Symposium

Museums have long played a vital role in preserving cultural properties in the present, conserving them for the people of tomorrow. Early in their history, museums maintained the traditional materials and techniques that created these cultural properties, in which lay the memories of their respective eras. However, with the passage of time, museums are now facing an era in which it is difficult to preserve cultural properties in their original state, as a result of aging, natural disasters, and the wear and tear that comes from being on exhibit or on loan to other institutions. One response to the damage and deterioration of cultural properties is conservation. For cultural properties created in environments different from our own modern era, we first and foremost need to use the traditional materials and techniques that are specific to that object to conserve it. On top of this, another approach would be creating replicas. By using various methods of analysis to examine the original object, museums could create a faithful replica while the artifact still retains its original form. In so doing, the object can be passed down to future generations. Throughout this reconstruction process, it is essential that conservators use high-quality traditional techniques as well as materials sourced from the original locality.

However, even if traditional techniques and materials are deemed necessary, to what extent is it possible to create complete reproductions of these cultural artifacts today? Furthermore, what measures should we take when we require techniques or materials that have already been lost, such as when there are no successors to a traditional craft or when the manufacturing methods for raw materials have vanished? In fact, as new research and analysis emerge from the progress of modern science, we may find that simply continuing to use past methods of conservation might not always be the best approach for a certain cultural artifact. Moreover, modern science may also lead us towards the use of new materials or the improvement of certain techniques. Looking back at the past, we may notice that traditional techniques have always been improved and refined to suit the needs of the times. Tradition, therefore, has always existed alongside innovation.

In the present day, it is becoming increasingly difficult for individual artisans to pass down traditional techniques for societal and economic reasons. Moreover, a chain of interconnected problems—such as the shortage of traditional materials and the tools needed to produce them, as well as the lack of craftsmen who make these tools—is making the challenge of passing down traditional techniques even more difficult.

For museums, preserving traditional techniques is vital for the protection of cultural properties and for imparting them to future generations. At the same time, for craftsmen possessing these traditional preservation techniques, working at the museum provides a perfect opportunity for them to refine and utilize their traditional expertise. In this mutually beneficial relationship, what kind of partnership should we establish to contribute to future activities at the museum? What role is expected of museums when lost techniques or materials are required? And finally: how will using traditional techniques and materials on cultural properties affect a modern person’s understanding of these artifacts? With this year’s theme on “Preservation of Traditional Techniques for the Conservation of Asian Art”, we hope that this symposium will serve as an opportunity to consider the future of museums and traditional conservators.