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The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Enviromental Guidelines - video of IIC’s 3rd roundtable discussion is now available on ArtBabble. For those who weren’t able to attend the event, here is your chance to hear from the panelists.
I hope this post can be a place for more discussion about the 3rd IIC Roundtable ‘The plus/minus dilemma, the way forward in environmental guidelines’ part of the dialogues for the new century series.
The Roundtable will be available for your viewing on the ArtBabble webpage of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). Referenced throughout the roundtable was a recent meeting in Boston titled, “Rethinking the Museum Climate” that covered similar topics.
Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO, of Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana moderated the session and he began with comments about how as the director of a museum he stood for administration, but to really move forward in this discussion we need to move past stereotypes and work collaboratively with administrators, scientists, conservators, and building engineers to discuss the longevity of cultural heritage, currency, and energy. Throughout the discussion it was emphasized that the best collective advice should be presented to museum directors so they can make informed decisions about the best practices.
Nancy Bell, Head of Conservation Services, National Archives, London, and Principle Investigator of the Environments, Guidelines, Opportunities and Risks (EGOR) initiative, was the first speaker. She introduced recent research in the United Kingdom. The research began after a 2008 meeting of the Bizot group of museums. She discussed research that is being done and emphasized that conservators should make their argument clearly to museum directors to better begin a dialogue.
Karen Colby Stothart, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Installations, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa followed Nancy. Karen noted that she is an administrator of a museum and she would be speaking with an operational perspective, although she did train and practice as a conservator. She spoke about the importance of exhibitions and how they drive how a museum defines itself and the +/- dilemma. The National Gallery of Canada has a more flexible approach to environmental guidelines, incorporating seasonal changes into the temperature and RH ranges. To have this flexibility requires a high level of technical understanding of the conservation team, and understanding of the collections. This is labor and knowledge intensive but allows for the required flexibility in the National Gallery of Canada.
Cecily M. Grzywacz, Conservation scientist specializing in preservation environments and collaborator in the ASHRAE guidelines for museum environments, was the next speaker. Cecily was quick to point out that she was between positions so she could say what she really thought on the +/- dilemma. She began by saying that there is no internationally agreed standard for temperature and humidity parameters and we are currently dealing with the lack of a standard. This is an interdisciplinary communication process that need to inform and educate each other. She forgave conservators because she pointed out that registrars and loan agreements are where there are requirements for strict standards, and not usually conservators. She rightly pointed out that a loan to a museum should not be a ‘spa vacation’ for an object, and by requiring more strict parameters for a loaned object could actually be damaging. This reminds me of an article I read earlier by Jonathan Ashley-Smith.
Stefan Michalski, Senior Conservation Scientist, Conservation Research, the Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa. Stefan is a giant in the field of conservation science, one of those names you study at school and are then amazed that he walks the Earth and looks generally like other human beings. He is also a parent and he spoke about his interest in sustainability from the viewpoint of a parent which is something I have heard from other conservators, “If we are saving collections for our children, then we should also save the world our children will be living in.” Stefan went for the facts by stating that the collection environment can destroy materials like plastics and some inorganics but the correct levels, especially for RH have not yet been defined. He pointed to the National Trust and the British Museum as institutions using the RH guidelines of 40-60% and this is probably because these collections have been held at these parameters already. He noted that real savings are from adjusting temperature ranges, and changes in temperature are less damaging to collections than changes in humidity.
Terry Drayman Weisser, Director of Conservation and Technical Research, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland closed the roundtable discussion, with a conservator’s perspective about environmental guidelines. She is interested in re-evaluating environmental standards, and embrace green technology and sustainability. She believes that conservators need a way to make informed decisions, using research and realizing that every object may react differently to fluctuations depending on their treatment history. She believes the use of micro-climates and the creative use of exhibition spaces can help keep particularly susceptible collection pieces protected in storage and exhibit spaces.
I left the roundtable thinking that there is a great potential here for interdisciplinary study of the museum environment and how it affects collections, this could be done for individual collections or as research into materials science. Walking out of the ballroom to a song by Journey ‘Don’t stop believing’ I told myself I shouldn’t.
This is the first time the IIC Roundtable has been at the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic works (AIC) annual meeting. It is fitting seeing that both organizations are researching green solutions for conservation challenges.
This morning there was a lecture during the General Session by Patricia Silence from Colonial Williamsburg who is also the Chair of the AIC Green Task Force. She spoke about the research the task force has been performing about ways in which conservators can have more green practices: using less polluting solvents, producing less trash, and using less energy. She recommended looking at the “Solvent Solver” which is a software program that uses the Teas diagram to allow conservators to find other solvent mixtures they could use instead of the highly toxic solvents. I was recently introduced to a version of ‘less toxic toluene’ by a colleague of mine, which was a mixture of heptane, acetone, and ethanol that had the same solubility properties of toluene. Patricia Silence also touched on topics about lighting, environmental controls, using less waste for packaging and shipping, and recycling everything from paper to vitrines.
