As part of the parallel programme of the exhibition Portreto de la Animo Art Brut Etc., on display at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, Joana Guerreiro and Salomé Carvalho comments a visit in Portuguese about the challenges of conservation and restoration of Art Brut. On November 7th, at 6 pm.
The visit is part of a cycle of initiatives promoted with the support of the National Coordination of Mental Health Policies.
The conservation and restoration of Art Brut raises new challenges. Being an artist without the intention of being one defines the biographical note common to most of the authors who contributed to the birth of the concept of Art Brut. When the conservator analyzes and defines a methodology for the conservation of this estate, he cannot neglect the social, cultural and biographical context of the author.
The object is the object and its circumstances – the singularity and contingency of the materials reflects the authorship. The precursor gesture of thinking, creating with what is at hand; the material precariousness present in supports and surfaces; the memory of the simple object before the artistic nature. Therefore conservation should contribute to intangible permanence while respecting the fragility of matter.
Joana Guerreiro is a Conservator-Restorer at the Municipal Historical Archive Division of the Municipality of Porto. Master in History of the Portuguese Empire from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, degree in Art, Conservation and Restoration from Catholic University of Porto and degree in Archeology from the University of Minho. For ten years he collaborated with the Conservation and Restoration Center of the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Porto, where she participated in numerous projects, including conservation interventions and restoration of artworks from the Treger Saint Silvestre collection, in deposite at the Oliva Art Center.
Salomé Carvalho has a degree and PhD in Conservation and Restoration from the Catholic University of Porto, professor and researcher in the area of Conservation and Restoration for 17 years. Conservator-restorer at the Soares dos Reis National Museum for 12 years, she has additional training in various areas of Conservation and Restoration, such as sculpture, ceramics and glass, textiles, preventive conservation, Art History, risk management, science management, SCRUM project and editorial management. She was a member of the Board of Directors of ARP (Professional Association of Conservators-Restorers of Portugal) from 2016 to 2020 and is part of executive and scientific committees in meetings and scientific publications.