After its celebrated reopening on November 20th, 2004, following a renovation project that cost $858 million, the Museum of Modern Art will begin charging visitors $20 for admission. The cost represents a 60% increase from the previous fee of $12 and makes MoMA one of the most expensive urban museums in the world.

A museum is only a custodian of our collective cultural inheritance, and has a responsibility to make its holdings available to people from all walks of life. The $858 million dollars that MoMA has spent in its renovation serves only its own vainglory. That sum could have provided the old MoMA’s 1.8 million annual visitors with free admission for forty years. Instead, the museum will jealously hoard its collection, allowing only the wealthiest elites access to our collective cultural treasures.

The $20 museum admissions fee reflects a larger cultural trend whereby institutions deny any social responsibility or progressive ideals in favor of the ruthless pursuit of the bottom line. According to MoMA director Glenn Lowry, two business models that were considered were the pay-per-ride model of Disneyland and the peak rate model followed by the major airlines. Sadly, both these strategies appear progressive when compared to the luxury-goods strategy it finally chose. New Yorkers of middle-class means, families, artists, even students will no longer be able to afford to spend a Saturday afternoon with Van Gogh’s Starry Night or Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. MoMA is effectively removing itself from the thriving cultural life of the city. Only the most cursory consideration was given to notions of social responsibility. A meagre four free hours on Friday nights made possible by Target’s corporate sponsorship is only pro forma.

The divide between rich and poor is the source of our society’s problems both at home and abroad. This divide exists not just as an economic injustice, but also as an inequality in what has been termed “cultural capital,” that is, access to culture that can potentially lead to material improvement. As this divide increases, instead of using the power of its collection to address the issue, MoMA seeks only to profit from the perpetuation of inequality. MoMA has lost sight of its mission.

If MoMA’s greedy gambit succeeds, it will set a dangerous precedent for our society in general. While mass media entertainment is increasingly doled out by a handful of powerful corporations, the cultural treasures owned by wealthy museums will be walled off from people who need access. Great works of art can be bought and sold, but they belong to everyone.