Conserving and Displaying Carpet and Textile Masterpieces in the David Geffen Galleries

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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) houses over 40,000 textiles, including the Ardabil Carpet, costumes, works from indigenous cultures, and contemporary art that span nearly 3,000 years. A selection of these pieces is being installed in the museum’s newly constructed David Geffen Galleries, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Stretching across Wilshire Boulevard in Central Los Angeles, this new concrete and glass structure represents one of the most ambitious projects in LACMA’s history. Construction followed the 2019 demolition of LACMA’s Ahmanson and Hammer Buildings, which once housed collections and staff. The new structure, inspired by the nearby La Brea Tar Pits, takes the form of concrete and glass meander galleries that seek to dissolve traditional hierarchies by presenting all cultures on one level. Quadruple-paned windows surround expansive hallways punctuated by rectilinear galleries, creating a dynamic interplay of light and shadow.

The building with its striking monumentality is being recognized as a work of art, yet it must also house artwork, creating an inherent conundrum. The display of textiles within this light-filled building required intense intradepartmental collaboration to navigate architectural mandates, curatorial goals, and environmental challenges under tight deadlines.

This talk will concentrate on the treatment and installation of key pieces in the David Geffen Galleries, including the Ardabil Carpet; a mantle from Paracas, Peru dating nearly 2,000 years; and Kashmir shawls, along with related European material. The installation of textiles in the David Geffen Galleries demonstrates how conservation advocacy, coupled with cross-departmental collaboration, can occasionally mitigate the inherent challenges of ambitious museum architecture.

Kristal Hale is Conservator, Textiles at the Conservation Center of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She holds an MA in art conservation with a textile specialization from the Bern University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland. Kristal was an Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow at The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. As someone who is engaged in the intersection of heritage preservation and contemporary museum practices, Kristal supports conservation education in Indonesia and greater Southeast Asia, serving as a board member of Tracing Patterns Foundation.