Germany has the most private contemporary art museums in the world, new report reveals

Germany took the highest slot for the variety of non-public museums of latest artwork, in line with a brand new report that has simply gone stay—simply pipping the US by a single determine.

The report is the brainchild of Christoph Noe, the founding father of the artwork collector information firm Larry’s Listing, working with a crew of researchers together with the Hong-Kong primarily based Jamie Bennett and the College of Amsterdam educational Olav Velthuis.

Explosive development

The variety of museums they document has grown, up from 317 of their earlier 2016 report back to a shocking 446 this yr. And the line-up has additionally modified: in 2016 South Korea was primary, whereas Germany solely got here in third. This time 5 international locations dominate the listing: Germany (60), the US (59), South Korea (50), Larger China (30) and Italy (30). Apparently, these international locations are dwelling to half of all non-public museums on the earth—not essentially the largest, although, however the sheer variety of them beats out the 54 different international locations listed.

In response to Noe, collectors in these 5 international locations usually tend to need to make their collections bodily accessible to the general public—and should have only a house that was transformed from an condo. “However for China and South Korea, we see slightly giant museum set-ups,” he says.

Asia, inevitably, is of rising significance on this panorama, and the report takes a deep dive into South Korea and notably its capital Seoul, the town with the best variety of non-public artwork museums on the earth. Requested why, Noe says: “Seoul is the place the artwork market in South Korea was first fashioned and artwork museums have been first constructed, and the company presence is powerful.” He provides: “Millennials [born 1981-96] and Gen Z [1997-2012] symbolize greater than one-third of Seoul’s inhabitants, and the museums make additional efforts to draw younger art-goers.”

What can be astonishing is that, in line with the report, 82% of all current non-public museums of latest artwork have been based since 2000, and 152 have been established prior to now decade alone.

Emulation

“Clearly, having your personal museum is linked to sources—it’s important to have a group, cash and an area,” Noe says. “However that is positively a development. The founders are watching what others are doing and emulating them. Having your personal museum is the best standing image doable, nevertheless it’s not nearly vainness, it’s also about sharing your assortment with others.” And, he provides: “There may be additionally getting higher entry for essentially the most sought-after artists and artworks—a lot simpler if they’re going into your personal museum.” Lastly, he notes: “Museum founders see a have to nurture and shield tradition and fill in a niche left by an absence of public establishments—they usually have the sources to take action. So a personal collector has over current years developed a extra public footprint.”

Inevitably, the figures are usually not solely set in stone—definitions could be tough—however Noe says that his crew have improved their information and methodology because the first report, which partly impacts their findings.

As for the impact on the artwork market of all these new museums, Noe is enthusiastic: “The expansion in numbers is 100% excellent news,” he says: “All these non-public museums present inspiration on the international degree, they play a significant position in giving artists higher publicity.” And, “at a time when authorities assist for public museums is just not on the rise”, he says diplomatically, “they supply great show circumstances for modern artwork,”—one thing that he, who can be an artwork adviser, can solely applaud.

• Georgina Adam is the writer of The Rise and Rise of the Non-public Artwork Museum (Lund Humphries, 2021)