Watching this thread on museum-l, I would love to have respondents from
museums of contemporary art - anyone out there?

What do you do about numbering exhibition copies of an original (the
original is owned and permission exists to have or to fabricate exhibition
copies), or, refabrications (things for which a  cerificate is owned
allowing a museum to recreate a piece each time it is installed - ephemeral
pieces, for example).  What about when a museum owns both european versions
and american versions of the same work (objects which may contain either
electronics or lamps).  What can be done to number/track back up equipment
for objects where equipment is integral to the piece, but that same
equipment doesn't age too well (monitors from the 60's, etc.).   What about
master tapes and videodisk copies which are part of a work but not
necessarily the entire work?

It seems that something beyond .a.b.c or .1.2.3 is needed here.  Each
object or component has to be tracked, so it needs a unique number.




Suzanne

************
Suzanne Quigley
Head Registrar, Collections and Exhibitions
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212 423 3568
fax: 212 423 3650
email: [log in to unmask]