ABSTRACT

With the arrival of the digital age and technology, creation of art and its replication reached a whole new pinnacle. Increasingly, conservators find themselves dealing with editions, copies, and replicas as part of their job. Indeed, the replication of a work of art, be it paper or a 3D printed sculpture, is becoming one of many conservation measures that may serve as a preventive conservation technique, protecting the art from excess levels of light, travel, or handling, or as a tool to better understand the art. Replication of a digitally existing master for each new display may be the artist’s intent, or enable simultaneous multiple displays of the same work as per the artist’s directive. This article describes the making of an Exhibition Copy of the American artist Mike Kelley’s The Wages of Sin, a pile of partly melted wax candles atop a readymade, commercially sourced table. Owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the highly complex three-dimensionality and materiality of this iconic work of art posed significant challenges to replicate. The following description illuminates the conceptual aspects considered, why and how the replica was made, and decision-making processes throughout its fabrication, exploring materiality and technical issues. The role of the Whitney’s Replication Committee in this project is discussed, including participation of its curators, archivists, and other museum professionals, along with an explanation of the Committee’s choice of the term ‘Exhibition Copy’ to describe the replica. The account of the collaboration and coordination of the project with the Mike Kelley Foundation and external fabricators is central to this comprehensive project. Ramifications for future use of the Exhibition Copy within the museum management, documentation, loans, and wall labels, and its legal and publication consequences conclude this paper.

摘要

随着数字时代和技术的到来，艺术创作及其复制达到了一个全新的高度。越来越多的保护者发现自己处理版本、副本和复制品是他们工作的一部分。事实上，艺术品的复制，无论是纸还是 3D 打印的雕塑，正在成为许多保护措施之一，可以作为预防性保护技术，保护艺术品免受过度光照、旅行或处理，或作为更好地理解艺术的工具。为每个新展示复制现有的数字母版可能是艺术家的意图，或者根据艺术家的指示启用同一作品的同时多个展示。本文描述了美国艺术家迈克凯利的《罪恶的工资》展览副本的制作，一堆部分融化的蜡烛放在一张现成的、商业采购的桌子上。由纽约惠特尼美国艺术博物馆所有，这件标志性艺术作品的高度复杂的三维度和物质性对复制提出了重大挑战。以下描述阐明了所考虑的概念方面，复制品的制作原因和方式，以及整个制作过程中的决策过程，探索了重要性和技术问题。讨论了惠特尼复制委员会在该项目中的作用，包括其策展人、档案管理员和其他博物馆专业人士的参与，以及对委员会选择“展览复制品”一词来描述复制品的解释。该项目与 Mike Kelley 基金会和外部制造商的合作和协调是这个综合项目的核心。未来在博物馆管理、文件、借阅和墙标中使用展览副本的后果及其法律和出版后果是本文的总结。