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The incessant expansion of artistic practices and typologies in the contemporary context makes us reflect and redefine the criteria of the praxis and theory of art conservation.

Faced with these new realities, it becomes essential to rethink and generate alternatives that include concepts related to the social contextualisation of art itself, the close relationship between conservation and the aspects linked to its exhibition, and the need for multidisciplinary collaboration between the different fields involved, from creation, curatorship, conservation and history.

This issue of AusArt invites us to reflect on the theoretical level, and also from a practical point of view on the current state of the art conservation and interpretation of contemporary art through the results of original research in different areas of knowledge related to contemporary artistic practices and different aspects and/or conditioning factors related to their conservation.

Based on the fact that the knowledge of contemporary works of art itself, in any of its material and conceptual aspects, constitutes a valuable contribution to their future conservation, both the monographic section and the "Open AusArt" section address the breadth of the contemporary art field,including texts that approach research from different approaches far removed from the traditional conception of art conservation and restoration.

The monographic section of the publication begins by presenting the initiative "Contigo no Bitxo" by the authors Haizea Salazar, Katrin Alberdi and José Luis Larrañaga, who propose the hybridisation of two important aspects in the conservation of Contemporary Art: the importance of new strategies for the transmission of contemporary artistic practices and expressions through dissemination workshops, and the necessary and essential contribution of the artists themselves for their correct interpretation. This first article introduces us at the same time to the thematic framework in which the monograph is contextualised, showing the adaptation and evolution of the intervention criteria aimed at contemporary works since the mid-20th century, when it became clear that it was impossible to systematically apply the treatments until then established and agreed upon for traditional works.

In turn, the text by Imanol Sánchez complements the review of the context, giving a good example of the contemporary artistic reality, which currently includes works that go beyond the material and objectual. The conservation of contemporary artistic production of an experiential, immaterial and action-related nature certainly poses an interesting paradox, as well as a challenge for its conservation, since these immaterial and intangible practices must necessarily be approached from new approaches and proposing new alternatives for their visibility and dissemination.

The authors Carmen Moral and Laura Luque also deal with typologies that range from the material to the ephemeral, such as mural interventions, with a view to developing alternative methodologies for the documentation and preservation of these works in their spaces of creation.

In line with ephemeral artistic practices and interventions carried out or taking place in public spaces, Jon Mantzisidor's proposal reviews the necessary rethinking of both the methodology and the criteria faced by the desire to preserve artistic and cultural proposals linked to everyday life and their possible evolution and redefinition over time.

The problems derived from the new, more tangible and experimental realities in the case of contemporary practices of a traditional nature are also made visible in María Sancho's text, which studies the behaviour of contemporary materials and oils and their impact on the pictorial work of the 20th and 21st centuries. The problems arising from the incorporation of new materials of synthetic origin and unknown formulation, which is currently emerging as one of the major fields of study in the conservation of contemporary painting, are reviewed.

The two texts written by Neus Canceller and by the authors Miguel Ángel Lozano and Gloria Lapeña respectively, are examples of the compatibility between the different factors involved in the development of curatorial proposals and initiatives to promote and enhance the value of our most recent cultural heritage. The correct design of this type of proposals has a direct influence on their scope and their effective transmission to the public, thus constituting an agent for their interpretation and the adequate conservation of their message and the intentionality of his creators.

Finally, the proposal by Manuel Drago Díaz shows a case of the use of new technologies for the dissemination of heritage, focusing on the strategies of digitisation and 3D scanning in contemporary sculpture, constructed as a non-interventionist alternative and a method of recording and dissemination for this type of artwork.

Closing the section of texts related to conservation, the article by Arturo Cancio and Jabier Martínez also reviews LED technology. It starts from the widely studied casuistry in the field of lighting, aimed at the preservation of materials in exhibition areas, to later focus on its application and use in artistic creation itself.

The final miscellaneous section of this issue ("Open AusArt") gives an insight into the multidisciplinarity and diversity of the contemporary artistic field, thus highlighting the multiple factors and fields of knowledge that must be taken into account when researching the conservation of such a typologically and casuistically extensive field. This includes studies that review both traditional disciplines and practices of an immaterial, ephemeral and performative nature.

María Belén León analyses various conceptual and philosophical aspects, as well as formal ones, in the sculptural work of Jorge Oteiza, while José Luis Panea Fernández starts from his own artistic practice, taking the work of Nacho Martín Encinas as a reference to develop a proposal based on writing. The miscellaneous block also includes a contribution from the study of performative disciplines that form part of the contemporary creative sphere, such as ballet, in the text proposed by María Cabrera.

In the same way that this volume of the journal began by exposing the importance of dialogue between the professionals involved in the conservation of art as an essential means both for knowledge of the work itself and for its own conservation, the issue closes with a reflection by Juan Alberto Vich that proposes an approach to artistic practice from the study of primary sources, also through the interview, presenting this as an essential tool, both for delving into the different aspects that make up each artistic creation and also for its conservation.

Alazne Porcel & Enara Artetxe

Monographic issue coordinators