Humidity Control Strategies for Textile Galleries in Malaysia on Preventive Conservation, Microclimates, and Operational Risk
List of Authors
Azizi Bahauddin, Ismi Luqman Hamadi Ibrahim, Mohd Azri Mohd Jain Noordin, Muhammad Rizal Khairuddin, Nik Umar Solihin Nik Kamaruzaman, Nor Diyana Mustapa, Nurul Izzati Othmani
Keyword
Humidity Control Strategies; Textile Conservation; Microclimate Display Systems; Preventive Conservation; Interior Architectural Design Malaysia
Abstract
Malaysia’s vast textile heritage from batik, songket, limar and tekatan to an array of regional weaving practices is a vital body of culture that is also highly endangered. Its long-term survival relies on its being displayed under strictly controlled conditions that take the textiles into account. However, the current practice in Malaysian museums and galleries is to display their textiles without cloaking them and such systems of sealed or protective hanging are less followed. Consequently, understanding how to moderate textile display has been forever abandoned and inappropriate humidity is still the greatest risk to textile survival with fibres breaking down more quickly, moulds forming, materials distorting and in high profile cases physical pollution from visitor interaction. These strategies would provide insight to the implementation of preventative conservation by controlling humidity in textile galleries in Malaysia, through better risk management as a function of operation and interior architectural solutions applied holistically for sustainable exhibition design. Employing a qualitative multiple-case study approach, the project draws on semi-structured interviews with curators, designers and site staff alongside visitor data. Results demonstrate that efficient humidity control depends on a layered approach that combines preventive conservation tools like equipment dehumidifiers, HVAC zoning and continuous-humidity sensors with microclimate solutions such as sealed display cases, silica gels and ArtSorbs buffering to stabilize the environment for sensitive textiles. Furthermore, some measures for the management of operational risk such as visitor density limit and dry-cleaning course and treatment operation also do prevent short-term change by human activities. Interiors like hermetic cases and raised display bases grant an equivalent honorific treatment to both environmental stability and aesthetic clarity. Importantly, the work demonstrates that humidity control regimes applied in preservation are subsets of approaches which are designed to prolong the lifespan of object-typical textiles within museum contexts.