Next courses start on September 28th, 2020
Especially for working people these conditions are excellent, as the learning modules enable individual learning in terms of learning speed, learning time and learning location. Because the courses are divided into individual units, the learning contents can be individually developed according to personal requirements and interests.
The Hornemann Institute of the HAWK has been doing all this for over 20 years, encouraged by the increasing demand for this form of further education independent of time and place. In the coming winter semester, the institute will offer four new online courses for conservators and preservation specialists. The next, current series of courses starts on September 28th and lasts until November 22nd, 2020.
The digital learning formats have been very elaborately designed: Suitable authors have to be recruited and advised, the texts have to be redacted, good pictures have to be found, videos and audio texts have to be edited, varied learning controls have to be developed and finally all materials have to be entered into the learning platform moodle. And these would only be the most important elements, depending on the course topic and the didactic ideas, there is a lot more to come.
The new courses
After decades of teaching and research work in Germany and abroad, HAWK professor Dr. Ursula Schädler-Saub is now developing course trilology on the theory and ethics of conservation and its significance for practice.
The first part of the trilogy (with a contribution by Sophie Haake-Harig) is currently being published in English: "Historical roots in the Renaissance and Baroque periods". Basic considerations and practical examples illustrate how experts and citizens of the time were committed to the appreciation and preservation of cultural monuments that were often under threat. Historical restorations, which still shape the appearance and substance of most art and cultural assets today, are therefore an important part of our cultural history. How we can preserve this multifaceted history, despite some technical problems, is a current challenge that we should take up.
The second part – up to now only in German - called "Grundlagen der Restaurierung und Denkmalpflege von Karl Friedrich Schinkel bis Cesare Brandi" (Fundamentals of conservation and monument preservation from K. F. Schinkel to C. Brandi) covers the period from the early 19th century to the 1960s. Numerous examples illustrate how far theory and practice could sometimes drift apart to the detriment of cultural monuments, and how it is possible to combine theoretical principles and practical action in a profitable way.
Building on the teaching and research activities of Prof. Dr. Gerdi Maierbacher-Legl, who was head of the Department of Conservation/Restoration of "Furniture and Wooden Objects" at the HAWK until 2019, her two graduates with teaching experience, Susanne Karius (M.A.) and Christine Fiedler (M.A.), developed the basic course "Konsolidieren von Holz. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen struktureller Festigung " (Consolidating Wood. Possibilities and limits of structural consolidation). This is one of the most demanding conservation measures for the preservation of wooden objects: Its particular challenge is to reconcile ethical, aesthetic and conservation aspects.
The course "Kirchenräume und ihr Klima. Heizen, Lüften, Ausstattung schützen“ (Church spaces and their climate. Heating, Ventilation, Facilities Protection) by Jennifer Oster M.A., a graduate of the HAWK with this research focus, offers a good overview of the preventive conservation of wooden furnishings in churches. The current climate development and declining financial possibilities make practical recommendations urgently necessary. The richly illustrated course explains the basics of the problem, especially the properties of wood, humidity and temperature as well as heating and ventilation. In addition to specific recommendations for action on proper heating, ventilation, humidification and dehumidification and the right way to look at matters, it presents the framework conditions and criteria for qualified climate measurements.
The Hornemann Institute of the HAWK
The primary objective of the Hornemann Institute of the HAWK, founded in 1998, is to promote the worldwide transfer of knowledge in the field of cultural heritage conservation and the further training of conservators and monument preservation specialists.
In the internet-based learning courses basic knowledge and new research results are imparted. The offers of the institute are mostly developed with the professional support or authorship of the scientists in the Hildesheim conservation courses. The courses are in demand worldwide and many courses are gradually being translated into English.
The courses offered are mainly attended by academic conservators and students. However, external course participants also come from other professions, such as craftsmen and women (e.g. painters, stonemasons, barrel painters, church painters, gilders), art historians, (micro-) biologists, medical doctors and medical historians, taxidermists, architects, civil engineers and library and archive staff. The German Professional Association of Conservators (VDR) recognises the courses as continuing education.
All information on the current course offerings, certification and the possibility of educational awards can be found at: www.hornemann-institut.de/english/continuing_training.php www.hornemann-institut.de/german/fortbildung.php
