Developing collaborative approaches to preventive and interventive conservation in the collecting and care of costumes at Scottish Opera

Voss, Cecilia (2015) Developing collaborative approaches to preventive and interventive conservation in the collecting and care of costumes at Scottish Opera. [MPhil]

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Abstract

The central issue regarding conservation of theatre and opera costume is the conflict of interests between theatre practise which tends to focus on future productions and commercial pressures and the aims of conservators, who want to preserve the material culture of past productions as evidence of what the theatre has produced. Using the costume department at Scottish Opera as an example, this research aimed to challenge the tension between theatre’s commercial pressures for the future and conservators looking at the past. The research examines the tension between costume as a studio asset versus pieces of institutional heritage. The result of this research is an exploration of conservation strategies that can be inserted into the running of the opera company whilst minimising the implications on theatre practice. The focus is to broaden understanding of preservation of textiles and in turn consider how this transmits to the conservation of performance pieces, widening the methods of decision-making for conservators. It proved that costume still in use is heritage and that its function as tool in creating art gives it the status of art in its own right.

Item Type:Masters Dissertation
Keywords:Textile conservation
Course:Postgraduate Courses > Textile Conservation [MPhil]
Degree Level:MPhil
College/School:College of Arts > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
ID Code:167
Deposited By: Mary Anne Meyering
Supervisor:
Supervisor
Email
Lennard, Professor Frances
UNSPECIFIED
Deposited On:02 Aug 2017 08:09
Last Modified:02 Aug 2017 08:09

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