As a museum of contemporary art, we are in the business of discovery and
experimentation.  We often commission artists to create new work for
exhibitions, then acquire that work for the collection.  Since we have very
limited funds for art purchase, this is a great way to build the colleciton.

Situated as we are just a few miles from the U.S./Mexico border, we have for
the past decade been dealing with our region in cultural terms -- including
the organization and presentation of exhibitions (group and single-artist) by
artists from The Americas, especially Latino artists (many of whom live in
this area).  We organized a major traveling show in '98 "La Frontera/The
Border," and another group exhibition that included Guillermo Kuitca and
Doris Salcedo ("Sleeper" in '95), and artists participating in "inSITE94"
(Silvia Gruner, Carlos Aguirre) but have also presented solo exhibitions of
artists including Celia Alvarez Munoz, Alfredo Jaar, Francesc Torres, Armando
Rascon, and others.  We also have shown artists whose work deals with border
issues but who are not Latino (e.g. Krysztof Wodizco, who did a major
projection piece on the Centro Cultural Tijuana and the San Diego Museum of
Man in 1988).  Works from most of these artists are now in our collection,
and displayed regularly in the context of permanent collection shows.  We
also acquire and exhibit works by other artists of color (currently on view,
for instance, a wall drawing by African American artist Gary Simmons, another
version of which was purchased for the collection; and a site-specific garden
piece by Gabriel Orozco that was also purchased).  We have shown, and
acquired, works by Lorna Simpson, David Hammons, Martin Puryear, Noboru
Tsubaki, David Avalos, etc., etc.

The main point I'd like to make is that, in my opinion, the strength of a
museum's program is in presenting the highest quality works of art, and that
it is the job of curators to be conscious of expanding their purview beyond
the "traditional" art world; they need to seek out artists that represent the
diversity of U.S. culture in this multicultural time in which we live.  But
it is critical that the program not "ghetto-ize" artists of color but rather
present them within the overall exhibition program and within the overall
collection.  A further point is that isolated exhibitions are not enough --
museums need to make their collections diverse, as well as their related
interpretive programs.  In our case, for instance, it is standard procedure
that all wall texts, labels, etc. are bilingual.  We have a very active
outreach program to Latino schools and neighborhoods, to be sure that kids
have a chance to experience the Museum.  We are in the midst of several
large-scale initiatives that address all these issues, and more.

It seems that the basis for changing the historical hegemony of U.S. art
museums' collections begins with the determination and will of directors,
curators and staff members; hopefully they will be supported by their
trustees and community.

Anne Farrell
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego