Challenging the Narrative Symposium

“Challenging the Narrative: Conservation and Replication of Immersive Artworks” presented new narratives in the conservation, replication, and reproduction of immersive artworks. It took place within the framework of the exhibition Inside Other Spaces. Environments by Women Artists 1956-1976, curated by Marina Pugliese and Andrea Lissoni, Haus der Kunst, September 8, 2023 to March 10, 2024.

With Inside Other Spaces. Environments by Women Artists 1956-1976, Haus der Kunst presented an exhibition that addressed the replicability and conservation of Environments by women artists. Three-dimensional immersive artworks were situated at the threshold between art, architecture, and design, which created and transformed space but also invited the spectator to enter, engage, and interact with them.

Over the years, Environments, defined as installations in the late 1970s, became a major feature in the international art world. Given the experimental and/or site-specific nature, most Environments were destroyed after display. Thus, their art historiography is characterized by a sense of loss, and the materiality of these works is often unclear.

For the Haus der Kunst exhibition, the majority of the artworks were reconstructed following several different approaches. For works by living artists, the replication process was fine-tuned in accordance with the artists’ requirements.

For Environments not previously reproduced, reconstruction involved thorough archival research—consulting an array of sources such as photographs, architectural plans, reviews, materials’ lists, and providers’ invoices. For those works previously replicated or reproduced, the same archival process was followed, cross-checking for consistency with existing sources. Both approaches involved issues of accessibility, sustainability, and knowledge transfer.