Meaningful Objects: Reflections on the Nature of Cultural Heritage Conservation
Lecture by Salvador Muñoz-Viñas
The classical conservation discourse argues that the primary aim of conservation is returning objects to their original condition, or as close to it as technically possible. However, the conservation of cultural heritage is a much more complex activity, involving many different factors and goals. Perhaps the most important of these goals, or even its ultimate goal, is to make the objects transmit meanings that are better suited to the tastes and needs of the society or group for which the work is done. This view allows for a better, fairer approach to this activity and shows that, no less than many other human activities, conservation is better understood if seen as a balancing act.
About Salvador Muñoz-Viñas
Salvador Muñoz Viñas is a Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València and head of the paper conservation group of the university’s Conservation Institute. Along his career he has worked as a paper conservator in the Historical Library of the University of Valencia, as a Visiting Scholar in Harvard University’s Straus Center for Conservation and as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the NYU, and has lectured in different universities and centres, such as the Sorbonne, the British Museum, Hampden-Sydney College or ICCROM. His research work revolves around both the theory of conservation and the technical aspects of paper conservation. His works have been translated into major Western non-Western languages, such as English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Persian, Chinese or Arabic.