Condition.2015 – Conservation and Digitalization

National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk together with Norwegian Maritime Museum and University of Oslo: Museum of Cultural History are pleased to invite you for an international conference Condition.2015 – Conservation and Digitalization. The four day conference will be held at National Maritime Museum, between 19th – 22nd May 2015 in Gdańsk.

Theme scope of Condition.2015 combines aspects of archeological objects excavated from the seabed and digitization of large objects outside controlled environment conditions. The international conference will gather conservators, research scientists, experts and specialists in conservation and digitization to enable the exchange of knowledge, experience and good practices in these areas. Combination of both areas results from the fact that properly performed conservation needs to include properly prepared documentation.

Deadline for abstract submission for Condition.2015 conference is prolonged to 20 November 2014. For your own convenience please use online form in the Abstract Form tab.

We also encourage you to register for the conference due to limited number of participants. Please use online registration form in the Registration Form tab.

The first part of the conference (19th-20th May) will be devoted to the conservation of objects discovered during the exploration of the seabed and during land archaeological excavations. It will focus mainly on objects of organic origin (wood, rope, leather) and objects made of different metals. Theme scope has been divided on seven groups of issues:

1. Storage of archeological objects before conservation,
2. Conservation of waterlogged, archeological wood,
3. Iron and sulfur- problems of formation acids in organic materials,
4. Conservation of other organic materials (leather, rope etc.),
5. Conservation of different metals from wet environment,
6. Conservation of composite objects of various materials,
7. Analytical research of archeological objects essential for conservation.

The second part of the conference (21st – 22nd May) will be devoted to challenges and good practices of digitization (2D and 3D) concerning objects’ physical dimensions and environmental conditions in which they are digitally documented.

Emphasis will be set on untypical objects, difficult to document, with dimensions exceeding few meters, finally objects so heavy and so large that they have to be documented in situ.

1. Digitization of large objects as well as digital documentation outside controlled studio environments:
2. Digitization 2D (area of application, ongoing or finished projects, standards and procedures, advantages and disadvantages of selected methods)
3. Digitization 3D (area of application, ongoing or finished projects, standards and procedures, advantages and disadvantages of selected methods)
4. Digital dissemination (publication, search efficiency, metadata, target groups)
5. Digitization efficiency (mass digitization, economy of scale, time, costs, workflow)

Formal language of the conference will be English while the conference proceedings will be published in three languages.

CONDITION.2015 conference will be organized as a part of the project “The Shipwreck Conservation Centre with Studio Warehouse in Tczew – construction of new cultural infrastructure of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk”. Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants and co-financed by the Polish funds.

Visit our website to stay up to date with the latest news: www.condition2015.nmm.pl