UKRG Culture Club: The Monuments Men, directed by George Clooney (2014)

Welcome back to UKRG Culture Club! Every few months we will be looking at how Registrars, and the issues we face, influence and are portrayed in popular culture. A registrar’s role, as we all know, has many different guises – the issues we face are commonly reported in the news and media, and find their way into popular culture. This blog will be reviewing exhibitions that catch our eye and reporting on how registration issues are highlighted in pop culture, through literature, film, music and beyond.

UKRG Committee would love to hear from you! Please send your own UKRG Culture Club reviews to Becca England, Supporting Officer r.england@dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.

Now, if you fancy curling up with a DVD this January, you might have thought about having a look at George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. Becca England tells us more.

Dad’s Army meets Show me the Monet?

The reviews of The Monuments Men were not particularly kind when they came out, but I wondered if perhaps the repatriation of stolen artwork just wasn’t sexy enough for the British media. Unfortunately, upon watching I realised that this film is drier than a de-humidifier.

The film follows the story of seven brave curators, conservators, architects and academics that were gathered together to ensure the artwork looted by the Nazis ended up in safe hands (with the Allies). By ’44, the horrendous looting of (predominantly) Jewish collections had become public knowledge, with Hitler planning to display the very best of the haul at his planned Führer Museum in Linz, Austria. As the German army weakened the fear was that the collections would be destroyed when the Third Reich fell, or fall into Russian hands. The gang, with minimal military training, had the daunting task of locating the collections around Europe and ensuring they were recovered. The men managed to save hundreds of thousands of artworks by locating the stashes in salt mines and private homes. Unfortunately, much of the artwork was burnt as the German army fell, with many artworks lost forever. Most of us are also familiar with the vast amount of art that never made it back to its rightful owners, with many cases active today.

Photocall at The National Gallery, London with the cast of the film and real-life Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger 

The peril these brave characters experienced was astonishing; with two soldiers giving their lives to the mission. In real-life however, one brave soldier perished on the mission, being hit by a shell while rescuing a damaged altarpiece. I googled this fact, and discovered that only about 80% of the story was actually based on truth. Here’s a wonderful quote from Gorgeous George, Director:

“Almost all of the scenes happened. Sometimes they happened with other characters...But that’s moviemaking. We’re not killing Hitler in a movie theater... We’re landing at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. We’re not landing there when it was convenient for us to land there. We follow all the rules, we just made the characters more interesting, I think. Not that the real people weren’t interesting. It’s just that, you know...” 

Hmm... truth not that interesting, eh George?

The film itself looks like a big-budget Dad’s Army. The tone for the movie was off for me – this film is neither funny nor serious. It is sanctimonious though, with Clooney delivering three speeches about the importance of preserving art for future generations.  Registrars don’t need to be reminded of that, we care for art for future generations on a daily basis. However, the film did resonate with me following the recent bombing of the Temple of Baalshamin at the ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria. The truth is that without the bravery of experts during wartime; artworks and monuments are lost forever. The British Museum’s exhibition in 2011 Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World was a vivid shock to me. At first I felt a little cheated that I had paid to see an exhibition with so little in it... and then I realised that this was all that was left.

My summary would be that this film tells an important story, but would have been better as a documentary  told through real life interview, photographs and footage. Perhaps on BBC4. Narrated by Matt Damon.

A much better alternative

The good news is that... there is a fantastic documentary about this very subject! The Rape of Europa is a fascinating documentary exploring not only the discovery by the Allies of the looted art, but also looking at current claims to artworks and how they are being reunited with their rightful owners over 70 years later. Well worth a watch!

AGM Event: Registrars 2.0 – Report on the talk: Accessing Collections through Crowdsourcing: lessons from the Orchid Observers project.

Lucy Robinson (Citizen Science Manager, NHM) began by introducing the Darwin Centre and the Citizen Science Programme, which supports volunteer research projects. A Digital Collections Programme is also underway at NHM, a cross-museum programme to transcribe labels and interpret specimens, the goal being 20 million specimens accessible online within 5 years…! So research was undertaken on crowdsourcing, which is the enlisting of an online community to provide direct creation and interpretation of digital data. Many crowdsourcing platforms exist and two were piloted, Herbaria@home - for a ‘Take notes from Nature’ project focusing on accession register transcription, and Zooniverse - which was chosen for the Orchid Observers project.

