The Living Lab – IIC S&ECC 2025
What is The Living Lab?
The Living Lab is the central concept and title of the 2025 IIC Students & Emerging Conservator Conference — it reflects how we see the field of conservation today: not as something static, but as a dynamic, evolving space of learning, experimentation, and collaboration.
In this “lab,” conservation is understood as a living practice, constantly shaped by real-world challenges, new technologies, shifting social contexts, and the diverse experiences of professionals around the globe.
Rather than only focusing on objects, The Living Lab puts people and processes at the center. It invites participants to:
Experiment with new ideas
Share tools & strategies
Reflect on the ethics and impact of their work
Build a more inclusive and sustainable future for the profession
This concept turns the conference itself into a kind of experimental space — where emerging conservators can test boundaries, make connections, and reimagine what conservation can be.
Credits: [1] Photo by Anna Beatriz Cardoso, private archive; [2] Photographs by Isabel Bouzada, private archive; [3] Photographs by Mariana Onofri, from a personal repository