Why Didn't Denver Take Design Show?

In Denver, the pressure to get people in the door has indeed been intense. Before its new wing opened in October, 2006, the museum talked of drawing 1 million visitors a year. By the following March, Sharp had lowered his sights, but was still telling me that he expected 750,000 visitors at DAM during the Hamilton wing's first year.

Sharp also said "now we are into more ambitious shows and special-event programming." The wing's namesake, board chairman Frederic C. Hamilton, told me: "The question is how [the museum] functions down the road, and that depends on good programming, and I think we'll do well with attendance because we have a helluva program." Hamilton made Sharp stay in his job past his intended retirement "so we have a good product to sell."

I always thought the attendance goal (even revised downward) was a pipedream for DAM -- and in fact the museum hasn't come close to achieving either one. In fiscal 2007 (ending Sept. 30), the visitor total was 629,000; in fiscal 2008, 608,000; in the first six months of this fiscal year, 226,000.

DAM spokeswoman Andrea Fulton says the decision not to show "European Design Since 1985" had nothing to do with these dynamics. She says 1) they wanted their new design curator, Darrin Alfred, to develop his own vision for the department, and 2) DAM acquired a large trove of posters in late 2007 and Alfred has spent his time organizing a show of them. It's now on view -- "The Psychedelic Experience, Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area, 1965-71" (right).

During all the expansions of the last 20 years, many have feared that programming would shift away from art and toward more popular shows just to attract visitors. Rock posters aren't as bad as exhibits that have filled the galleries of major museums (Star Wars, anyone?). But why DAM would waste its investment in the design show -- a model -- is beyond me.  

"European Design Since 1985" will travel to the High Museum in Atlanta and, with luck, other venues to be announced, including one in Europe.

Photo Credits: Jeff Wells, Courtesy Denver Art Museum (top); Bonnie MacLain, Yardbirds, Doors, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, 1967 © Bill Graham Archives, LLC. (bottom).