WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 08.2023

08:00 – 09:30. REGISTRATION
09:30 – 10:00.  WELCOME
Angelika Nollert, Die Neue Sammlung, The Design Museum, Munich, Germany
Tim Bechthold, Die Neue Sammlung, The Design Museum, Munich, Germany

PLASTIC PROJECTS
10:00 – 10:25. LECTURE
Smelly Plastics. A new method to capture off-gassing plastic smells in museum collections
Carien van Aubel, Olivia van Rooijen, Henk van Keulen, Suzan de Groot

Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

10:25 – 10:50 CET. LECTURE
Remaining wordless: bridging the gap in describing the degradation
Grazia Cavanna, Grazia Cavanna, Marianna Cappellina, Francesca Olivini, Claudia Porta, Davide Riggiardi, Ilaria Saccani, Antonio Sansone

CESMAR7, Reggio Emilia, Italy / Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Milano, Italy / ISPC Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale -CNR, Milano, Italy

10:50 – 11:10. LECTURE
German democratic plastics in design: A research project on material, technology, and conservations
Anna Lagana, Tim Bechthold, Michael Doutre, Helena Ernst, Ester Ferreira, Tom Learner, Christine Rank, Friederike Waentig
Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany / Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, USA / TH Cologne, Germany / Wende Museum, Los Angeles, USA

11:00 – 11:20.  LECTURE
Plastics in design: Evaluation of portable IR instrumentation for in-situ collection survey
Ester S.B. Ferreira, Friederike Waentig,
Tim Bechthold, Helena Ernst

TH Cologne, Germany / Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany

11:20 – 11:40 LECTURE

Gardeneggs and sandmans. A closer look to PUR hardfoam and soft PVC objects
Nora Stanislawski, Domenika Marks
TH Cologne, Germany

11:40 – 12:10. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
12:10 – 12:40. COFFEE

POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS. PART 1
12:40 – 13:05. LECTURE
Cold case: The dramatic life of a polyurethane ester vase
Suzan de Groot, Anna Laganá, Thea van Oosten, Henk van Keulen

Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), Amsterdam, the Netherlands / Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), Los Angeles, USA

13:05 – 13:30. LECTURE
Further investigations into the degradation of polyurethane elastomers:
A case study of soft sculptures by Hella Jongerius in MoMA’s collection
Kyna Biggs, Soon Kai Poh, Catherine H. Stephens, Tina March, Caitlin Richeson, Lynda Zycherman
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA

13:30 – 13:55. LECTURE

Nobody’s armchair by Gaetano Pesce: adhesion of fractured polyurethane resin
Alessandra Bassi, Tommaso Poli, Anna Piccirillo, Luca Avataneo, Daniela Margaria, Cristiana Piazza, Amalia Nani, Noemi Firriolo, Marianna De Rossi,
Venaria Reale, Turin, Italy / University of Turin, Italy

13:55 – 14:20. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
14:20 – 15:30. LUNCH

POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS. PART 2
15:30 – 15:55. LECTURE
Remember, no light, no water, and no food after midnight. What to do with ageing Gremlins?
Rebecca Ploeger, Sophie Hunter, Rio Lopez
SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo, USA / Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles, USA

15:55 – 16:20. LECTURE
Replication as a conservation strategy: Preserving rubber elements of ‘In Respite’ by Louise Bourgeois
Sophia Zehnder, Martina Pfenninger Lepage
Bern Academy of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland

16:20 – 16:45. LECTURE

The ethics and effectiveness of non-traditional conservation techniques in the sneaker community
Mark Kearney
Canadian Conservation Institute Ottawa, Canada

16:45 – 17:10. LECTURE
Reflections on communicating restoration techniques for commercially-produced fashion items to conservators in-training
Nataya Swanson, 
San Francisco Museum of Art, USA

17:10 – 17:40. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

17:40 – 18:10. 2 MINUTES SPEED POSTERSESSION = 15 TALKS

DESIGNERS TALK
18:10 – 18:55. KEYNOTE
Dynamic fabrics
Ursula Wagner

Textile designer, Murnau, Germany

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 09.2023
RUBBERS
09:00 – 09:25. LECTURE
First experimental dives, the conservation of Captain Cousteau’s rubber diving suit
Francois Duboisset, Sylvie Ramel

Paris, France

09:25 – 09:50.  LECTURE

Natural rubber in art: The extreme case of the hands of Nanni Balestrini
Paola Iazurlo, Doriana Greco, Ludovica Ruggiero, Giancarlo Sidoti
Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (ICR), Rome, Italy

09:50 – 10:15. LECTURE
Preserving a crumbling reliquary of California Feminism
Melissa Huddleston, BJ Farrar, Ann Svenson, Rachel Rivenc, 
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, USA

10:15 – 10:40. LECTURE
Accepting impermanence? The conservation of an artwork by Heidi Bucher
Martina Pfenninger Lepage, Alexia Armbruster, Sophie Berger, Zoé Brändle, Anita Hoess Bern Academy of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland

10:40 – 11:10. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
11:10 – 11:40. COFFEE

