2024-05-05T23:14:35-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/125584256/dear-museums-stop-making-nonsense Orhan Ayyüce 2015-04-18T16:42:00-04:00 >2022-03-16T09:10:02-04:00 <em><p>In one sense, spectacle shows represent acute risk aversion on the part of museums. It's cousin to the disease that has sacked Hollywood, where only remakes and sequels promise the margins that justify a global blockbuster production&mdash;so only remakes and sequels get greenlighted.</p></em><br /><br /><p><img src="http://cdn.citylab.com/media/img/citylab/2015/04/holler_hayward/lead_large.jpg"></p> <p>A comment in facebook from <a href="http://blog.art21.org/2011/02/10/turkish-and-other-delights-an-interview-with-vasif-kortun-part-i/#.VTJ_giHnuM8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vasif Kortun</a> acutely puts the question in words.</p> <p>"A question rises now in Indiana: Can a pizzeria (or pharmacy, or pediatrics practice) discriminate against LGBTQ families (or seniors, or children) because the business as an entity feels it has a religious obligation to do so? Museums might have a say&nbsp;in this argument, pressing at the boundaries of the public sphere with provocative art or exploring its depths with nuanced installations. The same goes for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?hc_location=ufi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#BlackLivesMatter</a>&nbsp;demonstrations, which push on the pillars of American civic identity. Museums avoided them. (What's on view at the Indianapolis Museum of Art? "Dream Cars" opens May 3. Thank goodness for Indy MOCA.)"</p>