I am profoundly grateful to the Gabo Trust for the opportunity to attend the workshop, Movers and Shakers: Strategies for the Conservation of Kinetic Art. It has significantly expanded my technical fluency, sharpened my eyes, and provided actionable strategies that will directly improve how we care for kinetic, light-based and software-driven art at Museum of Fine Art, Houston (MFAH).
Nick Pedemonti, from Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)
I travelled to Bournemouth from the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD) to specifically research and gain hands-on experience with the identification of 3-D printed polymer objects at the Museum of Design in Plastic (MoDiP) at the Arts University Bournemouth. It is the only accredited museum, dedicated to the sole collection of polymer material, in the UK. I was able to work with the curator, collections officer and documentation officer and also met the professor of model making and the technician of the innovation studio. Understanding the nuances of the materials and the techniques [of 3D printed polymer objects] will aid me in better advising our curators of contemporary art and decorative art + design at the RISD Museum in specific. As a result of making contact with Curator Louise Dennis who is also a board member of the Plastaquarian Historical Society, I offered to provide a virtual Powerpoint presentation to this group about the variety of conservation challenges that we have at the RISD Museum with our polymer collections. This would be a wonderful chance to share our challenges in the polymer sphere with a very focused group of international polymer enthusiast. Thank you so much Gabo Trust for this invaluable research opportunity.
Ingrid Neuman, Senior Museum Conservator of Sculpture at RISD, who also teaches the art of conservation
With the generous help of the Gabo Trust, we had the opportunity to present a poster about our conservation project regarding the installation Le Paradis Fantastique, by the artists Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, at the ICOM Metal 2025 conference. The discussions around the different aspects of metal conservation broadened my understanding of material, scientific research and documentation overall. Moreover, it generated a lot of thoughts, ideas and insights for our project with Le Paradis Fantastique.
Lauro Höring, who attended with Marie Grima, from Moderna Museet
The completion of this project has shown the value of rationalising the storage of the collection of models, maquettes and small sculptures. It has increased the capacity of the store, while the boxes offer both protection and a means of identification without marking the object. Having surface cleaned the works before packing means that most are ready for display when they are next required, apart from those requiring more extensive conservation treatment. The success of the project has resulted in Leeds Museums and Galleries’ agreement to extend the method to 117 further small sculptures in the collection.
Rebecca Wade, Assistant Curator (Sculpture) at Leeds Museums and Galleries which received a grant for a modern and contemporary sculpture collection survey, and a grant towards storage equipment
The survey has provided the means to plan for future conservation work and is a key element in our discussions around developing in-house expertise and studio provision. The process itself was extremely useful in raising awareness across the galleries of the need for this skill set and allowed an improved baseline of condition information to be gathered.
Jacqueline Ridge, Keeper of Conservation at National Galleries of Scotland
Being involved with the survey has enabled me to broaden my conservation knowledge by learning about a discipline other than my own of paintings, and I should now be able to transfer these skills to other items in our collection.
Rebecca Moisan, Conservation Officer, Southampton City Art Gallery