Apr 9th, 2008
No Quebec Exhibit in the Top 121?
[Tokyo National Museum; picture: Wikipedia]
Currently on sale, French biweekly Le Journal des Arts publishes a list of the most visited temporary exhibits of 2007. What is surprising is that none of the Quebec museums managed to break into the top 121. In the mean time, the Royal Ontario Museum has three shows in the list.
This disappointing result for Quebec museums may be explained by the method used by the newspaper to collect its data. Institutions were invited to provide their visitor statistics. Did our museums provide those numbers?
Intrigued, I sent an email to the top 4 museums in Quebec :
* Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
* Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art
* Quebec Museum of Civilization
* Quebec National Gallery
I will spare you my email, which is in French. In it, I asked if those museums provided the newspaper with their statistics. I also noted that MoMA, Orsay, Louvre, Guggenheim and the London National Gallery all provided the data. If you feel like it, you can find my email on the French version of this blog.
I’m awaiting their replies, wondering what would be worst between them sending the data (and not making the top 121) or them ignoring this list.
Update: The Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art quickly answered my query. Eric Bilodeau said that the magazine never contacted them and that it’s a disappointment. I wholeheartedly share his feelings.
[...] Top 121 Exhibits: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts writes back In a previous post, I wondered on the absence of museums in Quebec in the top 121 global temporary exhibitions. [Read the post here] [...]
[...] Top 121 Exhibits: The Montreal Museum of Comtemporary Art answers I posted a note yesterday on the top 121 temporary exhibitions and the absence of Quebec museums. [Read the post here] [...]