Harry Hauck is an object scenographer and exhibition planner with over thirty years of experience in international museum projects. Clemens Kritzer and Stephan Ebert are Mountmakers and project managers at ADAPTIV Exhibition Setup Wien and have been specializing in object mounting and exhibition stands for museums for years. Together they developed KLIO Mount Systems, a modular mounting system for object mounting in museums and exhibitions. We spoke with them about the development of the system, its construction, and its use in practice.

Harry, you have been working with museums all over the world for decades. What was the biggest unsolved problem in object assembly for a long time?

Harry Hauck: The question of how to hold an object so that the holder is not visible has preoccupied museums since they began exhibiting professionally. What was long lacking was a systematic answer to it. There was experience, there was craftsmanship, there were individual solutions. But no system that could be replicated. Every project started from scratch. And with large projects, with hundreds or thousands of objects, this quickly becomes a real problem.

The actual goal has never changed. The eye must never be „hung up“ anywhere. Not on the light, not on the text, and certainly not on the holder. An object should exist as purely as possible within the airspace of its showcase, so that it is literally unhindered This is the expectation. What was long lacking was a system that would also fulfill this expectation when hundreds of objects are assembled directly in a process using it.

Clemens and Stephan, how did things look like for you before KLIO was established?

Stephan Ebert: Plexiglas poles, hot air blowers, curved wires, black paint. The brackets simply didn’t look good. Not because no one had worked carefully, but because there was nothing better. Every mount maker or object decorator had their own methods, and with them each project had its own solutions. None of this could really be transferred.

Clemens Kritzer: In addition, the nature of today’s display cases has fundamentally changed. Take the Oddy Test or BEMMA scheme: the stricter material requirements in museum operations have led to MDF largely disappearing from the displays. They are usually made of steel or aluminum, but you can’t simply stick a wire into a steel plate—it just won’t hold. And then you’re faced with a display case for twenty objects and no working solution.

How did the development of KLIO begin?

Clemens Kritzer: The first impulse came with a project at the Military History Museum in Dresden. There we saw mounts made of stainless steel for the first time in the permanent exhibition, based on a principle of mounting sleeves. I had never worked with stainless steel before, that was in 2011. What we saw there was not a finished solution, but a direction. The actual development then began at the World Museum in Vienna.

Harry Hauck: And at the World Museum in Vienna a circle was formed: Clemens, Stephan and I met there. I am the author of the aforementioned mounts in the Military Historical Museum in Dresden, and at the World Museum I was the planner, designer and object supervisor for the aforementioned permanent exhibition project. In this capacity, I required and outlined solutions with or without sleeves for the implementation of the mounts, and together we then began a great, fruitful collaboration to develop solutions. The project had several months of delay, and so the question arose all the more sharply: how can the enormous number of 3,000 objects be quickly and yet safely and elegantly mounted in the showcases?

Stephan Ebert: We then initially developed sleeves to insert the retaining bars. This is a mounting element that is screwed into the rear wall and holds the bar in place: insert the bar and fix it with a screw-in nut. And while we were developing the sleeve, the next insight came:

If you can also attach the claw part with the object at the front, separating the connection to the object from the rod, you have won. Instead of a continuous holder, you have three separable parts. This is how the basic principle of KLIO was born: the three functions of an object holder are therefore separated from each other. This created complete flexibility for the assembly processes and laid the foundation for serial, industrial production.

What does this principle mean in concrete terms? You call this TOP, LINK and BASE?

Clemens Kritzer: The top feature is the direct connection to the object. These are blanks that are individually adapted to the shape of the exhibit, bent, spring-loaded, and adjusted. The finest wires we use are only about one millimeter thick. From the front, as little as possible is visible.

BASE is a sleeve that is inserted into showcases, pedestals or walls to anchor the entire fixture and hold everything in place. It is reusable and works in wood, metal and all structurally stable materials.

LINK connects the two parts and the elements together in any desired length. Rods and connecting pieces in a variety of lengths and angles determine the distance of the object from the rear wall, its inclination, and its position in space. With LINK, an entire group of exhibits can be mounted at exactly the same distance from each other. This is a major advantage, especially for larger projects involving many similar objects.

