WITH the advent of technology comes new methods of preserving heritage.
UST hosted the Science and Technology for Art 2012 conference last Sept. 3-7 in partnership with Kyoto University and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to discuss new methods of preserving tangible, intangible, and natural heritage.
“Being the oldest university in the Philippines, we have materials to preserve. What is important now is [that] technology provides [us] with new ways of conservation,” Fr. Isidro Abaño, O.P., director of UST Museum of Arts and Sciences, told the Varsitarian.
Maria Serena Diokno, director of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, discussed how history is often undervalued with the advances in technology. “While Science and Technology advance, history becomes irrelevant, literally a thing from the past, and only relevant in the museum,” Diokno said.
She cited the disadvantages of digitization as well as dangers posed by the restoration process.
Meanwhile, Sarah Kenderdine, professor of the City University of Hong Kong, tackled “cultural data sculpting,” while Ana Maria Theresa Labrador of the National Museum of the Philippines discussed the situation of intangible heritage in the country.
About 100 students, professors, and professionals in cultural and heritage studies attended the five-day conference held at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex and Civil Law auditorium. It had the theme “Conserving and Recording Tangible, Intangible, and Natural Heritage.”
Organizers offered training courses on scientific recording and preservation of national and international cultural heritage assets.
Other speakers were Chiyoko Sato from Kyosei International Patent Office in Japan, Dr. Miguel Fuertes of the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines, and Eric Zerrudo from the UST Center for Conservation of Cultural Properties and Environment in the Tropics.
