Profession conservator

Conservators organise and valorise works of art, buildings, books and furniture. They work in a wide range of areas such as creating and implementing new collections of art, preserving heritage buildings by applying restoration techniques as well as foreseeing the conservation of literary works, films, and valuable objects.

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Personality Type

Knowledge

  • Museum databases

    The tools and processes involved in working with museum databases.

Skills

  • Assess conservation needs

    Assess and list the needs for conservation/restoration, in relation to current use and planned future use.

  • Apply strategic thinking

    Apply generation and effective application of business insights and possible opportunities, in order to achieve competitive business advantage on a long-term basis.

  • Create solutions to problems

    Solve problems which arise in planning, prioritising, organising, directing/facilitating action and evaluating performance. Use systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and synthesising information to evaluate current practice and generate new understandings about practice.

  • Coordinate operational activities

    Synchronise activities and responsibilities of the operational staff to ensure that the resources of an organisation are used most efficiently in pursuit of the specified objectives.

  • Create collection conservation plan

    Create a comprehensive, high-level overview conservation plan for the collection.

  • Meet deadlines

    Ensure operative processes are finished at a previously agreed-upon time.

  • Use ICT recources to solve work related tasks

    Ability to choose and use ICT recources in order to solve related tasks

  • Ensure safety of exhibition

    Ensure safety of exhibition environment and of artefacts by applying safety devices.

  • Assess object condition

    Work together with the collection manager or restorer, to evaluate and document the condition of a museum object for a loan or an exhibition.

  • Structure information

    Organise information using systematic methods such as mental models and according to given standards in order to facilitate user information processing and understanding with respect to the specific requirements and characteristics of the output media.

  • Cope with challenging demands

    Maintain a positive attitude towards new and challenging demands such as interaction with artists and handling of artistic artefacts. Work under pressure such as dealing with last moment changes in time schedules and financial restraints.

  • Diagnose conservation issues

    Assess the nature of the object to be conserved or restored, and examine the causes of any deterioration.

  • Provide conservation advice

    Formulating guidelines for object care, preservation and maintenance, and providing professional advice on possible restoration work to be done.

Optional knowledge and skills

present reports art collections cultural projects evaluate art quality respect cultural differences in the field of exhibition supervise projects for the conservation of heritage buildings history cultural history interact with an audience apply restoration techniques art-historical values estimate restoration costs of antique items provide project information on exhibitions furniture, carpet and lighting equipment products estimate restoration costs art history perform project management historic architecture

Source: Sisyphus ODB