13 September 2026 

Image attribution: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The next Art in Transit 2.0 Symposium will be held immediately prior to the next ICOM-CC (14-19 September 2026). We hope to attract a multidisciplinary audience and speakers so we can learn from each other and discuss common obstacles and opportunities regarding Art in Transit. 

The original Art in Transit publications (Studies in the Transport of Paintings and Handbook for Packing and Transporting Paintings from 1991) are classics of the conservation literature, but they were focused solely on paintings. The results of the recent international survey, Vibratory Impacts of Music and Transport (2022), indicate a noticeable variation in knowledge of vibration and shock issues and the practices for mitigating them across institutions. Since 2024, Art in Transit 2.0 has been organizing local events with the aim of improving understanding of the risks of transporting cultural heritage and sharing best practices and new ideas on how to mitigate them. With increasing international focus on combating climate change, institutions also need to understand the carbon footprint of travelling  collections, and how to address sustainability. 

We intend this symposium to continue the conversation, which started with Towards Art in Transit 2.0. Symposium (Salt Lake City 2024), and is continuing with Vibration and Conservation symposium  (Paris 2024), the PACCIN Preparators Conference (2024), the Crating 101 webinars and workshops (Minneapolis, 2025), PACCIN 2023 Crating+Packing Sustainability Webinar, the PACCIN-AIC Crating 101 Webinars and Workshops, the All wrapped up symposium  (Berlin 2025), and in the publication Conservation perspectives on Art in Transit (Getty Conservation Institute 2025), on updating practice at this important intersection of museum specialisms, and to expand the discussion to collection items in general.

Art in Transit 2.0 Symposium

Date: 13 September 2026  

Time: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. CEST

Place: Hybrid - Online/Amphitheater in the Climate House at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo.

Registration is open: