Conserving Active Matter

March 25–July 10, 2022 Curated by Soon Kai Poh and Peter N. Miller

Conserving Active Matter was part of Cultures of Conservation, a multi-year initiative generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. More information about the initiative can be found at bgc.bard.edu/cultures-of-conservation. The exhibition and publication were generously supported by donors to Bard Graduate Center.

Conserving Active Matter occupied the first two floors of the Bard Graduate Center Gallery this spring and summer, where it presented conservation as a form of inquiry in four parts: What is conservation? How is matter active? Who acts on matter, when, and why? And where is the future of conservation? The exhibition explores the activity of matter through items that span five continents and range in time from the Paleolithic to the present. The exhibition’s online companion site mirrors its organizing questions and allows visitors to engage indefinitely with the research on which the exhibition was built. A book, also titled Conserving Active Matter, draws together the main lines and interim conclusions of Cultures of Conservation’s effort to reimagine the relationship between conservation knowledge and the humanistic study of the material world. A wide range of events were programmed to deepen our engagement with the exhibition’s foundational questions, including film screenings; conversations with artists, scientists, and humanists about conservation; repair days; a discussion about the preservation and exhibition of human remains; and a two-day symposium focused on conservation practices in India and Japan.

Mark Dion, The Conservator’s Cupboard, 2017. Mixed materials. Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakder Gallery. Photo by Da Ping Luo.