Although many things The museum has changed There are more changes now over the years, and the growth of its permanent collection has been a constant. The average annual museum collections increased by 2%. This may not sound like a lot, but it means they double every 36 years. As a result, the public is increasingly seeing celebrations of collection museums celebrated, downgrading to storage, while imposing numerous financial expenses on the museum’s financial costs (and the myriad environmental costs of the public).
The steady growth of collections means that only 4% of museum artworks are in exhibitions, and this proportion will inevitably decline as collections grow. As early as 1988, the largest American museums cost to store art Estimated to be $300 million;Since then Museum operation budget. Up to 60% to 70% of museum energy costs may be directly related to the cost of HVAC systems and the cost of climate control, and are critical to preserving the museum’s collections.
It’s just a matter of time (if that time hasn’t arrived yet) to reach the turning point of the museum, where the inevitable growth of collections, and the ongoing commitment to secure and protecting them will exceed the museum’s capabilities. Serving its public oriented mission. When a museum spends more money on storing artworks and items than attracting the public, it has reached the point of task alignment, i.e. neglecting tasks. Museums need new models to own and share their collections.
August 2024 in Los Angeles, Collector Jair and Pamela Moen Announce Moen Art CollectiveIt is a partnership, with nearly 300 copies from their “Made in Los Angeles” collection, which will be jointly owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art (La Moca), known as the MAC3. Mohns will fund and staff where the collection can be stored and seen (when it is not displayed at one of the partner museums or one borrowed from others), they create an endowment fund where curators of all three museums will be used together to continue adding this shared collection.
This kind of cooperation is indeed unprecedented. I have no other examples in which three museums agree to share ownership of a large collection, nor do I have so many museum curators jointly expand the shared collection. The result: More and more work collections will be permanently seen by more people.
Museums have long had the idea that they need to have 100% of the art collection. Although shared digital art has become increasingly common (because both museums can have copies of the work and simply agree to display it at different times), the concept of ownership of museums (matching by care standards, treating art transport as a risk rather than a benefit, keeping them alert to the attitude of possessing paintings. Collectors are not always helpful, not only getting tax breaks, but sometimes promising that their gifts will always be on display. The result is not only an unsustainable combination of financial and environmental burdens, but art rarely shared with others.
The changing ownership model also changes the way museums work together, and we are just beginning to understand it. In the recently announced Los Angeles Art Community Fire Fund– Founded by a large arts organization alliance and founded by the Getty Foundation to support artists and art workers affected by the Los Angeles fires – The Moon Arts Collective (on behalf of all three partners) is the main donor. The three museums took the next collective step in Los Angeles in February, where they jointly selected two works by artists Edgar Arceneaux and Shaniqwa Jarvis, the first new member of the Mac3 Collection since its founding last year.
Co-ownership of art is not only good for the public (more people see the art related); it is good for the museum, which will benefit from the new model of cooperation. When the American Art Museum of Crystal Bridge Museum (which houses Remuseum) purchased a 50% interest in the Alfred Stieglitz series owned by Fisk University in Nashville, the proceeds helped Fisk recover artworks that rotated between the two institutions every two years. A strong partnership between the two museums continues. Together they prepared co-publications about their shared collection, which would have been impossible without the investment of Crystal Bridge, or without Fisker’s art.
You just have to read their annual report to appreciate that any museum’s biggest measure of success seems to be the growth of its collection. While there are important reasons to add to the museum collection, there are also many costs, from incorporating the work of underrepresented artists to filling gaps in existing collections to increasing contemporary perspectives. These fees are attributed not only to the museum itself, but also to the public. The amount of collections among sharing institutions allows collectors and donors (hopefully see their art), the public (can see more of the art) and museums in ways we’re just beginning to understand. As Los Angeles begins to rebuild, let’s take a look, and the spirit of generosity and collaboration in the evidence there, let’s let the model share more art with more people.
