Touring exhibition

A retrospective of eighty pieces opens in London in March, moves to Paris in June, ends in Vienna in October. Lenders do not want three policies or three condition reports: they demand continuous cover, from leaving their premises until return, including the legs between venues and the weeks of dismantling. The organizer or lead venue buys the policy, sometimes alongside governments stepping in with an indemnity scheme in place of insurance. The delicate point is accumulation: each stop changes the exposure of the work. The Vienna venue does not necessarily offer the same level of security as the London institution, and the insurer can impose venue-by-venue conditions. Values are fixed once, unless endorsed, so the question is whether a work that gains value on the market during the tour stays covered at its starting price. The whole calendar, customs delays between countries included, goes into the dates of cover.