Lecture and tour of the CA2M warehouses. Wednesday 24 April. 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

A museum can be many things at once. Perceptions of museums have varied over time and in each place in the world, but there is a common thread that almost always remains in their essence: tending to cultural objects which, when in a museum, become symbols that talk about ourselves as both individuals and society.

We at the Museo CA2M look after our contemporary art collection. Sometimes we also reveal ourselves by trying to stop, or at least slow down, the deterioration of matter. With artists, we learn how to reflect on the transformation of substance and the ephemeral. In short, we try to un-veil them, to remove the veils that fall on artworks over time and make it difficult for us to interpret them clearly, perceive them with our senses and enjoy them.

We will start the session accompanied by the works Vinil by Lyota Yagi and Masa conformada by Ixone Sádaba, which challenge us about the topic of the session. We’ll continue by analysing pieces by Teresa Margolles, Paula Rubio Infante and Charlotte Moth, among others, that pose different conservation problems. And finally, we’ll look into the temporality of supports and materials by observing the works at the museum (photographs that are fading or have some kind of chemical alteration, deteriorated resin, obsolete supports, etc.).

María Asunción Lizarazu, conservator, and Teresa Cavestany, restorer. Museo CA2M Collection Department.