About

23rd - 25th July 2026

    The MUDE – Museu de Design, Lisbon, announces an International Symposiumon Museology and Conservation dedicated to discussing contemporary challenges and emerging perspectives in museography and conservation within the museum context.

    Under the theme “Between Exhibition Gallery and Storage. Redesigning museum conservation practices”, the Museum invites conservators, museologists, curators, designers, and other researchers to reflect on how conservation practices are (re)shaped, negotiated, and transformed through the institutional, conceptual and spatial dynamics of the museum.

    In what ways can conservation be rethought as part of museological and curatorial discourse and vice versa?

    The symposium aims to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue around the material and immaterial dimensions of conservation, exploring its intersections with curatorial strategies, design processes and museum mediation, also considering the challenges facing museums in terms of environmental sustainability.

    We welcome academic papers, practical case studies, and research projects addressing the following themes:

    • Interrelationships between conservation and curation
    • From preventive care, display materiality, risk, and adaptation
    • Collaborative practices between conservators, curators and designers
    • Conservation narratives and the visibility of their process on display
    • Methodological innovation in the conservation of modern and postmodern materials within contemporary collections
    • The ethics and aesthetics of conservation in museum storytelling and curatorial discourse

    The symposium will include a special panel — InBloom — to present the main outcomes of an interdisciplinary project and fosters a moment of discussion and exchange around blooming — a degradation phenomenon visible as whitish surface deposits that affect both the appearance and display potential of objects — bringing together perspectives from conservation, museum practice, and related professional fields. For a limited number of participants, a workshop will also be offered to those wishing to deepen their understanding of blooming in a museum context.

    More information at InBloom

    InBloom (2025–2026) is an interdisciplinary research project dedicated to the conservation of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)- coated fabrics in fashion and design collections. Widely used since the 1960s, these materials now face a critical challenge: blooming — a degradation phenomenon visible as whitish surface deposits that affect both the appearance and display potential of objects.

Tickets

    • Participants with a presentation

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €50.00

    • Participants with a presentation (Students or young people up to 25 years old)

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €40.00

    • Participants with presentation and paper

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €40.00

    • Participants with presentation and paper (Students or young people up to 25 years old)

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €20.00

    • Attendance / General audience

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €50.00

    • Attendance / General audience (Students or young people up to 25 years old)

      • The registration fee includes participation for the three days, coffee breaks, a certificate, and a visit to the Museum.

      €20.00

Schedule

Open CALL

January 2026 –  

Participants are invited to submit abstracts (max. 300 words) and short bios (max. 150 words) to ismc@ismc.pt or via the website platform available in the in Call for Papers page.

Languages: English and Portuguese

Submission deadline: 10th March 2026 (new submission deadline)

Notification of acceptance: by 28th March 2026

Final paper delivery (for those who choose this option): 25th July 2026

Please consult the submission guidelines on the Call for Papers page.