Cupid: A Conservation Intervention - presentation at Endagered Materials Knowledge Programme

25th and 26th of January 2023

Sophy Rickett and Jenny Williamson

“Mending and Making”, was a two-day workshop dedicated to exploring the role of mending in material histories.

Mending and repair are inextricably entangled in object lives and stories. Museums exist to prolong and maintain objects through care, repair and conservation. Society is increasingly demanding the right to repair, while individuals are turning towards patching, gluing, taping and stitching as an ethical response to global environmental crises and the dominance of short-lived commercial goods.

However, mending and repair are not simply practical responses to entropy and decay – the utilitarian prolonging of material lives – they are deliberate acts of choice, embedded in social practice and understanding. They are also creative, joyous interventions that make anew rather than just re-making the old, adding new patina, texture and character. Equally important to mending is the decision not to mend, and the initiation of a new material pathway of change.

The EMKP is currently accepting proposals for presentations on all aspects of this topic. For any enquiries or to submit your proposal, please contact us at emkp@britishmuseum.org. Titles and abstracts should be no longer than 200 words, and submitted by 25 November 2022.