Sunday, July 17, 2005

When museums play a commodities game

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/15/news/museum.php
An International Herald Tribune article discussing some of the controversies about public musuems and galleries becoming increasingly commercialized: "What's remarkable about the Tut show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for which the museum has effectively sold its good name and gallery space to a for-profit company, is that people still find this arrangement shocking. Outrageous? Sure. It's an abdication of responsibility, integrity, standards. But it's becoming the norm in the United States. Money rules. It always has, of course. But at cultural institutions today, it seems increasingly to corrupt ethics and undermine bedrock goals like preserving collections and upholding the public interest. Curators are no longer making decisions. Rich collectors, shortsighted directors and outside commercial interests are". This is not exclusively about the Tutankhamun exhibition, but delves into some of the decisions that LACMA and similar institutions are making, and some of the implications of these decisions.

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