Issue #4
Christmas 2001
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The New Museums by Gert Innsry At the same time that there has been an explosion in the number of museums in the US and a huge increase in museum attendance, there has also been a significant change in the way museums are financed. Philanthropic support by major donors and foundations, contributions by local, state and federal governments, and member fees still are significant factors, but museum stores have become an important funding source. More and more, museum operations resemble those of any other business.
Many find this repugnant. A museum, the feeling holds, should be a commerce-free zone, a temple to art, science, history, or whatever the particular museum's specialty is. I think they are overlooking the benefits to the consumer that the museum-as-a-business provides. All too often, the museum visitor pays his or her admission fee, and then wanders the galleries aimlessly for hours, searching for the exhibits that will uplift and ennoble the viewer, and passing an enormous quantity of third-rate art or minimally interesting science. This is no longer necessary; the museum experience has been streamlined and made efficient.
Through the magical invisible hand of the capitalist free market, the cultural grain has been winnowed from the cultural chaff; the best that the museum has to offer has been inspected, selected, and collected in one compact space, easily found: the museum store. Every item is guaranteed to please; many are simulacra of objects of cultural importance; and best of all, there are no signs saying "Do not touch"! And you can even take things home, for the payment of a modest fee.
It is no longer necessary to waste time touring the galleries; just go directly to the store. There you will find everything you really came to the museum for. And, since most museums allow admittance to the store without paying the museum's entrance fee, you can actually save money to boot. (Museums would be well advised to extend this policy to their cafeteria or restaurant too.) In fact, with the proliferation of Museum Store franchises in airports and shopping malls, you need no longer go anywhere near an actual museum.
Bowing to this reality would save museums enormous amounts of money. Expensive gallery space, guard salaries, heating and lighting costs could all be eliminated or greatly reduced; a simple storage facility for museum accessions and scholarly research would be enough. Then the museum would be free to get on with its primary task: marketing and distribution of cultural concepts and images. It could even move to the internet, making the (new) museum experience available to anyone anywhere in the world.
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