The association RESTAURATORI SENZA FRONTIERE - ITALIA (RESTORERS WITHOUT BORDERS - ITALY) is a very young Association, founded in 2013 by a group of very experienced professionals in conservation, acting since decades in the field of cultural heritage, even in emergency circumstances. Many of them have been working in many countries also before the constitution of RSF and are currently continuing to operate for that scope: the emergency mobilization of cultural heritage professionals, in order to protect artistic and cultural heritage, nationally in Italy, and internationally, in times of crisis.
Our associated conservators have worked to mitigate the damages in the most serious natural disasters in Italy, in Bosnia, in Mostar immediately after the war, and finally in Angola. RSF have developed intervention systems, methodologies and materials designed specifically for emergency conditions. Our work after the devastating earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009, will be discussed as an example of the types of systems and methodologies that can be implemented. The interventions adopted in L'Aquila can be divided into two types. The first one concerned the recovery of movable works of art, which required special attention because the items were leaving for the first time their place of origin. The authorities at L'Aquila arranged the transfer of approximately 8,000 works of art. The second type of intervention was related to the safety of buildings. This operation, which required the entering of restorers inside the damaged buildings, was often highly dangerous for the rescue units. For this reason special equipment was built and methodologies were created and put in place for the protection of the operators. The buildings were chosen according to their historical importance or because of the need to secure areas that were needed to be used for the transit of the rescue units. 1,800 surveys were performed on the architectural heritage of L'Aquila. The interventions in the area of L'Aquila lasted about a year. Despite the experience gained in Abruzzo as in previous occasions of extraordinary emergency, we are aware that we still have limited knowledge in the management of disasters. This type of educational training, unfortunately, is completely missing in the formative world of restoration. Here we would like to illustrate our proposal for the creation of an international task force, which will work to develop a unique protocol, to intervene in emergencies on artistic heritage sadly subject to acts of terrorism, as the recent history has often shown us.
Join us in the exhibit hall for presentations on and demonstrations of conservation products and services! Read on below for a listing of demonstration topics:
Applied Surface Technologies: CO2 Snow Cleaning of art objects
We demonstrate CO2 Snow Cleaning to cleaning and restoring art. This precision cleaning process removes particles of all sizes and hydrocarbon based residues. We will demonstrate the K1-10-Art-1 unit, which uses heated compressed air about the CO2 snow stream, for cleaning clean different forms of art.
Bruker Corporation:
Bruker’s LUMOS FT-IR: Quick and Easy Infrared Microanalysis of Art Objects
Bruker will demonstrate the LUMOS – a fully integrated FT-IR Microscopy for micro-analysis and chemical mapping using transmission, reflection and ATR modes.
More than Just Elements: Layer Thickness and Bruker XRF
XRF is widely used for elemental analysis, but it can also be used to evaluate the layering in an object. We will discuss the principles and limitations of this approach along with an example of how a layered object can be identified in the spectrum.
Analysis of Historical Paintings
Micro XRF is a non-destructive analysis technique for full area elemental mapping of paintings for composition and depth profiling. See specific examples of this technique in action.
Demonstrations will occur every 15 minutes.
ClickNetherfield: RENEWVITRINE
Operations Director Alistair Williams will be giving a product demonstration of our new product RENEWVITRINE. He will be examining the issue of glass hazing that can form on inside surfaces of glass in museum showcases. He will be demonstrating how RENEWVITRINE can work to inhibit haze and prolong the useful life of a showcase.
Demonstrations will take place at the following times: 12:05-12:30, 12:35-1, 1:05-1:30, 1:35-2.
Dorfman Museum Figures: ADJUST your thinking: Working with a DORFMAN Conservation Form
See how to work with a Classic adjustable Dorfman Conservation Form. We will take apart a chest block, adjust it, and put it back together.
Demonstrations will take place every 30 minutes.
G.C. Laser Systems, Inc.:Laser systems for conservation built by conservators
We are pleased to present the cutting edge GC-1 laser cleaning system and explain the unique features that make this patent pending technology a game changer for conservation. We will also show project examples where this technology was used in projects by the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio Inc.. Come see if this conservation tool is right for your projects.
Kremer Pigments: Watercolor-making demo by Roger Carmona at Booth 413
Learn the different techniques of mulling watercolor paints. Understand the differences of pigment personalities with this ancient binder. Alternative binders to gum arabic will be discussed.
Demonstrations will be 30 minutes at 12, 12:30, 1, 1:30, and 2.
Newco, Inc.:Digital Radiography- What's the difference?
Chris Watters from Newco, Inc. demonstrates the latest in digital radiography and discusses technical considerations between detector technologies. Current practices in the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) industry and how they relate to the conservation field will also be discussed.
Demonstrations will take place every 30 minutes.
nSynergies, Inc.: pXRF Mapping: Chemistry in Context of Visual Features
A half-hour presentation will be offered at 12:00, 12:45, and 1:30 on Monday afternoon at the nSynergies/XGLab booth #119. The presentation’s underlying theme is the importance of seeing what and where you are analyzing with portable XRF. The introduction will show the power of ELIO’s 1 mm spot size and laser focusing technology. The bulk of the presentation will be devoted to portable and affordable XRF mapping. Mapping puts chemistry in context of visual features of the art object. Seeing the relationships between elemental distributions and visual features can reveal a far more complete and convincing story than spectra from point analyses.
Demonstrations will be offered from 12-12:30, 12:45-1:15, and 1:30-2.
Pixelteq: Multispectral Imaging for Cultural Heritage
PIXELTEQ will be demonstrating its flexible and portable multispectral imaging system. The system will be showing how one can take accurate color images using 8 parallel, narrow-band filters covering not only the visible band but also the near-infrared region to ‘see’ features otherwise missed with a regular color camera. The SpectroCam™ family of cameras covers from UV to SWIR (200nm – 1700nm).
Demonstrations will occur every 15 minutes.
SIT Grupo Empresarial S.L.: Microclimated Frames
A preventive conservation system improved in the European Conservation Research Projects PROPAINT & MEMORI. New generation of passive microclimated containers for artworks with control of air quality and environmental parameters.
Demonstrations will occur every 15 minutes.
Zarbeco:New MiScope Megapixel Extended Field for non-contact imaging
We will demonstrate our new MiScope Megapixel Extended Field digital microscope which has non-contact imaging. It can be used with a tripod adapter, or other stand for conservators to see less than 2 microns.
Demonstrations will take place every 10 minutes.
Zone Display Cases: Oxygen-Free casework made accessible!
Zone Display Cases will be presenting our new anoxic display case model, to be used for both storage and exhibition of your most sensitive archival documents. See this maintenance-free, argon gas-filled/oxygen-free case at our booth # 316. Zone Display Cases are designed to Present, Preserve, and Protect your collection.