Emma Shaw conserving Wallpaper samples at the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture

This boo was recorded at The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, and features the voices of Felicity Ford (sound artist) and Emma Shaw (preventative conservation officer) discussing some conservation work involving the flattening of 2 different types of wallpaper for an upcoming exhibition, entitled Sonic Wallpaper.

Some sections of wallpaper in the MoDA collection are still in rolls and need to be flattened. These include a design which features stone arches in a kind of faux architecture pattern, and a flocked paper.

In the boo you hear Emma Shaw discussing how glass, blotting paper and time are used to flatten the flocked paper, and how a dahlia spray will be used to flatten the other sample.

The sounds in the recording I have published here are of myself and Emma discussing the conservation work; of the hum of the air-conditioning in the conservation room; and of the materials involved in preserving the wallpaper. I like the recording for its quiet sense of industry, and for the way it evidences materials and tools and the preservation of the past.