Collection Care and Conservation

The Collection Care and Conservation Department is responsible for the management and preservation of the museum’s collection as well as the publication of research results in the field. In addition to traditional techniques (painting, sculpture, graphic art, etc.), the museum’s collection features an increasing amount of technological and media art: artworks based on photo, video and other digital formats. The physical lifespan of these works is considerably shorter than that of traditional artworks.

Our collection care activity is based on theoretical research and practical conservation, ensuring the long-term preservation of the cultural heritage inherent in the collection and that it stays available for current and future generations.

First in the region of Central Europe, Ludwig Museum is planning to establish a Museum Collections Care and Methodological Centre, which could become an international umbrella institution for all professional fields concerned with the preservation of contemporary media art.
Our activities of collection care and conservation include:

1. preservation of the historical and aesthetic value of the artworks in the museum’s collection, as well as the prolongation of their lifespan using various conservation techniques
2. facilitating professional communication: organizing conferences, symposiums, lectures with conservators, art historians and international professionals
3. maintaining relations and collaborating with domestic and international educational and cultural institutions and public collections
4. researching the media and techniques of contemporary works of traditional and media art, analysing the relative change of digital content and tools of presentation
5. disclosing research results as well as practical and technological information related to collection care and conservation
6. developing collection management, preservation and documentation strategies with special regard to sustainability
7. condition assessment of artworks, preparing documents (condition report, facility report, artist interviews)
8. developing and management of collection storage, management of logistics and cataloguing related to artworks
9. contribution to organizing the loan of artworks and providing international couriers
10. preparing artworks for domestic and international exhibitions
11. monitoring and development of the environment of artworks in keeping with international standards
12. creating photographic reproductions of artworks for purposes of cataloguing and revision

Contact

Conservation and collection care department

Viktória Mátyás and László Molnár
Conservators, Conservation and Collection Care Department
Phone: (+36 1) 555 3443
conservator@ludwigmuseum.hu