Franchising the Tate

Abu Dhabi - a new cultural hub

Abu Dhabi is developing a new cultural district in a corner of Saadiyat Island nearby. It is huge, and impressive. As the Financial Times said this weekend, “This is a cultural district like no other. Over the next five years, Saadiyat’s skyline will be transformed by a succession of hugely prestigious landmarks, piloted by some of the world’s leading architects”.

The list of new architects and buildings includes Frank Gehry’s new Guggenheim Museum, a Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel, a Norman Foster designed Zayed National Museum and a performing arts centre by Zaha Hadid. As well a Maritime Museum by the Japanese master Tadao Ando. The overall investment on the island is $27 billion - these major museum ‘franchises’ are expensive.

Museums and galleries can gain a lot from collaborations from these. The Louvre will receive a reported $1.3bn for the use of its name and collections for thirty years. So should the Tate be looking to tag onto developments and develop themselves as franchises? Should the Tate open in Abu Dhabi?

Four reasons to stay put

First, there are diminishing returns from creating new outposts. The Guggenheim has a long track record of developing overseas, but the Louvre has less of one, and so can command stratospheric fees. But it’s not just about money, it’s expertise and quality. With more outposts, collections and staff can also find themselves stretched.

Second, there are questions over whether their collections are suitable. The Abu Dhabi development is tailored towards markets from China and Far East, but it is not clear whether they will appreciate the same mix of renaissance art and twentieth century conceptual work that dominates the Tate's UK institutions. Will they have to buy new work - often expensively, and outside their area of expertise - to attract enough visitors?

Third, there’s an issue about what the gallery is really there for. In London, the Tate has remit that encompasses developing, displaying and maintaining great art - but also to the local communities around it. It is not an island - it’s tied in to the local regeneration and the local streetscape (see below). Will relocating change its charitable mission?



And finally, there is a big issue around arts itself, and the quality of work being produced. Abu Dhabi is a strongly religious place, without the same ethos of freedom of speech and expression that we have in London (and Europe). Would a religious community tolerate controversial work, like Andreas Serrano’s Piss Christ, and would we be returning to the same old arguments around art and censorship that we had here fifty years ago?

So instead of developing an outpost, the Tate might follow its London colleagues at the British Museum, which has been developing bilateral links and organising loans with foreign museums in the area. It provides consultancy services and lends its name where needed, all without these dangers. And collects a heavy (but undisclosed) fee for the arrangement.