{"id":8,"date":"2004-11-27T12:58:00","date_gmt":"2004-11-27T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/?p=8"},"modified":"2023-03-15T19:11:38","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T02:11:38","slug":"billionaires-hold-art-hostage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/2004\/11\/billionaires-hold-art-hostage.html","title":{"rendered":"Billionaires Hold Art Hostage"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_15031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15031\" style=\"width: 144px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15031\" src=\"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/11\/moma.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"252\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The privileged may enjoy the new MOMA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">To grand applause New York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), reopened in midtown Manhattan on November 20th, 2004. Home to works of art like Van Gogh&#8217;s Starry Night (1889), Picasso&#8217;s Les Demoiselles d&#8217;Avignon (1907), Matisse&#8217;s Dance (1909), and Frida Kahlo&#8217;s Self-portrait with Cropped Hair (1940), MOMA possesses a world class collection like no other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But there is another side to this vaunted institution, and the bourgeois art world is mute regarding the calamity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">While many have questioned the wisdom of MOMA\u2019s relocation and renovation <\/span><span class=\"s1\">(a project that cost $425 million), the true outrage is to be found in MOMA increasing admission charges by 67%, making it the most expensive museum in America. The institution will now charge visitors $20 per entry. The New York Daily News irately ridiculed the move, &#8220;Hey, we don&#8217;t wanna BUY the art!&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">MOMA\u2019s steep admission price marks an ominous trend, that of transforming art museums into privatized establishments where only the wealthy can afford entry. While a $20 dollar ticket will not prevent most people from visiting once a year, only rich persons can afford to be regular guests. All of society will suffer as a consequence. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Gone are the days when art students and other aspiring artists could pore over a museum\u2019s collection at little or no cost. High entry fees constitute an irreparable loss for low income people seeking inspiration and stimulation from art. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The terrible irony is that, as in the past, up and coming artists can\u2019t afford steep admission prices to view great works of art. MOMA has effectively abandoned its most celebrated purpose\u2026 that of being an institution that inspires artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">An unsatisfactory sop offered to working people regarding admission prices came from the investment bank, JP Morgan Chase, whose philanthropy assures the new museum&#8217;s <em>opening day will be free<\/em> to the public. But that is clearly not enough. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">While the privileged may enjoy the new MOMA, the rest of New York\u2019s citizens\u2026 and indeed the world\u2019s people, are denied access to what should be freely enjoyed by all. Art does not solely belong to those with money, it is the shared treasure and heritage of all humankind. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To grand applause New York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), reopened in midtown Manhattan on November 20th, 2004. Home to works of art like Van Gogh&#8217;s Starry Night (1889), Picasso&#8217;s Les Demoiselles d&#8217;Avignon (1907), Matisse&#8217;s Dance (1909), and Frida Kahlo&#8217;s Self-portrait with Cropped Hair (1940), MOMA possesses a world class collection like no other. But there is another side to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-museums"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-for-a-change.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}