ABSTRACT
The art museum is considered a public institution with links to democracy and the nation state. For example, the Louvre emerged in the shadow of the French Revolution; and leading art museums in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were established in the four decades following the end of the Civil War. But is the pursuit of publicness that brought the art museum into being at risk? We continue to witness expansionist ambitions of art museums as part of the marketization of the arts. For example, sovereign wealth from oil reserves — to attract partnership agreements with the Louvre and the Guggenheim as part of the Saadiyat Island cultural district in Abu Dhabi — is a point of reference to investigate art, finance, and politics. Our approach draws on the institutional critique practices of Hanks Haacke, Hito Steyerl, and Gulf Labor, which was formed as a coalition of international artists working to ensure the protection of migrant rights during the construction of museums on Saadiyat Island. In examining how art museums have responded to marketization during the last three decades, the growth of art museum activity outside of liberal democracies is noted as part of the evolving nature of capitalism.
