by Tessa de Alarcon

If you have visited the Museum recently, you may have noticed that The Artifact Lab is now closed. We believe that the Artifact Lab, or the “fishbowl” as the public conservation lab was affectionately called, was a resounding success, as it initially was intended to be a 1 year exhibition (opening in 2012) but was extended for a total run of 11 years! To be sure, there were shifts and changes to the space during that time, but the overall premise of having a space where visitors could come and see our work did not change at all in all that time. In order to prepare for even bigger changes in the Museum, we moved our work to another non-public space in the Museum, and the gallery space that once housed the Artifact Lab will soon have new case installations with more content for Ancient Egypt: from Discovery to Display. So there will soon be new stories to see and objects to enjoy! 

While there is no longer conservation work happening in the public spaces at the museum, all of us in the conservation department are still working away in other lab spaces at the museum and offsite on a variety of treatment projects. We will continue to share that work and our observations in blog posts and on social media, and we are exploring new ways of engaging with the public. But as the post suggests, the way we share that information is changing. So stay tuned! There are still exciting new things happening at the museum! 

With that in mind, stay tuned to the Penn Museum’s social media channels in November for Ask a Conservator Week!