The opportunities of crowdsourcing were summed up as the potential to showcase collections; the expertise of the crowd; and potential to keep visitors engaged beyond a site visit. The challenges were the choice of platform; the need to scale up for  volume of data whilst still providing a quality experience for crowd visitors; and the additional work involved in integrating sourced data back to the database.

 Kath Castillo (Project Officer (Scientific Communities), NHM) went into detail about the AHRC-funded Orchid Observers project. She explained how a 2011 journal article had explored the effects of global warming by mapping one species of spider orchid over 100 years using historic specimens, showing flowering now 6 days earlier. Inspired by this, Orchid Observers aimed to map 29 species using  140 years of historic museum specimens, 45 years of field records/photographs and new 2015 data – all created and collated via crowdsourcing. At the same time, the communication and collaboration potential of crowdsourcing for citizen scientists was to be assessed.

The project was launched in April 2015 and over a 5-month flowering season, with over 1,000 registered users, they obtained: 31,253 online classifications, 2,250 uploaded images and 1800 field records including 200 new. A talk forum also proved very successful, with users communicating and interacting independently.

Initial data analysis confirms earlier flowering in two species, with much still to explore including temperature data mapping. In terms of process, crowdsourcing was key and a great success, but intensive for staff. 

The talk concluded with confirmation that the project was also great fun for all concerned – with a beautiful smiling bee orchid image to prove it.

In the question session, integration of data back into the main database was confirmed as a significant task but the Zooniverse metadata should be downloadable directly into EMu. However, the Smithsonian’s system has been recently redesigned to include a direct interface with EMu, and so may in fact prove a better platform long term, with this specific feature.

Lucy and Kath also expanded on data quality control. In this case, a mainly known pool of users allowed for a high level of trust, but the process can be tailored, for example running data through checkers as well as the initial transcriber, with disagreement resulting in a flag to a curator.

All in all fascinating and informative! With thanks to the UKRG and sponsors for the travel bursary that made my attendance possible. Fi Hitchcock, Exhibitions Coordinator, Norfolk Museums Service.

Thoughts on Mark Pajak's 'Create once, publish everywhere' talk at Registrars 2.0, 8 October 2015

I've not yet spoken to anyone working in museums and galleries who has said 'yeah, it's pretty quiet at the moment, budgets are plentiful and we've got so many staff'', so was looking forward to hearing Mark Pajak speak about the 'create once, publish everywhere' approach that he is working on at Bristol Museums and Galleries.

Firstly I was stunned by the size of the collection, 1.75 million objects, did I hear that right? It brings home the volume of items that we are all working with and why efficient approaches are required!

Mark spoke about the different digital platforms that provide collections information, which all stem from the Collection Management System, such as the online Collection Search and interactives within the display space.

To explore the narrative based structure that Bristol use I delved into the Fine Art collection online and was presented with two narratives: 'Places of Desire' or 'Reality Questioned'.  http://museums.bristol.gov.uk/narratives.php?irn=8765 Both tempting, I opted for 'Reality Questioned' which provided me with some interesting exhibition text followed by individual images to click on which contained object information and a gallery label. I really like this after-life of exhibition text and labels as so much time goes into exhibitions and interpretation, to achieve something permanent from them seems a great idea both for institutions and visitors. Another feature that I like is the current location information about the item.

Mark spoke about some of the challenges of the one size fits all approach, such as a notebook that would benefit from a digital page turning rather than a succession of thumb nails. There are also currently no loans online. The next steps in the project are making sure that google is optimised and that social media can be used to share object information.

