WTW is a multinational company providing global broking insurance services. Our industry and product specialisation help clients to balance their current and future challenges. The arts industry requires uniquely specialised solutions for its management of risk, and we work in partnership with clients.
Several institutions have been affected by protesters’ demonstrative actions over the past few months. Various affiliations include #metoo, Ultima Generazione, JustStopOil. As to risk mitigation, are museums ready to face the challenge of unpredictable actions by exhibitions’ visitors and protesters? Do they have dedicated procedures in place? Is the insurance market ready to share the burden of such new scenario? WTW will arrange a workshop where different players will be discussing, sharing stories and, possibly, solutions.

Hear about Wellcome Collection’s approach to inclusive exhibition design, and how it was implemented in the recentexhibition, ‘In Plain Sight’ which was designed with and for blind and partially sighted people. The exhibition explored thedifferent ways we see, and the tools that shape how we view the world. We trialed new ways for our visitors to experiencethe exhibition that engaged a number of senses and was more accessible, from a tactile floor line guiding visitors aroundthe gallery, invitations to touch artworks and Lights Up sessions with brighter and more even lighting conditions.
The focus of this presentation will be on Lights Up. We increased lighting by agreed lux levels periodically over the courseof the exhibition, to facilitate better access for those with a vision impairment or other sensory processing difficulties, whilstnot increasing light exposure on collections and loans excessively. It was a collaborative project between Exhibitions andConservation, and our lenders, considering both conservation science and visitor experience to find ways to balancepreservation and collections care with inclusive and accessible design.
We will talk about calculating lux exposure and negotiating with lenders, our smart lighting control system, feedback fromuser evaluation, and how we will continue this offer going forward as part of a Relaxed Opening programme.

The work of the registrar has increasingly changed, also in Italy, in particular in the Renaissance rooms of Palazzo Strozzi, which, for the past ten years or so, has been hosting international exhibitions with large-scale installations and different and unusual materials: organic, natural, chemical, industrial, digital, etc.
The exhibition Anish Kapoor. Untrue Unreal (which ended in February 2024) meant a significant change of pace in terms of design, installation and even maintenance during its course.
The case of the Anglo-Indian master's works strongly influenced our spaces, providing us with an opportunity for creative and fruitful mediation with the artist's studio - in what they called 'dirty rooms' - in order to safeguard the architecture of the building, while respecting the design, the artist's idea and the materiality of the works themselves.
We invited our colleagues from the Royal Academy of Arts to participate in a discussion about the challenges and opportunities associated with producing temporary exhibitions with living artists in a historic suite of galleries. The Represented an exhibition with Anish Kapoor in 2009 and has continued its long history of developing an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions with living artists to this date.

Employing multiple perspectives - American foundation Collection Manager, Italian Museum Registrar, American insurance broker, International Customs Broker, Italian customs broker and shipping company, and Italian exhibition production company - we will discuss the unique challenges and considerations for mounting an exhibition in Venice.
We will use our recent experience of working together on the exhibition.
Willem de Kooning L’Italia, co-organized by The Willem de Kooning Foundation and currently on view in Venice, as a touch point of the conservation. The FoundationCollections Manager engaged with their customs broker, shippers, and insurance broker for budgetary purposes, to troubleshoot risks and navigate logistics unique to Venice, negotiate loans with foreign lenders, and comply with Italian law. This will lead to a larger panel discussion on how to work most effectively with your Italian partners.
Points of discussion:
- Multiple perspectives
- Working on an entire exhibition versus a single item loan
- Timing
- Insurance
- Customs
- Taxes
- Working with companies that organize exhibitions on behalf of Italian museums
- Conservation concerns
- Understanding Italian approach to exhibitions
Elayne Rush will open the conversation, beginning with a brief overview of our shared exhibition project and the role of each person. Elayne Rush will speak from the experience of the collections manager of the exhibition co-organizer, introduce topics for discussion, and ask questions of the participants as needed.

In Italy most of the cultural heritage is hosted in historical buildings that were not Museum purpose building. This meansthat Italian registrars have had to adapt their practices and create tailored handlings in order to overcome barriers.Especially in case of temporary exhibitions registrars are asked to balance expectations of the Lenders with the limits and specificity of their building. Lastly, it has not to be forgotten that any historic building is a work of art itself and has to be safeguarded as cultural heritage, in close communication with the Soprintendenze.
Through the experience of three major exhibition’s spaces, the speakers will talk about security and safety (for both workers and workers), safeguard of the heritage, creative way of problem solving and the thrilling of working in a challengingbuilding.

Installing artworks at Ca' Corner della Regina: water challenges and floating solutions.
Ca’ Corner della Regina is the venue of the Fondazione Prada in Venice. Since 2011, an annual exhibition has been organized there in conjunction with the Biennale. Its position on the Grand Canal, just a few steps from Rialto, and the eighteenth-century structure of the palazzo, subject to the protection of the Superintendence, make the organization of exhibitions a continuous challenge when compared to the venue in Largo Isarco in Milan, which opened in 2015.
This talk aims to highlight the logistical and operational difficulties of a Venetian location that often worry and, at the same time, fascinate foreign colleagues and others. It analyzes, with case studies, the different solutions used, such as the use of winches, crane boats, and tracked stair climbers, according to the type of art works and exhibition layout.