Bordalo, R. 20 Th Aniversary Meeting ECCO. 2011

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e conservationthe online magazine No. 19, April 2011


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Review by Rui Bordalo

Barcelona, Spain

April 45, 2011

REVIEWS

A view from the conference hall.

THE 20th ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF E.C.C.O.

Organiser:

E.C.C.O., The European Confederation of ConservatorRestorers' Organisations

http://www.eccoeu.org/

E.C.C.O., the European Confederation of Conser

vatorRestorers' Organisations, is commemorat

ing its 20th anniversary. Since its foundation in

1991, E.C.C.O. has had a strong impact on European

policies for the protection and preservation of

cultural heritage, working to achieve legal recog

nition of conservatorrestorers and promoting a

high level of training in this discipline. The con

federation is seen by other international partnersas a role model to be followed. At the moment, it

unites 22 associations from 20 European countries,

representing more than 5000 professional con

servatorrestorers.

The commemoration of its 20th anniversary took

place in Barcelona, Spain, in the last 4th and 5th

of April, on the occasion of the Presidents Meet

ing and General Assembly. The Presidents meeting is a biannual meeting where all the Presidents

of the member associations of E.C.C.O. get together

and meet with the E.C.C.O. committee to discuss

about aims and objectives to be achieved by the

organisation. However, this time all the founding

members were invited to attend the anniversary

and to commemorate the founding of the organ

isation.

The meeting took place in the XVIII century Pati

Manning building, just next to the Centre of Con

temporary Culture of Barcelona. The impeccable

local organisation was merit of Agns GallOrlik

from Grup Tcnic, a Catalonian association of con

servatorrestorers. As an aside note, it should be

mentioned that Barcelona is part of the Environ

ment Committee of Eurocities, which gathers a

group of 34 cities that promote environmentalawareness. This meant, for example, that every

plastic item normally used in conferences was

replaced by wood or paperbased alternatives,

more environmentally friendly. It would be great

if we would see this more often in conferences.

The day started with a welcoming message from

Mr. Joan Pluma, General Director of Cultural Her

itage, representing the Catalan Ministry of Cul

ture. Next, Monica MartelliCastaldi, President of

E.C.C.O., welcomed the participants and presented

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the founding members and the previous E.C.C.O.

Presidents. Only a few could not be present and

those who are no longer with us were fondly re

called.

After the opening, a session on the history of the

confederation started with short presentations

by Nathalie Ravanel, from the Associazione Res

tauratori d'Italia (ARI) and former VicePresidentof E.C.C.O., and Pierre Masson, from the Belgium

A ssociation Professionelle des Conservateurs

Restaurateurs d'Oeuvres d'Art(APROABRK) and

former President of E.C.C.O.. These short presen

tations were followed by interventions by Carole

Milner, from Association des Restaurateurs d'Art

et d'Archquologie de Formation Universitaire

(AARAFU) and former Deputy Secretary, Gerlinde

Tautschnig, also from the Italian ARI and formerPresident of E.C.C.O., and other founding members

and former Presidents who recalled the early years

of E.C.C.O. Stphane Pennec, founding member

from France, presented ConservationRestora

tion of Cultural Heritage: Dont worry, its get

ting worse! which came as a refreshing frontal

view about the regression that the field is having

in some countries. Ylva Dahnsj, from the National

Heritage (UK), closed the session speaking about

The changed context for conservation and in

formation about UK PACR accreditation system.

After the coffeebreak, a session focused on the

Competences of the profession took place. The

first lecturer was Susan Corr, General Secretary

of E.C.C.O. and delegate from the Institute for

the Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works in

Ireland(ICHAWI), who presented the most recent

publication of E.C.C.O.: Competences for the

Profession and Practice of ConservationRestor

ation. This document was developed by E.C.C.O.

in connection with the European Qualifications

Framework (EQF) foreseen in the Recommenda

tion of the European Parliament and of the Coun

cil of April 23, 2008 on the establishment of theEuropean Qualifications Framework for lifelong

learning. This document defines the competences

required to enter the profession of Conservator

restorer. Next was Jeremy Hutchings, Deputy Sec

retary of E.C.C.O. and delegate from the Nordic

Association of Conservators Norwegian Branch

(Nordisk Konservatorforbund, den Norske Seks

jonen, NKFN) to present the implementation of

these competences in the conservation programmeat the University of Oslo. The structure of the

course (postBologna process) of this university

is quite original, allowing the students to choose

different career paths, not strictly in conservation

but also conservationrelated ones, according to

the several competences they acquire. The follow

ing presentation was done by Barbara Davidson,

E.C.C.O. Committee member and delegate from

the Chamber of Restorers in Slovakia (KomoraRetaurtorov, KR). Slovakia is from the very few

countries, if not the only one, that has a Cham

ber of Restorers, recognized by the government,

allowing a better regulation of the profession. In

her presentation, Barbara gave an example of the

EQF implementation at the national level and

about the specific legislative framework of the

country. Wolfgang Baatz, new President of the

European Network for ConservationRestoration

Education (ENCoRE), presented Conservation

restoration education: EQF and the Universities,

A short meeting of the E.C.C.O. Committee members.

