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Part of what complicates the care and preservation of contemporary art is that objects may exist in ways that are variable rather than fixed. Further, these artworks may be subject to changing conditions of medium and fabrication or the challenge of obsolescence. They are also often subject to the influence of fabricators enlisted to produce objects in collaboration with an artist. In light of these and many other factors, works from this period can exist—and be shown or collected over time—in multiple forms. Thus, a conservation approach in this context requires a departure from traditional modes of engagement with an artwork, where the material identity of the work itself can be unstable and there can, in some cases, be no such thing as an “original” object.
