Perhaps this is a time to look back at the famous/infamous Sensations
exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum several years ago where the owner of
the art made a secrete donation for the exhibition and the museum
allowed the owner to decide what and how his possessions would be
shown.  Put the political brou-ha-ha aside, and the AAM clearly saw a
conflict of interests and, I have read, incorporated new guidelines in
AAM's rules.  Basically, donations by a donor are not forbidden, but
they must be made above board. Secondly, the museum must not turn over
it's curatorial responsibilities to the donor.   In your case for
donor  read dealer.
So, it would seem your museum can do the exhibition so long as you
retain final control on what is shown and how it is presented.  

Good luck to you,

John Bing

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 13:21:44 -0500, you wrote:

>Actually, I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my first message. The
>artist acting as a curator would not include his own work at all; and we
>often work with artists acting as curators in this way. The issue I am
>specifically asking about it is about the dealer.
>-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
>Susan Hapgood
>Director of Exhibitions
>Independent Curators International
>799 Broadway, Suite 205
>New York, New York  10003
>Phone 212-254-8200 X23
>Fax   212-477-4781
>_____________________________________
>
>> From: Arlyn Danielson <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 12:55:06 -0500
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: conflict of interest?
>>
>> This could be a conflict of interest.  If you showcase the artist's work
>> at various venues, perhaps this artist could use that show to benefit
>> financially on his work by saying that his work is now so good that it
>> is seen in several museums around the country and therefore is now worth
>> more.  On the other hand, perhaps it wouldn't matter.  A lot depends on
>> who mostly buys this person's art. If it is just the public at large,
>> maybe it would not matter, but if other museums are interested, perhaps
>> this could be unfair advantage for this artist and dealer.  Not knowing
>> any other details, this seems to me a tricky situation.  I am curious
>> what other museum professionals have to say about it.
>> Arlyn Danielson
>> Newseum
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Susan Hapgood [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 10:14 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: conflict of interest?
>>
>> We have a dilemma -- an artist and dealer have proposed a fabulous
>> traveling exhibition idea, but it would be a museum exhibition. Is the
>> dealer acting as curator such an obvious conflict of interest that we
>> should not even entertain the prospect? We have suggested that the
>> artist work with someone else, but the artist very badly wants to work
>> with only this one person, who is quite knowledgable on the subject,
>> which does fall into the purview of the dealer's gallery program too.
>>
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