Docuvan, Image Access’ partner in Australia, has been traveling to galleries throughout Australia with the WideTEK® 36ART fine art scanner since 2019.
In a conversation in early 2019 with the Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV) and Creative Victoria about the WideTEK® 36ART scanner, Docuvan suggested renting the fine art scanner to smaller galleries so they could digitize their collections without having the expense of purchasing the scanner. A bid was submitted and accepted by Creative Victoria, who, being a government agency, decided to fund scanning at a number of galleries around Victoria.
The first of these galleries was the Benalla Art Gallery in May 2019 and it was promoted by PGAV as a Regional Digitisation Roadshow, with a number of presentations on the first day. Julie Cotter, Senior Program Manager/Victorian Cultural Collections, Creative Victoria, Bryony Nainby, Director, Benalla Art Gallery and Michael Varcoe-Cox, Head of Conservation National Gallery of Victoria all presented art digitzation using the WideTEK 36ART fine art scanner, with guests from galleries from all over Victoria, promoting the event on the PGAV Website.
For Docuvan to be able to quickly deliver and setup the scanner onsite, a low profile trolley was built to hold the scanner and a lifting solution was built into the back of the Mercedes van. Once the trolley was fitted, the scanner was lifted from 4 lugs, one on each corner of the trolley. The scanner is lifted up, and rolled forward on the overhead track into the van. It is then lowered and secured in the van. Now, Docuvan can arrive at a gallery and within 1 hour have the scanner setup, calibrated and operational. At the end of the event or rental period, it can be disassembled and back in the van, ready for transport in 45 minutes.
The scanner was first delivered to the Benalla Art Gallery in late April 2019 where the presentation took place and afterward, all of the artwork in the 36” x 60” format of the WideTEK 36ART scanner was digitized. The scanner was on site for 4 weeks.
From the Benalla ART Gallery, the mobile art scanning configuration was moved it to the Latrobe Gallery in late May 2019. The Latrobe Gallery is located in Morwell to the east of Melbourne. The Latrobe Gallery had the scanner for 7 weeks until mid July.
During this time, Docuvan also scanned a number of framed photos and artwork from one of the older schools as a bureau service. There were also a number of smaller jobs undertaken during this time.
From there Docuvan has delivered and collected the WideTEK 36ART mobile scanning solution from the following:
- Geelong Gallery – 7 weeks from November 2019 to February 2020
- Swan Hill Art Gallery – 2 weeks in February 2020
Although Docuvan had many bookings for the mobile art scanning solution through June 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 put the scanner on wheels to a stop temporarily. There is however, a new booking for the Mildrua Art Centre from August to September of 2020, provided the worldwide health situation permits it.
