Conservation of the work by improving the assembly system and its storage Mar negro, Carlos Aires
“Works of art should not be eternal; that is a mistake, because people aren’t, either. To activate the work itself, the visitor must walk on it. The wear caused by shoe friction is the work’s life.”
Carlos Aires. Conservation of Mar Negro (2013)
Artist Carlos Aires’ work of art Mar negro (Black Sea) came to the MACBA in 2015. It is a floor constructed of wooden slats painted in different colours and placed in a herringbone pattern.
The work originated with the artist’s view of a place: a cemetery of small, makeshift wooden boats and dinghies on the coast of Cadiz, and of their boards rotting in the water. For Carlos Aires, the planks’ appearance and their deteriorated condition are fundamental to the piece. This is where the main challenge in conserving this work lies.
The wooden planks were taken directly from waterlogged vessels and then cut to make the pattern. The boards were initially fumigated by the artist himself.
Installation overview. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
Upon arrival at the museum, two endemic problems were detected in the work. One of them directly affected the preservation of the materials: a significant attack of xylophaga on the woody support, due to the conditions to which it had been exposed. On the other hand, we found that in order to avoid the deterioration of the work with each assembly and disassembly, the storage and installation system had to be reconsidered; a preventive maintenance intervention.
A thermal shock process was chosen in order to eradicate the biological deterioration. This means treating the wood in a hermetic chamber where the temperature is reduced to the freezing point. Additionally, constant relative humidity is always maintained so that this does not adversely affect the media.
General diagram of the panels that make up the installation.
It must be pointed out that the work, initially, was completely dismantled. On the one hand, there were the 16 MDF panels that make up the base and, on the other hand, the loose slats that had to be placed one by one to configure the herringbone design.
With regard to improving the storage and mounting system, specific boxes with removable trays were designed to keep each panel assembled with its own slats. 4 boxes were built to house the 16 panels that constitute the installation.
The box designed with the removable tray system. Photo: Xavier Rossell.
The panel connection system and the slats called ‘union pieces’. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
The panel connection system and the slats called ‘union pieces’. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
The panel connection system and the slats called ‘union pieces’. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
The panel connection system and the slats called ‘union pieces’. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
The panel connection system and the slats called ‘union pieces’. Photo: Alejandro Castro.
Respecting the artist’s wishes, interventions by the Conservation-Restoration Department are primarily preventive conservation actions.
