Keynote speech
“Sustainability-conscious management of art collections” Łukasz Bratasz, head of the Cultural Heritage Research group at the Jerzy Haber Institute
- 19 April 2024 (Day 2)
- 9:00 - 10:00
- Municipality Tivat, Multimedial Hall
- Facilitator:
The debate about the more responsible use of energy in museums should be structured with three distinct questions: what do we want? …know? …can? Recent scientific research addresses generally the second one and shows that objects are much less vulnerable to environmental variations than previously assumed. The presentation will review the risks related to climate control and demonstrate that it doesn’t reduce overall risk to the collection and has a very low benefit-cost ratio. A new preventive conservation platform HERIe supporting decision making process of managing the collection have been developed for museum professionals recently and will be presented. A list of gaps in knowledge impeding reduction of energy consumption will be discussed. The case of low energy museum storages illustrating the win-win situation when preservation is not in conflict with environmental care will be presented.
Łukasz Bratasz
Head of the Cultural Heritage Research group at the Jerzy Haber Institute
Professor Łukasz Bratasz graduated in physics from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in 1996, and received a PhD in 2002 from the same university. In the same year, he joined the staff of the Jerzy Haber Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences. For many years, he headed the Laboratory of Analysis and Non-Destructive Testing of Artefacts in the National Museum in Krakow. He was the head of the Sustainable Conservation Lab, at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University between 2015-2018. Currently, he is head of the Cultural Heritage Research group at the Jerzy Haber Institute. His research and work as a consultant focus on the environmentally induced degradation of cultural heritage materials, risk assessment and design of sustainable methods of collection care, especially energy-efficient strategies for climate control. He participated in or coordinated 35 national and international research projects in the cultural heritage field.