bard Graduate Center, New York City. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Image by Da Ping Luo.

Conserving Active Matter is the first exhibition to explore conservation’s history, thinking, practice, and future. It is on view at Bard Graduate Center (BGC) Gallery, 18 West 86th Street, New York City, through July 10, 2022. To complement the exhibition, many events are planned in the month of May. See details below. Tickets for both the exhibition and the events are available through the BGC website.

About the Exhibition:

Conserving Active Matter examines four central questions: what is conservation; how are things active; who acts on objects, when and why; and where is the future of conservation? Featuring more than 100 objects from five continents, Conserving Active Matter looks at different philosophies and traditions of conservation, and the variety of ways that objects change over time, whether by natural or human intervention. Objects examined include a Korean shaman painting, a paleolithic hand axe, baseball cards, the IBM Leapfrog (a prototype for a touchscreen tablet dating from the 1990s), works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Neri Oxman, and Hopi “living clay” ceramic canteens.

The exhibition was curated by Soon Kai Poh, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Conservation as a Human Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Bard Graduate Center (BGC) and Peter N. Miller, dean, with faculty members Ivan Gaskell, Aaron Glass, Meredith Linn, and Jennifer Mass. Learn more by visiting the exhibition’s online companion and its associated publication.

Related Events

Conservation Thinking in Japan symposium
Friday, May 6, 9 am–5:45 pm
Free | On Zoom and in person at 38 West 86th St
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Conservation Thinking in India symposium
Saturday, May 7, 9 am–5:45 pm
Free | On Zoom and in person at 38 West 86th St
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

MacArthur x BGC: What Is Conservation?
with Ubaldo Vitali, Emily Wilson, Beth Shapiro, and Peter N. Miller
Wednesday, May 18 at 6 pm
Free | On Zoom and in person at 38 West 86th St
Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Film Night: Conservation and Repair Shorts
with Joshua Bell
Saturday, May 28 at 6 pm
In person at 18 West 86th St
$12–$15; exhibition admission included

Conserving Clothing, Preserving Memories
with Kate Sekules, Soon Kai Poh, and Ann Coppinger
Wednesday, June 1 at 6 pm
In person at 18 West 86th St
$12–$15; exhibition admission included

Conserving Clothing, Preserving Memories
with Kate Sekules, Soon Kai Poh, and Sarah Scaturro
Wednesday, June 8 at 6 pm
In person at 18 West 86th St
$12–$15; exhibition admission included

Tickets

Gallery Hours