ICOM-CC 20th Triennial Conference: Museums as Influencers: The Agency of Conservation and Conservators by Kate Seymour Chair

2023-09-22 09:07:38 UTC

Culture participation and social inclusion should be way more introduced in our profession.

Integrate green thinking in our conservation education program

2023-09-22 09:07:58 UTC

Something beautiful

mail5921 — 2023-09-22 09:08:16 UTC

Cultural participation social inculsion

2023-09-22 09:08:31 UTC

Help me and others sustain ourselves. Centre well-being and social justice.

Protect cultural heritage

2023-09-22 09:08:48 UTC

- use sustainableinable

Use sustainable materials

2023-09-22 09:09:05 UTC

Reduce waste

2023-09-22 09:09:11 UTC

energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions

2023-09-22 09:09:30 UTC

Protect and safeguard cultural heritage, waste management, transport, governance and management, learning and education,

2023-09-22 09:09:47 UTC

Involve and engage and create agency in local communities

2023-09-22 09:09:53 UTC

advance SDGs

2023-09-22 09:09:55 UTC

put these topics into the Wiki projects as Wikipedia is the most read website that is not commercial.

Transport

2023-09-22 09:10:10 UTC

Choose more green transport in everyday life, i.e. walk/bike to work, use public transportation etc.

2023-09-22 09:10:18 UTC

Using conservation as a tool for social inclusion

2023-09-22 09:10:32 UTC

Security disaster preparadness risk mitigation and governance and management.

2023-09-22 09:10:44 UTC

Community awareness

Graduate Education

2023-09-22 09:10:53 UTC

Include sustainability in graduate course syllabus

Protect heritage and people, waste transport

2023-09-22 09:11:05 UTC

2023-09-22 09:11:11 UTC

Be a multiplicator.

Gloves and disposables

2023-09-22 09:11:12 UTC

Perhaps thinking of ways to extend sustainability goals to daily activities. Recycling gloves for example or even cleaning and reusing plastic pipette!

Recycling Grant Idea

2023-09-22 09:11:15 UTC

Recycling gloves is a great option, however it is expensive, if you have things like Terracycle. It would be a great initiative to provide funding to smaller laboratories to allow them to use these sorts of services.

2023-09-22 09:11:21 UTC

I want to Teach not only conservator in Indonesia about conservation but also children and young generation for preservation cultural heritage

2023-09-22 09:11:23 UTC

Thank you for great Conférence!

abucalovic — 2023-09-22 09:11:26 UTC

2023-09-22 09:11:41 UTC

Joint events

2023-09-22 09:11:44 UTC

Use heritage as a way to improve people’s economic situation.
How can conservation be part of that?

Educate the future conservators with a sustainable mindset

2023-09-22 09:11:54 UTC

Reducing transports of objects or offsetting carbon emissions from transports.

2023-09-22 09:12:21 UTC

Making disposables less disposable

2023-09-22 09:12:34 UTC

Inspired by Molly McGaths poster on sustainability, I think we should think more about how we can reuse disposable pipettes and gloves and other items in our studios

2023-09-22 09:12:37 UTC

Action: Support research

Waste management

2023-09-22 09:12:38 UTC

waste management and reduction

2023-09-22 09:12:48 UTC

Strengthen international ties education through conservation teaching networks (share knowledge, get to know each other more, promote world wide diverse and inclusive student collaborations)

2023-09-22 09:12:49 UTC

2023-09-22 09:12:54 UTC

Engage local communities to care for heritage

Include sustainebility in teaching conservation.

2023-09-22 09:13:11 UTC

2023-09-22 09:13:20 UTC

Waste management and reduction

2023-09-22 09:13:25 UTC

Working to support the Museum's Green Academy helping the green transition of museums in Denmark and work internationally on KiCultures programme "Getting Climate Control under Control"

Replace one-time use gloves with multiple-time use gloves where possible

2023-09-22 09:13:28 UTC

2023-09-22 09:13:44 UTC

Increase cross-institutional fundraising for translation efforts

It's a mindset of every instant

2023-09-22 09:13:46 UTC

Make Icom-cc triennial hybrid, to make it more sustainable

2023-09-22 09:13:53 UTC

2023-09-22 09:13:58 UTC

Learning AMD educational opportunities: educate myself and pass my knowledge and experiences to my collegues

teresambragatevesreis — 2023-09-22 09:13:59 UTC

Developping projects on risk management and risk reduction of cultural heritage

Recycling exhibition interior

2023-09-22 09:15:10 UTC

2023-09-22 09:15:12 UTC

Making more sustainable decisions while travelling to conferences and considering online participation if this is possible.

