AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

The Research Libraries of the New York Public Library (NYPL) are advancing climate action in collections contexts through improved collaboration, application of materials science, and communicating with internal and external peers. 

The NYPL Research Libraries includes three historic research centers: the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (1911) at 42nd Street, the Library for the Performing Arts (1965) at Lincoln Center, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (1905, 1979) in Harlem. They are three very different buildings given their construction, mechanical HVAC systems, and building envelopes. As a library, NYPL has centered access to information in its mission for over 125 years. Access is strengthened by a coordinated infrastructure of preservation and operations activities including management of storeroom environments, maintenance of well-designed drainage systems, conscientious exhibition planning, careful transport, routinely performed housekeeping, and so forth. Preservation is the job of a great variety of people working in synchrony within and with NYPL. 

But, for decades, preservation and registration contexts have centered on stringent adherence to legacy setpoints interpreted from works by Garry Thomson. Most people in collections preservation work have had at least one confrontation about achieving an appropriate environment within storerooms and exhibitions, resulting in chagrin, remorse, and sometimes outrage. Increasingly, we see a new future as many of us realize that preservation and the planet are not served well by static set points, but through more active, ongoing, and collaborative exchange and experimentation. 

This presentation will review how that change has been occurring at NYPL. It begins with the establishment of the NYPL Collection Management program in 2016, its participation in the Getty Conservation Institute Managing Collection Environment’s program in 2017, reviving an improved environmental monitoring strategy and adopting wider seasonal environmental parameters in 2018, the hiring of NYPL’s first energy management team in 2021, and education of staff about new preservation environment goals. We will discuss managing issues with challenging exhibition spaces in our historic structures, including communications with staff and potential lenders about areas lacking mechanical HVAC. This talk will specifically highlight learning from our facilities and capital planning teams, working together, and strategizing how to make NYPL preservation strategies more sustainable.

Today, many organizations are striving to be more sustainable. The reasons can range from a desire to align with sustainable development goals defined by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, or to reduce an institution’s carbon footprint. Regardless of the reason, institutions around the world are implementing energy saving strategies to reach these goals. For some, the implementation of these strategies is a resounding success. For others, multiple unforeseen dead ends or problems impede implementation rollout or stop it altogether.

Implementation successes and challenges vary from organization to organization, as and vary internally within an institution. The problems can range from internal disputes to administration priorities. Some institutions do not know what steps to take when a project begins to go off track. Others may have set high expectations for the results of the implemented strategy and though the strategy is successful, they desired better results and consider the project a failure. n

Over the last 12 years we have worked with over 70 collecting institutions of all kinds to help them implement energy saving strategies. During that time, we have worked with a number of organizations that have successfully implemented energy saving strategies and some that, though they tried hard, were not able to successfully implement any energy saving strategies. Every institution faced hurdles of some kind during the course of their project, either internal or external. In some case the hurdles were easy to overcome and in other cases they significantly impacted the project.

This presentation will provide some examples of institutions across the spectrum of libraries, museums, and archives that we have worked with over the last 12 years. It will identify some of the major successes they experienced, as well as lend insight into less successful situations. The presentation will recognize the factors in each of these cases that led to success, including significant energy and/or carbon reduction. It will also examine the hurdles that institutions faced that caused the project to stall and, in some instances, stop all together. At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will have a better understanding of some of the major factors that can impact the implementation of sustainable strategies at an organization and best practices for navigating these challenges, or avoiding them altogether.

This presentation explores the challenges associated with loaning objects from institutions that stipulate stricter environmental controls than those typically maintained by the borrowing institution, particularly in the context of increasing sustainability efforts.  The Postal Museum (TPM) in London, is aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, part of this is by becoming more flexible in its approach in controlling conditions, however doing this has highlighted the difficulties of balancing the needs of the collections, the desire to borrow objects and the desire to become more sustainable.

TPM, being a medium sized museum, has the ability to make decisions readily within a small Collections team.  Currently it has been trialling the reduction of plant use to control environmental conditions and has altered its temperature and humidity parameters allowing more flexibility, but without compromising care of the objects it looks after.  We are aware that larger institutions may not have the ability to make changes quite so freely.  Sustainability and reducing energy consumption is not new within the conservation sector and it seems to be the general consensus that changes should be made, however, how much of this is actually becoming a reality?

