Performative methods (reconstruction, replication and re-enactment) play a growing role in fields like art history, archaeology, conservation, musicology and anthropology. On the 6th of December, a group of fifteen specialists from various parts of Europe convened in the shadow of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Several of them have a long career in reconstruction, Re-enactment and replication, albeit from various directions including archaeology, history of science, musicology and conservation of paintings.

The meeting was meant to be a brainstorm for funding purposes: we noticed that although we all are from different professions, we meet the same problems and comments from colleagues. EXARC joined this meeting with the director as well as with long-time member prof. Javier Baena from Madrid (ES). We think that it is important to design a common methodology and strengthen the network by means of summer schools, introductory handbooks and sharing of practices. The meeting was very fruitful, with examples from Stone Age up to the 21st century. This is a diverse group which defined some common goals. Now let us say where this goes!

The meeting of December 6th followed from the workshop which was organised by the same group in early June 2017. This academic workshop took place in Leiden, the Netherlands, to stimulate research bridging the natural sciences with the humanities and social sciences. Below a review.

Academic Workshop on Re-enactment, Replication & Reconstruction (RRR)

Forty-five international scientists joined from the fields of art history, archaeology, conservation, musicology and anthropology. Its goals were to reflect on RRR practices in research, and to learn from each other’s approaches and experience. Approaches to RRR have been developed within the disciplines themselves, and until now, cross-disciplinary connections and discussions on methodology are a rare exception... Read more