NEON ART CONSERVATION was created in 2018 from the willingness of five conservator-restorers who ambitioned to develop their activity in the safeguarding of modern and contemporary art. NEON aims to fill the gap in the current panorama of conservation and restoration of unconventional materials such as plastics, rubbers and photographs, among others, but also offers solutions for traditional materials and supports such as paintings and paper. In colaboration with the Department of Conservation and Restoration from NOVA School of Science and Technology (DCR, FCT NOVA), NEON is committed to apply scientific research and knowledge of materials as a ground for the development of a rigorous and demanding work. NEON's mission is the preservation of cultural heritage through the provision of reliable technical services and the development of innovative solutions. It also aims to contribute to the material, technical and artistic knowledge about modern and contemporary art, valuing the profession of the conservator-restorer.

Founding partners

Silvia Sequeira | Susana França de Sá | Joana Silva | Élia Roldão | Sara Babo

TEAM

Sara babo

Founding partner and manager of NEON, she is a conservator-restorer specialised in paintings and modern materials. She has a PhD (2021) in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, specialising in Conservation Sciences, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. During her PhD she studied works of art in acrylic sheet (PMMA), namely by Lourdes Castro and Ângelo de Sousa. She also has a BA (2006) and MA (2009) in Conservation and Restoration from the same institution. In 2010 she received a fellowship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and FLAD to develop a 6-month project at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute. Since 2011 she has combined research, teaching and restoration practice in the areas of paintings and contemporary art conservation.

Catarina Gonçalves

Since 2022 Catarina is head of book and paper conservation at the NEON. She holds a bachelor (2008) and master degree (2010) in Conservation and Restoration from NOVA School of Science and Technology, specializing in book and paper conservation. Between 2011 and 2017 she worked in the conservation and restoration of books/paper and preventive conservation at Institute for Tropical Scientific Research and National Museum of Natural History and Science/Museums of the University. From 2018 to 2019 she worked as a freelance book and paper conservator and trainer in this area. Between 2019 and 2022 she was part of the project “Horizontes cistercienses. Estudar e caracterizar um scriptorium medieval e a sua produção. Alcobaça. Identidades locais e uniformidade litúrgica em diálogo”.

Raquel Marques

Head of the painting conservation area at NEON since 2022. She has a degree (2012), master (2014) and PhD (2023) in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from NOVA School of Science and Technology. Between 2015 and 2017, she was awarded a Paintings Conservation Research Grant from DCR/FCT-UNL during which she developed practical treatment experience, worked on research projects as well as acting as a teaching assistant for Dr. Leslie Carlyle’s Bachelor’s  and Master’s courses. For 6 months she was a paintings conservation intern at Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL) in Maastricht, Netherlands. In 2017, she was awarded a CORES Programme grant to carry out collaborative PhD level research in Conservation and Restoration, between FCT-UNL and LAMS (Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale) in Paris. Her doctoral project focused on the study of film-formation defects in European 19th century oil paints that lead to paint failure and a loss of image integrity.