“Bubble” breaks for Cleveland Museum of Art, which lays off 5% of staff

Is The Cleveland Museum of Art the latest casualty of “Museum Bubble” syndrome? The Museum is cutting 14 jobs or 5% of its staff, The New York Times reported, following a story in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.  There have been lots of Museum staff cuts like this one, including, of course, those at The Art Institute, so I’m calling attention to The Cleveland Museum’s situation only because it seems to provide a textbook example–and just the latest one, I should add–of a larger cultural/economic (culturo-economic?) phenomenon, which Ben Davis has described as “The Museum Bubble” for Artnet Magazine. Go read Davis’ piece, if you haven’t already, and decide for yourself if his Bubble argument holds water. I find it pretty convincing, especially when comparing Davis’ analysis to what’s happening in Cleveland. Thoughts?

Written by Claudine Isé

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Claudine Isé has worked in the field of contemporary art as a writer and curator for the past decade, and currently serves as the Editor of the Art21 Blog. Claudine regularly writes for Artforum.com and Chicago magazine, and has also worked as an art critic for the Los Angeles Times. Before moving to Chicago in 2008, she worked at the Wexner Center in Columbus, OH as associate curator of exhibitions, and at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles as assistant curator of contemporary art, where she curated a number of Hammer Projects. She has Ph.D. in Film, Literature and Culture from the University of Southern California.

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Tagged: artnet, ben davis, cleveland museum of art, museum bubble