---
title: "Condition report"
description: "A dated record of an artwork's physical state (materials, damage, wear, past repairs) used as the baseline for maintenance and conservation decisions."
glossary: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary"
source: "https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/condition-report"
---

# Condition report

> A dated record of an artwork's physical state (materials, damage, wear, past repairs) used as the baseline for maintenance and conservation decisions.

Glossary: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary  
Source: https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/condition-report

The discipline is simple: photograph everything, date everything, and repeat
on a schedule. For outdoor works an annual walk-through is the workable
minimum. It catches the small, cheap problems (a failed coating, a loose
anchor, water pooling where it shouldn't) before they become the large,
expensive ones. A condition report from installation day is the single most
useful document a collection can hold, because every later assessment is
measured against it. The reports work hardest when they live with each
work's record in a [collections management](https://www.civiccollection.com/collections-management) system,
so every assessment joins a timeline instead of a filing cabinet.

Related terms: [Conservation](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/conservation), [Collection management](https://www.civiccollection.com/glossary/collection-management)

## Mentioned in

- [What It Costs to Run a Public Art Guide](https://www.civiccollection.com/blog/what-it-costs-to-run-a-public-art-guide)
- [How to Photograph Public Art for Documentation](https://www.civiccollection.com/blog/how-to-photograph-public-art-for-documentation)
- [How to Inventory a Public Art Collection](https://www.civiccollection.com/blog/how-to-inventory-a-public-art-collection)
- [Condition report form](https://www.civiccollection.com/toolkit/condition-report-form)
- [Public art inventory field checklist](https://www.civiccollection.com/toolkit/public-art-inventory-field-checklist)
- [RFP language for procuring a public art guide](https://www.civiccollection.com/toolkit/rfp-language-for-procuring-a-public-art-guide)