My case study is concerned with - the effect of preservation and restoration upon the value of contemporary ephemeral artworks, and in particular ones made from chocolate.
Best:
The best website by far was the ‘Preserving the legacy of 20th-Century art,’ conference, and what will also be helpful is the book published from this conference. This site mentions some legal issues vs the artist’s intent, and the difficulties of preserving and conserving ephemeral artworks.
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/newsletters/13_2/feature1.html
Constantine, Mildred, ‘Preserving the legacy of 20th-Century art,’ The Getty
This website was also extremely helpful as it tackled this issue of ephemeral contemporary art, and the difficulties it poses in general.
http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/01027.html
Dupree, Catherine, “Impermanent Art,” Harvard Magazine
Websites on the Eat Art Exhibition were very helpful including:
http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/exhibitions/featured/eatart/interview.html
http://www.acfnewsource.org/art/eat_art.html
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/antoni/clip2.html
A very helpful interview with Janine Antoni- speaks of her intentions for her artworks once they enter a gallery site etc.
http://www.commune.firenze.it/artlux/uk/macba/N1477.htm
The conservation report on Dietor Roth’s artwork was fantastic as it enabled me to get a scientific view of what happens to artworks made out of chocolate over time including the attraction of insects for the gallery- an interesting different perspective.
Worst:
http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/kuspit/kuspit3-22-04.asp
Is really just a criticism of Dietor Roth’s work- not very helpful
websites that didn’t focus on ephemeral contemporary artworks, but rather on other issues for contemporary art, as they weren’t useful. Also many of the eat art sites, although very helpful, contained a lot of the same information- eg. The press release from the art gallery unedited, and the same quotes from the curator.
Missing:
I have learnt a great deal about the processes of making chocolate artworks, the ideas behind them, and different artist’s intentions towards the preservation or conservation of these artworks. However, I still haven’t found anything about what the value of a chocolate artwork is when, for example, a gallery buys it, compared to when it is say over thirty years old, like one of Roth’s artworks. I would be interested in a site that states the sale prices of these artworks when they first go on the market, and what prices they go for if they are resold. However, due to restricted access I was unable to find this out. I also couldn’t find anything regarding the insurance of these artworks, or anything about the statements written by these artists regarding the lifespan of their artworks. It is very difficult to find any sites dealing with the monetary side of these artworks, which is the information that I really needed.