3 ms·

One thing I wondered, when I sae footage of a warehouse full of collectors art: why a warehouse and not a public museum?

by hef19898 3y ago

mastax 3y ago
Even at museums the vast majority of their collection is stored in a warehouse somewhere. There's never enough room in the gallery to show it all. There's also the matter of properly displaying works in context, lighting, etc. And protecting them from UV damage and visitors.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  Museums gradually rotate what they have on display, and regularly lend what isn't on display to other museums.
  - mastax 3y ago
    Right, but this is art someone is paying to store at a warehouse so they see it as an investment. So they aren't going to donate it to a museum but might loan it for display. Which happens all the time but it tends to be a very small set of special pieces. You can't take a whole art warehouse and dump it on a museum and say "display this" there simply isn't space. Museums are limited by space (and funds) shortages, not art shortages.
    - codetrotter 3y ago
      > You can't take a whole art warehouse and dump it on a museum and say "display this" there simply isn't space. Museums are limited by space (and funds) shortages, not art shortages. It’s still better for the world that culturally significant art be owned by museums, than by private collectors, even if most of the art is not on display all the time.
pavlov 3y ago
A lot of important art is practically in permanent storage in places like Geneva Free Port, a collection of nondescript warehouses where the art can be sold and bought tax free. And of course nobody ever gets to see it. Maybe not even the new buyer unless they’re particularly interested in art rather than just trading as an investment. The documentation shows that the Picasso is in Geneva building D section F room 37 shelf B, that’s good enough to buy it for $10M and sell it for $15M later.
gumby 3y ago
Tax reasons. What you typically see isn't just any warehouse but a "freeport" -- a warehouse that's outside a country's tax jurisdiction. The idea makes sense: you ship something (some part of a jet engine) from the US to Nigeria, and the trip involves a cargo plane change in Geneva. You don't want to pay import duty to switzerland just to ship it out a few days later so you store it in a guarded warehouse for those days and legally it never enters the country. Then some folks got the idea that they could simply store other expensive assets in such a place. I assume most of it is for money laundering and/or big transactions for illegal goods.

One thing I wondered, when I sae footage of a warehouse full of collectors art: why a warehouse and not a public museum?

mastax 3y ago

Even at museums the vast majority of their collection is stored in a warehouse somewhere. There's never enough room in the gallery to show it all. There's also the matter of properly displaying works in context, lighting, etc. And protecting them from UV damage and visitors.

Symbiote 3y ago
Museums gradually rotate what they have on display, and regularly lend what isn't on display to other museums.
- mastax 3y ago
  Right, but this is art someone is paying to store at a warehouse so they see it as an investment. So they aren't going to donate it to a museum but might loan it for display. Which happens all the time but it tends to be a very small set of special pieces. You can't take a whole art warehouse and dump it on a museum and say "display this" there simply isn't space. Museums are limited by space (and funds) shortages, not art shortages.
  - codetrotter 3y ago
    > You can't take a whole art warehouse and dump it on a museum and say "display this" there simply isn't space. Museums are limited by space (and funds) shortages, not art shortages. It’s still better for the world that culturally significant art be owned by museums, than by private collectors, even if most of the art is not on display all the time.

pavlov 3y ago

A lot of important art is practically in permanent storage in places like Geneva Free Port, a collection of nondescript warehouses where the art can be sold and bought tax free. And of course nobody ever gets to see it. Maybe not even the new buyer unless they’re particularly interested in art rather than just trading as an investment. The documentation shows that the Picasso is in Geneva building D section F room 37 shelf B, that’s good enough to buy it for $10M and sell it for $15M later.

gumby 3y ago

Tax reasons. What you typically see isn't just any warehouse but a "freeport" -- a warehouse that's outside a country's tax jurisdiction. The idea makes sense: you ship something (some part of a jet engine) from the US to Nigeria, and the trip involves a cargo plane change in Geneva. You don't want to pay import duty to switzerland just to ship it out a few days later so you store it in a guarded warehouse for those days and legally it never enters the country. Then some folks got the idea that they could simply store other expensive assets in such a place. I assume most of it is for money laundering and/or big transactions for illegal goods.