A Green Curatorial Process

Planning and staging a museum exhibition can be an extremely energy-intensive process. Drafting labels and loan forms wastes volumes of paper; moving works of art involves building custom wooden crates; dedicated shipping of single pieces by plane or truck leaves behind a massive carbon footprint; and preparing the gallery requires fabricating disposable wall, platforms, and cases that are often made from non-recyclable and even toxic materials.

For this show, we employed greener and more sustainable museum practices that we plan to stay committed to in the future:

            Exhibition Planning

• Not a single piece of paper was printed by the curatorial team in the process of planning and designing this exhibition.

 

• Hongtao Zhou, a member of the curatorial team who lives in Madison, traveled by bus to every meeting at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

            Shipping

• The furniture in this gallery was shipped to the Museum in recycled cardboard boxes.

 

• Almost all the objects traveled by ground transport. The Jarvi bench was brought to the Museum by bicycle.

Exhibition Construction

All paints are either no or low-VOC (volatile organic compound).

Walls are made from 100% recycled pre-consumer fiber content.

Other Issues

You may notice that the lighting is different in this area. An LED light, said to be long lasting and energy efficient, illuminates this text, while traditional bulbs illuminate the other spaces in the gallery. But the white glow of this light is not particularly appealing aesthetically. A sustainable lighting solution that meets the needs of museums has yet to be developed.