McMusee: The Louvre to franchise a Gulf succursal (update)
The BBC reports that a deal inked between the French state and Abu Dhabi (UAE) will allow the Gulf state to build and license its own Louvre, at the rate of “400 million euros ($524m; £272m) just for the Louvre name,” and “will pay hundreds of millions of euros over 30 years for the privilege of displaying works from French museums.”
The deal, signed by Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheikh Sultan bin Tannoun, paves the way for a new “Louvre Abu Dhabi”, due to open in 2012.
The deal, not without its vociferous critics, has arts writer Didier Rykner to answer to:
Mr Rykner, who drew up the petition and posted it on his website, La Tribune de l’Art, says the project was not designed with the best interest of art in mind.
French museums will be deprived of major works, which will be displayed in a “random, unscientific” way in Abu Dhabi, Mr Rykner contends.
He also points out that transporting hundreds of fragile works is fraught with risk.
“The logic of this project is purely political and diplomatic,” says Mr Rykner, who points out that the UAE is a major ally and customer of France.
It’s troubling to hear these arguments against expanding France’s proud cultural past and influence at the behest of an emerging nation that is willing to undertake a massive capital project like this (Abu Dhabi will cover the construction costs, of the museum to be designed by a French architect) — it has an air of post-colonial hubris.
Still, the Louvre doesn’t exactly hold up very well as a bastion of non-commercial art integrity set forth by Rykner, as seen in another BBC article. Cashing in on a DaVinci Code tie-in audio tour that features the voice of Jean Reno, who played Captain Bezu Fache in the Hollywood film, somehow seems less defensible.
[Update: The NYTimes.com has its own article on the deal.]
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