The Object Rotation team started work in the Arts of Asia gallery on September 2016, where 34 objects were identified as being ‘at-risk’ through conservation testing. The range of objects tested included a range of dyed and embellished textiles, ivory, secular and religious statues and personal adornments. Like organic goods, collection objects have a ‘shelf-life’, determined by the Conservation Blue-Wool Lightfastness test. This testing of the objects projected the time it takes for an object under prolonged periods of exposure to artificial lighting to degrade or fade, causing irreversible damage. Lighting guides are based on a number of contributing factors in each gallery. Types and levels of lighting, an object’s previous exposure to light, the condition of the object materials, cultural considerations and the presence of colorants are all evaluated. The guide helps to determine the recommended time an object should go on display, versus the time it should rest.
The Object Rotation Team's role is to identify objects on display that are light-sensitive and exchange them with other objects from our collection, to continue to tell the stories of our permanent galleries. The refresh of the gallery was a collaborative effort across curatorial teams, conservation, exhibition technicians and collection assistants. The change out gave us the opportunity to input into how to re-frame the gallery, in order to tell stories by object typology-rather than geography. This new look gives visitors the chance to compare material examples from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan with their own distinct styles of embellishing, weaving, dying, printing and painting techniques. The wall of textiles shows examples of material culture from countries across Asia and how different communities created and decorated textiles as part of custom or daily life.
The idea behind this wall of textiles is to give the objects a three-dimensional feel, as well as, to support the shape of the textiles as they hang. The Museum's display team had the challenge of creating adjustable mounts that left the gallery's walls untouched as the 1929 original building cannot be modified. As a result, only the existing holes seen on the gallery walls are where new mounts can be attached. Mounts were made to be adjusted and supported with padding to accommodate for the unevenness. The mounts are two-fold, with one part affixing directly to the wall to create a straight and strong surface; the second part supporting an object on a 45 ° slant board.
Through managing a stable environment and maintaining the integrity of the stories of our exhibition objects we are ensuring that the Museum continues to practice sustainable handling with the collections entrusted to us, and we uphold the Museum’s role as the kaitiaki (guardians) of objects in our care. The work of the Object Rotation team is on-going and we are currently working through other galleries on a smaller scale, focusing on minor refreshments across the Museum.
