Documenting the Intangible: Heritage Preservation in an attempt to „Make Sense“

This Webinar Series presents different documentation approaches and methods using digital technologies for cultural heritage conservation and preservation.

Our first speaker, Alitza Cardona Collazo, explores the future of heritage in Puerto Rico through her work in the ongoing project Oso Blanco: Experimental Space and Conservation Lab. Cardona’s work at the PR Science Trust focuses on the challenge of building a conservation plan to preserve the memory of the now bygone Federal Penitentiary building, Oso Blanco.

In contrast, our second speaker, Dr. Irene Esteves Amador, introduces a method for documenting vital information while the artist (or main source) is still available. Her webinar showcases her project PDAL, a contemporary art conservation initiative with a crucial digital component. In addition to this, her webinar offers insight on the challenges and opportunities posed by contemporary artistic practices, the artist interview method, and the Registro del Arte Contemporáneo (RAC) or Contemporary Art Registry, a digital tool designed for artists.

Finally, the research of Dr. Antonio Martínez Collazo showcases the application of conservation science techniques to the paintings of the late Puerto Rican artist, Francisco Oller. Oller, who studied and worked in France during the Impressionism movement left a hidden legacy in his paintings that is only now being discovered and documented.

Alitza Cardona Collazo, M.A: Alitza Cardona Collazo is an anthropologist-historian, architectural designer, and museum professional. She currently works as a Cultural Heritage Specialist at the Puerto Rico Science Technology and Research Trust. Her research focuses on human-space relations and transformations through the theoretical interpretation of the Cultural Heritage, specializing on the analysis and development of intangible heritage.

Irene Esteves-Amador, PhD: Irene Esteves-Amador is an art historian and conservator who teaches art history at the university level. A pioneer in conservation through documentation in the Caribbean, she is the author of Conservation through Documentation. Myrna Báez: the Artist and her Voice. The Preservation of Contemporary Art through the Artist Interview, published by Isla Negra Editores. She is the Ana G. Méndez University Gurabo Campus’ Museum Director, and the Gallery Coordinator for Fundación Ángel Ramos Art Exhibition. At present, Dr. Esteves-Amador is also the Menil Collection’s Artists Documentation Program Fellow, as part of collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Antonio Martínez, Ph.D.: Antonio Martínez holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the American University, Washington DC. He joined the faculty at the University of Puerto Rico in 1991 and currently serves as a professor of Physics. After 24 years of research in materials physics, he has dedicated the past 10 years to the scientific characterization of material cultural heritage. His current research projects, besides the Oller Project, include the identification of pigments in pre-Columbian ceramics from Puerto Rico and the development of new techniques in conservation science

Credits

PRSTRT_PR
CHIP- PRSTRT
Joaquín Fargas
Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanísticos, Ana G. Méndez University, Gurabo Campus
Artists Documentation Program, Menil Collection and Whitney Museum of American Art
UPR Río Piedras- Department of Physics