Keywords: loss, identity, memory, transformation, ethics, fragment
This paper discusses the ethics surrounding knowledge production in art conservation, focusing on the ethical implications of scientific analysis, which has the potential to uncover information that contradicts an artwork’s purported origin or unintentionally exposes other aspects of its history. We further explore the tension between quantitative and qualitative analysis, specifically the power of quantitative data to expose “truths” about an artwork's identity that may cause emotional or cultural harm. To explore these themes, we will consider how an event can give new meaning to fragments, whereby they become—simultaneously—evidence, symbols, transitional and transformed objects. Our exploration is interdisciplinary, drawing from legal, medical, and cultural studies, and considers the interplay between “therapeutic privilege,” informed consent, and the pursuit of knowledge. Our primary case study is The Sphere by Fritz Koenig, a monumental bronze sculpture that stood in the bustling World Trade Center Plaza. It weighed 25-tons and took the form of a stylized caryatid (a female figure that serves as an architectural support). Positioned in the center of a circular fountain, the sculpture's weight was a symbolic reminder of its purpose: to pay homage to humankind’s responsibility for the modern world.
Despite the decimation of people and things during the attacks on the World Trade Center, The Sphere managed to survive, albeit physically transformed, and came to embody the impact of the tragic event that it witnessed. Throughout the sculpture’s voyage from, among other places, Ground Zero to Battery Park City, and eventually Liberty Park, where it now overlooks the World Trade Center site, its significance was continually championed by those who held it sacred in their memories. Given the sphere’s prominence, the 9/11 Memorial Museum tells its story and has many items that reference it in the collection. In fact, an alleged piece of the sphere was recently donated to the Museum by a Ground Zero volunteer, who participated in the recovery effort. The volunteer saved the fragment because it held poignant memories for them, especially the time spent with their late father, who worked at the Trade Center.
Presented with this “sphere fragment," museum workers at the 9/11 Memorial Museum investigated its identity, not recognizing at first the impact that this interrogation could cause. Scientific analysis — specifically, ascertaining the fragment's metal alloy makeup — had the potential to verify or refute the proffered origin story. This investigation, however, ultimately raised more questions: Can the previously assigned significance of an item be invalidated in the face of quantifiable “inauthenticity”? And, more broadly, what are the ethical considerations when analyzing sacred, sensitive, or living objects?
In considering the ethical implications of knowledge production in art conservation, this paper aims to contribute to a more nuanced and ethically responsible approach to decision-making in this area—particularly in how we approach fragmentary or remnants of artworks of questionable authenticity—by balancing the object’s signification as currently assigned to particular people or groups with the conservator’s obligation to seek the truth.
Lisa Conte, Visiting Associate Professor of Paper Conservation, Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
Lauren Klein, Lab and Study Collection Manager, Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; Doctoral Candidate in Physical Chemistry, Yale University
Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton, Graduate Student, Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
This paper focuses on an unremarkable metal fragment — a supposed piece of Fritz Koenig’s The Sphere damaged during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and later transformed into a memorial. Ascertaining the fragment’s metal alloy makeup has the potential to verify or refute whether the fragment, in fact, came from the Sphere, as its finder who saved it as a relic firmly believed. Our study considers the ethics surrounding knowledge production in art conservation, focusing on the ethical implications of scientific analysis. The exploration, drawing from many fields, considers the interplay between “therapeutic privilege,” informed consent, and the pursuit of truth.