The Museum as Destination: The Role of Iconic Museums in Urban Boosterism

Author: Dorte Skot-Hansen (University of Copenhagen)
Year: 2018
Source type: article
Raw file: raw/articles/skot-hansen-2018-museum-as-destination.md

Summary

Skot-Hansen analyzes how iconic museums function as instruments of city marketing and corporate branding — "urban boosterism." She distinguishes two strategies: experiencescapes (O'Dell: spaces in which experiences are staged and consumed; Los Angeles, where the question is whether the Getty is "an antidote to Hollywood hype or if it adds to it") and brandscapes (Klingmann: cities using architecture to attract capital; Paris, from the presidential "Grand Projets" to the corporate branding of Fondation Louis Vuitton). She concludes that even where the "enlightenment theme" is toned down, "there is still a more traditional 'museum mission' behind the iconic façades."

Key Claims

• Iconic museums and urban boosterism: under globalization/post-industrialization, cities are "increasingly planned and designed to attract tourists, residents and businesses"; in the "experience economy" (Pine & Gilmore), museums serve "urban boosterism." Following Sklair, the "most common rationale for deliberately created iconic architecture" is boosterism — "to draw tourists, convention, and mega-event attendees with money to spend."
• Experiencescapes vs brandscapes: O'Dell's experiencescape — a "commercial streamlining of cities ... into lifestyle environments" staging and consuming experiences; Klingmann's brandscape — cities "positioning themselves favourably in the worldwide marketplace in order to attract capital," architecture "as a commodity keyed to the realities of global capitalism."
• Los Angeles — an experiencescape: the Getty Center (Richard Meier, 1997) — "a pristine fortified city of its own," a "modern Acropolis" — and the Hollywood/Disneyland culture; question of enlightenment vs "going for the ride"; Baudrillard's critique of the export of European high culture.
• Paris — a brandscape: the presidential "Grand Projets" (Pompidou, Musée d'Orsay, Grand Louvre/Pei pyramid, Quai Branly) sustaining Paris's global image; the corporate Fondation Louis Vuitton (Gehry) as "architecture as brand" — "a coalition of brands, of LV and Frank," a "hired signature" — museum visits boosting the LV brand.
• Experience or enlightenment? "Has the enlightenment rationale yielded to an economic rationality?" The spectacular museums' architecture "makes no explicit reference to an enlightenment purpose," yet each retains a "traditional 'museum mission' behind the iconic façades" — "the idea of 'museum' as such has not been lost. It has rather found a new and spectacular packaging."

Connections

Concepts: Iconic Architecture · Star Architecture · Consumerism · Spectacle · Neoliberal Metropolis
Authors: Dorte Skot-Hansen · Frank Gehry · Leslie Sklair
Debates: Spectacle vs. Function
Related source notes: The Museum as destination — see also Lorente · Creating the Bilbao Effect

Direct Quotes

"[T]hose driving urban boosterism deliberately attempt to create urban boosterism in icons to draw tourists, convention, and mega-event attendees with money to spend, and the images they project are directed to this end." (Sklair, as quoted)

"[I]t is a coalition of brands, of LV and Frank ... The question with this project is which Gehry, the serious architect or the hired signature, wins." (Rowan Moore, as quoted)

"Even if the enlightenment theme has been toned down ... there is still a more traditional 'museum mission' behind the iconic façades."

Open Questions

• Does the "museum mission behind the iconic façade" genuinely survive boosterism and corporate branding, or is it a residual alibi within an economy of spectacle and brand extension (cf. Luther/Kaika, Nowicka-Wright)?