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focused on the perspective of the universities con

cerning EQFandthe lifelong learningissue. Closing

the session, Grellan Rourke, President of ICHAWI,

spoke on Competences and Accreditation wherehe made a summary of the experience on accredit

ation in Ireland and what it has represented for

the members of their association.

After a short moment for questions from the public,

Dr. Mikls Szentkirlyi and Dr. Istvn Bona, from the

Association of the Hungarian Restorers (Magyar

Restaurtorok Egyeslete, MRE) which is also com

memorating now its20th

anniversary, presented thehistory of their association, and several legislative

problems of laws on the protection of cultural prop

erty in Hungary, in a presentation titled Changing

Legislation about ConservationRestoration of Cul

tural Property in Hungary. Then Toms Luptk, from

the Slovakian Komora Retaurtorov(KR), spoke

About the Law on Services on Internal Market and

Application of Exclusivity. In Slovakia, conservation

is a regulated profession andthe implementation of

European directives created several situations that,

fortunately,the chamber wasable to resolve.

After a typical Mediterranean and ecofriendly

lunch, the afternoon was dedicated to short pres

entations by Professional Bodies and Institutions.

The afternoon session was started by VroniqueMilande, President of the Fdration Franaise

des Conservateurs/Restaurateurs (FFCR), with

FFCR is desperately looking for public. As our

profession is sometimes distorted in the public

view by the media, the speech focused on the

public perception of conservatorrestorers and

the experience FFCR has had to enlighten both the

public and the media about the reality of our field.

Once the meeting was taking place in Spain, next

a series of associations, members and nonmem

bers of E.C.C.O., were invited to address the audi

ence. In Catalonia Today: 2 associations, One

future, Agns GallOrtlic, from Grup Tcnic(GT),

and Voravit Roonthiva, President ofAssociaci de

ConservadorsRestauradors de Catalunya (ARCC),

announced the merge of the two professional as

sociations in Catalonia, Spain. The merge was

welcomed but news on the problematic Spanish

situation and about the recent dissolution of

A view of the conference hall during the presentations.

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E.C.C.O.s former member ACRACV, a Valencia based

association, saddened the audience. Then was

the turn of Gema Campo, also from GT, to speak

on the Motives for becoming E.C.C.O. member

in the 90s and current relevance of E.C.C.O.. As

a long existing association, GT was present in the

moments when the creation of a confederation

was discussed for the first time and later created.

The past and present importance of E.C.C.O. was

also discussed, for Europe but also for Spain and

Catalonia, as well as the documentation that was

delivered through the years by E.C.C.O., a true

milestone for the definition of the profession.Afterwards, Carmen Perez Garcia, Managing Di

rector of the Valencian Institute for Conservation

and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (IVCR), in

troduced the audience to the history and struc

ture of the institute. The next talk was made by

Marco Moreno, from Asociacin de Alumnos y Ex

alumnos de la Escuela Superior de Conservacin y

Restauracin de Bienes Culturales de Bienes Cultu

rales (AESCROM) in Madrid, who presented theassociation, but also the particularities of the

training in conservation in Spain.

Brigitte Esser, from Associazione Restauratori

Conservatori Alto Adige (VRKSARCA), a regional

association based in South Tyrol (Italy), spoke

about the long history of the association and the

specificity of that Italian region, and also how

advantageous and important has been the membership of the association in E.C.C.O.. Jana ubic

Prislan, from the Slovenian Society of Conservator

Restorers (Drutvo restavratorjev Slovenije, DRS),

which the next day was accepted as new member

of E.C.C.O., was the next speaker. Founded in 1993,

the association reborn in 1997 and has now 283

members. Although it may seem that some pres

entations, year after year, are just the explanation

on how the associations were formed and the par

ticularities of their national ways, these are in fact

the most interesting facts to divulge as one can

learn about the variety of the realities in this field.

This is the case of DRS, a very active association,

organizing on a permanent basis trips, confer

ences, workshops and even a professional award.

For sure, it is an example for other organizations

to follow.

Stefan Belishki, Committee member and delegate

of the Association of Conservatorrestorers of

Bulgaria (ARBBG), informed the audience abouta turn of situation for the profession in Bulgaria,

more particularly, about the legal changes that

have occurred. In 2009, a new law on the protec

tion of cultural heritage was enacted. However,

the conservatorrestorer profession is not prop

erly regulated by the law. There are texts that

pretend to regulate the conservation practice

but they are not in accordance with E.C.C.O.s

guidelines and in fact might even allow unqualified persons to practice. The lobbying of the as

sociation has been very active proposing several

changes but with few results. Nevertheless, they

were able to, at least, reduce the risk of malprac

tice. Another problem that was discussed was the

lack of job opportunities that conservatorrestorers

are confronted with in Bulgaria.

After a well needed coffeebreak, it was the turn

of Ingrid Louise Flatval, President of NKFN to

speak about The Situation in Norway. The asso

Volker Schaible, President of the Association of Restorers

(Verband der Restauratoren, VDR), speaking about thesituation in Germany.

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ciation has gone through several alterations due

to the size of the country, the bad economy and

internal reorganisation, among other factors. Sev

eral ways of dealing with these problems and din

amizing the associations were presented. Karen

Borchersen, from theNordic Association of Conser

vators Danish Branch (Nordisk Konservatorfor

bund, Den Danske Afdeling, NKFDK) spoke about

the status and the future of the organisation. One

of the main concerns was to rejuvenate the board,

to bring new blood and new ideas, once their mem

bers have been there for many years. The recent

merge of Copenhagens School of Conservationwith other schools and the problems that have

risen was also discussed.

Jaap van der Burg, VicePresident of E.C.C.O. and

delegate ofRestauratoren Nederland(RN), spoke

on behalf of RNs President Clara von Waldthausen

who could not attend the meeting. Jaap mentioned

the fact that RN commemorates its 5th anniver

sary and made a short summary of the history of

the association, which resulted from the merge of

other associations. Volker Schaible, President of

the Association of Restorers (Verband der Restaur

atoren, VDR) gave an amusing and lively present

ation focused on The Situation in Germany, that

is a federal country, which means that more dif

ferent regional laws on cultural heritage apply.

The talk focused on the history of VDR and how

they are approaching such diversity of laws con

cerning conservation and the protection of cul

tural heritage.

Finally, the last intervention was made by Karin

von Lerber, from the Association Suisse de Con

servation et Restauration (SKR/SCR), who talked

about The Situation in Switzerland. Karin showed

how challenging the management of conservation

can be in a country with 4 schools teaching conser

vation and 27states (with27differentlegislations)

andan association that gathers over 500 members.

Group photo of the participants to the E.C.C.O. 20 th anniversary.

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Afterwards, there was a roundtable discussion

moderated by Grellan Rourke focused on Europe

wide issues arisingfrom the meeting and network

ing between European professional bodies and

related institutions.

The second day was fully dedicated to the General

Assembly during which several internal issues were

discussed. Among these, can be highlighted the

efforts that the working groups are making con

cerning the European Recommendations in the

Council of Europe, the European Qualifications

Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) and theEuropean Committee for Standardization (CEN).

Two associations from Slovenia and Malta were

welcomed as new members. Although these meet

ings are generally not open to the public, there

were several national and international observers

invited in the occasion of the Presidents meeting

and anniversary of E.C.C.O.

The two days meeting, with its warm atmosphere,made the attendees happy to meet so many old

friends and colleagues. At the end, the commem

oration of the 20th anniversary of E.C.C.O. was a

success, not only for the high quality participation

and the vivid discussions but also for the positive

feedback that the founding members gave on

E.C.C.O. and how much it has accomplished in the

last 20 years.

Photos by: David AguilellaCueco

RUI BORDALO

Conservatorrestorer

Rui Bordalo, PhD, is a board member of the Portu

guese Association of ConservatorRestorers (ARP)

and a Committee member of the European Confed

eration of ConservatorRestorers' Organisations

(E.C.C.O.) since 2005.

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No. 19, April 2011

ISSN: 16469283

Registration Number125248

Entidade Reguladorapara a Comunicao Social

Propertyeconservationline, Teodora Poiata

PeriodicityBimonthly

CoverDetail of a leather binding

Private collection

Executive EditorRui Bordalo

EditorsTeodora Poiata, Anca Nicolaescu

CollaboratorsAna Bidarra

Daniel Cull

Graphic Design and PhotographyAnca Poiata, Radu Matase

ExecutionTeodora Poiata

AddressRua de Santa Catarina, n 467, 4D

4480779 Vila do Conde, Portugal

www.econservationline.com

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Bordalo, R. 20 Th Aniversary Meeting ECCO. 2011