Visual artist Flavio Pons provides information regarding his artwork "Voyage a l'�tranger", which was part of the traveling exhibition Grenzeloze Inhoud of the Nederlandse Kunststichting in 1983. It comprised 12 artworks in total, each framed in a similar transparent suitcase, and is now part of the collection of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. Research into the material composition of the work in light of their preservation and a conservation treatment is the main focus, carried out in the context of University of Amsterdam's Master's in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, specialization Contemporary Art. Additional information about subsequent exhibitions that Flavio Pons participated in is offered during the last part of the interview.
Interviews in Conservation Research is a growing collection of oral history records that can inform the preservation, conservation and presentation of works of art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands. Many professionals in museums and heritage institutions conduct interviews with artists, artist assistants and conservators, as well as with other stakeholders, such as curators, directors and collectors to learn more about the works they have in their collections. These interviews are rarely sustainably archived nor easily accessible for other researchers, as their existence as primary sources is relatively unknown. This thematic collection helps to overcome these problems and is one of the main results of the NWO funded KIEM project Interviews in Conservation Research, a partner project of the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science (NICAS) as part of the Conservation Oral History Initiative. This is an ongoing initiative and additions to the thematic collection Interviews in Conservation Research are welcome to build a rich collection of unique source material that allows for cross-referencing and provides a unique view on the behind the scenes of the lives of works of art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands.