Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture: Art Museums in a Globalized World

Speakers: Max Hollein (Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Matthias Waschek (Jean and Myles McDonough Director, Worcester Art Museum)

At this special Director’s Talk, Max Hollein (Metropolitan Museum of Art) will join Matthias Waschek (Worcester Art Museum) for a conversation on the changing relationship between museums and globalization. The talk will begin with a presentation from Hollein on his experiences as director of The Met, followed by a conversation with Waschek and time for audience questions.

What is the role of art museums in a globalized world? Hollein and Waschek will discuss this question and more, examining the impacts, roles, and identities of museums in today’s world.

Globalization has redistributed power, wealth, goods, and information around the world. In response, museums have shifted their practices; collections of disparate curiosities have been replaced by encyclopedic collections that seek to document the history of global human creativity across time. In the modern era, the way we view these collections has also shifted, reflecting our changing relationships with the world around us. Museums and their patrons have become increasingly aware of issues of provenance, the ethics of collecting, and cultural preservation, reconning with the often-negative impacts of globalization stemming from power imbalances and colonialism. Hollein and Waschek will discuss all of this and more in an engaging presentation from two leading experts in the field.

Advance registration is highly recommended. A limited number of walk-in tickets may be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Walk-in entry is not guaranteed if the event is sold out.

About the speakers

Max Hollein was appointed Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in April 2018 and Director and CEO in July 2023. Prior to joining The Met, he was the Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Director and CEO of the Schirn Kunsthalle, the Städel Museum, and the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt, Germany. Born in Vienna, Hollein studied at the University of Vienna (Master of Art History) and the Vienna University of Economics (Master of Business Administration). He began his career at New York’s Guggenheim Museum as Chief of Staff to the Director and six years later assumed his leadership role in Frankfurt. Hollein has published and lectured widely and has organized a number of major exhibitions in modern and contemporary art. He is a member of supervisory and advisory boards of major cultural institutions worldwide, including The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York; the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Neue Galerie, New York; and Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, Vienna.

Matthias Waschek 

Matthias Waschek was appointed Director of the Worcester Art Museum in November 2011. Originally from Germany, he has a PhD in art history from Bonn University. Throughout his 30-year international career in the museum world, Waschek has worked to connect the broader public with new thinking about art history and archaeology—as Head of Academic Programs at the Louvre Museum in Paris (1992–2003), as Executive Director of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation St. Louis, Missouri (2003–2011), and now at the Worcester Art Museum. In addition, he has published extensively on French art of the 19th century, as well as on 20th-century and contemporary art.

Left: Clement Pascal, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art