Wednesday is Dusting Day
"We always work behind the scenes. It should not bother anyone and the sound of our hoovers could be very disturbing. That's why I come to work on Wednesdays: that's when M is closed. Cleaning all 300 works and pedestals is a big job. We split it into four parts: the first week we do part one, the next week part two, and after four weeks we are done. Each part takes me about an hour and a half. I could never do it all at once on my own - not least because carrying around all that cleaning equipment becomes very difficult after a while."
"There are also works that we don't need to clean. The exhibition 'Imagining the universe', for example. It consists of objects that M has borrowed from other museums, and they often specifically ask not to clean their pieces."
Oops!
"Some people find touching those precious old objects scary. But I like that, that responsibility. And somehow you don't think too much about it. You know, of course, that they are precious objects, but you look at them more technically: this is easy to clean, and this is a bit trickier . With M, they also made it clear to me from the start that I shouldn't feel bad if something happens. We are all very careful of course, but with such old pieces something can always happen. If it didn't happen to you, it would happen to someone else. And fortunately we all know how to react."
"Coincidentally, just last week a flake of paint came off a medieval statue that I was cleaning. I put it in a bag with tweezers, wrote down where it came from, and took pictures to document it. We then register it in the collection system, and then afterwards it is decided what should be done with it. If the flake is big enough, you can put it back, for example. Of course, when that happens you go "Oops!", but on the other hand, that flake would have come loose at some point. I was just unlucky that it happened just when I was dusting that picture."
"It may sound stupid, but I actually find it relaxing to clean these works. Working with that small brush, very focused, but at the same time mindless. In your own little world, in the middle of that deserted museum. It may not be for everyone, but I love it."
