Book of Proceedings

LACONA IX : Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks

Foreword

The ninth conference on Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks (LACONA IX) was hosted jointly by the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research at the British Museum and the Centre for Sustainable Heritage at University College London from Wednesday 7th to Saturday 10th September 2011.

Although the dual themes of innovative research and its application to practical conservation have been common to previous LACONA meetings ( following the traditions established since the first LACONA meeting held in 1995 in Heraklion, Greece), the organizers hoped that the London con-ference would focus not only on the scientific research behind the use of laser technology, but also on the application of lasers in the treatment and analysis of cultural heritage in a way that is directly applicable to conservation practice.

The conference programme reflected major advances in the field since the LACONA VIII conference, held in Sibiu, Romania in 2009, focusing on three major themes: the uses to which laser technologies are put in conservation treatments for cultural heritage; laser-based methods for imaging, 3D documentation and modelling; and laser-based techniques for analysis, diagnostics and monitoring. Particular emphasis was placed on those techniques that have now reached a certain level of maturity and acceptance in the conservation community and which are, therefore, increasingly used in day-to-day conservation practice.

At the London conference 36 papers were presented in thematic sessions. While not all of those papers are reproduced in these refereed proceedings, the order in which papers are published here reflects the structure of the conference sessions in order to ensure that papers on a similar theme appear together. To provide a more permanent record of the lively poster sessions, many of the 63 posters presented at the conference feature in these proceedings as refereed extended abstracts, listed in alphabetical order. A third element of the conference – equally important, but not represented in these proceedings – was the programme of associated workshops.

We are very grateful to colleagues in the British Museum (BM), University College London (UCL) and Natural History Museum for organizing and hosting these workshops.

The LACONA IX conference could not have been staged and the proceedings published without the backing of the BM and UCL. Both institutions provided conference venues, resources and time (the organizing committee and editorial team were drawn from staff at the BM and UCL) and we are grateful for this support. In addition, the local organizing committee was guided and advised by members of the perm-anent scientific committee, who have also undertaken much of the peer reviewing of papers and posters published in these proceedings.

David Saunders (BM) and Matija Strlit (UCL) LACONA IX co-chairs

Local organizing committee

Henoc Agbota, Caroline Barry, Sarah Bartholomew, Karen Birkholzer, Sherry Doyal, Joanne Dyer, Ann Fenech, Philip Fletcher, Catherine Higgitt, Duncan Hook, Capucine Korenberg, Naomi Luxford, Andrew Meek, Eva Menart, Faye Miles, David Saunders, Tony Simpson, Matija Strlit and Ken Uprichard

Permanent scientific committee

Margaret Abraham, John F. Asmus, Giorgio Bonsanti, Marta Castillejo, Martin Cooper, Vincent Detalle, Klaus Dickmann, Abdelrazek Elnaggar, Costas Fotakis, Wolfgang Kautek, Austin Nevin, Johann Nimmrichter, Paraskevi Pauli, Roxana Radvan, Renzo Salimbeni, David Saunders, Manfred Schreiner, Salvatore Sian°, Matija Strlk, Veronique Verges-Belmin and Kenneth Watkins

London, September 2011