Dear list members,
reflecting about the future of the museum, I have been reading much on highly discussed topics such as the entertainment business taking over museums, event architecture, and profitable alliances. The recent announcement of the internet alliance between the Guggenheim Museum and the Eremitage Museum is probably the most illustrative example for museums expanding into new (and commercial) business fields in the course of ongoing globalization in our information era.
Undoubtedly, museums more and more museums operate according to economic principles, not only in the USA, but also in Europe - and in Germany, where I live.
Yet, I consider it paradoxical that museums on the one hand follow the economic trends of alliances, outsourcing some of their functions, specializing and concentrating on their core competencies, but on the other hand also try to open up new business fields, to diversify their activities.
- Is the Guggenheim business really the peak of an iceberg, a perfect example for the tendency towards new forms of cooperation - call them joint ventures, institutional partnerships, strategic alliances - between museums, or is it just an ephemeral fashion? Why, for example, hasn't the profitable internet cooperation between the MoMA and the Tate, planned for the year 2000, been realized?
- And what about the slogan: 'the bigger, the better'? Some recent central-European developments show an integration of various disciplines and elements within complexes: several museums, exhibition and performance spaces, studios (e.g. The MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, Austria) or even museum, hotel, and convention center in one complex (e.g. the Kultur- und Kongress-Zentrum in Luzern, Switzerland).
- Is there a tendency towards Urban Entertainment Center (UEC), large urban cultural areas, with museum participation? Do museums have the potential to attract people, to be magnets in UECs?
What is you opinion on my theories?
Please, share your professional opinion with me. I am very interested in broadening my 'German' point of view, in getting a global perspective on the issue. Contributions from all over the world are more than welcome. Please feel free to contact me off-list: [log in to unmask]
You might wonder how come I am reflecting the above mentioned issues.
In the back of my mind is my final thesis, which I am writing to finish my postgraduate master in arts management in Berlin. I assure you that I will treat your comments confidentially and anonymously, if you wish so. Otherwise I might name you as a source of information in my thesis.
Thank you very much in advance for your commitment.
Best regards,
Gabriela Oroz
Gabriela Oroz
Herderstr. 7
10625 Berlin
Tel. 030-313 82 18
Mobil: 0178-848 09 78
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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