Hi Jenny/everyone,

Our collection includes a number of conceptual works - here's how we
currently track their installations in TMS:

Fabrications are added to the object record as components (component
name = fabrication, component type = part of artwork) Fabrication
components are in addition to component rows for certificates of
authenticity, drawings, installation instructions, and the like.

Fabrication components have location entries corresponding to their
exhibition(s), with appropriate notes in the Location Remarks field.
When any given fabrication is destroyed, the location for that component
row is entered as "Destroyed."

The exhibition history of conceptual works is coherent through the
object record's links to Exhibition and Loan records, while the lives of
individual fabrications are chronicled through location history for each
such component.

Jeri
------------------_____________________
Jeri Moxley
TMS Specialist
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
(212) 423-3509


-----Original Message-----
From: The Museum System (TMS) Users [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Wilker, Jenny
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Conceptual Works

We just ran into an interesting problem.  We have a conceptual piece
that was executed in a gallery and had that gallery as its current
location.
Currently it is no longer on view in the gallery, and does not really
exist anywhere.  We are now considering what to do about its current
location, or lack thereof.  Has anybody already dealt with this?  Any
ideas?
Jenny Wilker

________________________
Jenny Wilker, Ph.D.
Manager, Collection Information 
Information Services
Philadelphia Museum of Art
215-684-7746