Brit art: Made to last?

Damien Hirst's shark in a tank has come to serve as the emblem of a generation of young artists, working in new ways, often with new materials. But the art world now faces the question of how to make this art last? The shark has already required restoration, one painter is facing claims that her pictures have cracked, but does it matter? Nigel Wrench, from BBC Radio 4's PM programme, reports.

The hi-tech bustle of the new wing of the Science Museum in London houses an impressive hi-tech sculpture.

A large glass cabinet with a bunch of sunflowers inside: fresh frozen in liquid silicone.

It is the work of the artist Mark Quinn, who says the vulnerability of the work is very important.

The fragility of the piece is part of its meaning

Artist Mark Quinn

"The dependence of the sculpture on infrastructure is part of the meaning of the piece, the fragility of the piece is part of its meaning, it's an analogy for the fragility of our lives really," says Mr Quinn.

"In concrete conservation terms it's very simple, if the power does go, we just put another bunch of flowers in, it's the idea that counts and not those specific flowers."

Science museum: Home to hi-tech sculpture

Nearby in London's East End, a warehouse called Momart stores hundreds of pieces of young British art, much of which belongs to the advertising guru, Charles Saatchi.

But keeping this kind of thing looking fresh is a real challenge, according to David Lee, the former editor of Art Review.

"Even conventional things like paintings are produced now with household gloss paint for example, which we know is fugitive in certain respects, it yellows and wrinkles with age," says Mr Lee.

A lot of contemporary artists, in the urge to create very quickly perhaps don't produce the work to the standards of workmanship and craft that they ought to

David Lee, former editor Art Review

"The fact is that a lot of contemporary artists unfortunately, in the urge to create very quickly perhaps don't produce the work to the standards of workmanship and craft that they ought to."

London's White Cube, the gallery that's nurtured many of these artists is hosting an opening on Wednesday for the glossy bright pictures of American Sarah Morris.

She uses household gloss on canvas, and says her work will last, after all, the technique, like the debate is nothing new.

"This issue has always come up," says Morris.

"It's come up for hundreds of years this issue of materials, will they last? Will society be able to maintain them? All of these issues, they're economic, they're symbolic and they have political agendas behind them and frankly, yes, I'm interested in conservation, but you know what? That's not my job."

Charles Saatchi: Huge collection of contemporary art

Artists the Chapman Brothers, whose work Help was bought by Saatchi for half a million pounds, are even anticipating the destruction of their work.

They claim conservation is inherently conservative; and have even hidden time capsules within their sculptures.

"Inside most of our 3D works there are little presents for future restorers to discover," says Dinos Chapman.

"Their job must be fairly dull, it must be quite nice opening a sculpture and finding a nice present inside it."

Back at the Dulwich Picture Gallery they know all about British artists and decay.

Chris Ofili: Exploring new mediums

The director Desmond Shore Taylor draws attention to a picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who used vegetable pigment for flesh tones, which later faded and went green.

Taylor is not about to acquire a piece by the Chapman Brothers.

But if he did he would have to look after it: time capsule or not.

"It's not in the ethics of the deal that you decide actually we don't like this object any more so we're going to let it rot," says Chapman.

"Nobody has yet addressed that problem and I'd be interested to see how it's solved."