BRIAN CASTRIOTA
archaeological & time-based media art conservator
ABOUT
Dr Brian Castriota is a Glasgow-based researcher, educator, and conservator specialised in time-based media, contemporary art, and archaeological materials.
He is Lecturer in Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media at University College London (2023–), Time-Based Media Conservator at the National Galleries Scotland (2018–), and Freelance Conservator for Time-Based Media and Contemporary Art at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2018–). He has previously held Lecturer positions at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Fine Arts - NYU. He served as Supervising Conservator with Harvard Art Museums’ Archaeological Exploration of Sardis from 2018 to 2023 and has worked on various excavations in Turkey, Italy, and Egypt since 2011.
Brian has published numerous articles and chapters on conservation theory and practice. These have examined how ideas from post-structuralism, queer theory, and agential realism rework sedimented practices of conservation, particularly in relation to contemporary art, its musealisation, and its documentation for conservation purposes. His current research-practice considers how agential realism and other new materialist, post-humanist, post-qualitative theories and methodologies transform how we understand conservation as both a field of inquiry and a practice of care, as well as the diverse forms that it might take.
Brian completed graduate-level training in conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University (2014) and he received a PhD in History of Art from the University of Glasgow (2019) as part of the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłowdoska-Curie ITN New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art (NACCA).
He is currently an Assistant Coordinator of ICOM-CC’s Theory, History, and Ethics of Conservation Working Group, he serves on the Committee of ICON’s Contemporary Art Group, and he served as Programme Chair/Asst. Programme Chair of AIC’s Electronic Media Group from 2020 to 2022.
He is Lecturer in Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media at University College London (2023–), Time-Based Media Conservator at the National Galleries Scotland (2018–), and Freelance Conservator for Time-Based Media and Contemporary Art at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2018–). He has previously held Lecturer positions at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Fine Arts - NYU. He served as Supervising Conservator with Harvard Art Museums’ Archaeological Exploration of Sardis from 2018 to 2023 and has worked on various excavations in Turkey, Italy, and Egypt since 2011.
Brian has published numerous articles and chapters on conservation theory and practice. These have examined how ideas from post-structuralism, queer theory, and agential realism rework sedimented practices of conservation, particularly in relation to contemporary art, its musealisation, and its documentation for conservation purposes. His current research-practice considers how agential realism and other new materialist, post-humanist, post-qualitative theories and methodologies transform how we understand conservation as both a field of inquiry and a practice of care, as well as the diverse forms that it might take.
Brian completed graduate-level training in conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University (2014) and he received a PhD in History of Art from the University of Glasgow (2019) as part of the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłowdoska-Curie ITN New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art (NACCA).
He is currently an Assistant Coordinator of ICOM-CC’s Theory, History, and Ethics of Conservation Working Group, he serves on the Committee of ICON’s Contemporary Art Group, and he served as Programme Chair/Asst. Programme Chair of AIC’s Electronic Media Group from 2020 to 2022.
