Art and Food Unlimited? Conservation et présentation d’œuvres d’art éphémères qui contiennent des produits alimentaires

© DOCAM 2010

Day 2, Session 6 Julie Gilman (Faculty of Fine Arts, University College Ghent)   This presentation describes conservation strategies for ephemeral art with foodstuffs within an interdisciplinary approach by analyzing case studies. The purpose is to analyze and to question the complexity of the context in which those artworks are created as well as the diversity in production methods and in the significance of the foodstuffs and techniques used...   * Please note that this presentation was given in French but has been dubbed in English

... The question ‘in what way the food product, as a base material, contributes to the substantive meaning of the artwork?’ is pivotal in the decision making process of conservation of ephemeral artworks. By introducing the knowledge of food preservation techniques used in the food industry as a value operator in the decision making process, this presentation will enable us to broaden our vision and reach more general conclusions for the conservation of ephemeral artworks with foodstuffs.

Julie Gilman obtained her Master’s degree in Archaeology at Ghent University (Belgium) in 1999. She further obtained a Postgraduate degree in Conservation of Contemporary Art (University College Ghent – Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent – University Ghent) in 2001. After graduation, she worked as coordinator of this postgraduate programme. She is currently working as a research assistant at the University College Ghent. Her PhD research is a joint venture of the KASK (Faculty of Fine Arts), the department of Art, Music and Theatre Sciences and the department of Food Safety and Food Quality (Ghent University). Her research comprises the implementation of scientific conservation methods used in the food industry into the conservation of contemporary artworks with foodstuffs, taking into account conservation issues in contemporary art decision-making. The aim of this project is to develop theoretical framework that contributes to a good practice regarding the care for ephemeral artworks with foodstuffs.