Hello,
Among the various fire control systems at our institution, is a wet
pipe sprinker system that was adapted to be a dry pipe system ten
years ago. Over the course of the next year, we will be cleaning and
updating this system and it will again be a wet pipe system. Obviously
such renovation projects affect far more than the fire control system
as the pipes run through some office and gallery spaces. We would be
interested in hearing from other institutions that have done similar
cleaning/renovation projects in recent years.
Many thanks,
Renata Guttman
Canadian Centre for Architecture/
Centre Canadien d'Architecture
renata@cca.qc.ca
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 06:10:59 -0700
From: "Ron Lander, CPP" rlander@ix.netcom.com
Organization: Ultra-Safe Security Solutions
To: Museum Security Network securma@xs4all.nl
Subject:
Y2K Answer ...& Seminar
snip
I am interested is hearing how museums are preparing for Y2K.
unsnip
The first thing you have to look seriouslt at is your Access Control system! Then,
your computers and building systems like Electricity (!) HVAC. This is a serious
issue on the East coast, since it will occur during the cold of winter!
Manpower, communications, backup and outside support are also serious
concerns.
ASIS (American Society for Industrial Security) is having a seminar
on Y2K in Washigton, DC June 23-24. If you want additiona linfo on
the seminar, feel free to contact me. I am co-chairing the seminar
committee and one of the speakers...
Ron Lander, CPP
Ultra-Safe Security Solutions
From: Patty Gerstenblith pgersten@condor.depaul.edu
Subject:
Copyright Decision
In response to Stuart Park's query, the federal court for the Southern
District of New York issued two decisions, the more recent in February
1999, holding that transparencies of works that are in the public
domain are not original and therefore not copyrightable under both US
and UK law. The references for the full decisions are: Bridgeman Art
Library v. Corel, 25 F. Supp. 2d 421 (S.D.N.Y. 1998), 36 F. Supp. 2d
191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999).
Patty Gerstenblith
DePaul University College of Law
pgersten@condor.depaul.edu
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject:
Re: Maintenance of sprinkler systems
With regard to the following message posted on the list, I am not
questioning Mr. Nekiel's credentials, only asking that someone please
post them for my own information. When someone poses a question of a
technical nature and a reply is posted, particularly on a subject as
controversial as sprinklers in a museum, it would be helpful to others
if the person answering the question include something so we know his
background such as "fire protection engineer" or "security
consultant," etc. My first thought is that while this question
involves Canada and it is colder there than in the rest of the world,
they do have heat and usually heat their museums and freezing is not a
major issue to my knowledge. If their buildings often, or even
occasionally, lose heat for long enough that the building freezes,
this would be useful to know. I personally favor wet pipe systems but
think dry pipe systems should be used in areas subject to freezing.
But the answer to the question seems to imply a superiority of dry
pipe systems which just isn't, in my opinion, valid. If wet pipe
systems are properly maintained, they actually leak less than wet pipe
systems do. Wet pipe systems dry out and when water does run into the
pipes, there may be problems. So maintenance is a key. If you have a
dry pipe system to MUST maintain it properly. I'd like to hear more
details from the writer on this subject which is of great interest to
me and to my clients. If the writer is a fire protection professional
his informaiton will help me with my constantly re-evaluated position
on the issue. If he is a curator or conservator who often take an
"overly cautious" (I'll be blasted for that terminology) and often
outdated position on sprinklers, this should be known to the readers
of the list. Sorry to be so picky and nothing personal is intended but
this is an important issue.