Where I work at National Museums Scotland, the team are working to get more of the circa 12.4 million items online. This started in 2011 when items in newly opened galleries were put online. We are currently up to 32,200 online records with this number being refreshed on a monthly basis. The 'create once' model has been used in our Photography: A Victorian Sensation exhibition  http://www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-scotland/whats-on/photography-a-victorian-sensation/ which contains images within gallery interactives, on the online catalogue and in our first ever Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) https://www.coursera.org/course/vicphoto

 

 

1/6 plate heavily tinted ambrotype, depicting a seated man, in a Union case with eight-sided decorated geometric design, unsigned, late 1850s - 1860s

From the Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Image © National Museums Scotland

 

I think the use of social media and digital is extremely exciting but more importantly vital to keep our collections and institutions ever present. The do once, use again approach is one I'll be trying to apply to other areas of my work wherever I can as the quiet moment hasn't arrived yet!

Katie Robson, Assistant Registrar, National Museums Scotland

 

Exhibition Review: Savage Beauty at the V&A

Welcome to the first UKRG Culture Club! Every month we will be looking at how Registrars, and the issues we face, influence and are portrayed in popular culture. A registrar’s role, as we all know, has many different guises – the issues we face are commonly reported in the news and media, and find their way into popular culture. This blog will be reviewing exhibitions that catch our eye and reporting on how registration issues are highlighted in pop culture, through literature, film, music and beyond...

Fingers crossed the next Indiana Jones revolves around the documentation issues surrounding the booty he brought back from the Middle East on his adventures...

UKRG Committee would love to hear from you! Please send your own UKRG Culture Club reviews to Becca England, Supporting Officer r.england@dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.



To kick things off, Marie Rose, UKRG Events Officer and Project Co-ordinator at the Natural History Museum went and had a look at the V&A's recent retrospective of Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty.

As ever a quick nip over the road from The Natural History Museum to the V&A transports me from a world of taxidermy and glass jars to ornate couture fabulousness. My pilgrimage from the church of natural science to the church of the aesthetic is for the very God-like figure himself: Alexander McQueen and the ‘Savage Beauty’ retrospective exhibition which had previously been on display in New York at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I must admit my knowledge of fashion may be limited - my interests have always sat more within the alt-world having spent much of my youth trawling the markets of Camden in search of baggy jeans and faux-Westwood tartan skirts. However, I have always followed McQueen in awe and fascination for the disturbing and often cruel elements that are so characteristic of his craft.

This exhibition doesn’t disappoint: room after room of collections spanning his career are showcased thematically to give a sense of how his imagination evolved. His gothic influences from Edgar Allen Poe to the Highland Clearances which dominated the Highland Rape collection of 1995 are clear. The Romantic Nationalism room is complete with wooden panels and elaborate chandeliers to create a magical sense of atmosphere. The exhibition therefore makes for a decadent boutique rather than a traditional retrospective, shunning the typical chronological or biographical narrative (the facts we learn about McQueen are confusingly minimal) to bring us back to the superficial; the objects themselves.

This mode of display can be problematic,  particularly when showcased in the central dramatic room ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ with Phillip Treacy headpieces and my particular favourite, the Shaun Leane body armour pieces, crammed from wall to ceiling. This room highlights the tension between the need to showcase his work versus the practicality of the visitor’s viewing experience, you can’t help but feel disassociated from these objects when raised so high you have to crane your neck to see them. This layout, borrowed from the Bowie exhibition, serves to create a physical pedestal for the artist on display - albeit a slightly frustrating experience for the audience. This is echoed again in the minimal interpretation with labels deliberately sparse and tucked away.

Overall this exhibition posits itself as the ultimate decadent couture showroom, highlighting the sheer skill of McQueen’s technique: in always designing from the side, the form’s most awkward angle to make his pieces flattering to all possibilities of the female form and not the a-typical model frame. His work also signifies the female form as haunting, dangerous and romantic with many items embracing natural materials such as feathers and razor clam shells to symbolise woman’s role in nature.

As an exhibition this is nothing short of a success of a summer blockbuster, minimal interpretation and excessive staging aside this does not detract from the focus; the clothes and savage beauty of Alexander McQueen.

How did they do that?

