It is nothing new, or rare, to privatize the galleries of the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, hundreds of movies are shot there each year. However skepticism, even criticism of the Louvre is mounting, for instance by other international museums, in a collective questioning of conservation ethics, notably when it comes to the spiritual protection of artworks. Indeed, conservation implies protecting pieces from physical alterations but also from moral ones. In this light, it is valid to analyze the relationships nurtured by public cultural institutions with corporations or private interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After granting permission for the controversial video shoot Apeshit<\/em> by Beyonc\u00e9 and JAY-Z, where the singer can be seen dancing in front of masterpieces, the Louvre also opened its doors to the French televised game show Questions pour un champion<\/em> in August 2018. The show attracted 1,5 million French viewers, whereas the Apeshit<\/em> video had over 160 million views. For the biggest museum in the world, it\u2019s an easy calculation: use media to increase visibility, update its image and diversify clientele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially, the former residence of French kings seems ready today to do anything that will draw numbers, abandoning the arts in support of the tourism and cultural industries. As Christophe Roux, professor of Marketing for Cultural Industries at Sciences Po, observes: \u201cMuseums, and particularly the Louvre, have entered the era of experiential marketing, aided by the interactivity of social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The process is nothing new. The Louvre Pyramid, built between 1985 and 1989, was already slated at the time to become a shopping center. The partnership between the Louvre and the American hospitality service, however, has some people grinding their teeth. A major contributor to the housing shortage crisis, urban desertification and general disregard for French fiscal policy, Airbnb is more than just controversial. Although some see the good in trying to turn Internet users into visitors, others see the association of the museum\u2019s name with this business as altering its image. In an opinion piece for the newspaper \u201cLe Monde\u201d on April 12, 2019<\/a>, philosopher Olivia Bianchi<\/a> regards the operation as a disgrace to the site. She described the process as \u201cpolluting the spiritual atmosphere of the Louvre\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have already been controversies surrounding the Louvre\u2019s satellite sites, particularly the Louvre Abu Dhabi<\/a>. The agreement between France and the Emirate includes a financial envelope of nearly one billion Euros poured into the French museum, of which 400 million were just for the use of \u201cLouvre\u201d name, considered a brand. In an opinion piece entitled \u201cMuseums are Not For Sale\u201d (Le Monde, December 12, 2006<\/a>), Fran\u00e7oise Cachin<\/a> (then Honorary Director of Mus\u00e9es de France), Jean Clair<\/a> (Honorary Conservationist and writer) and Roland Recht<\/a> (professor in the Coll\u00e8ge de France) already condemned the ethical breach that comes with the commercial, political and media exploitation of masterpieces that belong to public cultural heritage, accusing the political acthttp:\/\/www.usias.fr\/chaires\/roland-recht\/ors involved of offering a royal and diplomatic gift to Abu Dhabi in exchange for money: \u201cIsn\u2019t this selling its soul?\u201d. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has since been inaugurated, in November 2017, with a building by French architect Jean Nouvel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although most museums in France and Europe have resisted these kinds of expansions or commercial leasing, they cannot bypass the publicity. There will always be museums that seem capable of marketing with more wisdom and creativity than the Louvre. For its re-opening in 2013, the Rijksmuseum<\/a> in Amsterdam staged a live, human-scaled reenactment of Rembrandt\u2019s The Night Watch<\/em>, set to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Under the stunned gaze of shopping center visitors, actors, stunt people, horses, a falcon and banners bring to life the moments just prior to the depicted scene, locking into a live freeze frame that meticulously recreates every detail of the original painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n