Public defence, Contemporary Art, MA, Paintings Conservator, BA Päivi Kyllönen-Kunnas

Title of the thesis: The Signature Effect of the Artist’s Practice on Contemporary Art Conservation: Asking “What Do You See?” and “How Does Something Appear to Me?” 

Thesis defender: Päivi Kyllönen-Kunnas
Opponent: Dr. Lydia Beerkens, SRAL Art Conservation and Research, Netherlands
Custos: Prof. Anniina Toiviainen, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture

The Signature Effect of the Artist’s Practice on Contemporary Art Conservation: Asking “What Do You See?” and “How Does Something Appear to Me?” This thesis is situated in the field of contemporary art research. The thesis views an art installation as a type of artefact. More specifically, the thesis examines art installations vis-a-vis contemporary art conservation theory. This project investigates collaborative and archival stages of judgment through the lens of perception of the signature effect of an artwork to be conserved. The case interview’s role is not instrumental to the degree that maybe the reviewers would like it to be, to justify the method. Instead, the case interviews are archived. From a theoretical viewpoint, the project consolidates the meaning-making of the intrinsic qualities of the artwork and its conservation in cultural and social contexts.

The existing traditions of art conservation give space to the ontological categories of perception and indifferent observation as a mode of comprehending the entity of the artwork. The problems of observation become important when approaching the concreteness of the art object, the “thingly” character of art. The category of phenomenological viewer motivates this study together with the notion of the position of the actors in the contemporary art conservation practice. The theoretical review covers conservation theory, moving from historical relativism to contemporary art theory. The observation excludes neuroscientific findings on how recognition and remembrance work. 

Modern and contemporary forms of art conservation have a certain autonomy of theoretical practice. The paradigm of biographical and relational materiality of an entity, heritage artwork and methodology of perceptive foundations have been linked to the branches of conservation research and development. The heritage art object is dependent on values, viewers, stakeholders, and a wide number of aspects which together inform the concept of the artefact as well as influence the strategies for conservation. The research analyses the connections between artistic research elements and contemporary art conservation. Moreover, the thesis provides an overview of the theoretical and philosophical implications of relative components of the indicated properties of art conservation. The ontology of materiality in the cases provides a structured repository to document techno-chemical information about the creators and the artists’ processes on the studied art installations. It should be noted that neither the theoretical nor phenomenological approaches contradict the practical or analytical approaches of art conservation research. Practice in contemporary art conservation follows these theoretical contemporary procedures.

Key words: relational materiality, perception, intuitive moment of recognition, art installation, contemporary art conservation, hermeneutics, phenomenological viewer, authority, reinforced unsaturated polyester plastics, Essi Korva, Ossi Somma, Rauni Liukko, Anni Laakso, Olavi Lanu

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at Aalto University's public display page. 

Contact information: paivi.kyllonen-kunnas@aalto.fi