Global Conservation: Histories and Theories

Project Information

GLOCO

Grant agreement ID: 101087659

DOI

10.3030/101087659

EC signature date 12 April 2023

Start date 1 September 2023

End date 31 August 2028

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 932 878,00

EU contribution

€ 1 932 878,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GLOCO (Global Conservation: Histories and Theories)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2026-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Today, museums in Europe and the USA are under heightened scrutiny in light of increasing requests for artworks to be returned to their country of origin and growing questions about the appropriate display of ethnographic collections. Conservation practices are changing to include multiple experts to choose the most appropriate methods to preserve material culture. However, while museums display artefacts from many origins and deal daily with complex conservation practices, there is no comprehensive monograph or array of vetted online resources about the legacies of conservation on a global scale.
Global Conservation: Histories and Theories (GloCo) is the first academic research project studying the histories and theories of conservation of (im)material culture at a global level from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. GloCo approaches conservation as a set of cultural and technological practices that aim to preserve and give access to art and material culture. GloCo develops an innovative framework centered around the study of a selection of objects and organized around key transversal concepts, situated practices, and innovative terminologies.
The importance of GloCo lies in its broad historical and geographical scope as well as in its contemporary relevance. GloCo considers histories, theories, and forms of conservation within and beyond the West to restore a plurality of perspectives. We will publish books, three articles, host multiple workshops and conference, and create an online polyphonic dictionary that presents a range of notions tied to various cultures of conservation. These new definitions will become an essential resource for academics, museum professionals, and beyond. Thus, GloCo will reshape the current understanding of conservation through a deep and inclusive rethinking of its histories and theories.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In September 2025, we launched our online glossary, glo-co.org featuring terms related to conservation and heritage across several continents: Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. This dictionary represents a first step in rethinking the language of conservation and shifting the conversation about priorities beyond Western museums. The terminologies presented are the result of long-term, field-based research. Over two years, we conducted interviews and held discussions with numerous colleagues, students, and artisans about what conservation means to them. In the two preceding years (2023-2025), we also organized several events, including a major international symposium in 2025 in Saint-Louis (Senegal) that brought together professionals and partners from African countries (such as Mali, Senegal, Benin, Kenya, and Rwanda) and Europe (including Austria and France). In this context, we emphasized the concept of situated conservation. Additionally, we hosted two panels in Lyon (France) in 2024 as part of the CIHA international conference.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GloCo offers an innovative approach to rethinking conservation by centering the voices of those directly engaged in the field—practitioners, thinkers, and community members. After two years of consultations, we were able to highlight a plurality of terms and expectations that emerge not only from institutions but also from individuals. The insights gained through this process are part of what we call situated conservation—a way of acknowledging the specific contexts in which knowledge is produced. This includes preserving terms in their original languages to respect their cultural and conceptual specificity. A key objective of GloCo is to make this knowledge accessible to museum professionals and contribute to more inclusive and context-aware conservation practices. In the coming years, we will also work in making sure that this first bunch of research is rightly implemented. In this perspective, we published an article written by Maeva Pimo, Ruby Satele and Noémie Etienne and published in a professional journal aimed to museum professionnals. With Alisa Santikarn, Maeva Pimo and Ruby Satele, we have also written additional articles that will be published soon in various venues.

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