We will discuss recent case studies in which both the borrowing and lending institutions' requirement specifications varied.  TPM aims to be as flexible as possible when lending items, looking at several measures to off-set both risks to the objects as well as helping to reduce costs and energy use.  This includes minimal use of couriers, especially when the borrowing institution have qualified collection care staff on hand, to the re-use of mounts and being practical about the conditions.  Obviously, each loan is different, and measures will be determined on a case by case basis.

We would like to generate a discussion about how museums can work together better to mitigate these issues by employing alternative conservation strategies, as well as ways to get everyone working to the same standards.  The audience will be encouraged to discuss similar situations they have encountered, any negotiations held and solutions reached.  In our experience, it has been the larger institutions that have been less flexible in their requirements.  Discussions will be raised regarding how the size of the institution affects the process; are larger institutions being hampered by the organisation structure and decision-making process? Do larger institutions want to change their criteria? Or is it that Conservators working in larger institutions are less flexible due to focusing on their own area?

Obviously, there are caveats and specific examples can be found where strict controls are absolutely necessary, but in today's world it is interesting to explore what more can be done to mitigate this.

This presentation aims to contribute to the broader conversations within the museum community about how the museum sector can evolve to meet the dual goals of conservation and sustainability, ensuring the loaning of objects continues to be a viable practice.

This presentation shares the story of two large-scale outdoor sculpture installations at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Georgia Welles Sculpture Garden—Josiah McElheny’s Moon Mirror (2019) and Roxy Paine’s Interim (2002) —and highlights how collaboration and lessons learned from one project informed the success of the other. Both installations involved unique conservation challenges and relied heavily on cross-disciplinary teamwork, demonstrating the impact of connections and shared problem-solving.

Moon Mirror, a mixed media work incorporating glass blocks within a stainless steel frame, was acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in 2022. Its installation, however, faced significant delays due to unforeseen revisions needed for the sculpture’s substructure. These changes required close collaboration between conservators, engineers, and the artist to adapt the design for outdoor conditions and ensure the long-term stability of the piece. The challenges presented by Moon Mirror offered valuable insights into how to manage mixed media artworks in outdoor environments, influencing future decision-making and preventive strategies.

Building on the lessons learned from Moon Mirror, the installation of Roxy Paine’s Interim benefited from a more streamlined approach. This sculpture, an early work in Paine’s Dendroid series which stands at over 35 feet tall, came with its own set of technical challenges, particularly related to its size, assembly, and structural requirements. Installed on a tight timeline as part of a major bequest, the project required collaboration with engineers, riggers, and welders. By applying strategies developed during the Moon Mirror installation, the team was able to address complex issues more efficiently, ensuring that Interim was installed on schedule and with a preservation strategy that also kept the artist’s vision in mind.

Both installations involved close collaboration with the artists, who played key roles in site selection and decision-making, further emphasizing the importance of building strong connections between conservators, allied professionals, and living artists. The lessons from Moon Mirror not only informed the technical execution of Interim but also reinforced the value of shared knowledge and adaptive problem-solving across projects.

This presentation explores the pivotal role that collaboration played in both installations, highlighting how the challenges faced and lessons learned from one project can directly inform the success of another. Attendees will gain insights into the power of interdisciplinary partnerships and the ways in which past experiences can drive innovation and more effective conservation outcomes in future projects.

Since the mid-1980s, American artist Robert Gober (b. 1954) has been at the forefront of revitalizing representational sculpture. Gober’s works explore themes of childhood, domesticity, sexuality, religion, and politics through familiar objects such as doors and sinks, questioning how they contribute to our psyche. His unusual lexicon of meticulously hand-crafted common household objects are marked with surrealist twists or mutations such as X-shaped cribs, doors turning in on themselves, and legs protruding from walls. This phantasmagorical theme is also found in his wax sculptures of human body parts merged with domestic items in bizarre variations.

Throughout his career, Gober combined these elements to create complex installations, as seen in the untitled work at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) —fondly called “the suitcase”. An imposing black, open suitcase with a grate inserted in its base that sits on the gallery floor. Peering into the suitcase reveals a subterranean world through a brick shaft in the floor. Below is the “Gober Room”, housing a large pool of water with a set of wax adult male legs and baby - an allusion to baptism. A motor and fan create gentle lapping of the water, which swirls around the legs, and causes the seaweed to sway. Like much of Gober's work, this installation explores the dynamic between the immediately apparent conscious world and the subconscious lurking beneath.