Steve Keller, CPP
Museum Security Consultant
http://www.stevekeller.com
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject:
Re: y2k
I have been asking my clients what they plan with regard to Y2K on
December 31, 1999, and it appears that if we were to have a New Year's
Eve party for museum security directors, we would have a very small
crowd. Most whom I have spoken with plan on having the Director of
Security and the Building Manager on duty December 31 at midnight,
along with the Data Processing department head "just in case". Urban
museums, where the majority of guards arrive for work by public
transportation, ought to treat December 31 as though it were a "snow
day" and assume that guards may not be able to arrive on time and plan
on having the evening shift stay over if needed. I think that the snow
day model is a good one for all museums. I would try to recruit
people to work the night shift December 31who have fewer obligations
at home. For example, if someone is single and has no spouse or kids
to worry about, lives in an apartment as compared to his or her own
house, etc., then s/he would have less of a need to rush home and take
care of family or possessions if the power/transportation/service
infrastructure failed, and would be better situated to stay over into
the next shift if needed. You should plan on having cots and food
just in case. I'd suggest a New Year's Eve party for those who must
stay over. I personally think that the Y2K problems, if they occur,
will be much more subtle than we expect. I have already had some
fallout from Y2K, believe it or not. An architect owed me a hefty fee
plus reimbursement for expenses on a job and was several months
overdue. I finally called to see when payment could be expected and
was told that the payment was late because they were switching their
records over to a new system to prevent Y2K problems" and this caused
the delay. Just like El Nino, Y2K will get blamed for everything!
But it probabhly was true that this client was late paying due to the
changeover. And after January 1, 2000, the problems may not be over.
As society discovers all of the many small, but annoying, Y2K problems
that are not big enough to shut us down but serious enough to screw
things up, we will have to deal with them. Things like late
deliveries (have supplies you need on hand), slow processing of
background checks, most of which are based on computer records, slow
processing of state licenses for guards, and other inconveniences,
will probably be experienced more than a real shutdown. Expect many
suppliers to ship early (right in the middle of the Christmas season)
causing supply and transportation problems before December 31, and to
keep products out of the pipeline over December 31--January 1 dates
until they see what is going to happen, causing delays. This may cause
you problems. If you are on a calendar year budget and traditionally
order items at the end of the budget year to avoid losing the leftover
money, you may consider ordering real early this year. Remember that
you can set the clocks on your computers to 1972 and simulate the year
2000 and this will get you by on most of your security computers and
software that may be problematic. If you haven't begin to upgrade any
problematic systems by now, plan on doing "the year 72" thing because
you probably can't buy an upgrade and get it installed in time.
Remember that it is more than just upgrading applications software.
Most of the new software requires faster computers so the PC needs to
be upgraded and in most cases, the firmware (chips) inside the data
gathering panels also needs to be upgraded. We have been involved in
negotiating upgrades for a half dozen of our clients and have seen the
proposals for a number of others. For most larger PC-based systems,
the prices are coming in pretty much in the $52,000 range (if firmware
upgrades are not involved) and we have been getting them down to the
$42,000 range. This has been the case with three major product lines.
If you are expecting less, you may have a problem. The negotiation
strategy I have used involves knowing the approximate cost of
upgrading the entire security system to that of another manufacturer,
i.e., replacing System XYZ with System ABC even though this may cost
my client a great deal of money in some cases. It costs less in a Y2K
situation to switch to another system than at any other time so the
contractor is most vulnerable to you switching your business to
another contractor at this time. Use this as leverage. Be advised
that you also have much more leverage if you have an existing serivce
contract than if you do not, because the contractor has more to lose
if he loses your business. Be sure that when you negotiate the
upgrade, that you negotiate a warranty on the new system equipment. If
you buy a new system, or an upgrade to your current system, you
should get a one year full parts and labor warranty.
As part of the negotiation, ascertain what the warranty is worth in
dollar
terms for this new equipment. (My estimate is that it is worth 10% of
the cost of materials (not including any labor or programming). Back
that much out of your annual service cost for the rest of the system.
