Temporary floors in the museum

This made it possible to use a special adhesive off the roll, which ensured that the floor installation in the museum was ready for foot traffic immediately and also that it could be removed quickly and without leaving residue. Fast flooring changes right in the exhibition area are the order of the day, because floors are a means of expressing the design. In the Nouvelles Boîtes! Exhibition in the Museum of Art Lucerne, the floor wasn’t just part of the interior design, but was simultaneously a part of the artwork on display, too. This is why it was especially important here to install and remove the floor covering carefully and cleanly. With the switchTec bonding technology from UZIN, the uncomplicated floor change was a success and did not damage any of the art or the museum floor.

Floor as a component of the artwork

The Nouvelles Boîtes! Exhibition in the Museum of Art Lucerne deliberately makes architecture and rooms a subject of the museum. Installations from ten artists are meant to make these a sensory experience. At the same time, it plays on the idea of the “white cube,” the neutral exhibition venue for art on which the building designed by Jean Nouvel rests.
Instead of sculptural rooms, the French star architect created the “nuditéd’espace,” an abstract series of rooms with a grid-like layout, in which the art takes precedence over the architecture.

In Nouvelles Boîtes!, the works function in an architectural context first. They seize the potential of the rooms and their aesthetic by playing with their height, emphasising the ceiling, or steering the eye to the floor. Juan Muñoz of Spain, for example, pulls the viewer under his spell with an illusionistic floor and tries to throw them off-balance with his 3D visuals. The ornamental floor with a disconcerting bronze figure on the wall explicitly emphasises the relationship between figure and room. The Spanish Muñoz, who lived from 1953 to 2001, designed the installation “The Wasteland” in 1987. It has been displayed in different exhibitions around the world since then, in varying sizes and materials. And even in the Lucerne museum it was a temporary work, for the 140 m² of resilient floor covering were installed. The challenge in this: The artwork had to be adhered directly onto the existing substrate, without ripping out existing floors and disrupting the course of events in the museum. In addition, neither the museum floor nor the art on the floor could be damaged.

The high art of uncomplicated floor changing

Sigan offered the solution for installing without inconvenience or limiting the museum’s regular operations with the switchTec bonding technology. “The advantages of fast installation with Sigan are obvious. Old floor coverings don’t have to be removed, which saves time and costs, and this method avoids causing dirt, noise, and dust so that visitors aren’t disturbed or annoyed by noise, and museum operations can proceed as normal,” explains UZIN technician Markus Fuchs.

The principle is simple: A micro-perforated special film is installed on the clean, even substrate, and is coated on both sides with different adhesives. After that, the protective paper is pulled back bit by bit and the new floor covering is installed on top. Particularly practical: It can be repositioned up until the first rubbing, and can fully handle stress immediately afterwards. The installation team and museum staff were able to move about unrestricted. “Sigan is very easy to apply and doesn’t need partial drying or drying time, because the acrylate adhesives are dried on the foil carrier in the factory, which plays a huge roll in meeting a tight deadline,” says Jürgen Ruff, head of Key Account Management at UFloor Systems. Furthermore, the adhesive contributes to healthy room air, as it has the Blue Angel and Emicode EC1 Plus. And most important of all: The floor covering can be removed later with no problems and no residues, easily and cost-effectively. Thus the artfully designed floor covering was removed after the exhibition had run its course without taking too much time, and sent back to the artist’s estate administration.

Sigan for time-saving floor replacement

But the museum isn’t the only place where Sigan is the ideal bonding technology for fast, stress-free floor changing. Interior spaces are often redesigned in shop fittings, residences, hospitals, and offices, too. With the patented switchTec bonding technology’s expanded spectrum of applications and the new product generation of Sigan, 80% of all resilient and textile floor coverings as well as luxury floor coverings can be installed with dimensional stability in record time without causing noise and dirt, and can be removed again when it’s time for the next transformation - without leaving behind a trace. There are five Sigan varieties to choose from depending on the respective requirements of the substrate and the floor covering to be installed. And with the new Remur products from the same series, vinyl skirting boards and curved skirtings can also be adhered solvent-free and with dimensional stability, thanks to metal reinforcements. Sigan products have the technical reliability of the German Institute for Building Technology and meet the fire classification Bfl S1, Cfl S1 with different floor coverings in accordance with DIN EN 13501-1.