Call for papers! Contemporary Pratica: Practical talks about contemporary problems

London 31 March 2025
Icon's Modern Materials and Contemporary Art Groups with UCL's Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media are pleased to be hosting a one-day in-person conference that aims to bring together conservation specialisms to discuss the practical challenges brought by contemporary materials.
ALERT!!! - not just plastics and not just treatment! We would love to hear about a broad range of contemporary materials and conservation challenges, from synthetic textiles and dyes, novel coatings, kinetic objects, and time based media art, to digital archiving techniques or clever excel wizardry and beyond. (Although plastics and treatment also welcome, of course!)
We only ask that the challenges or solutions feature techniques, lessons, or materials that conservators have learned from, or can apply to, their day-to-day work. 
In recognition of the wide-ranging theme, alongside traditional presentations and key-note speaker, we will also be hosting  informal lightning talks to spark discussion and problem solving (there will be a second call for submissions for the lightning talks early next year).
Presentations will be 20-25 minutes and will need to be presented in person at UCL East, London.  Some recordings will be made available after the proceedings, but speakers will be given the opportunity to opt out. We hope the in person nature of the conference will encourage open and non-judgemental discussions of potentially sensitive topics.
Presentation topics might include:

Current conservation treatments on objects containing contemporary materials. 
Lessons learned (What went right? What went wrong?). 
Long term care of complex materials / artworks.
Creating links between specialisms.

Submission guidelines:

Abstract submissions  should include:
Title of presentation
Author(s) and affiliated institutions (if applicable)
Presentation summary (max. 300 words)
Please submit your abstracts as an email attachment (Word document or PDF) to iconmodernmaterials@gmail.com.
Deadline for abstract submissions: Thursday, 9th Jan 2024 at 17:00 BST

Abstracts will be reviewed by a selection committee, with decision emails sent to authors on Friday, 24th Jan.