Durability and Fragility: Two Distinct Positions

An examination of the notion of fragility that caracterizes certain current artworks leads me first to raise the issue of art’s durability. We know that permanence, preservation, and restoration are important concerns for museums. An extreme and paradoxical example of this fight against the passage of time can perhaps be found in the presentation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the ultimate temple of durability. Under the constant surveillance of a security guard watching out for prohibited camera flashes and eventual vandals, the painting is carefully locked inside a secure display case. After having slid through the mass of visitors gorging themselves with the work, we risk being disappointed with the result of our aesthetic experience, if there is one to be had at all. The security precautions and the tinted display case radically distance us from an observation of the painting in a more traditional context, i.e., simply affixed to the wall. Thus, the actual experience translates into a staging of the limitations of our access to the work under the pretext of its preservation from the ravages of time. The paradox of this situation orchestrated by the museum is based on the fact that, far from being let down by their visit, amateurs seem even more fascinated by this piece whose protection—in the manner of an institutional pedestal1 1  - If the classical stand showcases a sculpture in the manner of a pedestal, the extreme protection offered by the museum insidiously ­participates in the valorization of the painting.  —is made highly explicit. Its fragility therefore exacerbates its precious ­character. Here, the museum offers not so much an aesthetic experience of ­painting as a fetishist consumption of classical art fed by our fascination with achievements that have conquered time and with the artists that reach towards immortality. 

In spite of all the state-of-the-art techniques that allow for the ­maintenance, restoration, and preservation of artworks, in practical terms it is impossible to extend their lifespan indefinitely. How then can time be challenged? A striking figure of conceptual art, Daniel Buren sets out the path for the existence of his works by instating his “warnings.” Accompanying the sale of each of his pieces, these documents ­articulate among others the procedure for restoring his work. This contractual strategy imposes upon the buyer the respect of precise rules so that the acquired artwork ­preserves the artist’s signature.