Moving from one location to another has enabled the Sarjeant Gallery to have one of the most earthquake-proof art collections in the country.
The Sarjeant has recently finished the 18-month process of moving its entire collection from the Queens Park gallery to the Taupo Quay gallery. The gallery will be located at Taupo Quay for several years until a re-development and earthquake strengthening project at Queens Park is finished. A visit to the upstairs storage area at Sarjeant On The Quay reveals a collection where every item is tied, velcroed, strapped, hooked or cushioned in place to prevent damage during an earthquake.
The gallery's curator of collections, Jennifer Taylor Moore, said art galleries and museums learned a lot from Christchurch's two big earthquakes of 2010-11.
"They [Christchurch art galleries and museums] were using systems that everyone thought were good. But the violence of the earth movement was so great that things broke when no one expected they would."
As a result art galleries and museums in New Zealand have been experimenting with new methods of hanging and storing artworks, and the Sarjeant Gallery is at the forefront of that, she said.