Strategies for Studying Multiple Meanings in Conservation Research

Abstract

This article examines recent scholarship in cultural sociology on ways of studying diverse (and sometimes incommensurable) value systems and the relevance of this scholarship for contemporary art conservation research and theory. The objective is not to establish normative principles for what to preserve or how to conserve artistic works. The paper examines how diverse value systems and multiple meanings of contemporary art might be taken into account in conservation research.

Keywords

• conservation
• strategy
• value
• sociology
• cultural sociology
• research