Art Institute of Chicago's partnership with Taschen shows disturbing lack of cultural leadership

It was reported yesterday in the Chicago Tribune online that art book eye-candy publisher Taschen has opened a branded store-within-a-store at the Art Institute of Chicago.

With the new layout in the museum's shop (I assume this is in the main shop in the museum's new modern wing), Taschen "makes up about 30 percent of the museum store's reconfigured book section with three tables, two walls and a rotating bookstand." The publisher doesn't pay rent for the space, "but it does oversee its branding." The agreement came about in part as the Art Institute was streamlining (cost cutting) its book department and found that "Taschen was the store's best-selling vendor and it offered among the most competitive [wholesale] prices".

The more I think about this, the worse it makes me feel.

While I have no problem with these kind of cooperative agreements for mini-stores or other kinds of marketing between museums and publishers, I have a HUGE problem with what such a partnership with Taschen in particular says about the Art Institute and about its attitude toward its art and its visitors.

I'll just say it, Taschen produces schlock. Beautiful, sexy, inexpensive fast-selling schlock at a great margin yes, but still schlock. By giving up nearly a third of its book section to this kind of content, I'd argue that the Art Institute is essentially saying to its visitors, "Look at our pretty pictures. Don't learn about them. Don't think too hard about them. Just look at them! They're cheap and plentiful and shiny!" For an art museum of any size, this is a disturbing attitude to take.

And don't tell me that what is carried in the bookstore is inconsequential to the message the museum gives to its visitors. I'd be willing to bet anything that in a given day the museum shop gets more foot traffic than at least 50 percent of the galleries in a large museum like the AIC. 

I also understand the budget and revenue issues the museum was surely facing (as an independent publisher, God knows I understand). I don't argue that Taschen may help the museum in this regard, but making decisions based on financial issues without a thought as to the larger ramifications is short-sighted and shows extremely poor cultural leadership on the museum's part. The museum should be protecting, sharing and celebrating visual art. Instead, with the new Taschen partnership, it's cheapening it.

In reconfiguring their bookstore, the AIC had the opportunity to choose a complete different direction. Instead of getting rid of small publishers with low sales numbers, they could have invited more in. The AIC could have chosen to make themselves Chicago's premier destination for art books of all kinds and created a market for publishers of all sizes who are working diligently, creatively and thoughtfully in the field of art. The message they sent to their visitors could have been, "Look at the range and depth of great work being published about visual art. There's something for everyone to learn about and to enjoy. Pick a book up. Don't be intimidated. Learn a little bit more about what you've seen today and come back to visit us again for more great books on art and more great experiences with art."

I wish Taschen well and don't begrudge them for this effort, but it would be an enormous and endlessly-disappointing mistake for other museums to follow the AIC's lead. As Creed Poulson, the spokesman for Taschen America, says of the new store: "The million-dollar question [emphasis mine] is would we do this in other museums. We would certainly be open to that. We're very eager to see how this plays out." The answer from those other museums we can only hope, is a resounding no.

Update on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 10:00AM by Hol Art Books

Just came across two great blog posts from Bruce Miller, a writer and independent book sales representative. The first from back in April, breaking the news of the Taschen/AIC deal, "Taschen to Take Over Large Piece of Art Institute Store", and a second earlier one, "Museums Trash Their Books". Both ask important questions and are full of great insights.

Update on Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 09:04PM by Hol Art Books

Fantastic! Judith H. Dobrzynski weighs in on her Real Clear Arts blog (which you should be reading regularly): "Art Institute of Chicago And Taschen: A Mismatch?"

Reading between the Lions: A museum book club success

Four years ago, the head of publications at the Art Institute of Chicago started a book club for the museum's members. Susan Augustine, head of reader services at the museum's Ryerson & Burnham Libraries and a founding committee member for the club, spoke at this year's VRA+ARLIS/NA conference in Minneapolis about their successes and challenges. What follows is our report on that presentation.

No money? No problem

When the Reading between the Lions book club began it was a side project for everyone. A volunteer, seven-member program committee was formed from a number of museum departments, and everyone brought something valuable to the program: Curatorial and Publications had first access to information on upcoming exhibitions to which the book selections would be related; Membership had contacts with the club's intended audience and an interest in bringing new programs to that group; Education had the experience leading discussions; the Library had the space to hold the program as well as the expertise to help choose books and suggest extended reading lists; and the Shop had the capacity to order and sell the club books.

The club's online presence is an important part of their activities and supports in-museum book club discussions and activities. They maintain complete information about book selections, downloadable discussion guides, and a blog (later shut down as you'll read below) on their website. For the discussion guides themselves, the committee holds it's own little book club. They discuss the book and come up with questions they think will spark the best discussions, and the Membership department writes them up for the final guide.

For the launch of the book club, the committee picked two initial selections, both related to exhibitions, and sent an introductory e-mail to the museum's membership. Seven hundred members signed up immediately to receive the book club's regular e-newsletter. And the first two discussion guides, posted online as PDFs, were downloaded 1,200 times. For the actual in-museum events, the museum may have 10–20 participants—about the most you want to have for a face to face book discussion—but because they share so much online, they're able to reach thousands more.

Impressive Facts 

• Three books per year, tied to the museum's exhibitions
• 700 signed up immediate and downloaded the initial guides 1,200 times
• Nearly 2,300 subscribers currently
• Most popular guides have been downloaded up to 3,000 times, and continue to be long after the event passes
• Emails have a 30-45% open rate and are the most read e-mails of any the museum sends out 

Not Without Challenges

The comments they were getting on the club blog tended to be pretty shallow, or downright spam. So, they've since switched to a reader poll. With the poll, they send out a couple multiple choice questions meant to elicit some insight into the reading, and they share the results online.

They also still host a controlled reader comments section, where readers can submit a comment via an online form, and select comments are shared with the poll results.

And with the in-museum events, they've been getting lots of RSVPs, but also a lot of no shows. The nature of the event, or whether it's free or not, doesn't seem to have an effect on the no-shows number, so the museum has just been accepting a larger number of RSVPs than they actually want to attend.

A Worthwhile Program with a Bright Future

There have been many more positive results of the club than negative. The club encourages general reading about art as well as increased visits to the museum; there's a promotional value from the downloadable discussion guides which are obviously be shared in great quantity; the library believes it may see some increased use as readers follow-up on the reading lists included with the discussion guides; and most of all, says Augustine, staff morale has been high from having started and worked on such a successful and beloved program.

Now in their fourth year and eleventh book, the club is continuing to thrive and grow. They offer a terrific model for anyone looking to start their own museum book club, and a resource for readers everywhere.

Visit the Reading between the Lions book club online to sign up for the newsletter, download discussion guides, and more at www.artic.edu/bookclub.