Steer student research projects towards sustainability

2023-09-22 09:15:13 UTC

2023-09-22 09:15:30 UTC

Travelling to work each day by bycicle.

Combined Conferences

2023-09-22 09:15:49 UTC

Hosting joint conferences with other heritage and conservation organizations to advance joint goals, encourage coordination of projects, and reduce travel from several conferences to selective conferences.

Increasing financial accessibility in graduate programs

2023-09-22 09:15:58 UTC

Earmarking funds to help fund education for people from unrepresented groups in conservation would greatly enrich the field

Joint events

2023-09-22 09:16:15 UTC

There are so many conservation organizations, ICOM, ICON, IIC, AIC etc... All have individual meetings, which would mean if you want to attend them all, there is a lot of traveling and costs involved. This is inaccessible, especially to those on a smaller budget. Can we organize joint meetings that are more inclusive?

Support research

2023-09-22 09:16:17 UTC

Some students are coming from countries where conservation education is not yet available as such we travel far for the education, such as in Europe. We have ideas for research such as for thesis with case study/ topic from our home country, wondering if ICOM-CC travel grant can be extended for students doing their on-site research too?

Education

2023-09-22 09:16:25 UTC

Be a force of change by starting to calculate the carbon footprint of our activities as museum professionals routinely . Create a cO2 emission calculator that is widely available for the community.

Energy consumption / greenhouse gas emissions

2023-09-22 09:16:41 UTC

Can be diminished by considering many ways: travel, heating, HVAC, raw material, building. That applies also to museum activities and conservation.

2023-09-22 09:16:43 UTC

Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage.
I especially feel that we need to focus more attention on natural heritage, i.e. natural history collections, historic landscapes/parks etc. It feels like they are being almost completely overlooked by the Conservation Profession, speaking to international colleagues and considering the absence or strong sideline-presence of the topic during conferences such as this beautiful one, which is a great pity.

The impact of heritage is negible, as a society we have to focus on the clothing, oil, meat and car industries. Demand the perpetrators instead of investing time to "offset".

2023-09-22 09:16:51 UTC

CO 2 neutral museum storage.

2023-09-22 09:16:56 UTC

More strong hybrid events

2023-09-22 09:16:58 UTC

Could empower us to make more sustainable choices and include those with financial barriers to the field

Reduce internet use

2023-09-22 09:17:25 UTC

It's important to consider also the impact of energy use due to data storage

2023-09-22 09:17:27 UTC

Increase cross-institutional fundraising efforts for translations

Prolong exhibitions.

2023-09-22 09:17:27 UTC

2023-09-22 09:17:47 UTC

To strive for green choices in my practice and to always base my decisions on the latest research, but also to keep educating not only students, but also commissioners and the public regarding the sustainability that comes with preserving our cultural heritage.

2023-09-22 09:18:21 UTC

Replace plastic bubblewrap and other disposible packing/transport materials by reusable material

Digital courriering

2023-09-22 09:18:31 UTC

Accept Bizot guidelines to reduce energy consumption

2023-09-22 09:19:12 UTC

More inclusivity and accessibilty for training, accreditation and certification in condervation studies by institutions

2023-09-22 09:19:16 UTC

Being sustainable in choosing what we use

2023-09-22 09:19:54 UTC

Collection storage systems crafted using renewable energy and eco-friendly steel not only promote sustainability but also have significant environmental benefits. Each meter of storage shelf produced with green energy and green steel conserves 16 liters of water and reduces CO2 emissions equivalent to a 10-kilometer car journey when compared to conventional steel shelf manufacturing.

Being mindful of these sustainable alternatives can lead to substantial positive impacts!

