The Centre Pompidou in Paris has completed an internal investigation into the accidental destruction of two works of art which fell off the wall and were shattered during the summer exhibition “Los Angeles 1955-85.” Pompidou president Bruno Racine released the findings at a press conference in Paris today (7 September).

The Art Newspaper can reveal that the study found that one of the works was destroyed as a result of poor communication between a restorer and the installer.

Mr Racine explains that Peter Alexander’s untitled 1971 piece— a vertical bar of resin nearly eight feet long— was about to be installed last March when art handlers noticed that a small metal ring inserted into the hanging hole on the back was loose. A restorer was called in to glue the metal ring in place, but her instructions to let the glue set for 24 hours were “misinterpreted” by a Pompidou employee who hung the work that same day. It fell from the wall that night.

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The investigation did not determine what caused the other work to fall. Craig Kauffman’s Untitled Wall Relief of 1967 is a convex bubble of acrylic-painted Plexiglas whose upper edge slotted into a wall-mounted moulding. Mr Racine says the wall moulding had been recently fabricated by the lender, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which sent an objects conservator, John Hirx, to oversee its installation. After 130 days the piece fell and broke, and a guard and witnesses testified that no one had been near the work.

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Peter Alexander's ``Untitled'' (1971) and Craig Kauffman's ``Untitled Wall Relief'' (1969) fell while on loan for ``Los Angeles 1955-1985: The Birth of An Art Capital,'' held from March 8 through July 17. The Pompidou said it is paying damages of $28,000 and $60,000, respectively, to the lenders of the works.