Project Details
Projekt
Scanning Electron Microscope
Subject Area
Art History, Music, Theatre and Media Studies
Term
Funded in 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 537010971
For many years, material analyses have become an integral part of art scientific research as well as the conservation and restoration of art and cultural heritage. Questions about damage phenomena and causes are equally important as questions about the structure of the objects, their origin, originality or the chronology of their creation. For many decades, the Laboratory for Archaeometry and Conservation Sciences, located at the State Academy of Fine Arts, has made a significant international contribution to research in the field of art technology and conservation science. The laboratory is centrally located between the Academy's five conservation programs (in short: Paintings, Wall Painting, Archeological and Ethnological Objects, Art on Paper and Archival Materials, and New Media), which dictates the enormous scope of the research facility. In addition, there are countless research cooperations with museums and universities in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In south-western Germany, it is the only laboratory of this specialization and thus also a service provider for museum research. The central research instrument of the laboratory is a scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis, which was purchased in 2005 with funds from the state of Baden-Württemberg and the DFG. The instrument is characterized by an exceptionally large sample chamber, which makes it possible to non-destructively examine medium-sized artifacts in low vacuum. This instrument, which has been defective since January 2023 and can only be repaired at very considerable cost, is to be replaced within the framework of the present application by a modern instrument with a corresponding class of equipment, which would guarantee research operations for the next two decades. The new acquisition of a scanning electron microscope is not only a prerequisite for a continuation of the manifold tasks of the Laboratory of Archaeometry and Conservation Sciences in research and teaching, but also for the successful implementation of institutionally funded research projects. Among others, these are the investigation of the coloration of the earliest preserved painted wooden objects north of the Alps ("Die Fallward-Gräber im Spiegel ihrer organischen Objekte" DFG GZ: KR 3118/4-2), the investigation of the damage potential of conservation materials (Das Oddytorium - Test von Restaurierungsmaterialien, DBU Az. 35831/01), the research of anti-graffiti protection (Anti-Graffiti-Schutz von Metalloberflächen im Außenbereich, DBU Az. 38185/01). Furthermore, new research projects can only be applied for and implemented with a reliably functioning SEM.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
Rasterelektronenmikroskop
Instrumentation Group
5120 Rasterelektronenmikroskope (REM)
Applicant Institution
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart
