Practitioner (In)visibility in the Conservation of Contemporary Art

This article explores the role and position of the conservator of contemporary art and proposes the concept of invisibility as a way of thinking about ideas and practices of authorship, agency, and knowledge in the field of conservation. The invisibility of the practitioner is a concept drawn from the field of translation, and the work of translation theorist Lawrence Venuti. Venuti describes the translator’s traditional position of invisibility, exploring how it manifests both in relation to the translated text, as well as in wider epistemic, professional, and social senses. Sparked by Venuti’s 1995 book The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation, invisibility has been the subject of significant study and debate in translation and can also be identified as a common concern across several disciplines. This article explores how the concept of invisibility applies to the conservator of contemporary art, and its effect in respect of understandings of the work, the nature of conservation practice, and the recognition of practitioner knowledge.