When Materiality is Transitory: The preservation of Árvore jogo/lúdico by A. Carneiro

In this paper, we present as a case study Árvore jogo/ lúdico em sete imagens espelhadas (Tree game/playful in seven mirrored images) (1973-1975) of the Portuguese Sculptor Alberto Carneiro (b. 1937). This work exemplifies how artredefined itself in the second half of the twentieth century, demonstrating theinadequacy of conservation traditional ethics and practice, which were built on theeighteenth century's notion of artistic object - «the unique material, self containedaesthetic object» (LAURENSON, 2006a) - to the new forms of art. Though Carneiroconsiders this work as a sculpture, it is far from the traditional notion of this artisticdiscipline. In fact, there is no sculptural work (in the traditional sense) in Árvore jogo/lúdico… since it is mostly based on natural, raw materials. Furthermore, the intangibleaspects of the work are fundamental since this piece is composed by several parts thatcreate particular spatial relations, transforming the exhibition space. It is possible forthe observer to enter the work and experience it with all his senses, multiplyingendlessly the possible points of view over the work.