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

The Diary of Banned Frank

T., Banned Frank, 2008, silkscreen print on paper

Banned Frank is a 2008 image that inspired a great deal of debate in the Netherlands and on that lightning rod of controversy we call the international blogosphere. In this post, I want to write about the image itself briefly and then discuss some of the controversy. The intent is not to feed the fire because honestly, the debate is over. I just recently learned about this image and wanted to offer my own perspective.