Here's an article that, while basing all its arguments on the thesis of another book and containing unsupported statements, provides an interesting overview of the effects of capitalism on the Corning Museum of Glass. One such unsupported statement is in paragraph two: Because of the branding necessary to create revenue from admissions, the artwork at the CMOG has been "dumbed down." Maybe Petrillo is unaware of the long history of criticism that berates this medium's art for lacking intellect, but if not, then an interesting hypothesis arises...What do collectors such as glass museums, do for the reputation of their artists by placing them in "Museum Worlds" (a play on Disney World or Sea World I assume)? Petrillo would say the museum "commodifies" their artworks. It's unsupported because he does not prove that commodification reduces or erases the meaning of the art, but I wish he would have tried.
It's nostalgic to look at contemporary art as being separate from the marketplace and money, as Petrillo wishes for, and to believe that the old days of art were less about money and more about meaning. But this article is reprinted in ABJ Seattle Glass Online because it helps us to reframe the argument against glass artists as "lacking meaning" by examining the role of the museum. Branding is an interesting result of a capitalist market and museums survive by branding themselves, Petrillo argues, thus commodifying everything they do.
The article is supplemented by a picture I took while there last summer, 2008, of an American-made truck filled with Chinese-made, inexpensive, hand-blown glass flowers in the gift shop of CMOG.
Neale Petrillo, Oct 9, 2008: The Corning Museum of Glass (located in the scenic metropolis of Corning, New York) unarguably contains one of the world’s foremost collections of glass art and literature concerning glass. Unfortunately, the Corning Museum has fallen victim to what James Twitchell refers to as “Museum World” in his 2004 book Branded Nation. The Corning Museum, like so many others, has moved away from the higher calling by which museums were conceived and down-stepped into the modern world of commercialism. Furthermore, the museum has “branded” itself in precisely the way Twitchell describes it. The Corning Museum has moved away from the preservation of and display of art and wholeheartedly embraced the world of marketing, sales, competition, and money. From the internationally identifiable “CMoG” label, to the centrally located gift shop featuring all kinds of articles ranging from one dollar trinkets to thousand dollar display pieces, all the way up to the one-of-a-kind “make your own glass” workshop.
First, I will discuss the most obvious form of branding: the CMoG label. Everything these days has a label; brands are used for several different purposes. Foremost, a label distinguishes. No other museum in the world uses the Corning Museum’s CMoG lettering and circle logo; but, how does this help the museum? Ideally, at least according to Twitchell, museums wouldn’t need a label; they would be able to support themselves through their endowment and trustees and thus wouldn’t need to be readily identifiable to the masses. However, this is not the case. Due to the lack of endowment, little to no funding from state and federal governments, an absolutely huge surge in the number of organization calling themselves museums, and a sharp increase in operating expenses it has become vitally important for a museum to identify itself to the consumer. In that way museums can ensure a steady stream of revenue from admissions. This may not be as important for the CMoG, as Nancy Earley explained in her interview, because the Corning Museum is funded every year by Corning Incorporated, a well-to-do glass company. However, as she explained, the money given to the museum by Corning Inc. only covers operating expenses and doesn’t provide for new exhibits or shows and thus it is still important for the museum to maintain its brand. While the practice of labeling opens up museums to the argument that the art work is “dumbed down” in some way, it has nevertheless become an important part of how museums operate and survive. Another important part of the “branded museum” is the gift shop.
The museum gift shop has become an integral part of just about everyone’s educational experience, and that’s exactly how the board of directors wants it. In the case of the Corning museum of Glass, and most museums, it’s virtually impossible to avoid the gifts shop. It seems as though the whole of the art gallery was built around one giant department store and it becomes necessary to cross through it to move between exhibits. Again, how does this help the museum? Obviously, money is the most important factor taken into account when a museum decides to install a gift shop and the reasons for this need are the same as above. Again, the argument holds that the use of gift shops degrades the value of the art displayed. Unfortunately, it is another necessary evil.