Since its 1999 acquisition the various sculptural and mechanical elements of Untitled have shown wear, and biological growth bloomed in the pool—drastically changing Gober’s intended experience of the artwork. Tackling this herculean endeavor and addressing the various, complex elements of this installation required many hands. For more than two years, the conservation team at MAM collaborated with other museum experts and allied professions to perform the most comprehensive treatment of this work to date in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of recapturing the artist’s original intent—to immerse viewers in an animated, watery scene.

This project started with conservator Christian Scheidemann, an expert in Gober installations, treating the pool and legs and fabricating new seaweed. The next step was to address the hot and humid environment in the “Gober room” to slow biological growth. A lighting technician replaced the hot lights with theater-style LEDs that mimic daylight, as specified by the artist’s studio. MAM’s Facilities crew added ventilation to increase airflow and control the temperature of the space. Regaining the subtle sound of the sculpture has been the more dramatic transformation of the treatment. The original motor drowned out the sound produced by the water’s soft lapping. A new, quieter motor was designed and constructed by a local engineer and the ambient noise was reduced. Working with a flooring expert, visually distracting flooring around the suitcase was also corrected.

The final step was to treat the suitcase and drain. This required consultation with the artist’s studio and the Schaulager Museum to determine the scope of treatment and acceptable level of change while maintaining the artist’s original intent and integrity of the artwork as it ages and technologies change.

The British artist Henry Moore is well known for his monumental outdoor sculptures, three of which are installed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles as part of the Stark Sculpture Collection. The fourteen-foot-tall sculpture, Bronze Form, was the artist’s final outdoor work before his death in 1986. A series of six editions, they were cast and finished at Morris Singer Foundry outside of London starting in 1985. Some of the editions were not completed until after his death, as was the case with the fourth edition of Bronze Form, finished and purchased by the collectors Fran and Ray Stark located in Los Angeles, California in 1987. The Getty acquired Bronze Form (1985, 4/6) as a gift from the Fran and Ray Stark Revocable Trust in 2004-2005, and it has since been prominently displayed surrounded by a reflecting pool adjacent to the Tram Arrival Plaza. 

The Museum’s conservators have spent over a decade maintaining Bronze Form and planning for its long-term preservation. In 2010, a major treatment was carried out to remove an aged, clear polyurethane coating that was applied before the Getty’s acquisition, replacing it with an acrylic lacquer. By 2020, the surface developed uneven corrosion that blemished the translucent, golden patina prompting a more extensive treatment. To remove the corrosion, the treatment involved repolishing the surface and repatinating, which prompted another round of research on Moore’s original intent and expectations for the work in an outdoor setting. Even though Moore’s artistic process is well documented, the intent of the artist’s polished finish for these later works is uncertain and a significant departure from his aesthetic norm. The beginning and end of the project was met with unexpected findings resulting in adaptations to the treatment process. Collaboration and consultation with bronze specialists from Bronze et al, Ltd. and the Henry Moore Foundation helped shape the approach. This paper will review the evidence that supported the conservators’ final plan of action to conserve Bronze Form, starting with a description of its original materials and casting method, including comparison with other editions within the series, pre-treatment testing, and will finish with an overview of the final treatment.

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison

"Failure is success in progress." Albert Einstein

Please join us for "A Failure Shared is Not a Failure: Learning from Our Mistakes", our 8th annual event. It will be held as the closing session of the AIC Annual Meeting at 5 pm CDT on Saturday, May 31st. This session will take place both in-person in Minneapolis and virtually. It's always challenging, hilarious, sad, fun, sobering, and reassuring all at once!

This year, the session will immediately follow the Business Meeting, right in the same room. And there will be a cash bar! In this judgement-free zone, what happens in the room, stays in the room! Come share your stories with your friends and colleagues. Though it will be live-streamed and recorded for our virtual attendees, it will NOT be included in Postprints, and will NOT be posted on YouTube. Join together as we close out the 53rd annual meeting!