Pascal Querner Researcher, University of Natural
Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Austria
My backgrounds; Conservation background qualified with
undergraduate in Art History followed by MA in Conservation in 1992 work as a
freelance conservator mainly for the National Galleries of Scotland. Also Project
Manager of HLF Funded SFF project, Opening Up Scotland’s Archives for the
Scottish Council on Archives. I’ve been
a member of UKRG for 4 years and two years ago volunteered in Registrars
Department at National Galleries of Scotland to gain more experience and completed
the Diploma on Art Professional Law and Ethics in 2014
Pascal started his talk with brief introduction about
himself and said that he loved art but loves pests more. The talk continued at
a fast pace with lots of good humour to keep you alert and take in all the
information. Pascal explained the term Integrated Pest Management which many
people will be familiar with, however, useful to have bullet point references. We
focused on how pests are transported into gallery and museum environment and
lastly responses to pest problems.
Reiterating several times throughout the presentation that Prevention is
the best approach to pest management.
All museums and galleries should have an Integrated
Pest Management Programme which will centre on Prevention, Monitoring and if
necessary Treatment.
There were some people sitting in the room didn’t
think their museum or gallery had pests but according to Pascal every
environment will have some present as Museums and galleries as they provide a food
source, a warm and protective environment and offer safety from their
predators. It’s fairly easy for pests to get into building, if’s it old they
are probably already present, but they come through doors, windows, holes in
the floorboards or skirting boards. Often they are unwittingly transported by
visitors or in new acquisitions or borrowed objects and paintings for
exhibitions.
Pests can be unintentionally moved around the museum and offsite when objects
and packaging materials are transported. A good point made by Pascal that it is
not only old museum objects but modern art that can also have pest problems.
It’s something we can’t ignore as pests don’t only
damage the art or museum objects, but are a health risk for museum workers, visitors
and an environmental hazard.
Obviously, prevention is the long term solution to
avoiding a pest problem and if possible appoint a pest management coordinator
who will be responsible for continuous monitoring of pests, sealing the
building and reducing the chances of entry, climate control, training staff, oversee good housekeeping and
cleaning practices. If pests are found they need to be identified, locate the
infestation and evaluate the problem and selecting the best treatment method.
Pascal showed a slide
of a flow diagram depicting the five stages of control measures and their
relationship. It’s taken from Agnes Brokerhof’s work on IPM and clearly
illustrates the assessment and management of Pests Risks in Collection.
Identification is paramount and we saw slides of hugely magnified insects, reminiscent of a 1950’s B
movie where giant cockroaches were taking over the world.
Pascal spoke of pests found in museums and
galleries all over the world, and depending on the climate and location, each
country will have their particular problematic pests. In the UK commonly found pests, include;
Silverfish and firebrats that prefer starchy
foods and will eat fabrics, paper and sizing, and the glue and paste in older
book bindings.
The Beetle: usually of these three: Lyctidae
(true powderpost beetles that cannot digest cellulose and attack the sapwood of
hardwood only), Bostrichtidae (false powderpost beetles that attack both soft
and hardwood), and Anobiidae (anobiid, furniture, and deathwatch beetles that
attack both soft and hardwood, and prefer to feed on sapwood).
Rodents can do an immense amount of damage to
collections, particularly paper and textiles which can be chewed and ripped up
for nesting materials. Prevention of a rodent problem is easier than trying to
remove it
or
else…….
In the past a method
of controlling pests involved the use of Pesticides. It is not recommended as a long term solution
as there can be serious health risks. – Pascal knows of
2 incidents of death as the result of long term exposure to pesticides. There
is also a high risk of damaging and causing corrosion of art material due to
pesticides.
What
do we do when we discover pests?
If you do find anything, isolate it immediately and
then think about your options. The video clip shows a picture (with a
new wooden frame) on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland. As you would
expect there was a condition report sent with the picture and a conservator at
NGS checked the paperwork and object.
During the exhibition, warders at NGS noticed powder on the carpet which
turned out to be frass. The Pest
Management Officer at NGS, Keith Morrison was alerted and when he examined the
picture he noticed a very small black hole and something was moving. He grabbed
his iPhone and using his handheld magnifying glass recorded the woodworm making
its first appearance into daylight.
The picture was
immediately removed from the Gallery and isolated. All pictures were thoroughly
examined, but none other were contaminated. The owners of the picture were
contacted and it was agreed to return it to them for treatment.
Treatment Options
Pascal advocated the
use of a nitrogen chamber or tent, however, the downside is it takes 5 weeks to
complete the treatment. It is a specialist
treatment and has cost implications. A somewhat cheaper and very effective
alternative and widely used
treatment in the UK is freezing. I
asked Pascal a questions, ‘is it safe to use a nitrogen chamber with all museum
objects and paintings?’ Pascal said that
there can be a change to the pigment Prussian Blue which can be reversed. Nitrogen
can in some cases contribute to growth of microorganisms with nitrogenase
enzymes that help fix nitrogen as a fuel source. More research is needed in
this area to clarify this potential issue.
Freezing is another
very popular treatment and cost effective.
Safe for almost
all organic and composite materials, relatively time-efficient and a low cost after
initial investment for freezer.
Unlike, using a
nitrogen tent or chamber, preparing objects for freezing does not entail extensive
staff training or staff time for maintenance during procedure.
Speaking as a
conservator, care should be taken with fragile, composite or unstable materials
and recommended to seek advice from an expert. The type of freezer is
important, ideally reducing the temperature to minus 29 degrees centigrade
within 4 hours. Typical
low-temperature treatment for infestation involves freezing for a minimum of 72 hours,
several older publications recommend repeated freeze/thaw cycle(s) as a
precaution, but recent work indicates that one longer treatment at a low enough
temperature should suffice.
After removal from
the freezer, objects should be allowed to acclimate to room temperature, still
completely wrapped, until they are at room temperature, at least 24 hours.
Near the end of the
presentation, Pascal focused on something which will be of particular interest
to exhibition registrars. It was various
examples of pests entering the museum environment on materials used in the
transportation and protection of objects, including new picture frames.
Examples:
Wood pallets used to
carry and store art objects. Infected
with a beetle and this can transfer its attention to the museum object. This has occurred around ten times in Pascal’s
career.
Textile Blankets, used
to wrap objects and painting. Can be infected with the common cloth moth. Think
about using synthetic blankets or have a policy to clean and freeze the
blankets once or twice a year.
Transportation boxes –
12 months’ life cycles of a beetle, very quick and can affect an object or painting
in storage – includes new wooden picture frames. Please see short film.
It’s important to
always be alert and aware.
Must have active
monitoring – just like monitoring RH and temperature.
Any new acquisitions
must be checked for pests before they are stored next to existing parts of the
collections.
In summary:
Pascal Querner gave a
very good and entertaining introduction to Integrated Pest Management. He has many years of experience working as a
pest management consultant and was able to give real life examples of pest
problems and was very happy to answer questions from the audience. He concluded his presentation by reiterating
that IPM is a long term programme, and not any good only doing it for one year.
The next IPM Conference will be held in September 2016 in Paris at the Louvre,
and he hopes that some of the audience will be attending.
Pascal recommends reading ‘Integrated Pest Management for Cultural
Heritage’, by
More
information can be found:
Thank you to UKRG for
giving me a bursary towards the cost of attending the 2016 European Registrars
Conference in Vienna. I would also like to thank, Keith Morrison at the
National Galleries of Scotland for discussing the IPM work at NGS including
Duff House.
By Audrey
Wilson BA(Hons) in the History of Drawing & Printmaking, MA
in Conservation.
Dip
APLE (London)
