In her 2005 essay “Museums and Globalization,” Saloni Mathur criticizes certain attempts to globalize museums via commercialized business practices and branded marketing. The most obvious example of this “McGuggenheim effect” of the 1990s is, perhaps unsurprisingly given the phenomenon’s name, the Guggenheim Museum, which set its sights on global expansion as an international brand during the 1990s and 2000s (Mathur 511). Yet while the Guggenheim sought physical expansion abroad, perhaps the McGuggenheim effect can be considered in less visible ways, using the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as a study. Over its 150+ year tenure, the Met has established a name, a brand, and a strong presence in the art world and beyond, both nationally and internationally. Named the #1 museum in the world by TripAdvisor in 2017, the Met is iconic and recognizable, suggesting the institution has clearly done something right in globalizing its name (“Metropolitan Museum Named #1 Museum”).
Mathur cites an “[interweaving of] corporate [models], effectively blurring the boundaries between the world of museums, the world of Hollywood, the world of fashion design, while also creating a convergence of interests between these powerful economic sectors” as a defining characteristic of so-called “McGuggenheim” museums (Mathur 511). An examination of the Met’s most attended exhibitions demonstrates the institution’s interdisciplinary appeal: from including filmmakers in the artistic direction, as was the case with 2015’s “China: Through The Looking Glass” exhibition, to drawing Hollywood stars to its “Treasures of Tutankhamun” in the late 1970s, and displaying internationally beloved paintings like the “Mona Lisa” in 1963 (Solomon). Beyond its exhibition techniques, the museum has also expanded to include an internationally-accessible online store and a physical store location in Thailand to accompany its physical locations in New York (“Store Locations”). This blending of commercialism and interdisciplinary curatorial approaches suggests that the Met can be characterized as a “McGuggenheim,” though perhaps more subtly than the term’s namesake museum.
The Met’s ranking as the #1 museum in the world confirms the institution’s global reach, which can potentially be contributed, at least in part, to its successful branding and international appeal. While the term “McGuggenheim” can carry a negative connotation and suggest a cash-grabbing mentality, the museum’s exhibitions (especially as summarized by Solomon for ARTnews) read as thoughtful, impactful, and culturally relevant. While the Met may fall under the classification as a “McGuggenheim,” perhaps it can help us shift our understanding of the term. Or perhaps a deeper look into its fuller history and exhibition practices will show they truly are a “capitalist museum” guilty of the moniker (Mathur 510).
Works Cited
Mathur, Saloni. “Museums and Globalization.” Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts, 2nd ed., edited by Bettina Messias Carbonell, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 510-516.
“Metropolitan Museum Named #1 Museum in the World by TripAdvisor.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/press/news/2017/tripadvisor-top-museum-in-the-world#:~:text=Metropolitan%20Museum%20Named%20%231%20Museum,The%20Metropolitan%20Museum%20of%20Art. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
Solomon, Tessa. “From Mona Lisa to Picasso, the Top 10 Most-Visited Met Exhibits of All Time.” ARTnews, 23 Apr. 2020, http://www.artnews.com/feature/met-museum-most-popular-exhibitions-1202684459/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
“Store Locations.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.store.metmuseum.org/store-locations. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.
Originally written September 2022.
Art with an Opinion 