BODY OF WORK: Contemporary Artists' Estates and Conservation, April 5-6, 2018
SVA Theatre, New York
This two-day symposium addresses the current landscape of contemporary art conservation, the role of conservation in artists’ estates, and the task of maintaining artistic legacy.
The symposium grew out of increasing interactions between artists’ estates and our private practice studio and addresses the following questions: How are decisions about conservation and an artist’s legacy made once the artist is gone? How are the needs and structures of a contemporary artist’s estates evolving to be different than in the past? How should we plan to keep work alive - without the artist, and how does a contemporary artist become “history”?
These unique video recordings document a highly vibrant and stimulating discussion between heirs of artists’ estates and foundations, gallerists, auction houses, artists, artist assistants, fabricators, curators, conservators, art historians, art insurers, advisers, and collectors regarding the changing landscape of contemporary artists’ estates, the market, and the imperative of maintaining the artist’s physical and intellectual legacy.
Conservation with Conversations: Preserving Naum Gabo’s Sculptural Legacy
(coauthored with Jackie Heuman)
Derek Pullen, Director, SculpCons Ltd., London, UK.
Videos
Conservation Research and the Artist Foundation: The Experiences of the Albers Foundation
Jeannette Redensek, Catalogue Raisonné, Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT
Sculpture conservator Eleonora Nagy (Modern Sculpture LLC), art attorney Virginia Rutledge (PIPE Art Group), Peter Stevens (David Smith Estate) on a panel discussion on the authority of artists' estates. Moderated by Ann Temkin (Museum of Modern Art).
Robert Irwin and Jack Brogan: A Tale of an Artist and his Fabricator
Rachel Rivenc, Associate Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles
Representing Artists’ Estates: Dieter Roth, Philip Guston, Mike Kelley, Jason Rhoades
Marc Payot, Partner and Vice President, Hauser & Wirth, New York
The Estate and the Market – the Shift Toward Larger Agencies
Christy MacLear, Vice Chairman, Art Agency Partners/Sotheby’s, Artists’ Estate Advisory, New York
Repainting Paintings
David Reed, Artist, New York
Perpetuity Through Change: A Discussion on the Immortality of the Work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Andrea Rosen, Gallerist, President of Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, New York
The Artist Archives Initiative - The Case of David Wojnarowicz
Glenn Wharton, Clinical Professor, Museum Studies, NYU, New York
Specific Objects: Guggenheim Panza Collection Initiative
Francesca Esmay, Conservator, Panza Collection, Guggenheim Museum, and Jeffrey Weiss, Independent Curator, New York
Artists’ Estates and Legacy Building Today
Loretta Würtenberger, Founder, The Institute for Artists’ Estates, Berlin, DE
Introduction: Contemporary Art without the Artist
Christian Scheidemann, Contemporary Conservation Ltd., New York
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Jeff Nesin, Provost, School of Visual Arts.
Carolee Schneemann, Artist, New Paltz, NY, in Conversation with Anja Förschner, Art Historian, PerformanceHUB Belgrade, Serbia.
Christy MacLear (Art Agency, Partners) and Marc Payot (Hauser&Wirth) respond to questions.
Rachel Rivenc (Getty Research Institute), Francesca Esmay and Jeffrey Weiss (Guggenheim Panza Initiative), in Q&A session.
Q&A period responding to presentations by Jeannette Redensek of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Derek Pullen of SculpCons UK.
Q&A session responding to Christian Scheidemann's and Loretta Würtenberger's presentations.
Christian Scheidemann of Contemporary Conservation Ltd. gives opening remarks of the second day of the symposium.
Closing remarks by Mimi Thompson (Estate of James Rosenquist), Christian Scheidemann, Natalie Zayne.
Day 1
Day 2
The Artist’s Estate and the Conservator
What/When/Where is the Authentic?
Works of the 1960s and 70s
Panel –Stewards of Legacy
Artists’ Estates and the Market
Ephemeral/Ephemera:
David Wojnarowicz and Felix Gonzales-Torres
Reinstallation as a Critical Act: Jason Rhoades
Artist Julien Bismuth on Jason Rhoades, to whom he was also a friend and assistant before Rhoades' death in 2006.
Allison Brant, Director of the Brant Foundation Study Center in Greenwich, CT, discusses the cooperative effort required to install their recent Jason Rhoades exhibition at the Brant Foundation.