Sharing a similar role to the gift shop, the museum restaurant is often one of the most talked about destinations in any gallery, and the Corning Museum is no exception. As museums have grown and popped up everywhere, Twitchell argues, they have had to come up with unique and extraordinary ways to set themselves apart, and what better way (especially in America) than with food. While it is not so much an issue in the Corning Museum, the restaurant is a first-class buffet but nothing more, some museums have gone so far as to include five-star dining establishments complete with Champagne and exotic cheeses. This inclusion is one of the more brilliant marketing ideas; now, instead of going for the art, you go to have a fabulous meal in a grandiose setting. There is no better way to reach an American consumer than through his or her stomach. Once again, the argument is made that this practice of playing to the consumers’ stomach rather than their brain forces the establishment to loose something in translation. Unfortunately, is has become another important part of how we identify museums and a very important reason as to why we go. Even with all of these different means of identification and branding a museum still needs to set itself apart; after all restaurants, logos, and gift shops are omnipresent. So, the Corning Museum of Glass has developed a program in which visitors can create their own art.
Who hasn’t sat in front of a vase, painting, or sculpture and said to themselves “Could I do that?” Who hasn’t thought “If I took the time, could I make a masterpiece?” Well, you can! Or so the CMoG would have you believe. The Corning museum has available a wholly unique program (though the idea is widespread): you can make your own glass sculpture. This is not only entertainment to keep children busy, but a destination for many hundreds of visitors each year as well as a giant money making endeavor for the museum. It also brings many visitors back to the museum. Turning the museum experience into an entertainment experience is a definite slap in the face for everything a museum is supposed to represent; however, with falling visitation rates, the “drying up” of endowment funds, and the recent cuts in government support more and more places of learning are being forced to play towards an audience that seeks a fun experience rather than an intellectual journey.
Similarly, the Corning Museum puts on a live glass blowing show every hour or so. This is an obvious example of playing to people’s love of entertainment rather than their intellectual curiosity. While the show serves to bring people into the museum its more meaningful goal is to bring them back. What good is going to a museum if it never changes? Once you’ve seen it you don’t need to see it again, especially if you’ve taken pictures. But the glass show is different, it changes with every visit. So, now instead of seeing a bunch of artifacts and sculpture for the fifth time a visitor can have a brand new experience. Unfortunately though, a good portion of the museum’s somewhat limited gallery space has been devoted to this task which adds more fuel to the combustible idea that having such entertainment venues detracts from the museum’s higher purpose; but, without such pursuits the museum would never be able to provide the intellectual content that it does.
Finally, the Corning Museum of Glass does what almost every other museum does to draw in visitors: it provides a traveling exhibit gallery. In this day and age the focus for many museum goers is the traveling exhibit gallery. While there you can see something you’ve never seen before; the experience is unique and somewhat exciting. More importantly, the exhibits are usually famous so you would have no shame in telling all of your friends about it. Like the live shows, the traveling exhibit gallery serves the important role of bringing people back to the museum. Without the return visitors the establishment would become broke in very little time (Earley). Furthermore, unlike all the other things previously discussed, a traveling exhibit room doesn’t really detract from the ultimate goal of the museum. After all, bringing in a new set of things to learn about or appreciate is exactly what a museum is supposed to do.
Like most museums, the Corning Museum of Glass has moved away from the pure world of art appreciation and has begun to play in the land of capitalism. Since they don’t fit with the original goal of the museum, such drastic steps are somewhat regrettable; unfortunately, as the world becomes flooded with museums, public funds become scarce, and long standing endowment monies run out, they are becoming more and more necessary. No longer is the museum a place for quiet scholarly pursuit; it has become a place of family fun, a quality meal, and maybe a place to learn an odd fact or two.
References
- Twitchell, James B. . Branded Nation. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004.
- Earley, Nancy. Group discussion. 8 September, 2007.
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