Sustainability and community

2023-09-22 09:19:55 UTC

Comment
Heritage distanced from the community could become sterile and elitist. Museums, though great stewards of heritage, also create power structures that make heritage intimidating for a large tranche of common people.
Question
Do we need to do more about reducing these barriers?
And how might that look like?
Rashmi

Reduce registration fees for conference participation and membership for greater inclusion and representation

2023-09-22 09:20:38 UTC

Better and more knowledge sharing - both experiences, case stories and new research

2023-09-22 09:20:46 UTC

2023-09-22 09:21:21 UTC

Travel by train instead of aeroplane.
Re-use tools from other fields, re-use materials such as gloves to minimise the waste.
Conscious choice of materials used during treatments such as chemicals.
Work with local suppliers.
Conscious use of digital resources, such as digitalisation, as they do consume more energy than we think.

Dubai represents everything we are fighting against. It's a shame

2023-09-22 09:21:36 UTC

International attendees

2023-09-22 09:22:23 UTC

I would like to ask the stage to address the petition that was signed by 166 conservators from Latin America, and the statement therein

https://www.change.org/p/manifesto-boycott-of-latin-americans-regarding-exclusion-actions-at-icom-cc-val%C3%A8ncia-2023

2023-09-22 09:22:24 UTC

Offer courses on risk management for the local community

2023-09-22 09:22:41 UTC

Museums are for the future so we need to show good sustainable examples for our visitors creating hope for the future.

Selection of objects

2023-09-22 09:22:44 UTC

Conservators should consider selecting items for treatment from a social-justice/anti-racist perspective. Stop preserving materials made by white men, and expand the knowledge about and care of materials by women, non-western makers, and minorities communities

2023-09-22 09:22:54 UTC

It would be wonderful if there is at the same time a parallel complete Zoom possibility, so many more people can follow in 3 and 4 counties. It’s all too white and Western with its ethics and knowledge.

Stop giving all these paper brochures in advance from the Trade Faire, we will not keep all. To much waste.

If a conference will be in Chili 🇨🇱 it would be good to prepare the 3 years before, special projects in that country and talk and share it during the conference. The + and - points = experience.

An option to increase equality and decrease carbon footprint

2023-09-22 09:25:06 UTC

A new way of organising WW Conferences could be to have hybrid events with satellite events - a central venue with side events in different parts of the world.

2023-09-22 09:25:47 UTC

Make conferences more sustainable by for example using reusable cups, plant-based foods, no plastic bottles keycords etc

Why no book and paper consrvation workgroups??

2023-09-22 09:26:17 UTC

I would like to suggest fewer disposable cups and plates. Why did we not all ‘adopt’ a water beaker to use all day/week?

2023-09-22 09:26:24 UTC

Greener solvents - Crowd Sourcing

2023-09-22 09:26:27 UTC

There is a limitation to doing research while on a treatment time-table. Creating a resource where users of solvents can share their experiences with others would reduce the research load and increase the speed of change.

Hybrid - conference

heikkih9 — 2023-09-22 09:26:54 UTC

ICOM -CC Metals 2022 in Helsinki was a hybrid conference and it went really well. If you like to know more we are happy to share our experiences

Data access and sustainability

2023-09-22 09:27:15 UTC

Establish as an ethical principle that all research be presented as Open Access

Sana Durrani-Necessity of Art conservation workshops and Trainings programs for countries considered in group 3

2023-09-22 09:28:12 UTC

I think museums are not only an important agency in safeguarding our valuable heritage for future generations but its also very effective platform for educating communities to contribute effectively and reflect back for useful actions which leads to its sustainability. In that regard we need to focus more on taking museums to open for such collaborative initiatives like conservation workshops and other ongoing training programs for museum professionals of countries from category 3 mainly which could help effectively for community engagement and also for focusing on sdg goals 11 i.e sustainable cities and communities as well as 17. partnerships for goals.

7.

2023-09-22 09:28:31 UTC

Transport- consolidated fine art/artefact shipping between museums- maybe museums or galleries can coordinate exhibition dates. - for smaller country/cities.

Perhaps this can reduce resources for the involved Without compromising conservation as well.
For example, a shipment may arrive 1.5 months earlier in museum A whilst museum B may receive their shipment 1 month prior to their needed receiving

2023-09-22 09:28:43 UTC

Develop tools for risk management in order to move away from cero risk approaches and improve accesibility and engagement of stakeholders/local communities

Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage

2023-09-22 09:29:32 UTC

Expand the guidelines so that it includes optimal care in other climates f.x. Tropic, arctic. Maybe even differentiate between standarts of care and exellence of care

Citing UN :

2023-09-22 09:30:21 UTC

In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Making ICOM-CC conferences more sustainable when it comes to the food (vegetarian/vegan)

2023-09-22 09:31:37 UTC

Sustainability and Student Access

2023-09-22 09:33:01 UTC

Sustainability must involve everyone- I am curious as to why student member ICOM tickets were limited, as this severely limits access to younger and emerging conservators. In a conference concerned sharing information and accessibility, this seems counter productive.

