Conservation Study Group

Formed in 1993 as the Conservation Working Group, this group was renamed the Conservation Study Group in 2004. The group shares information, and conducts studies and discussions based on the various topics each member encounters in their work in art conservation.
The group’s early activities consisted of individual reports by members, reports by specific topic and study group, along with general discussion among all members. In recent years the group has responded to requests from both members and non-members, by creating templates for facilities reports to be used in Japanese museums, and for condition reports. These templates were created with the advice of external specialists and through the efforts of all group members. The group has also recently discussed new topics such as conservation on photographic works and contemporary artworks.
The results and materials produced by the group have been shared both by all members of the group, with distribution to all JCAM member museums.
In March 2004 the group published the Summary of Case Studies bringing together all of the reports that had been presented since the topical study groups were formed in 1999. In March 2006 the group published Strategies for Dealing with Insects and Mold, by Curators, For Curators. This is currently available on the JCAM website. After the Proposed Facilities Report for Use in Japanese Institutions was presented to the 23rd Curatorial Study Group (March 2008), the information was publicized on the JCAM website (in the member museum pages).
In addition, the group has cooperated with the JCAM office and other organizations in providing rescue and survey efforts for those museums hit by natural disasters.
In the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, after initial rescue operations, members of the study group worked with member museum staff to survey the disaster’s effects on museums in the Hanshin area, and prepared reports on their findings. Thanks to the experiences gained in this series of activities, JCAM published these new reports, Overview of Response in the Event of a Disaster and Implementation Overview.
Conservation Study Group members were again central to efforts by JCAM for the disaster surveys of museums and report compilation in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
Issues related to artwork conservation are long-range and indeed endless. Each member of this group deals earnestly with the issues facing all museums as if these issues were our own. We also study the positive elements of all museums as we strive, step by step, towards improving all of our institutions.

Aizawa Kunihiko and Nemoto Ryoko
December 2, 2015
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