Gallery and museum hanging systems

Why galleries use a hanging system

Hanging a show on nails means every work leaves holes. Between shows the walls are filled, sanded and repainted, which takes days and closes the space. Patches on putty and emulsion rarely disappear, so after a few years the walls show every hang.

A rail system moves the fixing to one place. The aluminium rail is fixed once along the top of the wall or to the ceiling. Each work hangs on transparent Perlon cords that clip into the rail and slide along it, with hooks that lock at any height. The wall below the rail is never drilled, so the next show can go up as soon as the last one comes down. The same suits art schools with end-of-term displays and museums with rotating collections.

Planning the rail for a gallery wall

• Rail along every wall that takes art. Curators rarely know where the next show will need space, so run rail the full length of every hanging wall. It is sold per running foot and cut to the lengths you order, in quarter-foot steps up to 100 ft a piece.
• Cords per work. Plan two cords per artwork. Wide or heavy pieces can take more cords spread along the rail.
• Zipper hooks for canvases. The Zipper hook is rated 15 kg: squeeze to slide, release to lock, with one hand, which speeds up levelling large works. Use the standard 4 kg hook for works on paper and photographs.
• Cord length by wall height. For tall gallery walls above 12 ft (about 3.7 m), use the 300 cm cord; for 9 to 12 ft, 250 cm; up to 9 ft, 150 cm.
• Spares. Keep spare cords and hooks for shows with more works than the last.

The rail fixes to brick and RCC walls, gypsum board partitions, POP or gypsum false ceilings and wood panelling. The fixings must suit the substrate. See fixing to different wall types and fixing under a false ceiling.

Parts for a gallery hanging system

Rehanging between shows

With the rail in place, changing a show is a handling job rather than a building job:

1. Take down the outgoing show. Lift each work off its hooks and leave the cords in the rail, or slide them to one end.
2. Mark the plan. Work out the new layout with the centre height (often 145 to 152 cm from the floor) and the gaps between works.
3. Position the cords. Slide cords to the new positions and clip in extra ones where needed.
4. Set the hooks. Slide each hook to its height. With Zipper hooks, squeeze, slide and release.
5. Hang and level. Hang each work on its two hooks, check it with a level and adjust a hook if needed.
6. Walk the room. Look from the entrance and slide works along the rail until the spacing is right.

No filling or repainting is needed between shows. For height and spacing rules, see how to hang pictures.

How much weight a gallery wall can carry

The rail is rated 25 kg per metre, spread along its length. A 6 m wall can carry up to 150 kg in total, as long as no single metre carries more than 25 kg. Each Perlon cord is rated 20 kg, the standard hook 4 kg and the Zipper hook 15 kg. The lowest rating in the chain is always the limit.

These are stated capacities, not independent laboratory certificates, and the fixings must suit the wall or ceiling. Weigh large works and check the per-hook and per-cord limits as well as the wall total.

White, black or silver rail

Most galleries choose white rail on white walls, where it almost disappears and the transparent cords are close to invisible from a normal viewing distance. Black rail reads as a deliberate line at the top of the wall, which some spaces use as part of the architecture, particularly with dark or exposed ceilings. Silver suits spaces with aluminium window and door frames. The aluminium can also be primed and painted on site to match a feature wall.

Budgeting a gallery hanging system

A budget has three lines: rail per running foot for the total hanging wall; cords for the works in your largest show; and hooks, split between standard and Zipper hooks by how much heavy work you show.

Every price on this site is live, so you can budget without waiting for a quote. The project estimator adds each wall of each room to one bill of materials and gives you a proforma you can take to your board, trustees or finance team for approval. When it is approved, the same estimate can be turned into a formal quotation.

Buying terms for institutions

• GST invoice. Add the institution's name and GSTIN at checkout. Prices exclude GST; 18% is added at checkout.
• Purchase orders. For payment by bank transfer against a PO, request a formal quote.
• Payment online. Pay in full, or 30% in advance with the balance on delivery.
• Dispatch. Within 1–2 business days of payment, from Faridabad. Delivery takes 1–2 business days in Delhi NCR, 3–5 in metro cities, 4–6 in Tier 2 cities and 6–10 in Tier 3 and remote areas.
• Installation. The rail installs with a drill, fixings for the wall and a level. For large projects we can arrange professional installation.
• Warranty. 12 months against manufacturing defects, and a 7-day exchange for damage in transit or a wrong item. See the return policy.

JAM is made by Window Techs India Pvt Ltd, Faridabad, incorporated in 2011. For trade and repeat orders, see trade accounts.