In the past, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has undertaken small-scale low-oxygen pest treatments utilising Ageless® (Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals) oxygen absorbers and using the Ageless® ‘eye’ to indicate when the required low level of oxygen was reached (the indicator turns pink when the oxygen levels are at 0.1% or less). However, when a pest
Collaborating on climate change action over Zoom (captured by Nicole Tse 2021). In preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), a number of interested members of the AICCM banded together in October and November 2021 to spread awareness of the role of the conservation profession in mitigating the climate crisis. With
What do I mean by Zoom to the rescue? The best way to explain this is to give some background to how artefacts change underground and how excavation and preservation of historical archaeological artefacts proceed in Victoria...
Since starting my studies at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, I have been inspired by the partnership between Warmun Art Centre in the East Kimberley and the Grimwade Centre. This partnership began with flood relief in 2011. Since then, it has evolved into a relationship built on two-way knowledge transfer between Warmun Art
As a first-year conservation student, I was unprepared for the moment I found myself wondering whether being haunted was a potential occupational hazard. I had just hung a heavy WWII frockcoat on a hanger covered by a custom-made Ethafoam bust, and stepped back to assess its fit. That’s when it really hit me – that
We’ve all got them. A box full of photographs waiting to be pulled out and rehoused on a rainy day; personal treasures wrapped in tissue at the back of a drawer. Passed down through time, the tales these objects embody are hugely significant to the family members who share them, as well as to the
The Australian Music Vault (AMV) has launched its Choir Project as a part of its Learning Program, engaging local arrangers to make iconic Australian songs choir-ready with arrangements and backing tracks freely available to school and community choirs. By encouraging new forms of engagement with Australian pop and rock music, the Choir Project is adding
As part of the lead-up to the AICCM 10th Book, Paper and Photographic Materials Symposium, the organising committee asked some conservators of note to reflect on how our profession and our work has changed over the years. What advice would you give to someone starting out now? These reflections and revisitations take the form of ‘letters to a
The Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) receives most of its acquisitions for the Australian Performing Arts Collection (APAC) through donation. In 2018 APAC received the donation of The Dame Joan Sutherland Costume Collection. This new acquisition from Opera Australia provides highlights from the celebrated career of Dame Joan Sutherland. The collection spans the breadth of Sutherland’s
Objects in museums are often defined by a neat little label bearing a list of adjectives: A name, an artist, a year, a medium and a donor. Perhaps augmenting this label is a more information on the artist or exhibition at the entrance of the space. Labels abound in the RSL LifeCare War Museum, but