SYNTHETIC SURFACES
11:40 – 12:05. LECTURE
Understanding decorative laminates
Anthi Jacquemain

Designmuseum Ghent

12:05 – 12:30. LECTURE
Conserving a poly (methyl methacrylate) thermoformed sculpture: methods, materials and studies for a suitable “coating” for PMMA
Eleonora Cervelli, Paola Iazurlo, Giancarlo Sidoti, Natalia Macro
Istituto Centrale per il Restauro,
Rome, Italy

12:30 – 12:55. LECTURE
New perspective on plastics cleaning: Assessing the impact of laser cleaning on cellulose acetate
Francesca Azolini, Katherine Curran, Simoní Da Ro, Daren Caruana, Adam Gibson

University College London, UK / University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

12:55 – 13:25. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
13:25 – 15:00. LUNCH

CONVERSATION
15:00 – 16:00. EXPERT SPEED NETWORKING + COFFEE

FOAMS AND SPONGES
16:00 – 16:05. POSTER
Methylcellulose foams: different foaming and drying methods and possible applications in the field of conservation-restoration
Stefanie Bründler, Sophie Bunz, Magdalena Ritler, Karolina Soppa, Bern Switzerland

16:05 – 16:10. POSTER
Stabilization of rigid non-polar flakes of paint layer with liquid adhesive foam: Adhesion of methylcellulose A4M- versus Plextol D498-foam
Alina Schmid, Karolina Soppa, Eva Krug von Nidda
Bern Academy of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland

16:10 – 16:55. DESIGN KEYNOTE
Mechanical metamaterials inspired by soft marine sponges
Axel Thallemer, Aleksandar Kostadinov, Fabian ONG, Alex TEO, Abel FAM
National University of Singapore

16:55 – 17:10. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

INNOVATIONS? – MATERIALS MATTER
17:10 – 17:35. LECTURE
Melbourne Now: An exhibition of local innovations. Janelle Borig
The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

17:35 – 18:30. INNOVATIVE MATERIAL PANEL
Designer, Engineers, and Conservators in dialogue on ‘innovative’ material development

CELEBRATION
19:30 – 24:00. EVENING RECEPTION

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10.2023
CHALLENGES OF REMAKING
09:00 – 09:25. LECTURE
Making and remaking the design icon: The Blow Chair
Sarah Barack, Jessica Walthew
Cooper Hewitt Smithonian Design Museum,
New York; USA

09:25 – 09:50. LECTURE
The imagery of chess: Investigating cloudy formations in translucent colored PMMA chess sets designed by Isamu Noguchi
Gabrielle Crowther, Eric Breitung, Larry List
New York, USA / University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

09:50 – 10:15. LECTURE
Originally temporary – now preserved for the future?
Challenges in reconstructing a walk-in outdoor sculpture of glass-fiber reinforced polyester resin. Susanne Kensche
Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

10:15 – 10:45. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
10:45 – 11:15. COFFEE

THRILLING COMBINATIONS
11:15 – 11:40. LECTURE
It’s just dope: The conservation of an opera stage curtain designed by Marc Chagall
Katie Sabo
New York, USA

11:40 – 12:05. LECTURE
Black tears on a black and white wooden sculpture by Nicholas Pope: Resin bleed and problem analysis
Welmoed Kreb, Tirza Mol, Sanneke Stigter, Marcel van der Sande, Paul van Duin
University of Amsterdam / Rijksmuseum Amsterdam / Kröller Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

12:05 – 12:30. LECTURE
Systematic approach for analysis, plasticization, and re-adhesion of complex material mixtures of a concave elevated monochrome paint
Carla Helmrich, Karolina Soppa, Stefan Zumbühl
Bern Academy of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland

12:30 – 13:00. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS
13:00 – 14:30. LUNCH

COLD CASES
14:30 – 15:05. 5 MINUTES SPEED LECTURES
A protective celluslose acetate hood of a Philco Predicta television
Thijs Janssen
Maastrticht, The Netherlands

MAA chair, what has happened in 13 years after the conservation of rubbers?
Francois Duboisset Paris, France

Reviewing cellulose nitrate lacquers. Möbel Deutscher Wertarbeit. (working title)
Julia Demeter
Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Munich, Germany

Darren Almond’s Timescape 00:30, 2016; reflecting on a large-scale agarose gel treatment of a water-sensitive painted surface
Julia Nagle New York, USA

scCO2 as a carrier for the consolidation of polyurethane (PUR) foams: an alternative to traditional methods
Ines Soares. NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal

A decade of decomposing material – revisiting biobased plastic polylactide in archive
Patricia Haniman
Bern Academy of Fine Arts, Bern Switzerland

Tube, Dixon and Co. And how are your elderly patients doing?
Tim Bechthold
Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Munich, Germany

15:05 – 15:35. QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

DESIGNERS TALK
15:35 – 16:15. KEYNOTE

on request
Fly me to the moon. The development of an electric flying suit (working title) Konstantin Landuris
Industrial Designer, Munich, Germany

FAREWELL
16:15 – 18:00. APERO