Interview Joanna Phillips – RED Düsseldorf Conservation Center
In art, the work is defined not only by the artist’s creative process, but also by the care and preservation it receives over time. Especially with modern and contemporary artworks, which often work with new materials and unconventional techniques, restoration is a challenge that requires both expertise and innovative approaches.
In an interview with the director of the RED – Düsseldorf Conservation Center, we take a look behind the scenes of this often invisible but indispensable work. How is art conserved in the age of new media and experimental materials? What special challenges arise when restoring works of art that work with technology or perishable materials? And how do experts deal with the balance between preservation and respect for the artistic vision?
Joanna Phillips, Director RED - Restaurierungszentrum Düsseldorf
The RED is unique in Germany: we are the central competence center for the conservation of Düsseldorf’s collections. Normally, restoration is done on site in small museum departments. In Düsseldorf, however, we have had our central RED laboratories and workshops for almost 50 years. Here, an interdisciplinary team of specialists works together to provide conservation and restoration services for the collections of all 12 museums, archives and exhibition venues in the city. In total, this amounts to over 3.5 million objects from 3000 years of art and cultural history. In order to do justice to this enormous variety of material, we have set up seven specialized departments: Paintings and Contemporary Art, Photography, Paper, Media Art, Applied Art, Wood and Modern Materials, and Ceramics. So when you visit an exhibition in Düsseldorf, e.g. at the Kunstpalast, Stadtmuseum or Hetjensmuseum, many of the exhibits you admire have been examined, restored and made fit for display here in our RED laboratories.
RED - Restaurierungszentrum Düsseldorf. Photo: Markus Luigs.
The RED is located in Düsseldorf’s Ehrenhof in the same historic building as the Kunstpalast, and after almost 100 years the building had become quite dilapidated. That’s why from 2020 to 2023 – in parallel with the renovation of the Kunstpalast – we also completely refurbished and refitted our traditional workshops. Our infrastructure is now state-of-the-art, and in my 10 years at the Guggenheim Museum I would have been delighted to be able to work in such modern laboratories! The refurbishment also saw the addition of the Media Art Restoration department. This is the latest specialization within conservation science, which is still very rare in Germany. In the future, we would also like to expand our outreach work and create more participation in our work with Düsseldorf’s cultural heritage.
Absolutely. Especially when it comes to conserving contemporary art, we naturally benefit from the diversity of expertise at RED. We can develop conservation concepts for unusual combinations of materials, ephemeral plastics, obsolete media technologies or changeable installations in one place, which rely on the knowledge of various specializations. We also support the collections we look after in bringing the relevant information and components – such as archivable file formats for media art works – into the collection when acquiring new contemporary works. This often includes interviews with the artists, which we then record as a kind of historical reference document for the future.
RED - Restaurierungszentrum Düsseldorf. Photo: Markus Luigs.
If we want to know more about the artistic creation or material composition of works of art, but also about their dating, origin (provenance) or sometimes their authenticity, we have various examination methods at our disposal. With UV examination, for example, we can identify old restorations. With infrared reflectography and X-rays, we can penetrate paintings and materials and reveal hidden layers and constructions that are not visible to the naked eye. And with multispectral and X-ray fluorescence examinations, we can generate information on the pigments and fillers used. Depending on the issue at hand, we usually combine several of these examination methods.
Our main task is to look after the Düsseldorf collections, but we also advise, examine and restore for private collectors, artists’ studios and museums outside the city. We also have a nitrogen chamber for combating pest infestation, which is in continuous operation and is also used by non-city collections in the surrounding area.
RED - Restaurierungszentrum Düsseldorf. Photo: Oliver Tjaden.
In my opinion, the biggest social challenge for the preservation of cultural assets is our dwindling access to historical objects. Especially among young people growing up in the immersive screen age, the materiality of pre-digital societies is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend. As a result, appreciation for the artistry or contemporary witness of old objects is also dwindling. And our work at RED, and its funding, is derived directly from the appreciation that our urban society has for its cultural heritage. That’s why I think it’s so important that we emerge from the backstage of the cultural sector and make our work more visible. Over the next few years, I would like to develop an entire program for mediation and participation at RED.
You can become a conservator by studying for a Master’s degree in conservation science. There are degree courses at the TH Cologne, the Stuttgart State Academy or the Dresden University of Art and Design, for example. However, practical work on objects also plays a major role in the training. This is why internships in preparation for and during studies are an integral part of our training. And we offer these internships at RED, as well as scientific traineeships as a career start for university graduates.
