Eco-conservation: preventive conservation in the face of climate change challenges
Eco-conservation : la conservation préventive face aux enjeux du changement climatique
Technè, n°61, 2026-1
Published on Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Abstract
The journal Technè intends to propose an issue dedicated to recognizing preventive conservation as a research method and application tool integrated into a responsible and sustainable project benefiting cultural property and the actors who ensure their preservation against contemporary challenges. This issue, which will be published in 2026, aims to be an evident continuation of issue 34 published in 2011, titled "Preventive Conservation, an Evolving Approach. 1990-2010".
Announcement
Argument
Since 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has regularly reviewed the scientific knowledge on global warming to better alert on its consequences and structure national and international strategic plans for adaptation to climate change. International cultural heritage must face the aggravation and multiplication of risks thus generated, whether climatic (wildfires, extreme precipitation, droughts, floods) or non-climatic (changes in the behaviour of many species, erosion of biodiversity). These threats encourage professionals to explore new reflections and revise their institutional policies and operations to ensure the conservation of cultural property in different ways.
The journal Technè intends to propose an issue dedicated to recognizing preventive conservation as a research method and application tool integrated into a responsible and sustainable project benefiting cultural property and the actors who ensure their preservation against contemporary challenges. This issue, which will be published in 2026, aims to be an evident continuation of issue 34 published in 2011, titled "Preventive Conservation, an Evolving Approach. 1990-2010". In this perspective, three main themes will guide this edition:
Adapting to a Changing World
This section focuses on analysing the evolving consideration of threats to cultural property and questioning preventive conservation practices. Articles may address the paradigm shift in institutions that need to adapt their preservation habits for collections, considering major risks caused by climate disruption, environmental activism by think tanks to formalize eco-responsible guides reconciling ecological transition and cultural property preservation, or acts of vandalism committed on collections to alert on climate urgency and their repercussions on preservation methods.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint
This section looks at experiments and concrete applications for a reasoned and controlled management of natural resources. Topics will include the revision of recommendations in preventive conservation, reflections on active or passive control of indoor climates, and research on bio-sourced materials for the packaging of collections or the insulation of spaces housing collections.
Building a New World
This part places humans at the centre of the collection preservation process and questions the heritage they will want to protect tomorrow, which may modify and broaden the field of preventive conservation. Articles may discuss awareness actions on preventive conservation for the general public, the development of digital tools and digital twins to archive material threatened with disappearance, or engage in a global reflection on the collection acquisition process that conditions their conservation (implying a necessary selection of heritage for a preservation mode in line with the available energy and infrastructural and human resources). Articles in this theme can challenge the current notion of preventive conservation to open new perspectives for the evolution of this discipline.
Guest editors
The 61st issue of Technè will be devoted to “Eco-conservation: preventive conservation in the face of climate change challenges”. It will be guest-edited by Estelle De Bruyn (KIK-IRPA), Ann Bourgès (C2RMF) and Jocelyn Périllat-Mercerot (C2RMF).
Technè
Technè is edited by the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France. It was founded in 1994 as a biannual interdisciplinary scientific publication focused on both the study and the preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage (excluding the field of architecture). It aims to disseminate new and original research in well-illustrated articles written either in French or English. Italian, German, and Spanish are also accepted.
Each issue has both a print and an online version. The online version becomes openly accessible after a 12-month embargo.
Submission guidelines
Please send the guest-editors your title, list of authors, keywords and abstract as soon as possible
and no later than January, 20th 2025.
You will be notified of the acceptance or rejection of your proposal before January 27th 2025.
The deadline for submission of your article (at the following address: c2rmf_techne@culture.gouv.fr.) is July 8th 2025. It will be submitted to a double-blind peer review process.
The authors of selected papers will then be kindly requested to provide a revised version of their article that includes, if any, the modifications suggested by the reviewers. The deadline for this final version will be communicated to the authors by the editorial team.
The expected length of papers is 10.000-25.000 characters (space, abstract, footnotes, and bibliography included). The articles may include up to 7 illustrations (color or black and white photographs, diagrams, graphs). They must comply with the Technè editorial rules described hereafter.
Selection
The papers will be selected according to the following criteria:
- the originality of the research: the author must inform the editorial board if the results presented in the paper were already published or will be published elsewhere. By submitting a paper, the author declares that they are rightfully authorized to publish its results,
- inter- or cross-disciplinarity: we welcome papers submitted by teams associating all the partners involved in the work (historians, curators, chemists, conservators, etc.),
- the innovative character of the methodology,
- the presentation of the research questions in relation to their broader context (historical, technical, etc.), and
- the quality of writing and illustrations.
Technè requires neither a publication fee, nor an exclusive cession of rights. Published authors retain the copyrighting rights of their illustrations. Technè is referenced by BibCNRS.
Subjects
Date(s)
- Monday, January 20, 2025
Keywords
- changement climatique, transition écologique, patrimoine culturel international, conservation préventive
Contact(s)
- Ann Bourges
courriel : ann [dot] bourges [at] culture [dot] gouv [dot] fr - Jocelyn Périllat-Mercerot
courriel : jocelyn [dot] perillat [at] culture [dot] gouv [dot] fr - Estelle De Bruyn
courriel : estelle [dot] debruyn [at] kikirpa [dot] be
Reference Urls
Information source
- Marie Lionnet-de Loitière
courriel : marie [dot] lionnet [at] culture [dot] gouv [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Eco-conservation: preventive conservation in the face of climate change challenges », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/12w18
