MUSEUM WISH LISTS

As I talk with curators at museums not called 'MoMA' about their collections, they usually start with some variation of this: We can't afford to collect comprehensively. We can't build a 'complete' collection of contemporary art. We have to pick a few foci and collect richly in those areas. We can't have everything the way that museum can.

This has turned out to be a blessing for contemporary art. Here's why: MoMA's Cezanne-to-WWII timeline dominates the history of modern art. (Nevermind that it ignores American modernism and that it pays short shrift to Latin America and Central Europe.) But because there are so many museums and private collectors around the world who are committed to building major contemporary collections, there will not be a single institution that dominates the history of contemporary art the way MoMA does in modern art. This means that more artistic voices will be heard and more varied histories will be formed.

That's all the more important because MoMA, the modern/contemporary art world's richest institution, is struggling with contemporary art. As nearly every critic with a keyboard has noted, the current contemporary installation at MoMA is a mess. An unfortunate Wangechi Mutu competes with Mona Hatoum competes with David Hammons. And from the other side of a silly Martin Creed, the soundtrack of a Pipilotti Rist encrocahces on everything.

LINK