This bemusement goes to the wonderfully hypnotic ghostly apparition of Kate Moss. Her ethereal image is suspended in a glass pyramid using the wonderfully inventive ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ technique - pioneered in the 19^th century. This highlights McQueen’s appreciation for the avant-garde. I did wonder how the registrar for the exhibition arranged to borrow this – was the image loaned or the entire technical prop. I also wondered if there were issues with copyright when using Kate Moss’s famous image and if this was leased rather than a straightforward loan given that it comprises of the object, the film and the projection. Overall, I’m amazed at the capabilities of the registrars who brought this wealth of objects together within the exhibition’s highly decorative and engaging set design. For me, the staging was just as important as the objects themselves in presenting the absolute tour de force that was Alexander McQueen.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A UK REGISTRAR

Aisha Burtenshaw

Registrar, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford

aisha.burtenshaw@ashmus.ox.ac.uk

I have been in the Registrars’ Office at the Ashmolean for over 10 years now and if there is one thing that is certain, it is that there is no such thing as a typical day! Each day is hugely varied as I also head up the Touring Exhibitions Department as well as the Registrar’s Office, so I never quite know what to expect. This is probably the reason why I love my job so much!

Today is a prime example of how varied things can be. I started the day with a to-do list mostly comprised of loan agreements to draw up for inward and outward loans, transport quotes to analyse and indemnity applications to complete. I make a cup of tea and settle down to work. After around ten minutes I get a phone call from our events team to say that they have a life-size plastic camel in one of the galleries and can I help to get it out of the loading bay? So I leave my tea to go cold and go and assist with the removal of the camel. Back to the office thirty minutes later and I am ready to get cracking with the loan agreements. An e-mail pings – a new venue would like to display one of our touring exhibitions. Great news, but this means looking at object lists and facilities reports, getting in touch with various colleagues and beginning the arrangements to get this programmed in. This takes much of the morning.

As lunch time approaches, I start to think about maybe leaving the Museum for a bit to take in the dreaming spires of Oxford but at 12:30 another phone call comes in. Christina Gernon, our Assistant Registrar is undertaking a site visit at one of the colleges where we have a number of works on long-term loan. It appears that they had forgotten that a framed textile did not belong to them and they have decided to take it down and leave it propped up against the wall in their dining room. So, lunch forgotten, I make a hasty call to our technicians and a few minutes later I am sat in our van en route to the college on an emergency rescue mission. The textile is quite large and at the top of a narrow, winding staircase. It is immediately apparent that it is too large for our van and will need to be unframed and rolled before returning it to the Museum. Unfortunately, the textiles conservator is on holiday for the next three weeks. So, a quick scout around the college is undertaken and we find an unoccupied office where the textile can be stored until it can be unframed. We manage to get it down the staircase and safely stored away.

Back to the office again, and I try for the third time to get started on the loan agreements. I manage to get half way through the first on my pile and I get another urgent e-mail, this time from an international venue that is due to open one of our touring exhibitions the next day. Their Director has decided he doesn’t like the colour of one of the walls – might we agree to works being deinstalled to allow the wall to be repainted and then reinstalled ready for the private view the next night? I don’t even know where to start with this can of worms, maybe the loan agreements, indemnity applications and transport quotes will have to wait for tomorrow….

 Aisha in action: packing works for loan in Ashmolean’s Transit Store

Aisha’s favourite objects:

 

Namikawa Yasuyuki Vase with Waterfall over Rocks, metal with cloisonné enamel (EA2002.177) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

“This is one of the very first objects that I handled when I started at the Ashmolean. I love the colours and the simplistic beauty of it”.

 

Samuel Palmer Self-portrait Black chalk on paper (WA1932.211) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

“I find this piece absolutely mesmerizing and I could stare at it for hours. It was one of a number of loans made in my first year here at Ashmolean”.

 

Shrine of Taharqa Sandstone (AN1936.661) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

“This is the ultimate transport project! This is the largest intact Egyptian building in this country and it was brought to the UK in the 1930s block by block (236 sandstone blocks!), with each block individually wrapped in palm fibres and crated. It was then rebuilt in our galleries”.


