ConNext-2021

64 One eye on the future Modern and contemporary wooden art in the field of wood and furniture conservation KEYWORDS: modern and contemporary wooden art, conservation ethics, decision-making, modern wood-based products. There is an abundance of modern and contemporary wooden art present in both private as public collections that, at some point, will have to undergo conservation and restoration treatment. This group of 20 th and 21 st century objects poses several interesting and pressing conservation-related questions such as: (a) What do we want to preserve and what not? (b) Which degradation risks are these objects susceptible to? (c) Do we, as wood and furniture (W&F) conservators, have the ‘means’ and skills to properly conserve and restore these objects? (d) Are these objects even the responsibility of W&F conservators? The current paradigm of W&F literature tends to overlook both the objects as well as the abovementioned questions. By examining the scarce literature from the W&F paradigm as well as literature from the field of modern and contemporary art conservation and combining that with an analysis of two decision-making models 1 from the field of W&F and modern and contemporary art (MCA) conservation, several topics can be distilled that are relevant for answering the above-mentioned questions. These topics are: the increasing diversification and use of modern wood-based products, the emergence of new and unconventional techniques and combinations of materials used by artists, the ambiguous relation between material and non-material aspects, the complicated and subjective interpretation of the meaning of the object, the shifting conservation standards and the difficulties that arise when conservators find themselves in interdisciplinary decision-making fields. Although W&F conservators already have a considerable skillset when it comes to conserving and restoring wooden objects, modern and contemporary wooden artworks require unique resources, methods and skills in order to properly asses the risks and treat the damages. Consequently, as time moves on, a significant amount of modern and contemporary wooden artworks will find their way into the studios of W&F conservator- restorers. With this research, a structured approach can be made that addresses the multitude of difficulties and complexities posed by these modern and contemporary wooden artworks. lucas_mantel[at] hotmail.com 1 For this the Victoria & Albert’s ethics checklist as well as the 2019 decision-making model from the Stichting Behoud Moderne Kunst and Technical University of Cologne were analysed and compared. Victoria and Albert Museum, “Appendix 1:Victoria & Albert Museum Conservation Department Ethics Checklist,” V&A Conservation Journal, no. 50 (2005): 56. and Julia Gie belier et al., “The Decision-Making Model for Contempo rary Art Conservation and Presentation,” ed. Col ogne Institute of Conservation Sciences / TH Köln (Colo gne Institute of Conservation Sciences, TH Köln, 2019), https://www.sbmk.nl/nl/tool/besluitvormingsmodel.