If you have additional tips for green conservation practice you can e-mail them to green[at]conservation-us.org
The meeting has become more green as well. The meeting bag is made of recyclable materials and the holders for the badges will be collected so they can be re-used and one lucky recycler will win a free registration for next year’s meeting. 
Welcome to the IIC’s discussion blog for the 3rd Roundtable ”The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Environmental Guidelines’ being held in conjunction with programs at the American Institute for Conservation’s (AIC) 38th Annual Meeting, Conservation Contiuum: examining the past, envisioning the future, in Milwaukee, WI.
My name is Amber Kerr-Allison and I am a Paintings Conservator and Kress Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lunder Conservation Center in Washington, DC. I am a first-time blogger and one of two on-site ‘reporter-bloggers’ who will be posting information and commentary on the IIC Roundtable discussion being held tomorrow evening. I will be joined by Rose Daly, a second-year conservation fellow at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, concentrating in objects conservation.
In preparation for the 3rd IIC Roundtable I thought it might be useful to provide links to the IIC’s new initiative, Dialogues for the New Century: roundtable discussions on the conservation of cultural heritage in a changing world,where readers can download fully transcribed PDFs of the two previous roundtables as references:
IIC 1st Roundtable – Climate Change and Museum Collections ”Which was held in London during the 2008 IIC London Congress and attracted a large audience of conservators and related professionals, including many delegates from the Congress. A panel of four expert speakers explored the effects that global climate change is having on cultural heritage, and discussed how we can adapt to meet the coming challenges.”
IIC 2nd Roundtable – Before the Unthinkable… Happens Again ”Held at the National Museum of Western Art, in Tokyo and a panel of eight expert speakers explored the issues surrounding the protection of cultural heritage from earthquake damage and how this can be addressed.”
This third roundtable discussion in the series has been organized by the IIC and is made possible with generous support by the Foundation for the American Institute for Conservation, the Getty Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Libary Services, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Rose and I look forward to extending our commentary of these proceeding so IIC blog readers can participate in this important discussion from points around the world. We hope you will join us over the next few days and through the following weeks! As with the other two roundtables, a transcription of these proceedings will be published by IIC after the event.
So stay tuned, become engaged in the discussion, and contribute your ideas and feedback to the forthcoming posts!
Paintings and objects at the Canadian War Museum have been filmed being cleaned by caretakers during a 3 month museum worker strike, the CBC has reported. Although the museum has stated that no artefacts have been damaged during the strike, footage on YouTube shows dust being removed from painting frames using fingers, and dusting cloths touching the surface of paintings. The actions were spotted by museum staff during a strike sit-in. Conservators are among the 420 workers currently on strike at the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
The 17th century warship Vasa, one of conservation’s biggest challenges, is playing a surprising part in determining how the world’s nuclear waste is to be stored. According to Terry Macalister in The Observer (15 November 2009), plans for nuclear waste disposal could be thrown into confusion because of new evidence of corrosion in materials traditionally used for burial procedures.
The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was keeping a careful watch on a meeting organised by the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste, looking at potential problems with copper, designated for an important role in sealing radioactive waste underground. It is reported that examination of copper artefacts from the Vasa (or Wasa), sunk in Stockolm harbour in 1628, its hull raised intact in 1961, shows a level of decay that challenges the scientific wisdom that copper corrodes only when exposed to oxygen.
David Lowry, a consultant on the nuclear industry, is quoted as saying that the latest evidence had profound implications and that ‘plans to adopt the Swedish system of nuclear waste disposal look as if they might have hit the rocks.” But according to Macalister the NDA said that no decision had been taken on what materials would be used for containment. “It’s not a showstopper. There are other options.’
The basic objective of the event is to create awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and conserve the priceless heritage and ancient monuments.
But, will such programmes really serve the purpose? Are the local authorities serious enough to protect and preserve the priceless heritage of this millennia-old city?”
read the rest of the article at:
The latest Getty conservation newsletteris out. Its table of contents is as follows:
A Note from the Director
Timothy P. Whalen
Modern and Contemporary Art: New Conservation Challenges, Conflicts, and Considerations
By Thomas J. S. Learner
Modern and Contemporary Art: A Personal Reflection
By Carol Mancusi-Ungaro
POPART: An International Research Project on the Conservation of Plastics
By Bertrand Lavédrine, Rachel Rivenc, and Michael Schilling
Cleaning Acrylic Emulsion Paintings
By Bronwn Ormsby and Alan Phenix
INCCA: A Model for Conserving Contemporary Art
By Glenn Wharton
Competing Commitments: A Discussion about Ethical Dilemmas in the Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art
A Discussion about Ethical Dilemmas in the Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art
Key Resources
A list of key resources related to conservation of modern and contemporary art
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Projects, events, and publications
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