Values and Heritage Conservation: Research Report
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Values and Heritage Conservation Research Report The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles Values and Heritage Conservation Re s e a rch Re p o rt Erica Av rami, Randall Mason, Marta de la To rre The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles P roject coord i n a t o rs: M a rta de la To rre and Erica Av ra m i L ogistics coord i n a t o r: Sheri Sap e rs t e i n Rep o rt editors: Erica Av rami and Randall Mason D e s i g n / P roduction coord i n a t o r: Helen Mauchí Copy editor: Sylvia Tidwe l l B i bl i ogr a p hy contributions: Randall Mason, Claudia Bohn-Spector and Hilary Dunne Fe rr o n e C o pyright © 2000 The J. Paul Getty Tru s t The Getty Conservation Institute 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700 Los Angeles, CA 90049-1684 Telephone 310.440.7325 Fax 310.440.7702 Email GCIVa l u e s @ g e t t y. e d u h t t p : / / w w w. g e t t y. e d u / g c i The Getty Conservation Institute wo r ks intern a t i o n a l ly to advance conservation practice in t h e visual art s — b r o a d ly interp reted to include objects, collections, arc h i t e c t u re, and sites. Th e Institute serves the conservation community through four areas of a c t ivity: scientific re s e a rc h into the nature, decay, and treatment of materials; education and training; model field projects; and the dissemination of i n fo rmation through traditional publications and electronic means. In all its endeavo rs, the is committed to addressing unanswe red questions and promoting the highest possible standards of c o n s e rva t i o n . The Institute is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts and the humanities that includes an art museum as well as p r ograms for education, scholars h i p, and conserva t i o n . Table of Contents Preface 1 Report on Research 3 The Spheres and Challenges of Co n s e r vat i o n Co n s e r vation Pers p e c t i ves Val u e s , Valorization, and Cultural Signific a n c e The Need for a Conceptual Fram e wor k Exploratory Essays 13 Overview Stewarding the Past in a Perplexing Present David Lowenthal Economic and Cultural Value in the Work of Creative Artists David Throsby Cultural Heritage and Globalization Lourdes Arizpe Cultural Heritage, Liberal Education, and Human Flourishing Uffe Juul Jensen Cultural Fusion Erik Cohen Preserving the Historic Urban Fabric in a Context of Fast-Paced Change Mona Serageldin The Making of Cultural Heritage Susan M. Pearce Challenges for Heritage Conservation and the Role of Research on Values Daniel Bluestone Conclusions 68 Participants 71 Contributor Biographies 72 Appendix: Values Bibliography 73 Preface Values are the subject of much discussion in contem- c o l l a b o rate in and info rm this work—and how they p o ra ry society. In this postmodern, post-ideology, might be more effe c t ive ly integrated in the fu t u re . post-nation-state age, the search for values and mean- Such insight can, in turn, make conservation pra c- ing has become a pressing concern. In the field of tice more re l evant to the societies of which it is a c u l t u ral heritage conservation, values are critical to p a rt, info rm policy and decision makers about the deciding what to conserve— w hat material goods will potential of c o n s e rvation for fostering civil society, re p resent us and our past to fu t u re genera t i o n s — a s and strengthen the role of conservation as a part of well as to determining how to conserve. Even brief civil society. c o n s i d e ration of a typical conservation decision In late , the b egan development of a reveals many differ ent, sometimes diver gent values at multiyear inquiry to explore the values and benefits p l ay: think of the artistic and aesthetic values of a n o f c u l t u ral heritage conservation. The re s e a rch wa s old building, as well as the historical values of i t s launched with a meeting held in Los Angeles and a s s o c i a t i o n s, plus the economic values tied up in its R ive rside, Califo rnia, Ja nu a ry to , . Th e use, and so on. In short, values are an import a n t , meeting invo l ved a mu l t i d i s c i p l i n a ry and mu l t i n a- d e t e rmining factor in the current practices and tional group of p r o fessionals and academics from fut u r e prospects of the conservation fie l d . the conservation and cultural heritage fields and This re p o rt presents the results of re s e a rc h associated disciplines (see Pa rticipants section on the subject of the values and benefits of c u l t u ra l below). Meeting participants were asked to examine heritage conservation undertaken by the Getty the state of k n owledge about the multiple defi n i- C o n s e rvation Institute ( ) through its Agora ini- t i o n s, roles, and meanings of c u l t u ral heritage and t i a t ive , as a means of a rticulating and fu rt h e r i n g its conservation; to look at the kinds of social and ideas that have emerged from the conservation fi e l d c u l t u ral dynamics making the greatest impact on in recent ye a rs. This tra n s d i s c i p l i n a ry re s e a rc h , c o n s e rva t i o n’s role in society, pre s e n t ly and in the along with a parallel project on the economics of future; and to consider ideas, concepts, and research heritage conservation, re p resents an effo rt of t h e themes that wa rrant fu rther study. Through an to advance understanding of c o n s e rva t i o n’s cur- online discussion that fo l l owed the Ja nu a ry rent role in society, to educate ours e l ves and the meeting, through correspondence, and through sev- c o n s e rvation community at large about the poten- e ral commissioned essay s, these ideas we re honed tial role of c o n s e rvation in the fu t u re, and, ulti- and debated. m a t e ly, to strengthen the capacity of the conserva- The fi rst part of this document, “Re p o rt on tion field to enrich cultural life and the visual arts in Re s e a rch,” provides a summary of the ideas and societies wo rl dw i d e . ove ra rching themes that have emerged during the The overall aim of research on social and c o u rse of our re s e a rch and meetings, in our ongo- economic issues is understanding the processes— ing discussions with colleagues at the Getty, s p e c i fic and genera l — by which material heritage e l s ewh e re in the conservation field, in academia, c o n s e rvation functions in the context of m o d e rn and in litera t u res from other disciplines that bear on s o c i e t y, with the end of i m p r oving conserva t i o n c o n s e rvation. The second part of the document, practice and policy. By elucidating the ways in which “ E x p l o ra t o ry Essay s,” is a compendium of p ap e rs we, as societies, profe s s i o n a l s, and citize n s, deter- on specific topics written by scholars who have par- mine what to conserve and how to conserve it, we ticipated in this re s e a rch. These essays ex p l o re some hope to foster greater understanding of the wo r k c o re ideas in greater depth and provide diffe rent dis- that conservators do and of the ways in which other c i p l i n a ry pers p e c t ives on how broad s o c i a l p r o fe s s i o n a l s, academics, and community members dynamics influence our understanding of c u l t u ra l 1 heritage conservation. The “Conclusions” synthe- s i ze some of these ideas and issues and propose topics for continued ex p l o ration. These topics, along with the summary and essay s, are meant to p r ovoke fu rther re s e a rch and cre a t ive thinki n g about the fu t u re of c o n s e rvation.