Harry Hauck: What particularly impresses me about this principle, alongside its elegance and functionality, is what it means for the processes involved in exhibition construction. The modular division of the functional components in the holder also makes it possible to clearly separate the essential assembly steps. The conservatorially sensitive object assembly, that is, the fine adjustment work on the exhibit itself, takes place separately from the mechanical holding mounts in the display case. This means that it does not happen simultaneously but in succession, at different locations and under controlled conditions. This separation significantly increases the safety of the exhibits during exhibition construction, because the sensitive objects are not present during all the heavy work in the display cases with machines, drilling, dust, and debris. And because the processes are carried out in a serial manner, the entire setup becomes more efficient and cost-effective as well.

Another aspect that is very important to me: the revisability. All the components of the holder can be easily opened again. The object can therefore be removed at any time and in a gentle manner. For certain requirements, an object can be removed from the museum without risk during the ongoing museum operation; loaned objects can come and go; exhibitions can be changed; and an exhibition can finally be dismantled very quickly and safely.

Where does the system show its greatest strength in practice?

Clemens Kritzer: After the set-up rehearsal. This is the moment that everything is working towards. A set-up rehearsal is one of the most communication-intensive processes in the entire exhibition setup. Designers, curators, restorers – everyone has to agree on where each object will be placed, at what height, at what distance, and in what orientation. It takes time and can cost time and nerves, but it is very valuable and essential.

Stephan Ebert: And once the layout is ready, KLIO comes to the rescue. Drill points are marked, sleeves are screwed in, rods are inserted, objects are placed and fixed. This is then quick and easy. Rod too long? Cut it off, insert it again. Object needs to be moved forward? Longer rod. The system allows for corrections without having to start from scratch.

Harry Hauck: In large projects, we project the finished layout onto the display case back wall using a projector. Drill holes are precisely placed according to plan before even a single item is in the hall. The exhibits have already been fitted with their top supports in separate rooms and then stored in foam blocks, on carts, in crates. In the hall itself, only one thing happens: insert and fix.

At the Military Historical Museum in Dresden, with its 10,000 exhibits, I was already able to prepare and time-frame thousands of exhibit holders in a serial-modular manner at that time. The installation of the showcases took place in a fraction of the time that a conventional approach would have required. KLIO has greatly developed and perfected this principle.

KLIO exists today as a system with its own shop and its own name. How did that come about?

Clemens Kritzer: This has grown over many years and many projects. What we discovered in Dresden we developed further in Vienna. What didn’t work in Vienna we changed in the next project. Each exhibition has added something new. New forms of objects, new types of showcases, new requirements from conservators. The system has changed with each new use.

Stephan Ebert: What has always remained the same: the basic concept. Three separable levels, standardized connections, revisable in all parts. This enables a uniform system that still allows plenty of room for customization in implementation. And that has proven to be effective, no matter how large the project was.
It became clear that what we had developed here would not only work for us. That other mountmakers and object designers, other exhibition houses, could benefit from it. What we had always used internally was transformed into KLIO Mount Systems, which we now sell in our own shop.

In conclusion: What does KLIO mean to you if you had to describe it in one sentence?

Harry Hauck: An answer to a question that the museum has been asking since its inception: how to create a system that is revisable because objects move and mounts must be removed. It is modular and efficient enough to handle even large exhibitions. And it is designed in a way that ultimately leaves only one thing in the foreground: the object and the stories in the display case.

Clemens Kritzer: Out of necessity, a system has emerged, just like most things that are practical. A system that structures the work and simplifies it. And in the end, it does exactly what any good holder is supposed to do: as fine as possible, as secure as necessary.

Stephan Ebert: For me, it’s primarily one thing: a system that can be passed on. No longer reinventing it for every new object; rather, combining what has already proven itself a thousand times over.

The KLIO Mount System is a modular mounting system for professional object mounting in museums and exhibitions, developed by ADAPTIV Exhibition Setup Wien in close collaboration with object scenographer Harry Hauck, Berlin. For objects that are meant to be seen, not for their mounting.