Vegas, baby:
The latest: The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is currently renting art from its collection to the "Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art," a space in Las Vegas' Bellagio hotel-and-casino. The presentation will be on view through Sept. 7.
The MCASD is the third museum to allow a commercial entity the opportunity to make money off of its collection by renting it to the casino-based gallery. The Phillips Collection pioneered the collection-goes-to-Vegas model in 2000 by splitting admissions revenue with the Bellagio -- and AAMD looked the other way. The MFA Boston took the concept a step further by accepting over $1 million from PaceWildenstein's PaperBall subsidiary in return for sending 21 Monets (and later other paintings) to the Bellagio. Each time Boston rented out art to a commercial entity, AAMD shrugged.