I just couldn't resist this quote, one of like a million scattered in this damn book:

"So what's it like at the upper end where Harry Winston competes with Tiffany, where Louis Vuitton elbows Prada, where Lexus dukes it out with Mercedes?" (137)

Who is this guy??!!

Posted at Feb 24/2006 09:17AM:
Henry Lowood:

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and feel like I profited esp. from the section on organized religion. The section on higher education was also very interesting. But then the section on museums ... I am trying to link it back to "politics of presence." For example, What does it tell me about Lynn Hershman. My answer so far: I don't know, but I'm sure something will come out of discussion today.

Posted at Feb 24/2006 02:30PM:
Seeta Peña Gangadharan: Is it accurate to say that churches, museums and universities only recently got into the business of branding? What do we understand about this term? What other historical trends can be considered (but are named) branding?

Posted at Feb 28/2006 06:07PM:
W. Roxburgh: Here's a fantastic quote in an article about the insufferably pompous Met director Philippe de Montebello, who is, at the very least, honest:

Thus, as globalization is having as much impact on art institutions as on corporations, de Montebello is determined to resist the baser commercial and political instincts of our time. "It will not deter us," he says of the downward trend of mass-market museum culture. Then he adds with a reassuring smile, "Do not underestimate our degree of arrogance."