Launch of the tool AGATO
AGATO is an online decision support tool for heritage collection managers focused on properly preserving mixed-media historical objects. It guides the user in assessing the risks to which a collection item is exposed and provides recommendations to prevent future damage and improve conservation conditions.
Do you manage a collection of historical mixed-media objects? How do you know if these objects of various materials are well preserved? Which materials are most at risk of deterioration? What potentially harmful elements in the conservation or exhibition environment should you pay particular attention to?
This preventive conservation tool is relevant for art collections and collections of religious objects, manuscripts, historical (measuring) instruments, costumes, ethnographic objects, and others.
The AGATO tool was developed by the KIK-IRPA’s Preventive Conservation Unit in the framework of BELSPO BRAIN-be's ArtGarden project, with KU Leuven and the University of Antwerp as partners.
To further explain the tool, a short video was produced in collaboration with Linda Wullus, curator of European Ethnology at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.
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