Collection materials in eating areas

Suzanne Hargrove <objcons [at] slam__org> writes

>There has been a resurgence of interest in placing artworks in our
>museum restaurant.  I would appreciate hearing from those in other
>institutions regarding their policies toward displaying art in
>restaurants and areas where food is regularly served.

An institution that would consider the use of their collection in a
restaurant has to be suspect. Most mission statements outline the
institution purposes, ie. "collect, preserve, exhibit, and educate".
If these issues are addressed within your mission statement then it
is a clear contradiction to be using the collection to decorate the
restaurant. A question I have is, does your institution have a
written Collections Policy? Does this policy not address such abuse?
If this issue is not addressed within the Collections Policy this
policy should be amended stating your intentions.

The institution I work for has an "E" collection. The "E" stands for
education. This letter is a prefix to the accession number and
frequently designates objects that are reproductions or facsimiles.
"E" collections are the only type of collections based objects that
is allowed to be exhibited in settings such as a restaurant.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:69
                  Distributed: Tuesday, April 9, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-69-007
                                  ***