Page 74 - Tata-Trusts-Annual-Report-2022-23
P. 74

Reshaping the future of art

                            conservation in India
                                                                                                                               EMPOWERMENT

                                                        Building a network of
                                                               art conservators



                          There are a thousand museums in India and only 1-2% have    conservation decisions independently, as opposed to
                          functioning conservation labs and in-house conservators.    following set procedures for restorative treatment. With
                                                                                      participants coming from varied backgrounds, the focus was
                          With only one government-aided Master’s degree in Art       also laid on improving their writing, documentation and
                          Conservation and a handful of post-graduate diploma         presentation skills so that they evolve as conservators
                          courses on museology, conservation, and curation, a practical   capable of tackling complex conservation issues. As part of
                          and intensive training programme for art conservators does   the evaluation process, each participant-conservator made a
                          not exist.                                                  final presentation and exhibited their work on-site, helping
                                                                                      them highlight their conservation e orts.
                          The focus is on short-duration workshops for the preventive
                          conservation of artefacts or heritage management,           Eight courses have been successfully implemented, where 39
                          specifically on the conservation of particular materials like                    young conservators have been trained
                          paper, oil paintings, stone, or metal.                                            in the conservation of eight di erent
                          The aim is to help the art                                                        materials. Shortly, the conservators
                          conservation sector in India to                                                   graduating from these training
                          handle its vast cultural heritage.                                                courses will have raised the
                                                                                                            standards expected of art
                          The Tata Trusts Art Conservation                                                   conservators, changing the way we
                          Initiative was conceptualised in 2018                                              approach art conservation as a
                          to lay a framework for art                                                         viable job sector and highlighting
                          conservation in India by focusing on                                                the importance of a well-conserved
                          infrastructure and training. Spread                                                 collection as an asset for
                          across four years, the initiative                                                 any museum.
                          envisaged partnering  with five
                          institutes across India in 2019 to establish new conservation   Ajay Ananda Chougule, a participant-conservator in the
                          labs, upgrade old ones, and hire and train conservators     training course in Conservation of Metals at Chhatrapati
                          through 3-month training courses in the conservation of     Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralya (CSMVS), Mumbai, shares
                          specific materials. The programme would also support the     his experience about the course-  “Apart from the
                          establishment of a Master’s degree in Art Conservation at an   conservation practices, the history of metallurgy taught by
                          Indian university.                                          the metallurgical researchers and conservation experts
                                                                                      during the course was very beneficial for me. It helped me to
                                                        The emphasis was to teach     hone my skills further, as I work on the conservation of
                                                        the participants to critically   weapons dating to the medieval period.”
                                                        think and make sound



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