Conservator, Digital and Time-Based Media Collection

About the Role and Organisation

The National Heritage Board (NHB) in Singapore is dedicated to preserving and promoting the nation’s cultural heritage, envisioning heritage as both a pride in the past and a legacy for the future. The Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC) serves as a specialized facility committed to safeguarding artefacts under NHB’s care, known as the National Collection, by providing conservation and management services.

The HCC is focused on strengthening its expertise concerning time-based media (TBM) collections, encompassing both analogue and digital formats, to enhance both present and future accessibility. This role involves leading the preservation and conservation endeavours for this specific subset of the National Collection.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the preservation of Singapore’s National Collection, engaging in diverse conservation tasks such as generating condition reports, offering expert recommendations on maintenance for proposed acquisitions, loans, and exhibitions, and implementing preventive care for digital and media artworks within the collection.
• Lead the formulation and refinement of conservation policies, procedural workflows, and best practices at HCC related to analogue and digital TBM collections, including supporting acquisitions, storage and display guidelines, and treatment techniques.
• Conduct specialized research into the materials and methods used by artists in the collection, collaborating with relevant stakeholders as necessary.
• Provide training and guidance to HCC staff on optimal methods for handling, displaying, storing, packing, and shipping digital and media artworks.
• Support the planning and execution of HCC’s digital storage infrastructure and the digital and media art conservation workstation, and participate in special conservation projects.
• Supervise conservation fellows or interns when required and contribute to the advancement of digital cultural heritage preservation expertise in Singapore and the Southeast Asian region through knowledge sharing and dissemination.

Candidate Profile

• Professional background in conservation, specialising in time-based media or digital art preservation, or possessing equivalent skills developed through relevant professional experience.
• Preferably a minimum of five years’ postgraduate experience working with digital and media artworks, ideally in an institutional or museum setting. Candidates with less experience may be considered for assistant conservator roles.
• Collaborative and communicative team member, comfortable with participative decision-making alongside diverse conservation teams and stakeholders.
• Competent in addressing preservation requirements for complex media works, including film, video, audio, software-based, electronic, web-based, and other digital art forms, with expertise in high-standard migration strategies that consider both practical and ethical challenges.
• Experience assisting with collection care duties such as acquisition assessment, loan facilitation, storage management, equipment cataloguing, installation instructions, and maintenance of digital and media artworks on display. Experience with complex contemporary installations is a plus.
• Proficient in utilizing diagnostic tools to evaluate conditions and document the construction details of digital artworks.
• Knowledge of and experience with Southeast Asian cultural materials is advantageous.
• Innovative thinker with enthusiasm, strong critical thinking, excellent problem-solving skills, and proficient verbal and written communication in English.

Contract Details

Successful applicants will initially receive a two-year contract appointment.