Finito!
The Palladio 500 exhibition
Job done! … Until the return leg and the next venue – The Royal Academy.
Back to the day job – whatever that was…I think we’ve forgotten…although we have heard rumours of other exhibitions in the pipeline…
September 19, 2008
September 12, 2008
When all is said and done
It may look like fizzy pop but it's very nice.
Mmmm!
Every job has its own rewards, we are very glad that Palladio was from Italy!
September 10, 2008
Forza ragazzi!
Vicenza FC
As well as Vicenza’s remarkable collection of buildings by Palladio, there’s plenty more to see and experience in the city. Missing our own football we decided to check out the local Vicenza team. Being in Serie B they are hardly the premiership but it was a good game nevertheless and unlike the premiership being ‘donnas’ we got a discount! Bargain. The stand opposite looks very empty but did fill up, they were the Italian equivalent of the prawn sandwich brigade.
The away fans, Empoli
As you can see the opposing fans came in a minibus!
In case you are interested Vicenza drew 1-1 and had two players sent off and judging by the reaction of the crowd we suspect the referee had to have an escort home!
September 9, 2008
Volumes
An interesting point
Not all of the objects are 2D drawings we also had a couple of books to look after.
Here is a picture of the assistant curator at CISA Palladio and the designer of the exhibition discussing the relevance of this book to the exhibition. Volumes present their own set of challenges to the courier. Often they have to be strapped into their cradles to avoid the pages lifting towards the case. This is done using our excellent strapping kit which contains polyester strapping, purple nitrile gloves and some silicon release papers.
No alarms, no surprises
Lisa condition reporting
Lisa condition checked each drawing with the original condition reports to check that no changes occurred to the drawings during transit. This has to be countersigned in agreement with the borrower. As there was much excitement from the curators and staff at the venue Lisa often had to wait her turn to examine the drawing so this took some time. However it was nice to see such enthusiasm for the drawings!
This drawing was an unexpected addition to our condition checking so after a few phone calls to the lender in the UK Lisa agreed to write a condition report there and then so that the venue at least had that to refer to at the end of the exhibition. At least it was only the one.
September 8, 2008
Laser precision
Boys and their toys
We just had to take a photo of this cool gadget - the laser spirit level (bet Palladio wished he had one of those).
Here is the installation of the Chatsworth drawings. We had been asked to supervise several other UK institutions including Worcester College, Oxford. This is quite a common practice amongst museums as it cuts down on costs and helps with logistics.
September 6, 2008
The Recto/verso’s – They Fit!
The moment of truth!
There was a lot of trepidation the night before these drawings were due to be installed from all parties. These drawings had been very problematic from the outset. We had little information as to how these were to be displayed, all we had given them was the external dimensions and we were not sure they would fit in the frameworks. However all the anxiety was unnecessary they worked a treat. Piece o’ cake.
I think there was a lot of relief all round at the end of that day.
The wooden frames were lined to create a buffer and protect the frames.
September 5, 2008
The hang!
Hanging objects onto the walls
Here is where the fun really starts. The main duties of a courier are to oversee all aspects of the installation. We were responsible for the objects from the time they left the RIBA to the time they were hung on the wall. This involved over-seeing the unpacking of the crates and making sure all of the lists matched, especially that of the borrowers with the list of the objects on the truck.
The courier is also responsible for checking the environmental conditions, light levels and that they are securely fixed to the walls. Every object is overseen going onto the wall, this meant a lot of following of Italian technicians. We got to use the words perfecto, justo and distorto quite a lot!
September 4, 2008
Vicenza, CISA Palladio, lunchtime
Unloading our precious cargo
Arrival at the venue. It was a grand affair when we arrived. As it was market day we had to have a police escort and they closed the road to give us access. This venue is a palace by the master-architect himself, Palladio, now converted into exhibition spaces. This makes an atmospheric venue for for the show, but, as you’ll see, we needed an expert team to move the precious cargo around this environment.
Weather check - Sun!
Improvisation and adaptability
Wheels on fire
We had one crate that contained all of the fragile recto/verso drawings and this needed special care and the normal method of skates and the metal sheet would not do the job.
This simple contraption is a skate with pneumatic tyres with additional blocks to raise the crate from the ground, leading to a smoother ride and less stress all round.
Luckily it worked very well.