What goes up must come down. Sometimes what comes down must be carefully organized and housed for long-term art storage. This is the case for the artist Do Ho Suh’s The Perfect Home II. This large-scale installation by Korean-born artist Do Ho Suh was installed in the Museum’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery from October 12, 2018–May 5, 2019. The Perfect Home II is a full-scale re-creation of the artist’s former apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
The metal rods, connectors and nylon fabric arrived to the museum without installation plans or adequate long-term storage. Members of the Conservation and Collections staff measured and logged all of the rod lengths and locations into an Excel document.
During the installation, a storage system was designed and constructed for the rods. The over 1000 aluminum rods, which comprise the piece’s monumental substructure and the apartments appliances, vary greatly in length from 50mm (2”) up to 2708mm (109”/9’). Fourteen 8’ x 2’ sheets of paper-lined ½” thick Tycore panels were prepared as bases and lids for rod storage. To further strengthen the Tycore bases five 4” x 24” wide pieces of paper-lined Tycore were adhered with PVA across the bottom of each base. Then the bases were gridded off with 1” wide ethafoam strips adhered with hot glue to store five or six rods per section. 2” wide dense cotton strap with Velcro strips at each end were created to attach the bases and lids.
During the de-installation process accession numbers were attached to each rod. The numbers identify the piece’s overall designation (2017.46.), it’s location in the apartment: such as corridor roof or apartment floor or kitchen appliance/refrigerator, and finally a letter to correlate with the rod’s exact length.
Now with clear installation plans, accession number identification and proper storage this magnificent work is ready for installation by the Museum’s Conservation and Collections staff for generations to come.
Posted by Keith DuQuette, Conservation Specialist
