My Two Cents.

Much has made here of late of how the viewing public is consistently confusing television and shopping mall simulacrum for capital-A Art. I would argue that the fusion of consumer culture and art institutions presented as a possible future is already a reality, and not just because of a lack of interest and education on the part of the public. The "intelligentsia" (curators, collectors, dealers, critics, many professors and professional artists, and cynics in general we may assume) are embracing this phenomenon whole-heartedly and all it takes to demonstrate that is a look at the recent remodelling of most of the modern/contemporary art museums in major cities throughout Europe and North America and all the praise that is lauded on such building projects.

These institutions more and more are being redesigned to look suspiciously like shopping malls, complete with sweeping, colourful, and eye-catching modernist architectural curves; giving the most prominence to gift shops that flash at you near the entry and gourmet food courts somewhere near the back of the building. I begin to question the role of these institutions and their central position as patrons. Do they exist to safeguard treasured cultural items for consultation by professionals and intellectuals as a national library does; or is it to draw in ticket sales, drive the sales up of refrigerator magnets and glossy calendars, and in general promote the growing phenomenon of urban tourism by presenting another “must see” institution for the typical trip? The first role is somewhat contradictory as we are talking about contemporary cultural contributions which are hard to judge as lasting “treasures,” and the second role diminishes the quality of the whole institution by focusing on merchandising and marketing.

We may have witnessed first hand the birth of the blockbuster museum exhibition in 1995 with the Monet retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago and I personally have viewed very few art museums the world over looking back since then. Attendance of museums is higher than ever as a result of tourism, and the desire to entertain all the new guests makes the carnival atmosphere ever more alluring. When I was at the new MOMA at the beginning of the year, the premiere show was celebrating the history of Pixar, while a variety of recent Apple Computer products were given the most prominent display in the permanent 20^th century design exhibit. So instead of focusing on Robert Rauchenburg I was principally reminded in a variety of ways how the products Steve Jobs sells are worthy of my adoration. Product placement apparently became a reality of viewing art in Manhattan since my last visit.

I doubt the presidents and directors of artistic institutions care whether people are finding contemporary art relevant to their lives as long as the public are patronizing their organization in greater numbers. That includes art museums, international art fairs, and art schools among all the other kinds of cultural institutions one finds in a thriving city such as theatre companies, concert halls, and dance troupes. Growing revenue is what counts, and it is the only available benchmark for success to present to donors. Just because your company has a Not-For-Profit tax bracket in no way implies you are not beholden to the bottom line of the accounting books while managing it, and that inevitably affects decisions about what goes on stage or into exhibition halls. Artistic integrity always loses hands down when compared to the prospect of lines of people waiting to get into the building. Musicals based on disco, Christmas stories written in the 19^th century as cutting edge contemporary theatre, dancing mascots at the philharmonic, mass produced consumer products as visual art in the museums, visual art as mass produced consumer products at the mall, increasingly large and slick souvenir/gift shops, and lacklustre arts education are becoming regular occurrences in an institutional cultural mindset that answers only to market pressures – how many paying customers can we bring in and how much can we charge them for the experience offered?

I find it difficult to lay any blame on Bob Ross, Mark Kistler, and their innoffensive PBS shows for the prevalence of an illiterate art viewing public in such a context. The divisions have already been blurred by cultural institutions needy of funding and the alternatives to cultish shopping mall decoration (Thomas Kinkade) and saccharin melodramatic mega-productions (Andrew Lloyd Webber) are scarcely being presented with the same kind of conviction to the viewing public.

Here is a game. Compare the following photographs and decide which correspond to a prestigious European modern art museum and which are of a popular American shopping mall. Both have been heavily remodelled and expanded recently.

Then stop by the web pages of the MOMAstore and nearby Sak's Fifth Avenue to see the similarities and maybe buy something for Mother's Day.

All signs pointing to capital-A Art!