How many art handlers does it take to hang a giant Damien Hirst painting just right? You’d be surprised. From perching a 70,000 pound Do Ho Suh “house” into the side of the roof of a university building to de-installing Carsten Höller’s mirrored carousels to lugging a precious Gottfried Helnwein through the halls of the Russian State Museum — the professional installation of art requires a keen eye, physical precision, a practical sense of aesthetics, and the ability not to drop anything under pressure. Yikes. We salute you, art handlers! So does the Tumblr blog WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT, spotted by Hyperallergic. Check out a few behind-the-scenes shots of art being installed in this slideshow.
Kindskopf (Head of a Child) at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg in preparation for the Gottfried Helnwein retrospective. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
A Damien Hirst painting being installed at the Gagosian Gallery on 24th Street. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
Clay’s Tectonic Shift, John Mason, Ken Price, Peter Voulkos, 1956-1968. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
De-installing Carsten Höller: Experience at the New Museum. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
Marcel Duchamp. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
A 70,000 pound Fallen Star by Do Ho Suh being installed at UCSD to look like a house that crashed into the engineering building on campus. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
Swiss museum saws horns off stuffed rhinos to prevent theft. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
The Mona Lisa being transported back to the Louvre after the end of WWII, 1945. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
Robert Therrien folding chair being installed at the Walker Art Center. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT
Allan McCullom at the Armory Show. Courtesy WRAPIT-TAPEIT-WALKIT-PLACEIT