Counting is not Enough. Modelling Relevance in Art Exhibition Ecosystems

The authors present a conceptual and mathematical model for an art institution relevance index that quantifies the institution’s ability to manage and leverage its loan relationships with other art institutions, art collectors, and curators. The propose that their model innovates on prior methods descriptions of institution relevance based on the depth or size of an institution’s collections, by introducing a more complex combination of the institution’s ability to manage the type, frequency and range of lending and borrowing practices. Their mixed methods approach is based on combining traditional methods of art history that have relied on subjective accounts of an institution’s collection value with a more formalized methodological approach to quantifying what was once a discourse of practice. The show that a limitation in traditional approaches to evaluating institutional impact relied on subjective interpretation and is not scalable and therefore cannot account for the importance of the global art exhibition ecosystems.