Apart from more obvious risks, if a work is off level by even a few millimetres and the inaccuracy isn’t picked up before, say, the blockbuster in which it hangs opens to the public, a lot of people will see it — and people do notice. Through the team’s professionalism and high standards, and an overlay of checks and balances, they aim to avoid that feedback. Regardless of whether the work is an El Greco or a Grade Twelver, the team brings A-game focus and dedication to each changeover. For those who just recently installed one show after another, the ‘Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Visual Art’ (often abbreviated by staff to ‘CGen’) and then ‘European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’, that’s precisely what happened. Installation Officer Chris Booth, who coordinates the team — most of whom are artists (himself included), architects or otherwise arts-affiliated, working part time around their practice or discipline — feels a great sense of camaraderie and pride in their work, adding that ‘the cycle of shows we just worked on has been a professional highlight’. For other local artists in the team, especially, the rare opportunity to handle some of the Western canon’s most revered work was a chance to take their skills to another level, but it also provided quiet moments to study surfaces and details up close, and handle things very few people, through the centuries, have touched. For Matt Malone, a painter and student of architecture on the team, working on the installation of ‘European Masterpieces’ was an honour and privilege not to be taken lightly, and also highlighted the importance of personal processes and mindfulness while on the job:

In terms of actual working procedure, installation relies on precision and the repetition of a specific set of handling movements. Our pre-install preparation ensures the team establishes a focus early. From here, we follow a desire to continually finesse and perfect. I feel a bond is created between the staff involved during the install. Together, we complete a task way beyond the sum of our parts.
 

Maybe it’s the shared experience, or something of a deep understanding of what an artist goes through during a creative outpouring, that the collaborative process involving designers, curators and practising artists — from initial concept to slight modifications on the floor — can present a finished work to best effect. Honed by a sense of the exhibition-in-making as a kind of stage being set, where artists are characters whose scripts are on display, being on the team can also become a unique kind of performative role for some team members. As Matt Dabrowski, who creates works as The Many Hands of Glamour, suggests:

We present an artwork as faithfully as possible according to records and documentation that we have. But also, one of the more interesting roles of our install crew is to function as aesthetic interpreters, acting as hand of the artist, not present, by assisting and replicating the artist's ‘style’ or ‘signature’. Like an actor takes on a role, another personality, the install crew assimilate, imitate and reproduce style, tones, textures and compositional arrangements or the 'feel' of the artist on show

For Mark Birrell, working with likeminded, creative people in the crew is a form of exchange that motivates and inspires. He posits the skill sets he has brought from a background in interior, product design and manufacturing, have enabled him to adapt, give and gain value in terms of shared knowledge, and improve processes to foster versatility between departments. His sense that the team is part of an ecosystem of knowledge transfer is a common refrain among the team:

In terms of ‘unique’ attributes to becoming successful in the role, I believe there’s a couple that are universal: a genuine urge to succeed (GUTS), a belief that what you are doing is valuable, and a teachable attitude — you’re never too old to learn new things.

The annual ‘Creative Generation Excellence Awards’ exhibition showcases selected artworks by high-performing school-leavers from around Queensland. With works on public display, it’s a big moment; for some, it’s the first step on a professional development ladder as they contemplate a career as an exhibiting artist. For many in the installation team, CGen is a reminder of their own early days as artists. Working on the show also triggered a few thoughts about what might have been good to know at that stage. Brisbane artist Nick Ashby, who assisted with its installation, was happy to share some insights that are gold for young makers:

I think an understanding of art histories, and practices, as well as material properties, helps the projects on which we work, and with the objects we have to handle. This understanding also helps as we engage with other artists, curators, and designers to achieve good exhibition outcomes. For a younger artist, thinking about how to install their own work is an important consideration, and especially how the display helps convey ideas in the artwork . . . Obviously, more conventional works like painting have more conventional ways to be installed, but even these can be played around with.

In reflecting on the installation of the ‘Creative Generation’ project, Chris Booth offers some further advice:

Choose the best materials you can afford and take care with the technicalities of construction to ensure the longevity of the artwork . . . Think carefully about presentation of the artwork. Beautiful and thoughtful artwork can so easily be let down by its presentation . . . I feel that it’s the one area often overlooked.
 

There is a generosity of spirit, professionalism and technical ability, no matter what show they are working on, that sets the QAGOMA installation team apart, but their efforts often remain in the shadows. At a recent dinner hosted by Dr Mark Nelson, Chair of Art Exhibitions Australia, and attended by the Premier and Board of Trustees, for stakeholders, national media and partners involved in bringing the works from The Met to Brisbane, the installation team’s work was recognised by special guest Michael Gallagher — the Sherman Fairchild Chairman of the Department of Paintings Conservation at The Met — who spoke at length on his admiration for the team:

If there were an Olympics for installation, and I’m not a betting man, but I’d be putting my money on the Brisbane team for Gold. In particular, I want to thank the team with whom I have worked for the past ten days to install the show . . . they have been truly superb.

They are the best I have ever worked with in my career.

I was walking around at the end of the day, after a week, and I came across one of the installation team. He was standing transfixed in front of the El Greco painting — a really extraordinary picture — and he wasn’t at first aware of my presence. He was just saying ‘wow . . . wow’, and then he saw me.

He said, ‘You know what, I’ve never seen one in real life’. And I found it incredibly moving. I wrote back home, because our curators are incredibly passionate, and these works are their children, and it’s like they’ve sent their children somewhere else, and they get worried . . .

And so I said to them, ‘they’re not just in the hands of professionals here, they are loved here. They are being loved and cared for as we would’. And, I have to say, every one of them is being treated as a wow moment.

For Booth and the team, this high praise, along with the experience of installing ‘European Masterpieces’, has engendered new levels of respect for the team, among the team, and between institutions.

It really felt a privilege to represent the Gallery in a very real physical, technical sense, with the sheer scale of the canonical importance of these masterworks. It reminded us that we were intimately part of a long, ongoing journey in caring for these artworks through the centuries. All in all, it was an honour and a privilege and, while at times stressful . . . we felt equals with colleagues handling absolutely magnificent works at such a high level of focus, with such a great and rewarding outcome.

May spirit levels continue to be high for the team, with congratulations from the wider QAGOMA family!

Simon Wright is Assistant Director, Learning and Public Engagement.