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08/03/2006: "What, Me Worry?"

The loaning of artwork from one museum to another for display is a common process. So when the Pompidou Center of Paris decided to present a display of artwork by Los Angeles artists earlier this year, several local museums loaned pieces to the Center. After all, the Pompidou is a world-class museum, with appropriate processes in place to insure the safety of the loaned pieces, right?

Wrong.

During the 5-month run of the display, two pieces were destroyed, and a third damaged. That by itself would be shocking enough, but what's really amazing is the reaction of the show's curator.

"It's not our guilt," Catherine Grenier, who curated the show for the Pompidou, said from her Paris home. "For me, it's not a coincidence. These two works were made of the same materials, and made in the same period. And both were incredibly fragile."

But LACMA curator Lynn Zelevansky, who heads the contemporary art department, noted that the piece the museum lent had gone on and off display often — and survived several earthquakes — during its three decades in LACMA's care.

"Maybe I should have looked more closely," said artist Craig Kauffman, who journeyed to Paris to see the show. "I just assume everybody knows what they're doing. And I guess they don't."

WTF? Way to step up and take responsibility! Sorry you sent us your fragile pieces, but it's your own fault - you trusted us!

We can have the discussion about what is art, and if this even qualified. But the bottom line is that you don't borrow someone's belongings, break them, then blame them! Imagine if I borrowed your EAL for this week's fishing, dropped it on the deck, then blamed you when it wouldn't beep any more. After all, you never should have spent $200 on a lure anyway ...

Reminds me of the old joke about how there's no translation in the French language for the word "victory" ...