Immaterial: 5,000 Years of Art, One Material at a Time

How do art conservators save video art from obsolescence?

If a painting on canvas rips or a marble sculpture shatters to pieces, art conservators are trained to respond accordingly and repair it. Artworks that unfold over time – like videos and software based works – are a different thing altogether. These artworks are made using cutting-edge technologies that are constantly being updated. If the “canvas” or medium an artwork is made on keeps shifting, how do art conservators protect these works from obsolescence?

Guests:

Jonathan Farbowitz, time-based media conservator

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, artists

Ho Tzu Nyen, artist

Nora Kennedy, Sherman Fairchild Conservator In Charge, Photograph Conservation

Featured artworks:

Thomas Tompion (clockmaker) Jasper Braem (case), Longcase clock with calendrical, lunar, and tidal indications, also known as the Graves Tompion, ca. 1677–80: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/209296

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Every Shot, Every Episode, 2001: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/284985

Ho Tzu Nyen, The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, 2017–present: https://cdosea.org

Cover art: Joseph Knibb (clockmaker), Longcase clock with calendar, ca. 1680–85: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/205601

For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialtime

#MetImmaterial

Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.

Our production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Laura Barth, Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.

Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Mueller.
Original music by Austin Fisher.
Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.

Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.

Special thanks to Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong, Avery Trufelman, associate conservator Jonathan Farbowitz, conservator in charge Nora Kennedy, collections technician Sam Winks, Kevin and Jennifer McCoy, Ho Tzu Nyen, associate curator Lesley Ma, and associate curator Lauren Rosati.

How did one tree become a world-famous tonewood for guitars?

Deep in the forests of Belize, a wood importer from Florida discovered a rare tree that produced a sound unlike anything guitar virtuosos had ever heard before. But why does this material cast such a spell? And at what cost does that come? 

Guests:

Ellen Ruppel Shell, journalist

Ken Parker, luthier

Reuben Forsland, luthier

Steve Cardenas, guitarist

Jennifer Anderson, historian and author of Mahogany: The Cost of Luxury in Early America

Althea SullyCole, former Fellow in The Met’s Department of Musical Instruments. Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Schulich School of Music at McGill University

Featured artwork:

Ken Parker, Archtop guitar, 2016: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/677213

For a transcript of the episode and more information, visit metmuseum.org/immaterialwood

#MetImmaterial

Immaterial is produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Magnificent Noise and hosted by Camille Dungy.

Our production staff includes Salman Ahad Khan, Ann Collins, Samantha Henig, Eric Nuzum, Emma Vecchione, Sarah Wambold, and Jamie York. Additional staff includes Laura Barth, Julia Bordelon, Skyla Choi, Maria Kozanecka, and Rachel Smith.

Sound design by Ariana Martinez and Kristin Mueller.
Original music by Austin Fisher and Salman Ahad Khan.
Fact-checking by Mary Mathis and Claire Hyman.

Immaterial is made possible by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos. Additional support is provided by the Zodiac Fund.

Special thanks to Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong, curator Jayson Dobney, conservator Manu Frederickx, educator David Freeman, Dick Boak, Gabriela Guadalajara, and curator Alyce Englund.

An archaeologist and an artist walk into a dump… 

For most of us, we throw our garbage to the curb, and it disappears from our lives. But to some, that’s just the beginning of trash’s story. In this episode, we follow two people who seek the truth in trash—an archaeologist who excavates ancient rubbish in Turkmenistan and an artist who spotlights the people responsible for making trash vanish.

Guests:

Martina Rugiadi, associate curator, Department of Islamic Art, The Met

sTo Len, artist

Andy Blancero, development officer, Freshkills Park Alliance

Featured artworks:

What can the tiny chia seed reveal about the history of oil painting?

For centuries, one of the most prized mediums of art at museums like the Met has been oil painting, a European tradition embodied by the so-called "old masters." This is the story of how the oil of the chia seed — yes, the same one that’s a staple add-on for smoothies and acai bowls — and its origins in Mexico could help us look at oil painting and our world with fresh eyes. 

Guests:

Elsa Arroyo, Mexican paintings conservator

Ronda Kasl, Curator of Latin American Art, The American Wing, The Met

Monica Katz, Conservator, Hispanic Society

José Luis Lazarte Luna, Assistant Conservator, Paintings Conservation, The Met

Roger Danilo Carmona, General Manager, Kremer Pigments Inc.

Julie Arslanoglu, Research Scientist, The Met

Mario Gaspar, Lacquerware artist

Featured artworks:

What happens when our most intimate possessions end up in art museums?

Blankets comfort and keep us warm. They accompany us through our lives. They are keepers of some of our most intimate stories. We look at a group of artists who harness this power of blankets and quilts as totems for memory, community and cultural survival.

Guests:

Loretta Pettway Bennett, Gee's Bend quilt maker

Marie Watt, artist

Ally Barlow, associate conservator, Department of Textile Conservation, The Met

Louisiana P. Bendolph, Gee's Bend quilt maker

Louise Williams, board president, Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy

Featured artworks:

Qunnie Pettway, Housetop, ca. 1975: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/qunnie-pettway/work/housetop