Example: You pay $40,000 to upgrade your system to the same brand and
same contractor. You agree that the materials cost (including
software) is $35,000 and labor is $5,000. You have an annual service
contract on your system including the computer, software, detectors
and data gathering panels that costs you $25,000 per year. You should
be getting the warranty on the new portions of the upgraded Y2K
compliant system (computer and software) as part of the $35,000 you
are paying. Back $3,500 out of the cost of your next year's service
contract to cover this. Next year you pay $21,500 for service but get
a full service agreement on everything. If you are waiting for July 1
fiscal year to begin to talk to your alarm contractor about an upgrade
so it can be funded in the next FY, this is a big mistake. Begin
getting prices now as it will take you until July 1 to negotiate the
purchase and get work underway. You can buy it now and pay for it in
the next FY if this is part of the agreement. These proposals are
moving very slowly, partially due to involvement by the lawyers. If
you have any specific questions about our experiences in Y2K
negotiations or planning, please post them and I'll try to reply. It
is hard to deal with everything in response to a general question.
Steve Keller, CPP
Museum Security Consultant
http://www.stevekeller.com
From: "Rodion Razumov" rodion@museum.ru
To: TonCremers@museum-security.org
Subject:
[MR-Liste] News of Culture from Museums of Russia.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are pleased to inform you about the new E-mail subscription called:
"Cultural Life in Russia". The content of this monthly newsletter is
provided by "Museums of Russia". Web server "All Russian Museums on
Line" (http://www.museum.ru) one of the most interesting Russian
resources dedicated culture. It contains exhaustive information about
Russian cultural life, a large collection of museum links and many
other entertaining things! From this on-line publication you can learn
about the most exciting cultural events in Russia, such as news in
modern cultural life, museum announcements, future exhibits and
descriptions of new collections. As another benefit of subscribing,
you will receive a monthly update on all emerging cultural websites
created by Russian webmasters. The example of the newsletter you can
see below. Also, please forward this information to your friends and
colleges who might be interested in this information. To unsubscribe,
please send e-mail to the MR_ListE_Unsubscribe@museum.ru.
Example of newsletter.
New websites:
ARTTICA - gallery of modern Petersburg's avant-garde
(http://www.arttica.spb.ru).
Curgan's Art Gallery - http://www.kurgan.ru/win/art/
Museum of history of Moscow - http://www.museum.ru/Moscow .
Also very soon appears an english version of the Pushkin Museum of
Fine Arts.
Cultural News of Russia.
1 ."Golden Card of Russia". It is the name of project of candidates
for the Government prize in nomination "Literature and Art". In
Tretyakov gallery soon will be started exhibition of paintings from
collection of Orlovskai pictures gallery. It is the second exhibition
from the project "Golden Card of Russia", which gives an opportunity
to Muscovites and guests of the capital to make an acquaintance with
the most interesting collections from different museums of Russia.
2. In State Historical Museum (Moscow) the exhibition named "From
Golden century to Silver" started. All graphics provided by Ryazan
Museum of Art. It should also be stated that collection of Ryazan
Museum of Art includes fameless works of Serov, Roerich, Kustodiev and
others painters.
3. The unique exhibition called "Echo of the past time - Russian
salon" and dedicated the art and culture of the second half of XIX
century take place at the Pictures Gallery of Vologda. Visitors get an
acquaintance with drawings of famous painters Aivazovskii, Kramskoii,
brothers Makovskie on this exhibition. The exhibits from museums of
Yaroslavl, Cherepovec, Rubinsk presented on this exhibition.
4. The exhibition of Museum of Modern Art of New York started in the
Petersburg's "Hermitage". For the first exposition the works of
expressionists created in 50-60th were selected.
5. New exhibition in the Russian Ethnographic Museum.Exhibition
contains more than 150 works of Petersburg masters of needlework.
First of all it contains samples of art needlework (landscapes, icons,
portraits, flowers, animals), samples of decorative needlework
(table-clothes, doilies, brooches and etc.), the beaded works also can
be found at this exhibition.
With best wishes,
Razumov Rodion.
E-Mail: rodion@mail.museum.ru
http://www.museum.ru
For Additional Information:
Lawrence M. Kaye, Esq. (212-592-1410) or Howard N. Spiegler, Esq.
