Around 63% of museums in Latin America and the Caribbean lack storage spaces that were designed for that purpose, according to a survey recently published by ICOM, the International Council of Museums. The proportion is exceeded only by institutions on the African continent, with 63.4% of responses indicating the existence of improvised spaces for the safekeeping of collections.
The report, quite extensive, paints a current portrait of the situation of museums around the world regarding the size of their collections and the conditions in which they are stored.
Who carried out the survey
The work was carried out by the Working Group on Collections in Storage, created in December 2022 by ICOM, whose members include Alessandra Labate Rosso, partner and technical director of Clé Chenue do Brasil. Data collection took place throughout 2023 through an online survey, with the participation of museum professionals from 1,132 institutions in more than 100 countries.
The problems most reported in Latin America and the Caribbean
In Latin America and the Caribbean, there were 81 responses, which point to a preponderance of collections considered small: in 72% of responding museums in the region, the collection does not exceed 20,000 items. The most frequently reported problems on the continent were:
- absence of a storage facility and lack of equipment (62.96%)
- no quarantine spaces (56.49%)
- overcrowded storage (54.32%)
- an incomplete documentation system (51.85%)
- no maintenance for 10 years or more (32.1%)
- imprecise location of objects in the database (32.1%)
According to the report's conclusions, the current picture worldwide points to an ambiguous scenario, with storage spaces existing in most institutions, however precarious in many cases, while at the same time these spaces are overcrowded.
The private storage alternative
When necessary, many institutions turn to private storage facilities, as is the case with Clé Chenue do Brasil, the only Brazilian company with fully climate-controlled warehouses and security and fire prevention systems operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with human presence. Clé Chenue today serves some of the most important Brazilian museums and collectors. Discover our services.