2023-09-22 09:33:35 UTC

Why so many plastic bottles and cups everywhere?

Diversity and access to education

2023-09-22 09:33:43 UTC

The fundamental barrier to diversity in our field is the expense of education and training - even relatively privileged students have to struggle to pay for a degree and then struggle to support themselves through often unpaid internships. At the very least more grants should be provided by bodies such as ICOM to support more students from less privileged backgrounds.

Integración y responsabilidad ecológica

crdanielaherrera — 2023-09-22 09:33:46 UTC

Integración de idiomas, integración de culturas y de otros países, especialmente de latino América. muy baja participación de otros países, se ve una discriminación generada, espero sin la intención. La sustentabilidad es posible con la integración. Otro punto, en la primera sección me pareció terrible los desechos que producimos, o la comida que hemos dejado. Para abordar se podría durante los años previos a congresos integrar y generar lazos con países de Latinoamérica, y sobre los desechos, actualmente existen múltiples formas, botellas reutilizables, por ejemplo.

2023-09-22 09:33:51 UTC

I also think we forget at times that what we do is sustainability in itself. We keep and preserve and make sure stories and cultures live on. I think we have an important role to educate society on this. That caring for objects, traditions and cultures is the foundation for sustainability.

2023-09-22 09:34:22 UTC

For museum loan of objects, we can reduce travel of conservators by trusting our receiving institution to undertake condition check with the conservator from the lending institution participating by zoom. We did this successfully for our last exhibition

2023-09-22 09:34:38 UTC

I could attend the conference because I speak English but some colleagues they speak French because their age education.
They are very upset being and living in Valencia they could not attend the Valencià ICOM 23

Biodegradable lanyards

2023-09-22 09:36:24 UTC

and other eco-friendly conference items would underline our aim to be mindful of sustainability, together with less promotional material

Would Hybrid Kill F2F?

2023-09-22 09:36:40 UTC

Being together is so important and worth the sacrifices of doing without other opportunities to attend triennial meetings. Yet, all the sacrifices still may not add up to the ability to attend for some, so a digital live access to the conference can increase our access to one another's research an option. However, many of us may lose our funding for live travel if digital is an option, many institutions would only pay for digital, damaging our chances to meet together at all.

2023-09-22 09:39:17 UTC

Sustainable tourism: tourism is not sustainable. I do not like that things are done for tourism. Tourism is a western thing which disrupts societies. You can even see it in our cities.
Conservation should be done for the country/regions it self.

LCA tools

glennisr — 2023-09-22 09:39:28 UTC

Do more full lifecycle assessments (LCAs) (or provide tools to aid individuals/institutions to do them) so that practitioners can make well-informed decisions based on the actual environmental impacts.

Exhibitions

2023-09-22 09:40:20 UTC

I think museums and institutions could taken into consideration of the duration of an exhibition, and balancing that with the safety of objects on display. Short term exhibitions (like 3 months) not only require a large amount of effort and resources to prepare and install, but also limiting the chances for audience who can not fit that in their schedule to attend.
This also echos with couriering the loans to and back from the institution, and obtaining new acquisitions.

chair39 — 2023-09-22 09:40:53 UTC

2023-09-22 09:41:36 UTC

The issue of travelling loans is not the conservator travelling alongside the loan. It’s the frequency of the loans and carbon footprints of enormous crates.

Courriers

2023-09-22 09:42:15 UTC

On peut limiter le nombre de convoyeurs par divers moyens et uniquement convoyer des objets rares en terme de montage (ex tapisserie difficile à accrocher) Faire un formulaire de critères?

Sustainability and cloud use

2023-09-22 09:42:23 UTC

Energy use and carbon footprint of the cloud for storage and access to digital data needs to be considered.

Rashmi

Resilience?

