The Design of the Rubells' Upcoming Contemporary Art Museum in D.C.

The foundations or patrons funding art museums are aware of the importance of image. Because of this, the architecture of the museum is often chosen to make a statement. Most art museums are examples of "modernist" architecture, which can be characterized by its clarity and simplicity. The upcoming Rubell Contemporary Art Museum in D.C. ,which is still in development, can be considered an example of "post-modern" architecture, which can be generally described as eclectic. Is this an official endorsement of postmodern architecture, a style which has remained somewhat controversial since its beginnings in the late 1970s, by the contemporary art establishment and a shift away from modernist architecture?

The patrons of the new museum intend to keep the original facade of the Randall School in Southeast D.C. which was built in the "early 20th Century."(1)(2) Preliminary plans show that within this facade there will be dramatically modern architecture, although the firm Bing Thom Architects is still in the development phase.(3)  This composition of modern within old style closely compares to an example of postmodern architecture, the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. 

The 'Summer of Sequels,' Information Costs, and Museum Exhibits

Or: Why You Won't See a Nicolas de Largillière Exhibit, But May See Many of Joshua Reynolds.(1)

Costs of obtaining information incurred in consumption can explain both the recent prevalence of sequels and, at least partially, the choices by curators of museum exhibits. Consumers incur information costs in finding out a base level of necessary information about the movie or artist they are going to 'consume.'(2) Consumers incur less information costs when consuming something that has already become familiar to them, either through prequels or previous exhibits. Curators and movie producers, as experts in their field, are not as constrained by information costs as consumers. Instead the information costs of the consumers affect the choices of the 'producers' as they try to reduce barriers to consumption. Great curators attempt to introduce their audience to new artists or at least new aspects of these artists, but are still constrained by the willingness of their audience to incur information costs. 

Figure 1: Nicolas de Largillière, Elizabeth Throckmorton, 1729