On The Met’s Roof: Fitting Financial Symbol?
I had to laugh when I saw the art project that’s just gone up on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum. It’s called “Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)” and it’s a riff of sorts, by Cornelia Parker, on the dwelling in “Psycho.” But its dilapidated condition is an inadvertent symbol of the state of the museum’s finances, at least according to an article late last week in the NY Times, which contrasted the Met’s money situation with that of the supposedly more flush MOMA. The Met immediately and understandably issued an email to its members, assuring them that the museum has an enormous endowment — and I might add, that unlike the Met (opera) on the other side of the park the eastside Met’s value is buoyed by the enormity of its priceless art. (The opera has only the Chagalls.) Still, the Hitchcock homage on the roof looks especially acute right now.
