We are now entering a new stage in this pandemic; following more than 30 months of uncertainty and abrupt changes to adapt to this new everyday reality, developing projects and research became essential to maintain interest in, and the presence of, cultural herit age. The projects and research carried out during this period have resulted in talented work focused on drafting articles based on new knowledge that will doubtless contribute to new perspectives and proposals for the conservation-restoration of said heritage in different latitudes

Indeed, the methodological analysis proposed by the various texts included in this number bear witness to the variety of alternatives to solve problems encountered in this field, from the social to the material, with an overarching conceptual and theoretical median that studies the principles of the discipline on which Intervención focuses.

The articles that comprise this issue clearly and decisively open new spaces for discussion on researching cultural heritage. The sections in this number are review, essay, research and academic report, each of which is broached individually below.

The review “Mexico Tlatelolco, a Space of Resistances, Two Views of its Past and Present” covers two exhibitions on this site. Both developed in the framework of the commemoration of 500 years since the site fell during the Spanish conquest: Xaltilolli. Espacio de Artes, Memorias y Resistencias (Xaltilolli. Space of Arts, Memories and Resistances) in the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (CCUT, Tlatelolco University Cultural Center) and the Bienal Tlatelolca at Central de Maquetas. In addition to explaining the contents and objectives of each, this section reflects on the term original peoples, analyzing the artistic production linked to this site which is so particular and significant in our national history.

The essay “Analysis of the Methodology for Conservation of Plastic Applied in Contemporary Works of Art” shows us the complexity of conserving a product as ordinary as plastic bags. Based on the work of the mexican artist Emilia Sandoval, specifically in her series Botánica: nuevas especies (Botany: New Species), it shows both the development of the use of this material in modern life as well as the way in which, albeit not its primary objective, it becomes the constitutive material of contemporary works of art, with the challenges this entails for our discipline.

Within the research we find “Typological Analysis as an Architectural Historiographic Tool. Corpus Christi: an Atypical Temple for Indigenous Chieftesses Wives of Christ in Mexico”, which develops the way in which the urban and architectural interlinked in convents for nuns in New Spain. It uses as a case study the Convent of Corpus Christi, located on the busy Juárez Avenue in Mexico City’s historical center, and analytically evaluates the architectural project’s prefiguration and configuration, in contrast to the methodology followed by art history, which concentrates on the phase following its execution.

In “Assessing the Value of Postizos as a Naturalist Resource of Viceregal Imagery”, it becomes evident that there is a need for correct use of terminology to refer to added elements in viceregal polychrome sculpture which forms part of its anatomy, differentiating those that are related to its functioning and iconography. Des pite this, they are still called postizos, as though they were false or foreign to the work, a contradiction which this text highlights, along with the need to revise the way in which certain materials that form part of a work are identified and named.

Meanwhile, “Initial Assessment of the Properties of Nopal Gum as a Possible Additive in the Conservation of Adobe Buildings” covers new research on a material that has been in use for centuries and is basic in architectural conservation. This research is a valuable contribution for buildings made of earth, it took as a reference various samples that replicated the manufacturing techniques used to make adobe, which were subjected to analysis of humidity retention, capillarity and resistance to compression, varying the quantity of nopal cactus gum to obtain results and analyze them.

In the section on academic report we find the text “The Issue of Unknown Landscapes in the Online Cataloging of the North American National Art Museums”, which analyzes perspectives that contrast themes such as risk management, and budgetary or cata loging issues involved in cultural heritage. In the one herein, the author carries out an in-depth analysis of the problem of unknown landscapes in on-line cataloging of the national art museums in North America. It proposes to examine the visual Gestalt based on the Kuhn model, which came about in the early 20th century and is related to articulating a new paradigm in art. The article evaluates how visualization crosses the curatorship and cataloging of collections, thus questioning the differences between the collections. In this study the researcher finds a theoretical solution to the phenomenon of the invisibility of images.

Meanwhile, “Preventive Conservation Program of the Heritage of the Biblioteca Ricardo B. Anaya in San Luis Potosí. The Case of its Photographic Collection” covers the actions on that collection due to the need to solve a problem in its preventive conservation. Based on its methodological proposal, the article suggests, on the one hand, the use of working instruments such as open source software and, on the other-in view of the fact that budgetary constraints led to seeking alternatives to solving a specific problem-a strategic collaboration between private institutions, universities and research centers responsible for managing documents and archives.

In “Participatory Risk Mapping for Cultural Heritage. The Case of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico”, we discover how information related to the earthquakes in 2017 was condensed into a graphic representation centered on identifying and analyzing vulnerability factors. The authors systematically used evaluation methods and tools, and now reveal the results of the project’s first phase, which was carried out in the historical center of the city of Tehuantepec, which consisted of elaborating the mapping itself, identification of the most relevant sites and of greater cultural interest, along with identification of threats to the heritage and possible solutions. It also suggests new phases and future lines of work.

We invite you to read, share and debate these interesting articles with our authors and the Intervención community.