Conservation is something humans do. A million years ago, our early ancestors were repairing handaxes. Five thousand years ago, Egyptians buried their rulers in elaborate containers, in spaces that also held precious objects, inside gigantic and impenetrable pyramids designed to last for all time. Preservation (of self) is a concept at the heart of both modern political thought and modern biological thought. Nineteenth-century physicists began describing the workings of nature in terms of conservation of energy / force / momentum. It was at just this time that the conservation of art objects took on a specific shape with specific practices and, even, norms. In this series of conversations between artists, scientists, humanists and social scientists, we will explore the significance of conservation as a human practice with consequences for how we think about ourselves and our society, both past and future. Moderated by Peter N. Miller.

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