2023-09-22 09:42:35 UTC

We ought to improve our knowledge of the actual resilience of our museum objects, rather than mostly relying on estimates from previously published frameworks when suggesting acceptable climatic limits

In relation to the question about resources/green decision guidelines, this project may be interesting: www.gogreenconservation.eu

2023-09-22 09:43:50 UTC

Inclusiveness

2023-09-22 09:44:32 UTC

Translate the triennial papers to multiple languages and make them very easily accessible, for either people that could not attend or conservators/restorers in any country that are not well-informed about the existence of the ICOM-CC conference

Transport & packing materials

2023-09-22 09:46:19 UTC

I’m interested in more sustainable packing materials. What would be a good alternative for bubble plastic? Which tape would be the best to use?
We already try to use as less as possible and to reuse and recycle used packing materials.

2023-09-22 09:46:56 UTC

When we focus on the courier, we are talking about one single passenger. Should we not focus more on the impact of travel of the objects themselves? Flying out large metal sculptures, architectural elements like murals, vintage cars, and other large heavy objects seem a lot more impactful on the use of fossil fuels than the accompanying staff.

Climate Change: Disaster Prevention vs Disaster Remediation/Management

lavelleciaran1 — 2023-09-22 09:47:34 UTC

We heard some great talks about the rest work many institutions and countries have done to manage the recovery of our shared cultural heritage collections. Despite this we see many storage projects continuing to build stores in areas most at risk of flooding and rising sea levels. Surely we now the information regarding for the cost (in money and resources) for the remediation of Collections after flooding, etc vs the cost of building new sustainable stores in more suitable locations. How can we as a combined voice use this information as an profession use this to advocate for relocation as a preventive measure to better safeguard the collections.

Centralize lifecycle calculations and carbon footprint data for museums and conservation activities so that the real data mining can happen . Could ICCROM or one of the international bodies help centralize this data ? For example, a great resource is Stitch, not sure how many people know this:

2023-09-22 09:47:47 UTC

Languages

2023-09-22 09:48:32 UTC

Artificial intelligence is developing rapidly and it won't be long before simple good digital translations and subtitles are possible in the blink of an eye.

From the point of discussions and presentation of Modern materials and contemporary art/modern and contemporary heritage, maybe we should educate contemporary artists (on storage challenges, materials, etc.)?

abucalovic — 2023-09-22 09:48:41 UTC

Packing

2023-09-22 09:48:41 UTC

Objects are often packed in bubblewrap or similar, because for small museums crates or turtles are too expensive, and they don't have storage space to keep them during the exhibition. To take the crates back would require an additional truckride. It would be good to have a reusable alternative, that requires little space, and is affordable. Ideas are welcome!

External partnerships and collaboration mainly for countries considered in category 3.

sanadurranistudio — 2023-09-22 09:49:48 UTC

Courier and travelling exhibit. This should be considered as a whole. The curators and exhibit research teams are often travelling to the other countries beforehand. The artefact(s) is travelling anyway. Cutting the courier is likely the smallest cut and smallest help to the environmental impact possible and likely undermines our conservation profession within the entire issue.

sjfashions — 2023-09-22 09:50:08 UTC

Regarding travelling exhibition

2023-09-22 09:52:37 UTC

why pointing out only courier trips when crates are necessary to transport the objects. Crates must be constructed, if museum don't have storage space (that have footprint, too), crates are destroyed afterwards. And in between, they travel as well. So, all of this has probably a bigger footprint than the courier trip.

2023-09-22 09:53:21 UTC

Is it possible to have volunteers from the attendants to provide live interpretations for Q&A sessions? For example, provide a discount on the registration fee if such volunteer service is made as an incentive. Many of our presentations are scripted, and the interpreters could work with the presenters prior to the presentations, which promote networking in our field also.

Divest from fossil fuels

5dg9zks2y5 — 2023-09-22 09:53:48 UTC

Ensure that our endowments and other investments are completely divested from fossil fuel companies.

2023-09-22 09:54:46 UTC

While many Object-groups are strongly represented in conservation education programmes, there are almost no study programmes at Universities for the Conservation of Natural Heritage. Natural History Museums take up a large part of the Museum World, even greater when it comes to collection size/number of artefacts. It is a very narrow nice maybe worth broadening? Especially for young people and children, visits to Natural History Museums can have a great impact on their connection to their environment and help to create a sense of wanting to preserve and care for it better.

