AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

This symposium will be live-streamed, so both attendees may register: $159 in-person or $79 virtual  

The full schedule and abstracts are attached.

Art in Transit (ed. Mecklenburg, 1991) is a classic conservation publication, but it was focused solely on paintings, and it has aged. The results of the recent international survey, Vibratory Impacts of Music and Transport (2022), indicate a noticeable variation in knowledge of vibration and shock issues and the practices for mitigating them across institutions. With increasing international focus on combating climate change, institutions also need to understand the carbon footprint of traveling collections, and how to address sustainability.

We intend this session to be a starting point for updating practice at this important intersection of museum specialisms, and to expand the discussion to collection items beyond paintings. We invite papers on loan agreements, risk assessment for travel, estimating and reducing the environmental footprint of travel, designing and predicting the performance of crates, assessments of existing packing methods, descriptions of failure modes, new approaches to monitoring and couriering, and on-site recovery from shipping damage.

Planned Schedule
8:45-9am: Opening Remarks
9-9:40am: Vibration Risks to Art in Transit: What is vibration? How does transit-induced vibration impact the deterioration of moveable heritage materials? How can vibration be measured and characterized? How can the risks of vibration-induced deterioration be addressed? / Transport Container Design to Address Damage from Vibration, Collision and Falls, 40 min including Q&A
Dale Kronkright, Robert White, Vikrant Palan
9:40-10:10am: On the Road Again: Crate Design by the J. Paul Getty Museum and Summary Findings of Their Environmental Performance, 30 min including Q&A
Vincent Laudato Beltran, Andrew Gavenda, Rita Gomez, Christina O'Connell, Gina Eichmueller
10:10-10:40am: UK Museums & Heritage Sustainable Packing Group: Exploring sustainable strategies for ‘soft wrapping’ paintings, 30 min including Q&A
Kim Kraczon, Rebecca Hellen, Alice Tate-Harte, Rebecca Ellison, Alex Gent
10:40-11:10am: Coffee & Demo
11:10-11:40am: Performance Testing of Typical and Alternate Packing Materials, 30 min including Q&A
Julia Latané, Laura Maccarelli, Mike Held, Zach Trow
11:40am-12:30pm: Panel on “Crate Performance and Sustainability”
12:30-1:30pm: Lunch & Demo
1:30-2pm: Assessing risk in transit: applying standardization and data analytics, 30 min including Q&A
Cayetana Castillo
2-2:30pm: Framework for Sustainable Courier Practices: Developing a Bookend Courier Workshop and Network, 30 min including Q&A
Samantha Springer, Lauren Fly
2:30-3pm: Interrogating the Preservation Performance and Sustainability of Sealed Frame Packages for Transit: Assessing the Thermal Insulation and Moisture Buffering Capabilities of Different SFP Designs and Materials Through Exposure to Simulated Environments, 30 min including Q&A
Marvin Cummings, Jae Gutierrez, Meredith Noyes, Emma Richardson
3-3:40pm: Coffee & Demo, 40 min
3:40-4:10pm: Level Up! More Economic, Social, and Environmentally Sustainable Transports, 30 min including Q&A
Lisa Swedberg, Cecilia Isaksson, Elisabeth Geijer
4:10-4:55pm: Panel on “Transit Logistics”
4:55-5pm: Closing Remarks