Countdown to Emerald Cities

Putting together a major art exhibition is not a quick process, with the planning for most shows starting years in advance. But no matter how ahead we begin work, the final two months before an exhibition opens will always be crunch time.

Emerald Cities does not debut until October 23, but its installation is complicated by the concurrent deinstallation of Lords of the Samuari (ending September 20). This is not atypical — we try and keep the turn around time (or “dark time”) between exhibitions as short as possible. Since these two exhibitions share many of the same behind-the-scenes staff, the result is a whole lot of people running around with brains and workspaces messily split between Japan and Southeast Asia.

So here are a few pics of this ongoing mayhem, as museum staff work to complete as much Emerald Cities prep as possible before jumping into packing up Lords of the Samurai.

In one of our previous posts, we took a peek at a Burmese court costume being prepared for display in our conservation lab. Well it’s coming together nicely, with most of the mount completed and the pieces being fitted one by one.

Down by the carpentry shop, a steady stream of exhibition furniture — casework, pedestals, and platforms — continue to emerge. Once painted and placed in each gallery, these furnishings not only show off the artwork, they also are critical to defining the layout and flow of the exhibition.

Our mountmaking studio has been exceptionally busy, crafting a range of hardware to protect the artwork in the event of an earthquake.  Small objects are fitted with delicate wire mounts while larger sculpture — such as the mythical wild goose that will grace North Court, require more substantial support.

In the conservation lab, the large thai paintings on cloth that have been featured in previous posts and on our YouTube channel, are starting to move to the upright position as they are test-fitted to fabric covered display mounts.

This is just a small taste of what we’re up to behind-the-scenes. As we continue to approach the exhibition turnaround period, keep an eye out for more behind-the-scenes updates on Emerald Cities.