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From person to person and nail to nail
The changed state of the jobs market has also had consequences for the Kunsthaus Personnel Office. Just recently we advertised an interesting position relating to the organization of exhibitions. Of course we were expecting plenty of applications, but not the 600 we received. Sorting through 600 applications, selecting a number of suitable candidates, conducting interviews and then sending out 599 rejections, pushed us to the limits of our capacity and beyond. Luckily, staff turnover at the Kunsthaus Zurich is low, so that it isn’t often that we have to deal with such a flood of paperwork. Nonetheless, we still don’t have the time to reply to the, on average, 20 speculative applications we receive each week, as there are seldom vacancies. Current vacant positions can be found on our website homepage www.kunsthaus.ch. For some time now we have also been offering those participating in projects for the unemployed the chance to take a look behind the scenes for a certain period and an opportunity to use or enhance their specialist knowledge.
All of the 120 staff currently employed are given an informative introduction to each new exhibition by the curators. Once every two years we also organize a day trip for staff – a visit to a museum in another Swiss city, or a well-known destination such as the Rigi – and information events (e.g. about the renovation work) or parties, as a way of saying thank you to those who work here. Given the inexorable rise of an e-mail culture, “face to face” dialogue is becoming ever more important. However, the Kunsthaus is a “lean” organization with many staff fulfilling more than one function. On top of my responsibility for Personnel also comes that of “Exhibitions Registrar”. What does this involve? Here’s a topical example: we have just taken receipt of 74 works by Georgia O’Keeffe from a variety of public and private collections for our exhibition in the newly renovated Bührle Gallery. The lion’s share of these pictures come from the US. Already in early summer we had, together with specialist transport companies, made plans for transport, as a great many of the works on loan from American and European museums were accompanied by members of staff. These escorts were present at all stages of the painting’s journey, i.e. from unhanging and packing, along the entire transport route, to unpacking and hanging in the Kunsthaus. The same will happen at the end of the exhibition. This is in accordance with the insurance cover for the art works: from “nail to nail” which is concluded either with a broker or directly with an insurance company. This interface as ‘registrar’ in the organization of an exhibition is so varied that there is still plenty we haven’t mentioned, and for those who are interested in knowing more we recommend the following:
On the Road Again: Developing and Managing Traveling Exhibitions by Rebecca A. Buck and Jean Allman Gilmore, American Association of Museums.
Courierspeak by Cordelia Rose, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Planung und Organisation einer Kunstausstellung (Planning and organizing an art exhibition) by Daniela Tobler, ICOM-Switzerland.
