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The panel “Public/Private: The Evolution of Museum Missions,” featuring (from left) Museo del Barrio executive director Margarita J. Aguilar, Studio Museum director Thelma Golden, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago director Madeleine Grynsztejn, Kunsthalle Zürich director Beatrix Ruf and moderator András Szántó / photo ABMB |
THE MUSEUM DIRECTOR
For many observers, the moneyed extremes of Art Basel Miami Beach sharpen an ever-present art-world tension—that between art as commodity status symbol and art as illuminating educational experience—to a fine edge.
Art Gallery of Ontario director Matthew Teitelbaum mulled over these issues as part of a capacity crowd at “Public/Private: The Evolution of Museum Missions,” the December 2 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach’s daily pre-show Conversations series.
Institutional buzzwords like “artist activated” and “audience engaged” flowed frequently during the discussion, in which Studio Museum director Thelma Golden, Museo del Barrio executive director Margarita J. Aguilar, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago director Madeleine Grynsztejn and Kunsthalle Zurich director Beatrix Ruf exchanged views on audience development, free admission, web presence, collections management, donor pressures and limited finances.
As nearby crowds amassed at the entrance of North America’s largest commercial art fair, the directors were asked to make a case for the indispensability of museums. Grynsztejn, to audience applause, opined, “We create citizens, not consumers.”
“I think Art Basel [Miami Beach] is a great place to gather information and to test assumptions—assumptions about trends in the art world, specific artists, and the energy around the presentation of their work,” said Teitelbaum, in town for his eighth ABMB. “Being here puts you in touch with people who are fighting the same fight as you are.”
Though Teitelbaum wasn’t looking for the AGO to acquire any artworks at the fair—“for institutions, it’s a tough place to acquire because the decisions happen too quickly, and trends in the market place interfere with reflection”—he noted that he and AGO executive director of curatorial affairs Elizabeth Smith were advising some Toronto collectors on possible fair purchases.
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