Museums are the foundation of a city’s culture; the more museums a city has, the better off it is. Every museum — with its own collection and, more important, its own style and curatorial vision for bringing art to the community — is like another dollar bill in your pocket. Some metropolitan regions are rich and some are poor.
In that way, makes Denver less well off. For all of the benefits that the union might bring — and, to be clear, there are many possibilities — it scratches a museum off our list. It takes away a dollar.
The move is being positioned publicly as a merger, but it will play out more like an annexation. The DAM will eventually control all operations, approve all exhibitions, make all the crucial decisions about how the Kirkland’s magnificent collection is cared for and expanded, and how it is presented to the public. In essence, the Kirkland becomes just another department at an art megaplex that already wrangles 11 of them, from European art to the rapidly growing area of Latin American art.
Yet, in many ways, the move makes sense. The two institutions are across the street from each other. It is easy to view the unification as the creation of a genuine campus for DAM, already the city’s most important visual arts presenter.
Pulling the buildings together in a cohesive way is an urban planner’s dream; it will be interesting to see how that integration happens. Plus, the museums are already great friends. The local philanthropist Merle Chambe.