Conservation Conversion: Industrial and Maritime Conservation at the Crossroads

lavelleciaran1 — 2023-09-22 09:56:25 UTC

In the UK there is a coming crisis with our industrial and maritime heritage. While not as visible or well represented in the conservation conversations, these collections do make makes up a significant percentage of our national collections. There are a serious lack of engineering level expertise in the conservation profession which leaves many conservators with limited knowledge and expertise caring for collections that require specific skill sets. As an industry we need to come up with more educational solutions to create more pathways into the profession so we have the required expertise being brought in to care for these collections.

2023-09-22 09:58:33 UTC

Lets go back to the subject sustainability. Now we are talking about communication

Wikipedia is our best ally

2023-09-22 09:59:19 UTC

During the conference I discovered new things about Wikipedia. Their servers are paid for the next 100 years, so they are the best platform to upload and curate our digital collections.

2023-09-22 10:04:11 UTC

The carbon footprint of exhibitions is not only based on couriers. The large costs and footprint of shipping, crating, retrofitting galleries which comes with extensive materials waste are a problem. When oversized objects like sculptures and installations travel from one side of the world to the other for a three months exhibition the question of sustainability can’t be bypassed. Many institutions have several exhibitions happening every year. Directors and curators need to be part of these conversations because limiting conservators to travel with artifacts and de/install them, is only a small piece of the puzzle.

Include the padlet comments in the current discussion

2023-09-22 10:06:46 UTC

Will you be including some comments for the Padlet Platform right now? Or is it for later deliberation?

About higher registration fees.

2023-09-22 10:07:40 UTC

It may be difficult to establish registration zones. But it is very easy to integrate into the registration process a page where people are invited to contribute to equal attendance by adding an amount to their registration costs. Voluntarily. I do not believe this is currently done and it would draw attention to the fund. Does not solve the issue but might help a little with accessibility and would make people aware of their priviliges

I suggest that IIC and ICOM-CC combine their general conferences and continue to hold it at regular intervals, e.g. every three years, as a hybrid event.

2023-09-22 10:10:29 UTC

Access and neurodivergence

2023-09-22 10:13:02 UTC

As an autistic person I have personally struggled greatly throughout this week and really not been able to participate in social events/networking. A simple way to help people with similar issues would be to provide quiet spaces for mental health breaks. Additionally, I wonder if it would be useful to have 'working groups' for disabilities so that we are able to support each other, both online and in person.

Combine Heritage bodies

2023-09-22 10:13:03 UTC

All the international heritage bodies have evolved from different roots/places, in 2023 is it worth considering combining?
As noted by Julian, there is a shared membership.
Is there a significant difference between IIC, ICOM CC and ICCROM and is the impact they have ? By being separate is it diluted or bigger because of it? Is the infrastructure x3 justified?

AI translation?

2023-09-22 10:13:12 UTC

Perhaps by next triennium, AI technology may have advanced enough to translate transcripts of presentations. It is already happening with closed captioned live feed and many of these concerns may be resolved for our next meeting.

session theme is museums as influencers… yet the discussion is about how we can inprove ourselves. Should we not look outwards? We could use our combined agency and knowledge as a field about material and immaterial change/decay for statements about sustainability that address the role of the industry, etc.

2023-09-22 10:13:23 UTC

Language and costs

2023-09-22 10:13:32 UTC

How I already said in a meeting this week.
The language and the cost are point that mainly people from western countries take part on this conference. Only guests from other countries that get a financial support can take part on the conferences.
I think on the peoples from the Eastern Europe countries that I miss here.
If it would be a hybrid meeting could also people take part from everywhere.
I think we are one world and we have to protect the world heritage together. This is a good thing for sustainability of this one.

sharing cultural heritage

2023-09-22 10:15:09 UTC

As a profession, we create some of the most detailed images and knowledge about our collections. We should adopt a professional ethic that all information and data we generate - all analysis and images - should be shared widely without IP restrictions through open access and open data standards. Conservators should be strong advocates and leaders of open culture in their institutions.

Virtual Couriering

2023-09-22 10:17:01 UTC

Having being forced into virtual couriering between UK and USA during the pandemic found it very successful, working with the teams on site and technicians in the galleries working on deinstall. Was slower process than I had anticipated, but worked well and risks managed, objects returned safely. The way forward!

