HOW DO WE FUND A BEACON IN SPACE?

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution that focuses on the visual arts in all their dimensions, recognizing their capacity to inspire and strengthen humanistic values. The Getty serves both the general public and a wide range of professional communities in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Through the work of the four Getty programs—the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation—the Getty aims to further knowledge and nurture critical seeing through the growth and presentation of its collections and by advancing the understanding and preservation of the world's artistic heritage. The Getty pursues this mission with the conviction that cultural awareness, creativity, and aesthetic enjoyment are essential to a vital and civil society.

This is the mission statement of the Getty Trust. Now, it being the largest art focused philanthropy (over 5 billion US$) makes the Getty Center an obvious outlet for such a heinously right-side-of-the-brain project (the beacon). But what are the implications on the world and for the Getty as a company? This post is to delve into the connotations of such a merger.


endowment in billions


THE PAST, PRESENT AND NOW FUTURE

A concept that most certainly should be leveraged when thinking of the future in this way is to contextualize it in society. This metaphor works so well with the brand Getty as it physically exists on the two fronts necessary to contextualize the future, the past and present, the Getty Villa and the Getty Center respectively. In terms of a brand/identity for the Getty their next large physical manifestation should be something in space, like our beacon. It makes an easily traceable line from antiquity (the Getty Villa) to the present (uber modern Getty Center) to the future (beacon made of re-ionized radioactivity).


Getty Amphitheater in the Getty Villa

The functions of the two Getty's reflects this mentality of past and present. The Getty Villa houses a replica of a Roman Villa from Herculaneum, ancient southern Italy port town with content inside to boot. The Getty Center while housing past works, houses vast and various research facilities in all facets of the arts as well as scholarships, fellowships, and job opportunities to propagate art in the short term.


Getty Center


HONESTLY, WE ALL GO TO THE GETTY FOR THE ARCHITECTURE

While in recent the Getty Center holding Courbet, Tim Hawkinson, and other superb artists, the content never had the same pizzaz and wow as LACMA, MOCA, MOMA (SF or NY). Why do people go there? The architecture. The villa is spectacle of ancient Roman architecture and the Getty Center is a marvel of contemporary architecture. Indeed our beacon is no different, as it aims to be as much spectacle as an Aurora Borealis.

Further, our beacon aims not to contain a message, as the beacon is the message...identical in the practice of both the Getty Villa and the Getty Center by the public.


The Getty in Space?


NICE LEVERAGE, BUT WHERE DOES IT FALTER?

While there are these really great alignments with the perception of the Getty the biggest issue has to do with the Getty's past. They're in deep sh*t with Greece and Italy for possibly illegally obtaining works of art and antique pieces from what is rightfully the nation's. Possessive quarrels don't look to well for a project that wants to project a collective voice/narrative. However, this new project could jettison these problems into oblivion, or at least to the point this negligence is overlooked because of such a magnificent feat in space! Or maybe not...good thing this is entirely theoretical...