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The Devil and the Details: The Ontology of Contemporary Art in Conservation Theory and Practice

2015; Oxford University Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/aesthj/ayv036

1468-2842

R. van de Vall,

Visual Culture and Art Theory

Conservation problems can reveal unsuspected complexities in the ontological make-up of modern and contemporary artworks. Using a problem in the conservation of one of Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawings as my starting point, I argue that Goodman's well-known and often criticized distinction between autographic and allographic art can be fruitfully used to articulate the different options in conservation dilemmas, but only if used in a non-disjunctive way and in the context of a biographical approach to the works under consideration.