I read today about the Seattle Art Museum’s offer to draw people to its Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso show, which opens on Friday: Free admission to the first 100 people who come to the museum, on each of the first four days of the exhibition, wearing blue. Blue for Picasso’s blue period. (Then why not rose?)
It reminded me of a post I wrote in late September, here, about the high-wire act, literally, that several Buffalo institutions used to promote Beyond/In Western New York. It was a stunt to draw attention to the biennial there, and garnered live local television coverage. While I am sorry that something like that was necessary, it wasn’t offensive. It didn’t really take away from the art.
Likewise with SAM’s “blue” offer — although I do have mixed feelings the whether/what/when of stunts and their acceptabilty for museums. SAM’s is kind of connected to the art. It saves people money for a show where an adult, undiscounted ticket costs $23 (versus $15 normally). It creates excitement, and may help even out the flow of people coming to the museum.
This was an expensive show for SAM, a lot is riding on its success — in terms of monetary gain (or breakeven) and prestige. Plus, the blue offer is hardly the only thing SAM is doing to create excitement and promote Picasso. The opening events press release runs to 12 pages. Context matters.
But as SAM says, this is the first full exhibit of Picasso’s long career ever mounted in the Northwest — one would think that the giant of 20th Century art doesn’t need help to be exciting. I guess, when there is so much competition for the public’s time, he might. That’s reality.
Trouble is, stunts can be like a drug — no stunt, no attention, no attendance, and a search for ever bigger, more far-fetched stunts. There’s a fine line between appropriate and inappropriate promotion.
A hat tip to the Everett Herald, where I first saw the news about SAM. And more about the exhibit here.