Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy: Post Guggenheim Developments

Natalia Grincheva’s book, Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy: Post Guggenheim Developments, published by Hachette Publishing in 2020, analyses how and why museums have progressed as centerpieces for international diplomacy in the twenty-first century. She contextualizes the newly strengthened autonomy of modern heritage and art institutions against the backdrop of financial opportunity and practices in cultural diffusion; likening both to the neoliberal ethos that has become synonymous with the current economy. In turn, she reconstructs a narrative surrounding the unique relationships maintained historically and contemporaneously between museum and state, as well as heritage and commerce. 

 

The author underscores her thesis through comparative case study analysis, using the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s international expansion ventures as a starting and reference point. Through this lens she redefines cultural diplomacy by virtue of museum efforts to pursue positions of corporate enterprise and global franchise. The K11 Art Mall, originating out of Hong Kong, and Russia’s International Network of the Foundation of the State Hermitage Museum are used to illustrate how this narrative has materialized beyond the Western world. 

 

Each of the museums inform one chapter of the book, wherein varying iterations of museum diplomacy are examined. These case studies are supported through a mixed methodology of interviews, source documents, and autoethnography. While it briefly mentions other museums for added context, Grincheva is reserved in deviating from the central three studies. 

 

 

Global Trends in Museum Diplomacy highlights a dialog surrounding the nearly symbiotic relationships endured between museum and government as a form of nation branding. Due to many recent funding breakages between state and cultural programming, however, Grincheva argues that museums are often disinclined to promote specific cultural ideas and values. Instead, they have become institutions of diplomacy, pushing forward the appearance of powerful non-state actor whilst occupying a position that enables them to independently shape the global discourse. She likens museums to centers of soft power, exhibiting robust and humanizing cultural expertise, ensuring a sort of surface-level bipartisan credibility. Instances such as this include periods wherein certain art institutions interject upon conflict zones to preserve historically significant valuables, or in having produced exhibitions to advance a specific consular agenda.

 

The first chapter chronicles a detailed history of how the Guggenheim became an institution that now franchises its brand and is frequently associated with corporate partnerships. It is represented as a museum that focuses more on pecuniary site specificity instead of circulating its collection. Grincheva situates the museum as a consequence of American commercialism, possessing an inherent ideology of liberalism whilst capitalizing on populism and financial adventurism. She provides a balanced perspective of industry perceptions on the Guggenheim’s endeavors by tracing its thriving and failed relationships with international cities. Its franchised location in Bilbao is here again used to exemplify how the museum rejuvenated a local economy, whereas its issuances with Helsinki illustrate the Guggenheim’s inability to consistently garner community support.  

 

There is no mention of the astronomical valuations of the current market and its impacts on museum operating budgets. Rather, decreased state funding is emphasized as the catalyst for the Guggenheim’s transition towards commercialization and "Mcdonaldization.” These circumstances are compared to the K11 Art Mall scheme in the second chapter. In what can be loosely described as a museum, K11 is placed as a by-product of its government’s drive to implement advantageous cultural programming. It is perhaps one of the most ostentatious examples of arts management wherein the founder’s intention has been to introduce art alongside luxury retail environments. 

 

The book does well to present the complex web that emboldens and diffuses heritage institutions influenced by the state. While K11 is very much a response to Chinese policy incentives, it is dissimilar to the Guggenheim in that it is a privately owned commercial enterprise. Unlike governments in Europe and the United States, the political regime is such that it employs censorship mechanisms on K11 to closely compose the country’s cultural diplomacy.

 

Global engagement and government entanglement is discussed further in the book’s third chapter, which follows the expansion of the Hermitage’s international network. Grincheva notes that the original museum in Saint Petersburg is one of the most important institutions in the country because it functions as a site for heritage and diplomatic engagements. Despite its privilege, however, the need for funding spurred the development of a network of sites around the world. These sites function as a venue for political and cultural events, as well as a way to build relationships with local communities. In turn, the network supplements the Hermitage’s financial vulnerabilities. 

 

 

The overarching theme of this book centers on how museums have evolved alongside the current economic discourse resulting in new dynamics shared between presiding governments and forms of cultural diplomacy. It demonstrates how museum administrators have adapted to legislative funding challenges and embarked on fostering new relationships with globalized audiences. It reconciles outstanding perspectives on corporate strategies developed in tandem with cultural programming. 

 

Grincheva succeeds in contextualizing arts administration practices that have derived from authoritarian regimes with those that have progressed alongside free market economies. In a moment where debates surrounding gatekeeper elimination amongst individual actors has risen to a commonplace level, it is exceptionally poignant to position the museum, a presumed intermediary, alongside those seeking autonomy. The book elevates the promise of soft power and art to a new frontier, supplementing the ideation of museums as tools for government branding. Decreases in state funding has foisted the institution to a place where cultural identity is curated by private investment.

 

 

Qualms over restitution and museum diplomacy is possibly one significant oversight of this book. The Guggenheim is one of many institutions that are presently in the throes of controversies surrounding the rightful ownership of significant cultural works that are not of their own nation-state. As international relations are forged amongst museums, so too are political issues relating to property and policy. With that said, Grincheva appropriately relates museum international franchising strategies to concerns over cultural imperialism. Implanting an American-branded museum within another country is not as illustrious as it once was. Such was the case for the Deutsche Guggenheim; for several years the space was repurposed for German collaborative arts programming after the museum’s closure in 2013. As countries increasingly work towards leveraging their own cultural hegemony, it is conceivable that this version of global expansion is nearing a close. At the very least, our understanding of the otherwise international homogeneity of art’s custodianship seems to be shifting.

 

Open-ended concepts like these are one of the book’s strengths. Grincheva is restrained in offering any significant biases, nor does she deviate towards typical discussions on collections or the cost of sustaining one. This enables a space for debate and discovery respective of issues relating to administration. The book’s research is best suited for those in a classroom, as well as for professionals in the fields of cultural management and policy. While the scope looks to museums with significant gravitas, it would also do well to inform those whose work concerns arts and cultural programming on a local level. The book provides an optimal way to reshape existing perspectives on museum diplomacy and cultural identity, as well as lays the groundwork for how these initiatives might progress in the future.