Faking It To the Top

As technology gets more advanced and exciting, museums become less popular in the 21^st century. Many people do not value fine art, and are not stimulated by simply wandering the halls of a museum by day. Therefore, such institutions need to alter their marketing strategies in order to attract a larger and more diverse audience. The Marine Museum in Virginia has found a unique strategy for making citizens interested in their exhibition, which is explained in To Reel In Crowds, a Museum Is Showing a Fake Painting.

Having acquired 34 genuine paintings by a talented 19^th century painter, James E. Buttersworth, this museum needed an intriguing method to attract visitors. Since this painter is not famous with subject matter that is not enthralling for a modern audience, the gallery needed a creative method for entertaining visitors. Then, the museum came up with a genius solution for the success of its new exhibition: add in a forged Buttersworth painting into the exhibition and have visitors figure out which one is the fake in an interactive game.(This is a real Buttersworth work. Check out the fake in the article linked above!)

This idea was magnificent, except that now the museum had to get involved with its greatest enemy, a forger. They received the forged painting from an unidentified source, painted by a professional forger of Buttersworth’s works, Ken Perenyi. This artist was honored to have his work displayed in the Mariners Museum. With the painting hung amidst real Buttersworth works, the exhibition successfully welcomed many visitors who learned about fine art without realizing it, as they journeyed through the rooms to find the single fake work.

I praise the museum for concocting such a creative strategy for making what sounds like a dull gallery into a game for all ages. Those who find the fake at the end of the exhibit are urged to keep it a secret for the rest of the visitors as they observe all 34 of Buttersworth’s paintings in order to find one by Perenyi. I believe that the Mariner’s Museum made a courageous choice in adding this forged piece to their show; moreover, I think this act is a great example for other museums that are dying in popularity to employ interactive features to their galleries. I would love to visit a museum in which I am not only learning about fine art, but also playing against fellow visitors in an exciting game.

10 Responses to "Faking It To the Top"

Sydney Marino says:

November 1, 2014 at 3:42 pm

I agree that it was a good idea of this museum to create such an interactive and attractive game to bring in customers. Nowadays, my generation and the one after are not interested in museums. Some of us classify it as boring. Especially since we have so much technology to play around with. That is why it is very important to try to create new ways of attracting customers and upgrading. Museums need to change as society changes in order to meet their goals. People can’t expect people to come to museums using the tricks they used in the 20th century. This is the 21st century! The gap between this generation and the older one is one of the hugest. That is why it is important to keep updating strategies and making sure they are flexible to adapt to the changing times.
anandpoonai says:

November 2, 2014 at 11:02 am

My first reaction to the idea was, “Isn’t that illegal?” However, the idea that the museum utilized is ingenious. Not only is it a good strategy to gain more visitors to the museum, but its also provides a fun outing for people. Most of the time, museums are deemed as apathetic and boring. Many visitors struggle to pick one foot up after another and walk around the museum because they find the paintings and works of art to be temporarily satisfying. Personally, I’m one of those visitors who will find a work of art to be fascinating once I catch a glimpse of it, but after that, looking at it for more than a couple minutes will result in a yawn from me. However, the museum’s use of the fake painting is a great way to engage the visitors in a fun game. I agree with Sydney. Considering that it is the 21st century, updating strategies to attract visitors is a must. Your title also really had me hooked from the beginning. Great blog!
Isabel Vulakh says:

November 3, 2014 at 12:05 am

This idea was a great way to attract more visitors to the museum! Forgery of famous and highly valued artwork has always been frowned upon, but now we have a modern day museum that is trying to incorporate it into its exhibits. By placing 1 forged painting among 34 real Buttersworth paintings, the forged painting becomes a resource for visitors to understand how to tell the real paintings apart from the forged ones. This creative strategy makes what some might consider a boring experience into a fun and interesting one! I am not surprised this strategy has experienced great success.
holdencoreystein says:

November 3, 2014 at 7:41 am

As someone who is interested and experienced in business, I view this as a bold move by the museum. Often times businesses are reluctant to enlist the services or even think about working with their rivals, but people would be surprised at the benefits both parties could reap if they work together. Pride usually stands in the way of making deals and special changes such as this happens, and I could imagine that pride is something museums and genuine painters have lots of. Unfortunately however, Beth you are right when you say museums have a dwindling popularity and viewer base. When all of these paintings, or cat videos and free television, could be found with a few clicks, it is even tougher now to get people through the front doors of a museum. This was a good publicity move and I hope to see more innovative moves by museums in the future.
j96lee says:

November 3, 2014 at 10:59 am

Wow! This sounds like a really creative idea. I think it would really engage more people to attend museums and obtain a higher sense of gratitude for art. People no longer take the time to go to museums and appreciate art, so by publicizing this “game,” people will be more excited to see if they can really spot the difference. I hope this pops up in more museums!
nicholasleung says:

November 3, 2014 at 2:19 pm

I think this is a great idea to keep visual art fresh. In such an interactive world, a lot of people need something to keep their attention for something as unengaging as visual art (not to say they’re not beautiful, but not as interactive or involving as music or performance). To make a game out of visual art is fun, but at the same time, it takes away from really analyzing/appreciating the art for what is is.
krystalau says:

November 3, 2014 at 8:42 pm

I think that this is such a cute idea. I agree with you that people are going to museums less and less these days and adding this interactive game is a great strategy to pull people in. Everyone from all ages would enjoy this detective game and by doing this, people can really learn how to look at art, more specifically paintings and information about paintings. I feel like the forger was very surprised when the museum asked him for a piece of his work. This reminds me of a game called Animal Crossing that I like to pay and within the game you have to collect art pieces, but the seller also had fake art so you had to be careful. I would love if one of the museums in New York City did the same thing. I would totally go if I can to be a detective for a day.
Ann Privorotskiy says:

November 4, 2014 at 1:58 pm

This is definitely a unique approach to attracting more visitors to the museum, and I applaud the Marine Museum for being brave enough to accept the idea of forgery as a tool in this process. I’m sure that getting this idea approved was not easy, seeing as how society views forgery to be always negative thing. In this case, the museum was able to turn the talented, yet under appreciated work of forger Ken Perenyi, into an interactive game in the museum. People are always drawn to things that stand out and use techniques that are unconventional and I definitely hope and think that the museum was successful in it’s approach to draw in more visitors.
Erynn Hughes says:

November 4, 2014 at 2:08 pm

When I first read the title of this article, I was pretty confused; a museum showing a fake painting—that’s unheard of! But it is honestly such a great way to entice people to come the museum and participate in a competition of sorts. It’s very ironic that a museum would showcase a forgery among originals, so it makes sense that “the Mariners’ Museum tiptoed warily around their idea for quite some time before committing to it.” Making a game out of what appears to be a boring trip to the museum to most is a truly innovative marketing strategy to get more people through the door. This is even a greater success on behalf of the 19th century artist James E. Buttersworth, a formerly unknown painter who is now a recognized figure by Mariners’ Museum visitors and readers of the the New York Times (like us!).
stephenesses says:

November 11, 2014 at 2:08 pm

I think that any idea that can make people more interested in the arts is important. Obviously with all of the technology around, it has become increasingly difficult to hold young people’s attention, this game has captured the attention of all visitors. By holding their attention, they bring attention also to the real works, and cause people to really analyze the works of art. Capturing the attention is very important in maintaining the importance of the arts. If this is a way for young people to become interested in the arts, then the museum most be applauded and considered a success.

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