Storage RE-ORG - ICOM SEE

RE-ORG IN ZAGREB

ICCROM and UNESCO project of reorganization of museum storages “RE-ORG” is held for the first time in Croatia and organized by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), ICOM South East Europe and its national committees ICOM Slovenia and ICOM Croatia.

The project was developed by ICCROM in cooperation with UNESCO. It is organized by ICOM, ICOM SEE and its national committees ICOM Slovenia and ICOM Croatia, which is included in the project thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture. Since ICOM SEE has been implementing this project for South East Europe for several years now, the Central Institute for Conservation from Belgrade has been part of the organization. The project also received funding from HEP.

The project showed great interest by candidates through the published call on the web pages of ICOM Croatia, and 26 participants from the Croatian and Slovenian museums are participating in the project. Project mentors are Jana Šubic Prislan and Veljko Džikić and two new mentors have been participating for the first time – Domagoj Kačan and Mihaela Grčević.

On Tuesday, 8th November 2017, a press conference was held about the RE-ORG education program, which is being held this year in Croatia, hosted by the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb.

The director of the Ethnographic Museum and President ICOM SEE, Goranka Horjan, welcomed all the participants and stressed that the great challenge for the profession is to take care of the collections according to the standards in view of the less available resources (human, spatial, financial). That is why this project with modest means enables implementation of minimum professional standards. She added that problems are present not only in Croatian museums, but also in neighbouring countries. The Ethnographic Museum is faced with a number of problems associated with storing collections and is aware that only proactive action can improve the conditions in the storage.

She thanked for her arrival and welcomed Alenka Černelič Krošelj, the director of the Posavina Museum of Brežice and the Vice-President of ICOM Slovenia and Darko Babić, the President of ICOM Croatia. They also addressed to the attendees and expressed their satisfaction that this year’s project will be held in Zagreb on an international level. The seminar was opened by the representative of the City of Zagreb, Veljko Mihalić.

Gaël de Guichen, the head of education who worked for decades at ICCROM for preventive conservation of mobile and immobile heritage, spoke to the audience. He was the Assistant to the General Director and today is his adviser. Through a short presentation, he presented the RE-ORG method as well as what he did in July 2017 as a project announcement, in collaboration with the Museum Documentation Center.

STORAGE RE-ORG PREPARATORY MEETING HELD IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM IN ZAGREB

ICOM SEE continues to implement RE-ORG project in the region due to the support of ICOM Special Project Grant. Many countries in the region of the SEE have indicated the urgent need to improve condition in their storages and so far the project has been implemented in several countries. This year the workshop will be held in Croatia with the participation of professionals from Slovenia.

Mr Gaël de Guichen, former assistant of the Director-General of ICCROM and one of the leading experts for conservation and protection of cultural heritage, stayed in Zagreb from 4th to 7th July 2017 in order to prepare the course.

The aim of the meeting in the Ethnographic Museum was the inspection of the premises and identification of needs for the RE-ORG seminar. It will be organised in the storages of the Ethnographic Museum from 6th to 17th November 2017, with the support of ICOM.

Gael de Guichen presented the project of selected storage reorganization to the staff and gave examples he had seen all over the world. On the basis of the self-evaluation and the inspection of the storage together with the expert museum staff, an assessment of the condition was made. A preparatory phase of the project was also made and the storages ready to implement the project of reorganization were chosen.

LECTURE “PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION STARTS IN STORAGE”

Gaël de Guichen, former Assistant of the Director-General of ICCROM and one of the leading experts for conservation and protection of cultural heritage, held a lecture in the Museum Documentation Center in Zagreb during his stay in Croatia in order to prepare ICOM SEE workshop that is scheduled for 6 – 17 November and supported by ICOM.

“Preventive Conservation Starts in Storage” is the name of the lecture in which de Guichen talked about history, state and problems of museum storages. He presented specific elements of the RE-ORG project; sectors of reorganization, self-evaluation, criteria of a professional storage and a work plan in 4 phases. He also mentioned study cases on which he had been working all over the world.

The lecture has been organized by ICOM Croatia, ICOM SEE and the Museum Documentation Center. The lecture draw the attention of numerous museum professionals and 76 participants came to the Museum Documentation Centre which clearly shows how this topic is relevant and important for museums in the region. This was a great introduction to the STORAGE RE-ORG practical course which will be organized in the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb from 6th do 17th November 2017 for particpants from Croatia and Slovenia.