Would you like to share a ‘typical’ Day in your Life? We’re always looking for new contributors, so do get in touch with any of the Committee

Money Matters: Gander & White’s Approach to Estimating and Tendering

Money Matters: UKRG Summer Event July 2015
Gander & White’s Approach to Estimating and Tendering
Jim Grundy, Director of Art Operations, Gander & White Ltd
Amanda Sharp, Divisional Director, Gander & White Ltd

A key part of the Registrar's role in exhibition projects is to advise on transport options, obtain estimates and liaise with shipping agents to ensure loan objects arrive safely, on time and within budget. As Cassia Pennington advised in the preceding talk, “exhibitions are expensive, be realistic about the true cost of transport”. While Cassia spoke about budget planning from a Registrar's perspective, in Gander & White's presentation, Jim Grundy and Amanda Sharp went through how they go about estimating and tendering, what their rates are based on and how we can ensure we get the most accurate indication of costs from shipping agents.

We all know that it costs money to maintain the climate-controlled, fire-rated, secure buildings that we store and display our collections in, that specialist storage systems don't come cheap, and that moving a museum object from A to B can involve complex packing, challenging access, high specification vehicles, multiple technicians, and time. It is not surprising then that when we and our lenders expect the same high museum standards from fine art shipping agents, they incur these costs too and need to factor them into their rates.

In order to provide a full and accurate estimate of transport costs, Jim outlined the minimum information they require from us, ideally with all information presented in a single spreadsheet:

• Loan or accession number
• Lender and contact details with address
• Object details, including artist or maker's name, medium, date, dimensions
• Packing information
• Tour venues
• Courier information

The more specific you can be with your requirements, the more accurate the quote will be. Costs vary significantly if the lender is packing the object, or a museum crate is required; if objects are to be transported by part load or dedicated transport; if there are access restrictions at the lender's premises; if the loan can only be collected or delivered on a specific day or time; if a courier is required or not. So many ifs!

For any details you don't have, it is better that you make the assumptions rather than leaving it up to individual agents. This creates a level playing field and enables you to compare the estimates 'like for like'.

Depending on the procurement processes in your organisation and the size and value of the contract, you may need to request quotes by email or through a formal tender process. Amanda explained how Gander & White responds when a framework agreement is in place. In this situation a museum selects approved suppliers through a formal procurement process and agrees set terms and conditions and 'master ceiling rates'. For each exhibition or touring project the museum then invites approved suppliers to tender via a mini-competition. The agreement does not commit the museum to using a certain agent or guarantee how much work they will get, nor do agents have any obligation to make a submission for each project.

Gander & White assess each invitation to tender based on their experience of working on similar projects, and their capacity to deliver this particular project. If they choose to tender, they submit a detailed response to the tender template provided, including a method statement and a full cost breakdown, contacting agents worldwide to estimate overseas costs. The museum then evaluates all submissions and awards the contract to the successful agent. For fairness and transparency it is important that you are clear about how you will score different estimates. Shipping agents (like us) are juggling many different projects at any one time so make sure to specify when the tender will be awarded and inform them when you have made a decision.

While Registrars don't need much convincing, it is always helpful to be reminded of what it is we are paying for when we draw on the expertise and specialist services of fine art shipping agents. It was great to get Jim and Amanda's insights into what we can do to assist them in providing an accurate indication of transport costs to help inform our exhibition budgets and planning. Thank you both, and to UKRG for another excellent event.

Lucy Malcolm Clark, Project Registrar, National Museums Scotland

Money Matters: The Art Fund and How it supports Museums and Galleries

Money Matters: UKRG Summer Event July 2015
The Art Fund and How it Supports Museums and Galleries
Penny Bull, Senior Programmes Manager, Acquisitions, Art Fund

This talk was given during the Money Matters event at the Design Museum. The event involved talks on many different area of museum funding by people who work both for museums and with museums in a financial capacity. This talk was the only one given by a member of a body specifically designed to fund museums and was therefore a great insight into how they approach applications and how they function as an organisation. The talk was given by Penny Bull, the senior programmes manager for acquisitions for the Art Fund. She went into great detail on the acquisition side of what the Art Fund does as well as talking about other areas of work that the Art Fund supports and funds, many of which I was unaware of before this talk.

