AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The onset of Russia's war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, demonstrated the country's government unprepared to protect its cultural heritage from destruction. And yet, in the early days of the invasion, members of the non-governmental Society for the Protection of Historical Monuments in Lviv rose to this existential challenge. They organized the city populace and, at their own expense, procured protective materials and implemented strategies to safeguard vulnerable cultural heritage sites. This grass roots effort then became a role model for other communities, quickly spreading throughout the country. International organizations also became involved, providing risk assessment strategies, additional materials, and sophisticated instrumentation to document war damage and implement a preventive conservation program. My talk will shed light on this evolutionary process, the role of conservators in it, and outline pathways for the future.

The paper presents the collaborative research initiated by HCC to develop a digital tool to support the decision of Collection stewards to implement optimal and sustainable management of Collection environments in the tropical climate of Singapore. The methodology selected for the research project uses digital twining as a simulation tool to guide decision-making on environmental recommendations for buildings housing NC located in tropical climate.

Digital twin of major buildings containing NC in Singapore are developed using 2 modelling building blocks: one, specific to each specific building, permits to estimate the energy consumption depending on the environmental settings, room occupancy and outdoor climate; the second model uses the scientific data obtained when testing Collection materials in a weather chamber for accelerated aging. Chemical, structural and biological deterioration will be monitored depending on environmental conditions and duration of exposure. Results will be used to estimate the damage induced on NC by changes in environmental control based on the material vulnerability and the significance importance of the collection item. The developed model will enable to determine the most sustainable storage / display environmental conditions considering (i) the resulting life span of heritage / art objects; and (ii) the corresponding reduction of carbon footprint and financial savings.

For the first time in Singapore, this 2-year project brings together various teams of key Singaporean public sector institutions alongside one of its major corporatized museums. The cross departmental HCC team - constituted by conservators, conservation scientists, collection managers and facility managers - will closely collaborate with two allied institutions from the GLAM sectors - the National Archives and the National Gallery of Singapore-, and partners with 3 research divisions from A*Star, one of the most renown High Education Institute in Singapore, by leveraging on their expertise and experience in collection care, conservation science, computing expertise and technological innovation.

The digital simulation model, based on solid scientific database on aging behavior of artistic materials under tropical climate, is envisioned to be widely applicable: should the proof of concept successful, it would benefit all Singaporean heritage institutions as well as any heritage institutions located in tropical climate aiming to preserve and transmit its collection to future generations while increasing its operational sustainability.