Performance: The Ethics and the Politics of Conservation and Care (Vol.1 and 2), edited by Hanna B. Hölling, Jules Pelta Feldman and Emilie Magnin

Nicole Savoy’s review presents Performance: The Ethics and the Politics of Conservation and Care (Vols. 1–2) as a landmark contribution to the emerging field of performance conservation. Edited by Hanna B. Hölling, Jules Pelta Feldman, and Emilie Magnin, the volumes stem from the Swiss-funded research project Performance: Conservation, Materiality, Knowledge and address the longstanding lack of theoretical and practical frameworks for conserving performance. Structured into three thematic sections per volume, the books explore care ethics, institutional politics, and embodied practice, while expanding methodological approaches to longevity, stewardship, and documentation. Savoy highlights recurring concepts such as post-anthropocentrism, non-linearity, and relational objecthood, which challenge traditional, object-centred conservation models. Through case studies ranging from Ukeles’s Maintenance Art to the Kongo Astronauts, the review shows how performance itself can function as cultural critique and conservation practice. Rather than offering prescriptive guidelines, the volumes advocate an expanded ethics of care grounded in collaboration, community, and situated knowledge.