A Disciplining of the Gaze
A book presentation and panel discussion on the history of conservation training at the Academy as part of the Academy Library’s event series Wer A… sagt.
Welcome address:
Johan F. Hartle, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Panel discussion with
Sigrid Eyb-Green, Author, Institute for Conservation-Restoration
Karen Kastenhofer, Institute of Technology Assessment, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Catherine Bouvier, Research Project History of Conservation in Austria
Jakob Krameritsch, Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Philipp Schmoetten, Moderation, Publisher, Letter P
How did conservation evolve from an artistic practice into a scientific discipline? The monograph Eine Disziplinierung des Blicks [A Disciplining of the Gaze] examines for the first time the history of conservation training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, tracing the trajectory from the earliest conservation courses at the beginning of the 20th century to the establishment of an independent academic discipline.
A panel discussion will explore two central themes of the work: First, the problematic role of Robert Eigenberger, who as a committed National Socialist instrumentalized conservation practice for Nazi cultural policy—a connection revealed here for the first time. The work reconstructs how historical conservation paradigms and fascist cultural programs mutually reinforced one another. This raises crucial questions for the present: How should we engage with this burdened legacy today? What forms of memory work, critical examination, and responsibility are appropriate? Into which contemporary social self-understandings, interests, and visions does the discipline inscribe itself today?
Second, the volume analyzes the field's specific culture of knowledge production. Particular attention is given to the tension between tacit and explicit knowledge, social structures and hierarchies, the development of professional terminology, forms of documentation, and the disciplining of the conservator's gaze. The question of conservation's position between the humanities and natural sciences, and between theory and practice, proves especially relevant today, particularly for current debates on transdisciplinarity in conservation. The field's strongly female character raises further questions with contemporary resonance: What institutional and social factors have led to women's dominance in conservation? How does this gender dynamic shape the discipline's development, its cultures of knowledge, and its position in the academic landscape to this day?
Sigrid Eyb-Green studied conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Since 2020, she has been a Tenure Track Professor at the Institute for Conservation-Restoration, Habilitation 2024. Research focus: paper conservation, history, theory, and ethics of conservation.
Catherine Bouvier studied art history (University of Vienna) and conservation with a focus on paper (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). Project associate on the Oral History project History of Conservation in Austria, funded by the Anniversary Fund of the Austrian National Bank. Dissertation 2024 on the history of paper conservation in Austria, works as a freelance conservator.
Karen Kastenhofer Deputy Director at the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Habilitation 2024 at the University of Vienna in Science and Technology Studies. Research focus: cultures of knowledge in the life sciences, governance of controversial technologies.
Jakob Krameritsch is a historian working at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, engaging with its history through teaching, research, and exhibition projects. Co-editor of the volume also appearing in November: Ergänzungen und Eingriffe. Zur Geschichte der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, 1930–1960 [Additions and Interventions. On the History of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, 1930–1960]. Together with Maren Grimm, he initiated a long-term project on the European contribution to the Marikana Massacre.
Philipp Schmoetten studied philosophy and is publisher of Letter P. Letter P publishes a diverse program ranging from non-fiction to artists' books and catalogues to illustrated, multilingual, and translated works, complemented by newly released literary rarities.
Sigrid Eyb-Green, Eine Disziplinierung des Blicks. Die Restaurierungsausbildung an der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien im 20. Jahrhundert
[A Disciplining of the Gaze. Conservation Training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the 20th Century]
400 pages, 57 illustrations, hardcover, ISBN: 978-3-903117-20-4, Eur 36,–
Vienna: Letter P, 2025
https://letterp.at/buecher/eine-disziplinierung-des-blicks