The Amex Centurion card, created in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas. Photo: American Express.
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Tuesday, February 9.
NEED-TO-READ
How Deaccessioning Is Playing Out in the Public Sphere – Andrew Russeth captures the battle royal underway in the museum world surrounding deaccessioning in light of new challenges posed by the pandemic. Perhaps the most vocal proponent of a loose constructionist view is Baltimore Museum of Art director Christopher Bedford, who said: “Museum directors, as a convention, learn art history in the classroom, and they learn economic management in practice. The big revelation, for me, is that my greatest act of creativity is now an economic one, as opposed to a conventionally defined creative one.” (
The facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Courtesy of the Met.
The practice of deaccessioning has never failed to incite controversy. But the stakes are even higher now that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York one of the wealthiest, largest, and best-attended museums in the world has suggested it is considering selling off some of its art as it faces a $150 million shortfall.
The fact that a leading professional organization relaxed its guidelines surrounding deaccessioning last spring, which means that the Met would draw no official censure from the move, is of no consequence to the many experts and observers including former museum leadership who swiftly voiced their opposition.