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Together with Silpakorn University in Bangkok, the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, under the aegis of Prof. Dr. Gabriela Krist, has launched the Master’s program “Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management”. An interview Gabriela Krist heads the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts […]

Together with Silpakorn University in Bangkok, the Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, under the aegis of Prof. Dr. Gabriela Krist, has launched the Master’s degree course “Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management”. An interview

Gabriela Krist has headed the Institute of Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 1999. The professor has been involved in the research and restoration of Patan Durbar Square in Nepal, which earned her a UNESCO Chair for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage in 2019. The Nepal project is just one of many of her international projects: Together with Silpakorn University in Bangkok, “die Angewandte” has developed the Joint Master’s degree program “Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management”. The course begins on March 1, 2022, and applications will be accepted until December 17, 2021. RESTAURO spoke to Gabriela Krist about the content of the new degree program

RESTAURO: Together with Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Angewandte has launched the Master’s degree course in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management, which starts in March 2022. What exactly is it about?

Gabriela Krist: We are targeting conservation and restoration graduates who want to expand their skills internationally. The “Bangkok Master” includes innovative, transcultural and interdisciplinary teaching formats, with a focus on cultural heritage and its preservation and conservation, but also on intercultural and international cooperation as well as project and site management. What is new is that the program is designed as a Joint Master’s: both universities accept students who meet in joint practical units – both in Bangkok and in Vienna.

Restauro: What can Angewandte students expect in Bangkok?

Silpakorn University has a large faculty for cultural asset management. Among other things, students will learn to develop site management plans that include monitoring and maintenance. We will certainly also carry out collection care projects in Thailand. There are a number of large private collections in Bangkok. Silpakorn University, for example, has its own art collection. That offers us opportunities: Above all, it’s about developing care and storage concepts and adapting them to the tropical climate. We are also looking forward to participating in Silpakorn’s art and cultural history lectures, especially as there are hardly any lecturers in Vienna who deal with Thai art history. Incidentally, the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management program at Silpakorn will probably not only have students from Thailand, but from all over Southeast Asia. I hope that Bangkok will establish itself as a – center is perhaps too high a figure – but at least as a contact point for applicants from the East Asian region.

Restauro: And what does the Angewandte offer students from Bangkok?

Our focus in Vienna is on practical conservation and restoration: after two decades of working in Asia, we have seen how underexposed the practice is there. There are great craftspeople, but no trained conservators. When the students from Silpakorn University are in Vienna next summer, they will be working in our workshops. My big concern is that there will soon be trained conservators in Asia. Of course, with a two-year Master’s degree, they are not as well equipped as our students in Austria or Germany, who complete a five-year consecutive degree in restoration. But I think that the two-year Master’s course is at least a start. Students at both universities can choose a European or Thai topic for their final thesis, depending on their preference.
topic of their choice. There are only a few case studies on Thai cultural heritage – the beautiful polychrome woodwork and wall paintings have not yet been studied technologically,
and we want to start that.

RESTAURO: How large will the groups be?

We are acting as a focal point mainly for Europe and are just starting to approach applicants. I hope it will become an international group. I would like to start slowly. In Vienna, we are therefore starting with a maximum of ten students. Bangkok has already accepted seven students and I think it will be manageable if the first group of students consists of 17 people. All Joint Master’s students are invited to accompany us on our international projects in Mongolia, India or Nepal during the semester break.

Restauro: Will there be other partner universities in addition to Silpakorn University, for example from an African or South American country?

I think it would be too ambitious to go international. Asia alone is so big and so far. I know – in all modesty – a little about India and Nepal and can find my way around there. The study provides a basis for looking at this cultural area from an art ethnological perspective. It seems advisable to me to start with a region and then feel my way forward. But of course other countries are free to join the restoration program, that is quite clear.

The course is aimed at conservation-restoration graduates (BA 7 semesters, MA, Mag.art., Dipl.-Rest.) who want to deepen their skills in international project work, project and site management and the conservation of cultural assets and world heritage, as Prof. Dr. Gabriela Krist explains in the video:

The program will begin on March 1, 2022, and applications will be accepted until December 17, 2021. Admission to the Joint Mast Program “Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management” is open to students with a Bachelor’s degree of at least seven semesters or a diploma or equivalent degree (MA, Dipl.-Rest) in Conservation-Restoration and is subject to the general admission requirements of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. As English is the language of instruction, knowledge of English (minimum level B2, CEFR) is required.

Further information on the degree program “Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management” can be found here. Contact: Univ.-Ass. Mag. Meral Hietz BA, meral.hietz@uni-ak.ac.at, 0043/1/71133-4832 or chcm@uni-ak.ac.at, 0043/1/71133-4811. The folder is available here.

Reading tip: The Institute for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is active far beyond Austria’s borders with training cooperations and restoration projects. In 2019, it was awarded a UNESCO Chair: Congratulations!