The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced plans to renovate its double-fountain Fifth Avenue plaza with $60 million of David H. Koch’s money. Koch, a libertarian Tea Party backer, and sworn enemy of many progressive causes, takes political positions anathema to many who benefit from his largesse. The latest donation prompted art critic Jerry Saltz and architecture critic Justin Davidson to discuss whether arts institutions should take any and all donations, however distasteful they might find the donor.
Jerry Saltz: When I hear that a cultural location is going to be renamed after a billionaire, I want to take the safety off my revolver—except I’ve never touched a revolver*. I know I don’t like calling Shea Stadium Citi Field, and all during Super Bowl week, I hated reading the words “Lucas Oil Stadium,” or whatever it was, but those are gigantic arenas for commercial use. This is a museum. They ought to call it “The Gods of Art Live Here,” or “Velazquez Plaza.”
Justin Davidson: Well, so far, the Met is saying the plaza won’t be named after him. He does have his name on what used to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, though. I don’t have a problem with the Met taking Koch’s money for a project that benefits the city, but I can see the broader moral quandary.