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Dr Hélia Marçal

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Dr Hélia Marçal

Hélia Marçal is Lecturer in History of Art, Materials and Technology.

Her current research interests are positioned within feminist new materialisms, material histories of activist artworks, ethics and performativity of cultural heritage, the conservation of time-based media and performance art, and both the materiality of contemporary art and the ways it is positioned and negotiated by museum, heritage, and conservation practices.

She has published about conservation theory and ethics, embodied memories and the body-archive, and public policies of participation and stewardship of cultural heritage. Her recent book project is on posthumanism and collection care practices in museums (under contract with Routledge, co-authored with Dr Rebecca Gordon).


Contact Details

Office: 305, 21 Gordon Square

Office hours: Wednesday 12-1pm (online or in person). Term-time only. Booking required: Book

Email: h.marcal@ucl.ac.uk


Appointment

Lecturer in History of Art, Materials and Technology

Department of History of Art

Faculty of S&HS


Research Themes

Materiality in the conservation of time-based media and performance art; feminist new materialisms; ethics and performativity of cultural heritage; notions of periphery/decentring, inclusions/exclusions, in material art histories and conservation




Research


Research Summary

Hélia’s current research interests continue to draw on feminist new materialisms to examine material histories of activist artworks and the negotiation of ethics and performativity of cultural heritage in the public sphere. She has published about conservation theory and ethics, embodied memories and the body-archive, and public policies of participation and stewardship of cultural heritage.

Before her appointment at ϲ, she was a researcher in the project (2018-2020). Her work focused on how museum practices and artworks are constructed through interactions between people, artworks, technology, and infrastructures. In developing that research strand, she interrogated not only the material constitution of artworks, museums, and agencies, but also ethics of becoming art in the museum, and the ecologies of memory needed to safeguard artworks and objects across cultures of preservation. The project’s case-studies included performance artworks, digital art, multimedia installations, archival materials, and community-led performances. While at Tate, she was also involved in the project


Research Activities

Hélia sits on the editorial board of the Journal of the Institute of Conservation and has reviewed articles for several peer-reviewed journals in the fields of visual arts and performing arts, museums and heritage studies. She was Coordinator of the Working Group on Theory, History and Ethics of Conservation of the Committee for Conservation of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-CC, 2016-2023). She collaborates with the Instituto de História Contemporânea (FCSH-NOVA) and the IN2Past Laboratory.

Publications

This is a list of selected publications. For a completeand up-to-date list of publications, please consult .

JOURNAL ARTICLES

[Co-authored with Joel Taylor] , Studies in Conservation, 67: sup1, 260-266, 2022. [Open Access]

, Studies in Conservation, 2021.[Open Access]

, Performance Research, On Disappearance, 24:7, 39-46, 2019.

[Co-authored with Louise Lawson and Acatia Finbow] , Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 42:2, 114-134, 2019.

[Co-authored with Cláudia Madeira and Daniela Salazar] , Museum Management and Curatorship, 33:1, 79-95, 2018.

, Journal of the Institute of Conservation, 40: 2, 97-104, 2017.[Open Access]

Chapters in books

“Vitality and the conservation of performance”, in , ed. by Hanna Hölling, Jules Pelta Feldman, Emilie Magnin, pp tbc. London and New York: Routledge, 2023 [forthcoming].

“Entangled ethics: heritage conservation, transmission and participation”, in , ed. by Farideh Fekrsanati and Gabriel Schimmeroth, pp. 131-141. Hamburg: MAARK, 2023. [Open Access]

“A Word about Performance Art”, in , ed. by Joanna Philips and Deena Engel, pp. 512-520. London and New York: Routledge, 2022.

[Co-authored with Rebecca Gordon] “Affirming future(s): towards a posthumanist conservation in practice”, in , ed. By Christine Daigle and Matthew Hayler, pp. 165-178. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.

[Co-authored with Farideh Fekrsanati] “Affirming Change in Participatory Practices of Cultural Conservation”, in , ed. By Christoph Rausch, Ruth Benschop, Emilie Sitzia, Vivian van Saaze, [online version, npn]. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2022.

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings

, ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Meeting, Beijing, May 2021, edited by Janet Bridgland, 8. Paris: International Council of Museums, 2021.

[Co-authored with Louise Lawson] , ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Meeting, Beijing, May 2021, edited by Janet Bridgland, 8. Paris: International Council of Museums, 2021.

[Co-authored with Rita Macedo and António M. Duarte] , ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Meeting Preprints, Melbourne 15-19 September 2014, edited by Janet Bridgland, 8. Paris: International Council of Museums, 2014. [Open Access]


articles in collections

” in Reshaping the Collectible: Tony Conrad, Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain, Tate Research Publication, 2022. [Open Access]
[Co-authored with Louise Lawson and Ana Ribeiro], in Reshaping the Collectible: Tony Conrad, Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain, Tate Research Publication, 2022. [Open Access]

REPORTS

published as part of the research project Reshaping the Collectible: When Artworks Live in the Museum, Tate, 2019. [Open Access]

DIGITAL RESOURCES

, in Documentation and Conservation of Performance (March 2016 – March 2021), a Time-based Media Conservation project at Tate. [Open Access]

[Co-authored with Louise Lawson, Ana Ribeiro, Duncan Harvey, and Acatia Finbow] , published as part of Documentation and Conservation of Performance (March 2016 – March 2021), a Time-based Media Conservation project at Tate. [Open Access]

[Co-authored with Louise Lawson, Ana Ribeiro, Duncan Harvey, and Acatia Finbow] , published as part of Documentation and Conservation of Performance (March 2016 – March 2021), a Time-based Media Conservation project at Tate. [Open Access]

Teaching and Supervision

Hélia has taught several courses in both Portugal and the United Kingdom.

During the academic year 2023-2024, Hélia will be teaching:

HART0054 Theory and History of Conservation

HART0148 Introduction to Media and Technologies

HART0164 Social Lives of Artworks

She would be interested to hear from potential postgraduate students who wish to develop their research in material art histories, conservation of contemporary, time-based media, and performance art, ethics and performativity of cultural heritage. Potential applicants should contact Hélia directly via email.