Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 6

A sharing economy: new models in museum acquisitions

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Klaus Biesenbach, Director, Neue Nationalgalerie and BERLIN MODERN under construction, Berlin and New York Dr. Mariët Westermann, Director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York Moderator: Julia Halperin, Freelance Journalist, New York
Faced with tightening acquisition parameters, museums are finding new ways to add depth to their permanent collections. Joint acquisition is one such solution. In recent years, an increasing number of museums have joined forces with a second institution to co-own artworks, and collectors have donated collections to multiple museums. What are the potential benefits – and challenges – of such co-ownership? This conversation looks at the intricacies and possibilities of a shared economy for museum collections. 
The Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 Conversations program is curated by Kimberly Bradley.
Klaus Biesenbach is a German born, American curator and museum director. In Berlin, he leads the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Berggruen Museum, the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection, and the forthcoming Herzog & de Meuron-designed Berlin Modern. Biesenbach was the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, from 2018 to 2021. He is a former chief curator at large of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the former director of MoMA PS1. Biesenbach was the founding director of both the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and the Berlin Biennale. 
Mariët Westermann is the director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, directing its flagship in New York and overseeing the Guggenheim sites in Venice, Bilbao, and Abu Dhabi. Westermann was previously the vice chancellor and chief executive of NYU Abu Dhabi, having been the founding provost. Westermann has published widely on the art of her native Netherlands and on the humanities, arts, and higher education in society. She is a trustee of ALIPH and the Rijksmuseum, and chairs the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund. 
Julia Halperin is a journalist, editor, and the co-founder of the Burns Halperin Report, the largest report of its kind tracking equity and representation in the art world. She is a contributor to the New York Times, the Financial Times, and W magazine, among other publications. She serves as editor at large of Cultured magazine and is a contributing editor to The Art Newspaper, where she writes a column about changes and challenges in American art museums. From 2017 to 2022, she was executive editor of Artnet News.

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