Corporations had, of course, for some time been making contributions to art museums and other cultural organizations. In the 1970s, while continuing in the generally passive role of being solicited for donations, businesses had begun to be active participants in the framing and shaping of the discourse of contemporary culture. What was new in the 1980s was that this active involvement became ubiquitous and comprehensive.

This essay sets out to plot a small but important part of this trajectory whose impetus lay in the free-market policies and ethos of the Reagan and Thatcher decade: the great influx of corporate capital into visual art institutions. Looking specifically at the contemporary art world, I will examine the ways in which business successfully transformed art museums and galleries into their own public relations vehicles, by taking over the function, and by exploiting the social status, that cultural institutions have in our society. Given the scope of this essay, it is not possible to discuss the public policy implications of this phenomenon.

Yet is is worth recalling that the relation between public policy and business sponsorship in Britain is so close that Colin Tweedy, director of the Association of Business Sponsorship for the Arts (ABSA) went as far as to suggest that sponsorship was one of the cornerstones of Thatcherism. (p. 29)

CONTENTS--The principles of art sponsorship. Managing sponsorship. Distinction. Burnishing the corporate image. The art-going public. The institutions of art. Serota at the Tate. Lunch with Cezanne. Renting out the museum. Repeat after me...

The law of logos. Altering the cultural climate. Entrance fees. Art and advertising. The IBM art collection. Absolut advertising.