Are the glory days of some of the world’s best known museums now ancient history? Seems that way from the results of this year’s museum “Oscars.”
OK, so the top prize in the prestigious Leading Culture Destinations 2015 awards, announced Friday in London, goes to a classic — New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Plenty of other usual suspects also made the cut including the Centre Pompidou in Paris and London’s Tate Modern.
But other giants of the museum world were elbowed out in favor of new arrivals like the spectacular Oita Prefectural Art Museum in Japan, and architecture supremo Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
Who got left out?
That meant no silverware for France’s Louvre. It might be the world’s most visited art museum, but it didn’t even get a look-in.
Global heavyweights including Florence’s Galleria degli Uffizi and Madrid’s Reina Sofia are similarly out in the cold.
The selections reflect the shift away from the art world’s big boys in New York, Paris and London.
After all, 2013’s most attended art exhibitions were in Taipei and Rio de Janeiro, not Europe or North America.
The 2015 list gives shout-outs to Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Merida in Mexico, and other unexpected destinations that are beginning to present serious competition on the global stage.
Eating, drinking and shopping
In addition, the cultural institutions leading the way this year aren’t just about art appreciation. They’re also places to eat, drink, work, shop, socialize and even sleep.
As Andy Warhol said: “All department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores.”
So alongside exhibitions and programming, museums are also judged on architecture and spatial design, digital experience, shopping, and eating and drinking.
There’s even a category for best art experience in a hotel, with this year’s winner being France’s La Colombe d’Or, a favorite of stars including Francis Ford Coppola and Drew Barrymore.
The full list of winners and nominees are below:
Best exhibitions & programming
Tate Modern, London (UK) — Winner
Museum of Modern Art, New York (U.S.)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (UK)
New Museum, New York (U.S.)
Serpentine Gallery, London (UK)
Best architecture & spatial design
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (France) — Winner
Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao (Spain)
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Qatar)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (U.S.)
Best digital experience
Museum of Modern Art, New York (U.S.) — Winner
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (UK)
Getty Center, Los Angeles (U.S.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (U.S.)
Tate Modern, London (UK)
Best eat & drink
Centre Pompidou, Paris (France) — Winner
Tate Modern, London (UK)
Serpentine Gallery, London (UK)
Palais de Tokyo, Paris (France)
Somerset House, London (UK)
Best shop
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (UK) — Winner
Museum of Modern Art, New York (U.S.)
Palais de Tokyo, Paris (France)
Tate Modern, London (UK)
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (France)
Overall winner: Leading culture destination of the year
Museum of Modern Art, New York (U.S.) — Winner
Best emerging culture destination: Europe
Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (UK) — Winner
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
The Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris (France)
Barcelona Design Museum, Barcelona (Spain)
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (Russia)
Fondazione Prada, Milan (Italy)
Best emerging culture destination: Asia
Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita (Japan) — Winner
Museum SAN, Wonj (South Korea)
Asia Modern, Wufeng, Taichung (Taiwan)
Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing (China)
Pinacotheque De Paris (Singapore)
Best emerging culture destination: Africa
Museum MMP +, Marrakech (Morocco) — Winner
Museum Mohammed VI, Rabat (Morocco)
Ouidah Museum of History (Benin)
Thread by Foundation Annie & Josef Albers, Sinthian (Senegal)
Best emerging culture destination: North America
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (U.S.) — Winner
Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg (Canada)
Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York (U.S.)
The Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (U.S.)
Mana Contemporary, New Jersey (U.S.)
Best emerging culture destination: Central & South America
Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Merida, Merida (Mexico) — Winner
The Biomuseo, Panama City (Panama)
Museum of Memory and Tolerance, Mexico City (Mexico)
Museo Soumaya, Mexico City (Mexico)
La ene — Nuevo museo energia de arte contemporaneo, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janerio (Brazil)
Best emerging culture destination: Middle East
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, (Qatar) — Winner
Oman National Museum, Muscat (Oman)
Design Museum, Holon (Israel)
Dubai Moving Image Museum, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Salsali Private Museum, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Best art experience in a hotel
La Colombe d’Or, Saint-Paul-de-Vence (France) — Winner
Gramercy Park Hotel, New York (U.S.)
Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resort, Rome (Italy)
Gladstone Hotel, Toronto (Canada)
Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai (China)
Palace Hotel Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)
Best emerging city for culture
Mexico City (Mexico) — Winner
Manchester (UK)
Oslo (Norway)
Palma de Mallorca (Spain)
Venice (Italy)
