‘GALLERIES NEED ENERGY RENAISSANCE’
(Published 17 November 2011)
The Great British public go barmy for Botticelli, crackers for Constable and positively mental for Michaelangelo, but keeping these masterpieces in mint condition comes at a price for the environment.
According to Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate Galleries, the strict rules that galleries employ for temperature and humidity levels lead to high energy bills and contribute to global warming.
As it stands, unless a museum can guarantee a climate of 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) and 50% relative humidity, it is not seen as suitable to borrow great art. The rules were established in London after artworks were moved to avoid the aerial bombardments of the first and second world wars.
Studies of the effects of the storage of the British Museum's collections, which were held in underground rail tunnels during the first world war, were followed by analysis of the minimal damage to works stored in stable slate quarry caves in Wales in the second world war.
Sir Nicholas and other leading art experts are now urging a re-think, encouraging other gallery directors to relax these rules to save energy and reduce emissions.
"We need to establish a new dialogue between professionals and empower them to consider fresh options," Serota told an international conference, before setting up a working group and looking into how to make changes at the Tate. "We need to devise imaginative new solutions to resolve the dichotomy between long-term collections care and expensive environmental conditions," he said.
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