2023-09-22 10:19:04 UTC

Make the next conference hybrid, people can make their own choice, if they can afford it to travel and if they want to travel or not for keeping the planet 🌍

Exhibitions and couriering

2023-09-22 10:19:11 UTC

American Institute for Conservation are holding a symposium on ‘Art in Transit 2.0’ before their AGM in May 2024. Art in Transit was a publication in Europe made in 1991 focusing on packing and transporting fine art, for temporary exhibitions, including couriering. Art in Transit 2.0 recognises there needs to be an updated version to recognise sustainability.
The meeting is not hybrid or recorded- so there are accessibility and inclusion issues. I want to raise awareness as a result of our discussions this morning, to give everyone an opportunity to contribute to this topic and insure inclusive representation.

Advocating for Native plants

2023-09-22 10:19:31 UTC

Museums often have beautiful garden spaces. As conservators we could advocate for the planting of native plants and pitch the idea under the guise of water and cost savings. Native plants provide many environmental benefits and provide an environment for native species. Additionally they are aesthetically pleasing. They are hardy and can better stand up to climate change. We can advocate at work and do this at our own homes. This is a simple gesture that can make a significant impact.

atelieriddi — 2023-09-22 10:19:48 UTC

To appoint and re-evaluate the social value of cultural heritage. In order to react on climate calamities more efficiently and better funded.

Triennials

mail5921 — 2023-09-22 10:25:47 UTC

Why not combine a central offline congress with 2 or 3 other gatherings where there is an online possibility to follow the congress (more or less) realtime white meeting other people from the region? Saves travel while encountering people is still facilitated.

Indigenous Approach for sustainability

anildwivedi7 — 2023-09-22 10:26:59 UTC

Inclusion of indigenous method for conservation will make it more sustainable as professionals will not rely on products and other materials which are developed far away form their native region.

Provide acess and grants focused in enpowering disabled people

2023-09-22 10:28:27 UTC

We are thinking diversity only on a nationality level. Blind, deaf and neurodiverse people have many acess blockages - from Colleges with inacessible policies to everyday life - and deserve to be included in Heritage discussions, that can be acomplished with money investing and policy rethinking, that is the only way to make the past sustainable.

The idea that disabled people are not interested in this topics is not real, we just dont go to places we know are not made for us. Once we start having funds, interpreters and mostly - other disabled people in the organizations that know what to provide - we will find that the knowledge of this groups is immense and really valuable.

Why are comments not posted?

2023-09-22 10:30:19 UTC

Quality versus quantity

2023-09-22 10:33:45 UTC

The museum industry that we, conservators, are a part of, is driven more and more toward capitalist politics. Increasing more and more the number of museum visitors is not sustainable. In some musuem footprint evaluations, visitors reaching museums have the larger footprint within the whole picture. Local communities would have a lot to gain if museums were investing in quality versus quantity.

2023-09-22 10:33:55 UTC

Stop using the term best, as it is misleading. We need to engage in looking at what constitutes good in a given context and what is good looked at from a number of aspects that play into the descision making.

Si la educación de es básica para concienciar a las nuevas generaciones podría ser interesante integrar en estos congresos alguna conferencia para niños o adolescentes que pudieran conocer de qué hablamos , mostrarles qué nuestros debates son importantes para su futuro y estaremos educando y concienciando , que es básico para la conservación del Patrimonio.

2023-09-22 10:36:34 UTC

Attendance lists

2023-09-22 10:36:49 UTC

When registering for the conference, it would be helpful with a box to tic if you are fine with your name being put on a attendance list (avoiding the General Data Protection Regulation barrier). I would like to see which countries and institutions people are from, and than be able to look for them in a more active manner.

2023-09-22 10:37:42 UTC

More professional development opportunities for emerging conservators who don’t have access to resources.

elenagiangiulio — 2023-09-22 10:38:12 UTC

ICOM Italy isn’t among the National Committees. Is there a reason?
Elena Giangiulio

2023-09-22 14:20:48 UTC

Comment on the discussion point "Virtual couriers)
We have all learned that virtual couriers are a good way to accompany complex artwork
installations and packaging. Practising this tool is one of the positive outcomes of the Covid
period. However, we have also learned that there are limits to the possibilities of using digital
couriers successfully and engagingly. This ranges from technical problems, limited presence, no
non-verbal communication, limited visibility in doing condition reports, limited influence on
handling etc. to gaps in concentration due to time zones (eg. unacceptable night work).
As always, it is about balance, hence the following statement:
A museum's stance on the use of physical/digital couriers needs to be embedded in an overall
view of the loan process. The couriers are only a small element in the chain of preparing an
exhibition. Preparing the content requires business trips because loans should be carefully
selected. Professional exchange and networking among curators and restorers are necessary,
much can be done digitally, but when it comes to a solid professional assessment, there is no
getting around viewing/exchanging in front of the original.
This is a plea for works to travel only if their presence in the exhibition is a high priority in terms
of content. The hasty elimination of physical couriers on the reasoning that it is sustainable, runs
the risk of being instrumentalized by the pressure to make more and cheaper blockbuster
exhibitions.
How should one proceed:
- High standards in the decision-making process as to whether a loan makes sense
- lower frequency of international exhibitions in general
- avoid individual loans via air transport
- Loan several works, this allow sustainable packaging solutions (one well-built crate for more
than one/many artworks), which saves space and significantly reduces the carbon footprint.
- Reasonability/labour conditions are a serious factor (social sustainability)
- All options (virtual couriers, physical courier to airport incl. palletizing, representation by courier
on site (trusted persons), one courier for several museums, physical courier for one Museum)
must be carefully defined (by Conservators) within transparent decision-making process.
- Works that are very fragile from a conservation point of view are possible under certain
circumstances (low frequence of traveling): they usually require physical couriers, as they make
high demands on special packaging, handling and monitoring during transport. If meaningful in
terms of content, such works should be allowed to travel. Contractual agreements are necessary -
including specific insurance aspects. From my perspective, this is about the inclusion of fragile
materials/experimental artistic techniques in cultural discourse, which I think is important!
- Technically well-supported virtual couriers are very time-consuming and require good
equipment on the borrowing side, often not available in small houses.
- (Zoom/Teams chats are not suitable for condition checks, but offer a meaningful exchange of
whether all is going well and an insight into the process of unpacking and installing. For low-
complexity and low-sensitivity works, this is sufficient.
- The planning of business trips within a project should be done from the beginning and across
disciplines. Currently, the decision not to use physical couriers is only made shortly before the
transport and is often economically, not ecologically motivated.
- Couriers have a high level of responsibility and the job is demanding. It is important that only
people who are trained and experienced do this work.
These are some thoughts that would have absolutely blown up today's discussion…;) I will also
send these notes to the Paintings Group.
Thank you for a good conference, best regards,
Dr Nathalie Bäschlin, Chief Conservator, Museum of Fine Arts Bern Switzerland
nathalie.baeschlin@kunstmuseumbern.ch

2023-09-22 14:46:45 UTC

I think the registration fee is extremely high. I understand that this kind of organization needs a huge funding but unless ICOM-CC continues having these fees, the conference will loose the diversity and there will be just attendees from USA, Germany, Netherlands and a couple of other european countries. I suggest to promote governmental agencies and sponsors to take the all funding part and a symbolic registration fee for the attendees. Another suggestion ICOM-CC encourage the developing countries to send deligates to the triennial, kind of obligatory requirement.

ICOM doesn't want to be behind the times in terms of inclusivity. I think looking at how other large organizations/sectors handle discounted registration fees for underrepresented communities is a must. 20-25% of delegates in this category would be a good initial target for next ICOM. Surely there are creative ways to pay for it, including institutional donations or asking established members if they would be willing to invest an extra $40 for this important cause... Thanks for a great ICOM-CC!

2023-09-22 16:17:37 UTC

Carbon literacy training

2023-09-23 07:22:00 UTC

Training in understanding carbon footprints, ie. The various processes that produce these and the carbon sinks that absorb. It is just like understanding deterioration processes for materials and it becomes obvious what can be done and more significantly what not to do, when having to make choices in procurement, use of materials, transport, travel, storage, etc...

chair39 — 2023-09-29 14:55:12 UTC

https://www.icomparaguay.org/?fbclid=IwAR331FXq6ZuPdIcvTqqIz7nhjZOvXeIlu-96NNfaalo_hBI3Vo1eJ8T0DAo_aem_AbhaPBURx-5thCyILhGyJbSE-mcXLiunZPKuLDzJCvl_nrJNr3wkxPNj1Gk3xlSOq5c

chair39 — 2023-09-29 14:55:28 UTC

Decolonise conservation

2024-05-21 06:37:18 UTC

Are we ready to have this conversation?