Leseprobe

Preserving Transparent Figure in the early years and first made the construction of the figures at all possible from a technological perspective, is subject to extensive chemical changes related to the migration of acetic acid and plasti- cisers. These ageing processes progress continuously and are irre- versible. 4 These pollutants accumulate inside the sealed shell and cause damage to the components inside the figures, as well as in the shell itself. Access to these components is also made more difficult or is even completely prevented due to the for the most part closed construction principle of most of the figures. The opening or removal of the outer shell or of parts of it would per se involve it being dam- aged or, in the worst case, destroyed, because the re-joining of the aged shell can no longer take place with the original technology, which would trigger new damage processes. Leaving the shell as it is, however, means accepting already existing and probably also fur- ther damage in future. Especially for those figures in which the mi- gration of acetic acid and especially plasticisers has already begun to soften the components inside or the shell itself, for example, the Transparent Cow, this presents a major problem. The material itself is thus its own greatest source of damage – an apparently unsolvable dilemma. 5 How such damage processes can be stopped or at least slowed, and damage that has already occurred be treated must pri- marily be discussed at the level of conservation and be founded on scientific examinations. Closely related to this, one of the most interesting questions of restoration theory is posed in an exemplary fashion in the case of the Transparent Figures: what signs of ageing do we allow a work? Thus, how do we deal with the patina of a work? 6 However, what is the patina of plastics? The signs of ageing of a weathered wooden sculpture, the crazed surface of an oil painting, the green patina of a bronze bowl – we are very familiar with them today, and no one would suggest restoration with the goal of restoring the work as if it had just been created. The term of the Alterswert (age value) of monuments, 7 a central concept of modern restoration theory, was already coined in this context at an early date. 8 Although our viewing habits have long since become accustomed to the dark patina of sandstone reliefs or to furniture varnishes discoloured to a golden yellow, and though we even attribute a certain value to these man- ifestations of ageing, we are still at the beginning of this progress when it comes to viewing aged plastic objects. If one conceives of the term patina as appreciated traces of age or of historical use, one must ask oneself, what do we assign to modern synthetic materials as such a positively connotated age value. 9 In the case of the oldest Transparent Figures from the 1930s, clear manifestations of ageing are evident, for example, in the form of pronounced yellowing of the skin. These are also linked with a reduction in transparency. The shrinkage of the aged cellulose acetate has also resulted in cracks and deformations. Inside the figures, the colours of the organs have faded, lacquer has flaked off. Do people of the present still recog- nise the sensation of the 1930s? Does precisely this aged condition 107