Conservación y Restauración de Bienes culturales

The ‘Wifredo Lam’ Contemporary Art Center, in Havana, Cuba, is the stakeholder of a valuable cultural heritage produced during the Havana Biennials, since 1984. Although the study and care of the collection is a priority of the institution, the staff in charge does not have specialized training in conservation and has not been able to maintain an adequate storage space or a complete registration system. All of which has caused the loss of information and, in many cases, of the artworks’ physical integrity. The characterization of the collection, in particular of twenty-two art installations, allowed defining this as the most vulnerable section, due to the works’ conceptual and material complexity and the difficulties for their storage and display.
This presentation included some results from exploring documentation models for contemporary artworks, including methods for communicating with artists. Gathering the views and experiences of museum professionals, curators, and artists, was essential to reconstruct the “biography” of the artworks examined. Most of the artists in the collection reside outside the country and given the current limitations in Cuba, including access high-speed internet connections that would allow conducting virtual interviews, it was necessary to establish the communication through online email questionnaires. These allowed obtaining information on some of the artists’ creative processes and approaches towards the conservation of their work, becoming a starting point towards establishing the communication between the institution and the artists in its collection, with the participation of a conservator, as a crucial practice in the process of making decisions about the care and display of the artworks to preserve their authenticity.

Una desafortunada restauración de mediados del siglo XX, arrancó dos tercios del grandioso mural que Palomino realizó para la Iglesia de los Santos Juanes de Valencia a finales del siglo XVII. Terriblemente mutilado tras los desgraciados sucesos históricos de 1936, ésta actuación ha supuesto un daño estructural y estético al conjunto pictórico que corre el riesgo de agravarse.
Tras afrontar con éxito la reconstrucción pictórica del tercio del mural que no fue arrancado tras el incendio, se decidió poner en práctica en la zona fronteriza (bajantes de San Matías y San Simón) las propuestas de limpieza, traslado a un nuevo soporte y reintegración desarrolladas tras años de investigación.

Una desafortunada restauración de mediados del siglo XX, arrancó dos tercios del grandioso  mural de Antonio Palomino, mutilado tras los desgraciados sucesos históricos ocurridos en la ciudad de Valencia en 1936. Esta actuación supuso un daño estructural y estético al conjunto pictórico que corre el riesgo de agravarse.

Tras afrontar con éxito la reconstrucción pictórica del tercio del mural que no fue arrancado tras el incendio, se decidió poner en práctica en la zona fronteriza las propuestas de limpieza, traslado a un nuevo soporte y reintegración desarrolladas tras años de investigación.

RESUMEN Albarracín y su entorno protegido es un enclave de la provincia de Teruel con manifestaciones rupestres de gran relevancia, siendo un referente en el estudio del Arte Rupestre Levantino. En este contexto se encuentra el Abrigo de los Toros del Barranco de las Olivanas, declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) en 1998 y Monumento Histórico-Artístico y Bien de Interés Cultural en 2002. Sin embargo, estas distinciones no resuelven la problemática de su conservación y restauración; problemática que ha sido objeto de estudio desde el siglo XX. La intervención teórica y poco invasiva son las principales conclusiones de estos estudios a los que se hace referencia, sentando así las bases para desarrollar una metodología de conservación preventiva que permite minimizar y controlar la degradación natural del arte rupestre mediante pautas de actuación objetivas y extrapolables. El proceso de conservación preventiva realizado en el Abrigo de las Olivanas ha consistido en el registro fotográfico con luz visible y microscopio óptico de luz visible y ultravioleta, el estudio químico con microanálisis del soporte, el examen colorimétrico de la película pictórica y, finalmente, el seguimiento termo-higrométrico y de sus condiciones microclimáticas. En caso de intervenir, se propone llevar a cabo un proceso curativo, basado en la consolidación y fijación del soporte rocoso. Este estudio tiene como objetivo anticiparse a los daños venideros, planificar una correcta gestión de la conservación de las pinturas rupestres y ampliar sus posibilidades de estudio y difusión a través de mecanismos preventivos, que se presentan como una metodología que, prolongada en el tiempo, permite un control elevado del bien cultural. ABSTRACT Albarracín, located in Teruel, and its singular environment, is a reference in the study of the Levantine Rock Art. The Toros del Barranco de las Olivanas small cave was declared as World Heritage in 1998 and Bien de Interés Cultural in 2002. However, these mentions don't solve the problem about its conservation. According to the studies that have been done during the 20th century, it's concluded that rock art conservation must be based in theoric and less invasive methods, focused in preventive mechanisms. The natural deterioration for the material condition of the rock art is unavoidable, but it can be minimized and controlled with preventive mechanisms, that allow to settle objective and prolonged rules in a specific place. The preventive conservation suggested in this study has been carried out through the record with camera and microscope pictures, the chemical study of the support, the colorimetry study of the paintings, and the monitoring of its climatic conditions. The conservative intervention would be based in consolidation and fixation processes of the rock art support. The main objective of this process is to anticipate for future damages, to plan a correct management of the painting's conservation and to expand the possibilities of its study and social difussion with preventive mechanisms; a method that, prolonged in time, allows an elevated control of the asset.

This paper focuses on the study of the intriguing mid-14th century painted cloth, which is known as The Measure of Christ (‘La Mida’ or ‘Longitud de Cristo’). This odd sendal has been usually related
to the Catalan-Italian Gothic style, especially, to the circles of Ramon Destorrents and the BrothersSerra. As a matter of fact, this artwork was probably made by an artist who perfectly knew veryspecific Italian traditions and was able to translate them into a spiritual and apocalyptical manner.As the surface of the painting was extensively restored in the past, our study aimed to enquire the pictorial material on the cloth, the painting making process as well as to identify and date its variousformerrestorations. The results allow us to shed new light on the artistic backgroundof the painterwho mastered the use of blue pigments and the cloth painting as they are described by CenninoCennini following the 14th century Italian workshop tradition