Grant To Support Student Fellow in Newly-Established Time-Based Media Art Conservation Curriculum
The Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center at NYU has received a $25,000 gift from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation to support a student fellow entering the graduate program in the newly-established specialization in Time-based Media Art Conservation in the 2019–2020 academic year.
The specialization in Time-based Media Art Conservation was launched in September 2018 to support the study of technical, scientific, and historical aspects of artworks characterized by a durational element. The curriculum includes interdisciplinary coursework and internship placements in computer science, material science, media technology, engineering, art history, and conservation.
“As collections of time-based media are rapidly expanding,” Hannelore Roemich, Professor of Conservation Science, observed, “it will be our graduates who will serve as the guardians of this new and uniquely vulnerable art form. The Thoma Foundation’s generous support of training conservators of time-based media will help to ensure that electronic and digital art will remain in existence for future generations of art lovers to appreciate.”
Carl Thoma, co-founder of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, noted, "Conservators trained in time-based media are vital to sustaining the future of electronic and digital art collections. We are proud to support NYU's pioneering program in this area."
The next phase of implementation for the time-based media curriculum includes the installation of a workstation in the labs of the Conservation Center’s Stephen Chan building. The first time-based art conservator educated under this new curriculum will graduate in May 2022.
“We are deeply grateful to the Thoma Foundation for supporting our students,” said Christine Poggi, Judy and Michael Steinhardt Director of the Institute. “The Foundation’s commitment to the Conservation Center ensures specialized training for future conservators that will play a critical role in preserving this new and emerging form of contemporary art.”
About the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
The Institute of Fine Arts is an international leader in research and graduate teaching, and committed to global engagement and advancing the fields of art history, archaeology, and the theory and practice of conservation. Founded in 1960, the Conservation Center is the oldest degree-granting graduate program in art conservation in the United States. The Conservation Center offers a four-year, dual MA/MS graduate program that combines training in art conservation with historical, archaeological, curatorial, and scientific studies.
About the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation was established in 2014 to support exhibitions, publications, and symposia on visual art. The Foundation also holds a collection of over 1,000 artworks with particular emphases in digital, Spanish colonial, and Japanese contemporary art, offering scholarships and awards for graduate students and writers conducting research in these areas.
For more information please contact: Dr. Hannelore Roemich, Professor of Conservation Science, at hannelore.roemich@nyu.edu.