Saturday, May 21, 2005

For-Profit Exhibitions vs. Museums' Mission

http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/cl-ca-kingtut22may22,0,6872498,print.story?coll=cl-home-top-blurb-right
"Among the questions confronting art-world leaders: Should nonprofit institutions such as LACMA, whose missions are educational, scholarly and aesthetic, hold hands with corporations that see museum galleries as profit centers? Are blockbuster shows worth doing if they dazzle the masses and ring the till, but offer no new insights or discoveries? Can you even really see art in a crowd? And should you have to pay an unprecedented $25 or $30 — plus handling charges for advance tickets — to do it? Or do such qualms look a gift horse in the mouth?" An article that addresses the much-talked of issue of there being a charge for the Tutankhamun exhibition currently touring the U.S. The New York Met refused the exhibition because of the compulsary entrance fee that accompanied it, which is almost double their recommended fee, but others have not been so squeamish. This is a long and very interesting piece. It ends with a summary of the top-ranked exhibitions in LACMA's history (headed by the 1978 Tutanhkamun exhibition). LACMA stands for Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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