(212-592-1444) Herrick, Feinstein LLP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 26, 1999
TURKEY RECOVERS MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS ARTIFACT SURRENDERED BY LONDON ART
DEALER TO UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
The Republic of Turkey announced today that an intricately carved
walnut panel from the Sultan's prayer gallery of the Great Mosque in
Divrigi, Turkey, built in the 13th Century, which had been the subject
of a lawsuit by the United States Government against a London art
dealer, was returned by the United States to Turkey. At a ceremony
held this afternoon at the United States Attorney's Office in New
York, the panel was formally presented by the United States Attorney
for the Southern District of New York, Mary Jo White, to Istemihan
Talay, Turkey's Minister of Culture, and Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, Head of
Turkey's Religious Affairs Department. Turkey's efforts to recover the
panel began in March 1998, when it learned that the art dealer, Oliver
Hoare, was offering the panel for sale at the International Asian Art
Fair in New York. Turkey's Consul General in New York immediately
took steps to recover this religious treasure, which was once housed
in the Great Mosque, a medieval monument on the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World
Heritage List of cultural sites recognized to be of "outstanding
value". The panel had not been seen since it, along with four other
panels from the Great Mosque, were discovered missing from a
depository in Turkey in 1997 following a fire that was then thought to
have destroyed them.
Turkey, through its lawyers, Lawrence M. Kaye and Howard N. Spiegler
of the New York law firm of Herrick, Feinstein, contacted the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney's office, and
assisted them with their investigation. In June, the United States
Government sued Hoare to recover the wood panel for Turkey, invoking
the Cultural Property Implementation Act, a 1983 United States law
that implemented the UNESCO treaty, an international convention
adopted to protect cultural property. Several months later, Hoare
dropped his opposition to the lawsuit and surrendered any claim to
the panel, agreeing that it should be returned to Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkey learned that Hoare also had the four other Mosque
panels, and worked with Scotland Yard in London to recover those as
well. Turkey announced today that Hoare has also surrendered his
claims to these panels, which are now in the custody of Scotland Yard
and will shortly be returned to Turkey as well. Culture Minister
Talay and Mr. Yilmaz expressed their warm appreciation to the United
States Government for recovering the panel, which they described as a
significant part of Turkey's cultural and religious heritage. Mr.
Spiegler added that "the recovery of this priceless treasure
demonstrates the close cooperation between the United States and
Turkey in battling the international traffic in stolen antiquities
that plagues countries around the world." Minister Talay also welcomed
Hoare's decision to surrender the panels to Turkey and urged all those
who learn about antiquities stolen from Turkey to see to it that they
are returned. He underscored that Turkey's vigilance will continue
and that all antiquities illegally removed from Turkey will be found
and "brought home."
Spain questions former Dali aide over art forgery
09:12 a.m. Apr 28, 1999 Eastern
MADRID, April 28 (Reuters) - Spanish police said on Wednesday they
were questioning a former secretary to Salvador Dali on his connection
to a new stash of thousands of alleged copies of the surrealist
artist's work.
John Moore, a Briton now in his eighties who was Dali's secretary for
15 years, was arrested late on Tuesday along with his wife Catherine
after a tip-off from an unnamed man who worked with them, state radio
reported.
In several art centres and a museum run by the couple in Dali's
native Catalonia, police said they had unveiled a cache of what
appeared to be forgeries of the artist's work.
``Thousands of prints have been seized, many of which are signed by
Dali and conveniently numbered, with some ready for sale at the price
of 180,000 pesetas ($1,155) each,'' police said in a statement.
Art experts were examining the works to determine whether they were
authentic, police said.
Dali's works have long been associated with fraud. Late in his life
and after his death in 1989 there was a string of alleged and actual
forgeries of his paintings.
Art experts believe some reproductions of his work were actually
endorsed by the eccentric painter and for some critics he is more
famous for his commercial rather than his artistic abilities.
($1-155.80 Peseta)
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