Penny started the talk by giving some background on the Art Fund. It was originally founded in 1903 as the National Art Collection Fund, as a charity aimed at stopping art leaving the country. It is funded primarily by its members and offers grants for museums and galleries to support collections in three main ways, firstly through funding acquisitions, secondly by encouraging public engagement with collections, and thirdly by supporting curatorial activities.

Penny then went on explain the types of acquisitions and projects the Art Fund supports, how to go about applying, and the process after an award has been made. The Art Fund can fund purchases of any objects considered visually interesting, as well as works of fine art, however if the Art Fund does not think your proposed acquisition falls into their remit Penny said they will often try to point you to other sources of funding so it is always worth contacting them.

In order to apply to the Art Fund the applicant must be accredited or working towards accreditation, however there are occasions when the Art Fund may consider other organisations as well if they can demonstrate that they work to the same standards as accredited museums. The organisation must have a permanent collection that is open to the public for at least half the year, for at least half the week during that time. There is no limit on the total value that can be applied for so works of both local and national significance can be considered.

There are three types of application that can be submitted to the Art Fund, “large”, “small”, and “time critical”. Acquisitions over £15,000 (of which the Art Fund could contribute £7,500) are considered large and those under that value are considered small. Time critical ones are for purchases that must happen within seven days within London and 10 days outside of London (for example where an object is being sold at auction). Trustees must view any work to be purchased which can be problematic on tight timescales.

Small requests can be made at any time and the decision will usually be made within 4-6 weeks of the application being submitted. Large grant requests must be considered at the Board of Trustees meeting meaning there are regular deadlines for applications, though these are not published. There is no limit or suggestions on how much can be applied for, however the Art Fund ask applicants to find as much money are they can from other sources, and provide evidence of what other grants or funding has been applied for. This is due to the fact that they have limited funds and of course want to help as many causes as possible.

The application for a grant must contain certain specific information. Firstly, a case must be made for the acquisition of the work, including showing how it will fit into the collection and what the museum will do to maximise exposure of the work. Next the applicant must get an independent valuation for the object by a dealer or someone with proven commercial knowledge of the market. They applicant must also look into getting tax remission or a museum discount on the purchase to obtain the best possible price. The funding package must be set out clearly stating the various sources of funding and these must total the amount needed. The final section of the application should contain provenance information and due diligence checks and condition reports for the object. The objects must also be suitable to travel as they must be present at board meetings so they can be inspected by the Trustees.

After an award is made the Art Fund require a vendors invoice to be submitted along with the accession number assigned to the object and a photograph. After a year a review must be submitted detailing what had been done with the object in the year. This should include information about any marketing or promotion that was agreed as part of the application, however if a work has been in conservation for the year (for example) that is not a problem as long as progress has been made.

As well as funding acquisitions of objects the Art Fund also funds other projects and museum work. One example of this is the new collecting awards that are given to curators who wish to build a new collection within a museum and would like funding for multiple purchases or research for the collections. Touring exhibitions are occasionally supported, but mostly only as part of the promotion for an acquisition funded by the Art Fund.

The Art Fund financially supports museums through the Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants. These grants are awarded to curators or other museum staff to facilitate research through funding travel, books or administrative cover for time away from their usual job. They are typically £200- £2000 and can also be used to cover the associated costs of professional development opportunities such as training and networking events.

As well as funding museums directly the Art Fund has also set up a crowdfunding platform called Art Happens. The Art Fund provide the web platform and support but the individual museum must provide all the content for any funding requests.

Overall Penny’s talk was extremely useful in providing a background on how the Art Fund works, the way to approach filling in an application and the information they look for from potential applicants. It was also very interesting to see the different types of work the Art Fund supports as well as acquisitions which I have always assumed was their main focus.

I am very grateful for the bursary provided by Blackwall Green that allowed me to attend this fascinating event, and of course for the UKRG who organised the day itself.

Hazel Shorland, Assistant Registrar, Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds.