Between Private and Public : Corporate art collecting and collaboration with art museums in Finland

Abstract

In this chapter, I discuss corporate art collections as part of national cultural heritage and semi-public collections. Corporate art is seen through the lenses of collecting, various professions and corporate social responsibility (CSR). I highlight the motives and the meanings of visual art in the context of business and practices of collection development, with the similarities and differences to museums and the museum profession. The essence of corporate art collecting is connected with business objectives, and thus this field of collecting differs in many ways from the objectives of museum collections and ethics. The main motives for corporate art collecting are aesthetics, well-being, CSR, corporate image and branding.

Professionalisation of Finnish corporate art took place during the 2000s, but it is not as widespread as it is in large companies in North America and Central Europe. Art-field professionalism generally indicates an increased focus on clarifying collecting polices, questions of displaying art and audience engagement. Sometimes a semi-public collection becomes public. Collaboration between profit-making companies and museums is also discussed. In Finland the public sector is still the main patron of the arts, and corporate art collecting and partnership deals with museums are supplementary means of financing of culture. The time span of the chapter covers mainly contemporary culture.