PLASTICS HERITAGE CONGRESS 2022
Naples | Italy
17 | 19 October 2022
Academy of Fine Arts of Naples)
Under the aegis of the international association PHEA (Plastics Heritage European Association), the PLART Foundation of Naples will host the PLASTICS HERITAGE CONGRESS 2022, sixth edition of the international conference on the themes of conservation and history of cultural heritage in plastic. An innovative and interdisciplinary subject, strongly oriented towards experimentation and the creation of new ideological and technological solutions that are internationally shared.
The conference will deal with the historical, artistic, conservational, technological, socio-economic and environmental aspects of our contemporary heritage, focusing on the material that has revolutionized the history of technology in modern times: plastic, a material that is radically widespread in all application fields of human society, subject of strong environmental controversies, but extremely fragile from a conservative point of view.
Therefore, the protagonists of the debate will be the countless semi-synthetic and synthetic polymeric materials that have led to the creation of works of art, design and architecture and that have allowed the creation of an almost infinite number of products in the sectors of fashion, science, music and industrial design in general, which today represent our material culture. The successful preservation of this material heritage will result in the handing-down-to-posterity of the cultural and artistic values of the human doings in our present society.
The conference will be held in English and will be hosted at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, in close contact with the students of the “conservation of the contemporary” courses of the Restoration School.
The various committees that handle the management of the PHC are of great prestige. The Honorary Committee, chaired by Giovanna Cassese, includes prominent names from the Italian scientific and historical-artistic sectors, including professor Luigi Nicolais, professor Luigi Campanella of the Sapienza University of Rome, Barbara Balbi of the SABAP of Naples and the president of the MADRE Museum Angela Tecce.
The Programme Committee, chaired by professor Günter Lattermann of the University of Applied Science HTW Berlin, which deals with the approval of the proposed contributions, counts amongst its members Suzanne de Groot of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Art and Science (NICAS), Arnaud Bozzini of the Brussels Design Museum and Susan Mossman of the Science Museum in London.
The Scientific Committee, which will finalise the proceedings of the conference, chaired by professor Jake Kaner of Nottingham Trent University, boasts among its members professor Silvia Garcia Fernandez-Villa and Elisa Storace, curator of the Kartell Design Museum.
The guest speakers, who will be moderating the various sessions under the coordination of Alice Hansen, curator of the Plart Museum, are also of international importance: Dr. Heinz Stahlhut of the Ernie Museum in Lucerne, former curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum Brenda Keneghan and professor Maria João Melo from the Department of Conservation and Restoration of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology – NOVA University of Lisbon, just to name a few.
The Plastics Heritage Congress aims to create shared strategies in order to preserve this important historical and artistic heritage and provide food for thought to the new generation of conservators.
The submission deadline is 18th July 2022.
Dedicated Website https://plasticsheritage2022.org/
