Ethiopian Art Conservation Program

The Ethiopian Art Conservation Project is a unique opportunity in Ethiopia and has never been implemented before. Therefore, a detailed pilot year was designed to test and evaluate the proposed approach before implementing it in a rigid training structure. This will allow the organizers to better assess the magnitude of the challenges in their area of expertise and learn from the shared experiences on the ground. The pilot year consisting of workshops will be designed together with experienced art conservators, local authorities and government support. Indeed, the project must meet the Ethiopian needs created for students who will be able to actually apply their training in Ethiopia.

An important pedagogical approach is to confront the teachers and students with original works of art and realistic professional work environments. In this context, our main objective is to impart the skills and knowledge necessary to research works of art with regard to the artistic process, aspects of documentation and research and finally to be able to carry out conservation and restoration campaigns in a leading position. Furthermore, both theoretical and practical topics such as material analysis, conservation strategies for modern and contemporary art objects, heritage policy and research are addressed. All this in order to get a comprehensive idea of what education should look like in 2030.