So the quote
"Sound conservation practice
demands that we remove all risks"
may apply here
only in more ways than meet the eye
...?py
That quote really hit home during an
interesting discussion with a professional conservator
involving "Fear of Peers", the elimination of all risk being the heart of
the fear. It involved a question about a material
treatment choice on a material the conservator was not specifically
specifically trained in although being a highly respected member of the
conservator profession in areas extremely extremely closely related.
The issue revolved around a decision about which treatment of two was the
preferred, or if both could be used appropriately depending on the various skill
levels of the people to be trained to help carry out the task. The
differing end results were so subtle that, to my eye, only highly highly trained
professionals would be able to catch the difference, and both treatments were
said to be acceptable in terms of professional material conservation
practice. The problem that emerged was deciding if anyone else
might think one was better, or if it mattered at all.
The risk for the individual was that some
other more specifically qualified conservator might criticize the
decision and therefore the individual's professional competency and
reputation. So, the decision was to be left entirely to someone
else, so that the conservator would not be at risk of being
"wrong". Whoever was to make the decision would carry
the possibility of "blame". The personal ethics of perfectionism have
become entwined with peer judgment.
The fear of peer criticism was as powerful as if an
ethical structural engineer was asked to do a building design layout,
or an architect asked to design a beam. There are professional
agreements and laws that define those particular limits of work
and responsibility, but in a trade such as conservation, there is
only peer pressure and peer fear as opposed to the legal liabilities and
professional turf agreements between engineering or
architecture.
"Failure is the modern taboo." said Richard
Sennett in his book "Corrosion of Character", and he had it
right!
Trustingly,
c in elsewhere,
(please keep this to this List, and Do Not
Cross-Post for fear of offending the unknown)-----(or can one truly fear the unknown, and is that just a
convenient mental camouflage for what is truly known)
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