Conversations with Change Makers #10: Leading Energy Consumption Reductions at the Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Includes a Live Web Event on 04/04/2025 at 12:00 PM (EDT)

Join us on Friday, April 4 at 12pm EDT for the tenth in a series of webinars where AIC’s Sustainability Committee chats with conservators and allied professionals who are implementing changes to reduce the energy consumption of buildings that house collections. Pil Rasmussen, Director of Conservation at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, and Nina Quabeck, Head of Conservation at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, will discuss steps they’ve taken at their respective institutions to spearhead the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions via HVAC shutdowns, environmental parameter expansions, and other energy efficient solutions. Case studies will also touch on how these changes have led to a paradigm shift towards more equitable lending practices.

The energy used to heat, cool, de/humidify, and light buildings is the biggest environmental impact of the cultural heritage sector.  After decades of regarding one-size-fits-all, non-fluctuating indoor environmental parameters as the gold standard, the field is now questioning the value of this approach.  And as the recent extreme weather and the associated risks to cultural heritage continue to remind us, the need for change is urgent. 

Pil Rasumussen

Director of Conservation

SMK – National Gallery of Denmark

Pil Rasumussen is the Director of Conservation at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. Originally trained as a paintings conservator at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, she worked for a number of years in Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art before joining the SMK in 2012. She has been leading SMK’s conservation department since receiving a masters degree in the Psychology of Organizations (MPO) from Roskilde University in 2017. Driven to find sustainable solutions, she has been spearheading multiple initiatives within her institution and beyond.

Dr. Nina Quabeck

Head of Conservation

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

Dr. Nina Quabeck is Head of Conservation at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in  Dusseldorf, Germany. She studied paper conservation at the Camberwell College of Arts in London, and has devoted herself to the conservation of modern and contemporary art at the Kunstsammlung since 2003, with small interruptions. In 2007/2008 she was a Samuel H. Kress Fellow at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and from 2016 -2018 she was a PhD candidate in the EU research project "New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art" at the School of Art History at the University of Glasgow. Nina received her doctorate from the University of Glasgow in 2019, and has since been responsible for managing the conservation team at the Kunstsammlung. She has been sharing her museum’s shift towards more sustainable practices through presentations and papers for the last several years.

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Conversations with Change Makers #10: Leading Energy Consumption Reductions at the Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
04/04/2025 at 12:00 PM (EDT)  |  60 minutes
04/04/2025 at 12:00 PM (EDT)  |  60 minutes Join us on Friday, April 4 at 12noonEDT for the tenth in a series of webinars where AIC’s Sustainability Committee chats with conservators and allied professionals who are implementing changes to reduce the energy consumption of buildings that house collections. Pil Rasmussen, Director of Conservation at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, and Nina Quabeck, Head of Conservation at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, will discuss steps they’ve taken at their respective institutions to spearhead the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions via HVAC shutdowns, environmental parameter expansions, and other energy efficient solutions. Case studies will also touch on how these changes have led to a paradigm shift towards more equitable lending practices. The energy used to heat, cool, de/humidify, and light buildings is the biggest environmental impact of the cultural heritage sector. After decades of regarding one-size-fits-all, non-fluctuating indoor environmental parameters as the gold standard, the field is now questioning the value of this approach. And as the recent extreme weather and the associated risks to cultural heritage continue to remind us, the need for change is urgent.
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