Research into Tate's Collection is a vital aspect of many departments' work, and often involves close collaboration between staff with different specialist knowledge. This work is now being led by our new Research Department (created in 2007), which is setting strategic priorities and bringing together various teams at Tate.
One example of cross-Tate collaboration is the investigation undertaken by conservators and curators into possible responses to the deterioration of modern sculptures made of ephemeral materials. Involving discussion of practical, art historical and ethical issues, their work led to an international workshop funded by The Andrew W Mellon Foundation. The workshop brought together 50 leading scholars, curators and conservators from Europe and America to discuss the replication of modern sculptures. A special issue of Tate's online research journal Tate Papers was devoted to articles arising from the workshop.
To support the development of the Collection, we invited external specialists to speak at a series of seminars devoted to contemporary art and the art market in different regions of the world. Work also continued on cataloguing projects, and we identified other areas for further research. We explored new ways of structuring and presenting the online catalogue of JMW Turner's works on paper and hope to apply these to all future catalogues. An exciting new initiative was the Artist Interview Programme, where artists were filmed talking in depth about their works in the Collection. Transcripts of these interviews will be made available to researchers using Tate's Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, and edited highlights will be shown on Tate's website, creating an important research resource for future generations.
