Art Handling, Transport and Storage

Duration

Oct. 14 - Nov. 11, 2025

Enroll before

Oct. 10, 2025

One-time Payment

210.00 € (incl. VAT)

Live sessions

3 hrs/week

This course offers specially designed training on the handling, storage, and transportation of cultural heritage focusing on modern and contemporary artworks (paintings, sculptures, and installation works).

Artworks have to be moved, packed, transported, stored, and presented properly to guarantee their preservation and safety. Curators, gallery staff, art handlers, and technicians are in direct and frequent contact with artworks and therefore need to know the essentials of proper care, maintenance and preservation. Additionally, in an ever-expanding global art world, this knowledge is crucial as the loan and transportation of works of art have increased significantly in recent years

This course is useful for anyone in contact with artworks and will provide basic guidelines for handling, packaging, transport and storage of works of art. In addition, the lecturer will enrich these guidelines, methods, and techniques through case studies and day-to-day examples.

*Prices include VAT

Course image: Spencer Chow via Unsplash

Lecturer's profile photo: © Lukas Papierak, 2020.

Session 1. Introduction

Introduction to the program and course overview.

This is a one-hour-only welcome session. The lecturer will introduce the program and participants will introduce themselves. No prior preparation is necessary.

Session 2. Handling

General introduction into handling artworks: how to touch, move and place objects
What not to do – common mistakes in art handling
Handling equipment and its application

Session 3. Packing - How to pack and crate artwork

Different crates used for transport (e.g. transportation frames, climate buffered crates) and their applications
Overview on materials used for soft packings like Tyvek, bubblewrap, Polyethylene foil or acid-free cardboard
Basic guide to safeguard glazed and framed paintings and drawings/works on paper

Session 4. Transport

Art transport basics
Handling equipment: how to make best use of pallet jacks,forklifts and other devices to move heavy duty artworks
Requirements for short, in-house as well as long distance transports
Introduction on how to communicate with a transport company

Session 5. Storage

General requirements on storage organisation
Materials and tools for storage use
Monitoring, pest management, housekeeping
Summary of good practices for daily work

We will use Zoom for the live video conferences, please check Zoom's technical requirements here.

Closed captioning will be available during the video conference.

"The course is very complete, for an inexperienced person like me. It set the basis for a general understanding of the Art Handling, Transport and Storage. I am very satisfied with what has been learned. From the first class on I put the knowledge, procedures and methods into practice."

Art Handling, Transport and Storage

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