Contemporary Chinese Photography Conservation

FAIN: PA-51651-06

University of Chicago (Chicago, IL 60637-5418)
Jacqueline Terrassa (Project Director: May 2005 to April 2007)

A preservation assessment of a collection of 41 contemporary Chinese photographs acquired by the university's David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, a visual arts repository. A small portion of the grant would subsidize attendance by the society's registrar at a week-long workshop on photographic preservation in Rochester, New York, in August 2006.

In December 2004, the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago (“the Smart”) acquired a substantial body of large-scale contemporary Chinese photographs, adding significantly to its already impressive collection of experimental photography-based work from contemporary China. This addition to the Smart’s permanent collection follows its recent world-traveling exhibition "Between Past and Future: New Photography from China," whose tour encompasses New York, Chicago, Seattle, London, Santa Barbara, and Berlin. A Preservation Assistance Grant would support two key activities: a general preservation assessment of the photography in the museum’s collection and staff training in photographic preservation.