Salon.com: Alan Michael Parker Proposes The Art Museum of the Future

What would you do with a few billion dollars?

Douglas C. Houchens Professor of English Alan Michael Parker outlines his plans for his hypothetical billions in a recent article on Salon.com. His plans would include supporting cultural institutions, fostering creativity and opportunity among young creatives, saving people (of course), and buying and sharing art.

But Parker would not seek to share art in the traditional ways - rather, he would set out to create the ideal shared art experience, a museum-esque institution that maximizes visitor engagement in ways tailored to individuals, fosters the intimacy of individuals' perceptions and draws in underserved youth and students. He'd create a place "at the vanguard of creating creatives," he says.

Parker draws on a real-world example - the newly-opened Whitney Museum of American Art, a $422 million building that opened in May in New York City's Meatpacking District - to delve deeper into discussion of the cultural deficits and delights in our modern world. He analyzes the museum's choices in structure, space, displays, pricing and atmosphere as a way to discuss the good, the bad, the elevators.