Filled with enthusiasm in the summer of 2014, we – the Austrian Registrars Committee (ARC) – began the work of organizing the conference in Vienna. The European Registrars Conference is taking place for the tenth time in 2016. For you, our guests, and the event, we needed to create a fit and proper ambiance in “our” city.
To be sure, the vision of gathering 700 colleagues in Vienna spurred us on; but one thing was of utmost importance for us from the outset: Keeping things light and lively, and maintaining our sense of humor. That meant thinking outside the box and taking uncharted paths – literally and figuratively – with the conference organisation.
While putting the program together, we were especially diligent in searching out the latest developments in our branch, nurturing the exchange of experience and knowledge through panels, workshops and a conference app, as well as in the form of an interactive survey, in which we invite you to take part.
Art’s noble and lofty domain – and that epitomizes our conference humor – is brought down to eye level and observed head on.
We trust that the main program topics – Art and Law, Materials and Standards, I am … and Digital Museum – to each of which a half day is dedicated, offer inspiration, know-how and a platform for discussion to all participants. And the conference will also prompt us to “contemplate our own navels” by asking the question “Who are we?”

from the official conference program

Opening introduction
Christiane Rainer Chair of ARC and ERC2016 Steering Committee, Austria

Keynote Speech
Cultural heritage, the refugee crisis and building sustaina ble, peacefu l communities
Jasper Visser, Senior partner at VISSCH+STAM Strategic Services, Museum of the Future, Netherlands

Main topic: art and the law
International loan agreements: a comparison
Sandra Sykora, Lawyer, Art Historian, Switzerland

Immunity from seizure and due diligence: what registrars need to know
Freda Matassa, Director, Matassa Toffolo Ltd., Art Collections Management, UK

Loan agreements: necessary evil or frivolous legal games
Ernst Ploil, Attorney-at-law, Austria, ploil / krepp / boesch Rechtsanwälte GmbH

A registrar’s survival guide to the copyright jungle
Florian Schmidt-Gabain, Attorney, Switzerland

Main Topic: materialities and standards
Alteration or damage? developing an instrumental method for the precise monitoring of transportation damages
Christoph Krekel, Professor for Archaeometry, State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany

There is no best rental crate
Martijn de Ruijter, Conservator and Collections Manager, Royal Tropical Institute, Netherlands

Insect pests out of the box
Pascal Querner, Researcher, Univ. of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Austria

Inside the box. How to be museum standard, green and cheap?
Julian Fors, Storage Manager, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Oslo, Norway

Out of the dark into the light – considerations on light source and light levels
Stefan Röhrs, Deputy Director, Rathgen-Foschungslabor, Germany

Main topic: I am…
Backstage – What viewers shouldn’t find out
Julia Voss, Art Department Head, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

Registrars: training for the future and gender perspectives
Abigail Harrison Moore, Head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds, UK
Jen Kaines, Registrar and Collections Manager, Leeds Museums and Galleries, UK
Laura Walsh, Registrar and Display Technicians Manager, Royal Armouries, UK

Main topic: digital museum
Use and re-use of data. How registrars impact the future of museum
Harald Krämer, Associate Professor, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong

The transformation of the condition report: from color-coded pens to digital media
Jennifer Hefner, Head Registrar of the American Federation of Arts, Co-Founder of Articheck, USA

Professional digital asset manage ment systems
Dirk Lock, CEO, SOLVATEC Deutschländer and Lock GbR, Germany

Plenary Session
Presentation of our interactive registrars survey (collected during the conference)
ARC Austrian Registrars Committee

The european registrars initiative
Wendela Brouwer, Head Registrar’s Office at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Veerle de Meester, Exhibition Manager, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium

Exhibition and collection specialists in Asia
Veronica Castillo, Head of Collection and Exhibition Services, M+, Hong Kong

Presentation by ARCS
Tamara Johnston, Treasurer and Founding Board Memeber of ARCS (Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists), USA

Workshops
Integrated pest management (IPM)
Pascal Querner Researcher, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Department of Integrated Biology and Biodiversity, Research Institute of Zoology, Austria

Application programming interfaces (API) – concepts and basic functionalities
Dirk Lock, CEO, SOLVATEC Deutschländer and Lock GbR, Germany

Display cases: are they truly impermeable?
Johannes Strecha/Markus Wiechert, Artex Museum Services, Austria

Cybercrime in the art world
Richard Nicholson, Executive Director & Head of Fine Art – UK & Europe, Willis Towers Watson

Beltracchi – the art of forgery
Filmscreening Documentary, Germany 2014 (93 minutes), German Film Academy Award “Lola“ for “Best Documentary“, 2014

Cultural heritage, communities and migration
Jasper Visser, Senior partner at VISSCH+STAM Strategic Services, Museum of the Future, Netherland

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