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Superstar Museums and Special Exhibitions

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Abstract

Superstar museums are a “must-see” for tourists and have achieved cult status. They attract large and increasing numbers of visitors and have a major impact on the local economy. Superstar museums feature paintings by world-famous painters and prominent architectural design. Their income stems to a significant extent from the revenue of the museum bookshops and restaurants. Most art museums run a special exhibition of some sort. They attract new groups of visitors, focus attention on the museum and on the exhibits, and enable lucrative sponsoring revenue to be gained. The cost of mounting such exhibitions is relatively low. They allow more artistic creativity than is possible with the museums’ own collection.

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... In the 21st century many museums have come under increasing pressure to also become financially self-sustaining. While talk of money changers in the temple among museum professionals dates back at least to the 1980s (Harney 1994), it is an inescapable fact that today, more than ever, museums are coming under pressure to reinvent themselves as places of commerce -whether through the creation of specialist retail offers (Larkin 2016), or through the cultivation of ticketed programming addressed to previously untapped audiences (see Kotler and Kotler 2000;Barron and Leask 2017;Frey 2019). Similarly, where public funding for museums is retained, institutions are increasingly called upon to justify their spending by evidencing the broader economic outcomes of the work they do in terms of underpinning urban regeneration (Plaza 2006;Butler 2012;Hewison 2014); fuelling job creation (Tuck 2015); or, less directly (within a framework of 'social inclusion'), supporting marginalised groups in society to build confidence, develop skills and ultimately become economically productive (Matarasso 1998;Young 2003;Tlili 2008;Bishop 2012). ...
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Die kunsthistorische und wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung analysiert erstmals den KünstlerInnenfragebogen von Art-Investor aus dem Jahr 2002. Der Blick ist gezielt auf die befragten KünstlerInnen gelegt und bezieht die publizierten Essays nicht mit ein. Zum einen werden die demografischen Daten der insgesamt 36 KünstlerInnen ausgewertet und zum anderen die Antworten der 20 Fragen. Somit schafft die Arbeit explizit Raum für die KünstlerInnen und deren Aussagen, um Transparenz in einem Themenfeld zu schaffen, in welchem KunsthistorikerInnen oftmals nur mutmaßen. Mittels statistischer Analysen werden die Daten analysiert, die Ergebnisse in die entsprechende Forschungsliteratur eingeordnet und diskutiert. Die Arbeit zeigt einerseits, dass die Stichprobenauswahl ähnlichen Datensets entspricht (Künstlerinnen sind mit 13,9% unterrepräsentiert, die Befragten stammen vorranging aus Deutschland, ein Durchschnittsalter von 58 Jahren, KünstlerInnen sind aktiv auf dem Kunstmarkt), sodass die Ergebnisse zwar als indikativ, aber dennoch realistisch zu bewerten sind. Andererseits schaffen die Antworten der KünstlerInnen Einblicke in deren Persönlichkeit und Ansichten, wodurch sich Sympathien oder Antipathien ergeben können. Das Ergebnis der vorsichtigen Regression belegt, dass die KünstlerInnen ihren Beruf gewählt haben, weil sie stark motiviert sind zu malen oder die Bildhauerei zu betreiben. Die Ausübung von Kunst ist ihnen sehr wichtig, sodass die Frage nach der Sinnhaftigkeit von Malerei den größten Einfluss auf die Wahl des KünstlerInnenseins hat. Die Arbeit verleiht den KünstlerInnen auf wissenschaftliche Weise Gehör.
Article
Superstar museums are characterized by (1) great prominence among tourists and world fame among the general population; (2) a large number of visitors; (3) a collection of generally known painters and individual paintings; (4) an exceptional architecture; and (5) a large role of commercialization, including a substantial impact on the local economy. The superstar phenomenon is caused by factors both on the demand and the supply side of the market. Superstar museums are forced to offer “total experience” to the visitors; they have to relate to events in history, technology, politics, films and TV, and they have to provide for everything from education, food, gifts, shopping to entertainment. The development of superstar status strongly affects museum policy. The strategic orientation emphasizes visitors' demands; the organization has to be decentralized into processes each devoted to particular segments of visitors, to special exhibitions or support activities. There are also major consequences for human resource management, in particular, relating to flexibility and staff composition of paid employees and volunteers. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998
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