Dear readers,

We are pleased to announce the release of issue 31 of our publication - Intervención, International Journal of Conservation, Restoration, and Museology. This edition features seven articles that explore heritage studies with a strong emphasis on their territories of origin.

It includes articles on curatorial and museographic spaces, as well as on monumental sculptures located in public settings, which gives them a special identity. It also analyzes territories with specific characteristics, such as the climatic conditions of the Amazon region, which pose major challenges when it comes to safeguarding cultural heritage and collections. In addition, the issue addresses spaces associated with death, where specific practices and activities give rise to unique architecture for those contexts.

This issue also includes studies on institutional spaces which, through their archives, reflect the trajectories they have built over time. It also covers distant geographical latitudes; and here we return to the Amazon, though this time not from the perspective of conserving collections, but rather from an artistic and museographic approach that invites us to rethink the relationship between humans and nature. In short, this is an issue in which territories stand out with great personality, highlighting the diversity of ways in which heritage is approached and practiced, and prompting reflection on our professions and practices.

So, taking a look at its contents, the current issue presents five sections organized and titled as follows: essay, research articles, academic report, exhibition review, and showcase. The essay section begins with “Curatorship of the Architectural Space: The Historical Building as an Aesthetic/Affective Experience” This collaboration is based on the idea that historical buildings are catalysts for aesthetic experiences, due to their capacity to embody multiple meanings and narratives. Based on this, the author shares some activities carried out in 2022 at the Viceregal Museum in Zinacantepec (State of Mexico, Mexico), which sought to explore the emotional relationship between audiences and space. Elderly people were invited to share their emotions and memories linked to the site, and this information was later used as a starting point for a curatorial script focused on the experience of time and space.

The issue continues with the research article section, which this time features three texts. The first, titled “Development of technological styles to produce monumental equestrian sculptures,” studies large-scale equestrian sculptures, which provide both art and symbolism, while also serving as generators of interesting narratives. Within this framework, the article reconstructs the operational process behind these sculptures, to provide information to help understand their technological aspects. The aim is to avoid mistaken assumptions that could affect subsequent evaluations, interpretations, and interventions for the sake of their conservation.

The second is “Uncovering the Secrets of the Amazon Climate in Collection Conservation: A Case Study of the Arts Collection of Casa das Onze Janelas, Brazil.” This research investigates the impact of climatic factors on the conservation of contemporary art collections, particularly those housed at Casa das Onze Janelas in the state of Belém do Pará, Brazil. It shares experiences on the challenges of preserving this type of heritage in the context of the Amazonian climate and encourages reflection on the importance of understanding the specific characteristics of each territory to develop conservation strategies that are more suited to our contexts. It also encourages us to think about the agency of spa ces. These projects their character and create specific conditions and dynamics that influence the management and conservation of cultural heritage.

The third text in the articles section is entitled: “Architecture and Ashes. Cremation, its Spaces, and Cultural Heritage. The Case of the Crematorium at Pantheon of Dolores, Mexico City.” Here, a dialogic study is made between two sites: the Perè-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and the aforementioned Dolores Civil Pantheon. It addresses the history of cremation architecture in civil cemeteries; focusing specifically on the types of constructions built to facilitate cremation and the changes they have undergone over time. What makes this piece particularly compelling is its focus on heritage spaces that are not among the most emblematic sites, thereby diversifying and enriching our understanding of human activities, material culture and especially - their territories.

Next, we move on to the academic report section, where we find the text: “Creation and Consolidation of the Archive at the National Museum of Interventions, Mexico City,” which describes the process of building an institutional archive. This can serve as a case study for other institutional archives facing similar circumstances. It is a significant contribution insofar as it highlights the importance of documentary collections in heritage conservation, primarily focusing on institutions with that mission, such as the National Institute of Anthropology and History. (INAH).

Additionally, this experience provides valuable tools for developing pathways to advance the consolidation of document management processes in Mexico. This is of vital importance in the effort to ensure access to documentation, which is also a means of consolidating and democratizing knowledge about other types of heritage

This is followed by the exhibition review: “Exhibition Becoming Earth (2024, MUAC-UNAM): An Analysis about the Knowledge of the Territory and its Relationship with Nature,” composed of five video installations by Ursula Biemann, which were presented at the University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City in 2024. These works addressed the theme of extractivism and the resulting destruction it leaves across various regions of the planet. Through their curatorial and museographic representation, the artist and the museum reveal other ways of thinking about life and of understanding territories. It highlighted how indigenous communities in the Amazon understand and connect with nature, which acts as a mirror that invites us to reflect upon and reconsider our own ways of relating to our surroundings.

Finally, there is the showcase section. Here we present the text “Stories Images tELL Us: Reflections on the Activities Performed at the Seminar-Workshop on Photograph Conservation.” The author introduces us to the activities carried out in this seminar-workshop, in which students restored images from the school’s photographic archive, rescued from a time capsule that was buried in the gardens of its current headquarters in 2003. The intervention of the photograph by Manuel del Castillo Negrete, founder of the institution, prompted an interesting reflection on the emotional meanings that images, and especially spaces, can evoke in people.

To summarize this journey, we present issue 31, which begins by proposing analytical reflections on the concept of the museum space, and then introduces us to specific case studies (addressing both public and architectural heritage, as well as collections and archives), where territories play a predominant role. It continues with a reflection on the ways we relate to the places we inhabit and concludes with the emotional ties we form with places and their history.

We hope that as you browse these pages, you will notice that the texts are gender-inclusive and predominantly use the plural form, in an effort to highlight the diversity of perspectives. They also aim to go beyond the descriptive and technical, delving instead into methodological, theoretical, and reflective approaches that encourage us to imagine new perspectives on our work.

Finally, I would like to thank the team at Intervención magazine, who make it possible for each issue to be published, including the one you are holding in your hands. From the Editorial Coordination, our Committee (CERI), the external reviewers who kindly evaluate texts, the copy editor, those responsible for translations, and last but not least-present from the beginning of each issue-the team responsible for layout and design. I would also like to thank the Directorate of ENCRyM and the National Coordination of Dissemination at INAH, whose Subdirectorate of Periodical Publications, makes the existence and high quality of this project possible.

We hope you enjoy reading, and we’ll see you in the next issue!