Mechanical Insights Symposium

Mechanical Insights: Shaping the Future of Museum Collection Preservation

November 12–15, 2024

Getty Center, Los Angeles

This symposium brought together an international group of experts in the mechanical characterization of historic and artists’ materials to discuss current and future trends in the study and preservation of museum collections. It provided a forum to discuss how mechanical research can inform decision-making in the management of museum environments, practical conservation, and the transportation of art objects.

Slowing or preventing physical changes in art objects is a fundamental and challenging aim for collections preservation. The role of scientific research is critical in understanding and quantifying processes that can affect collections including, temperature- and humidity-induced strain, shock and vibration, material fatigue, damage by exposure to light and ultraviolet, chemical interactions with pollutants. Knowledge of such processes will better inform appropriate object conservation strategies.

In the absence of this information and data, it is common in the museum community to adopt a "risk averse" approach, which can lead to adherence to stringent procedures and environmental conditions that can be prohibitively expensive, unsustainable, and significantly limit access to objects.

Research over the past decade has collected detailed material data to understand physical behavior, support modeling of failure mechanisms and identify the critical conditions that lead to physical change of museum objects.

Several scientific groups have focused on the development of data-based predictive tools that reflect the nuances of these degradation models. These tools enable practitioners to select materials and construction types, and define an object's state of conservation. The relevance of such tools depends on the implementation of effective validation procedures.

• Laboratory testing of historical and mock-up samples to inform predictive models
• Analyzing the risks to objects under external loads or subject to unstable climatic conditions
• Validation of predictive models through in situ monitoring, case studies, and field campaigns
• New and emerging technologies for mechanical testing and analysis of physical changes in cultural heritage materials
• Development of data-based tools for predicting physical change to art objects
• Development of knowledge-based strategies for environmental management

Program details are available on the symposium website.