From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale expansion programs. These programs already have radically altered facades and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.

    The reasons for this confluence of activity are complex, but one factor is a consideration everywhere -- space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago.Because of the space crunch, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.

    Deaccessing -- or selling off -- works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however, "the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.

    從波士頓到洛杉機，從紐約到芝加哥、到達拉斯，所有的博物館或者正在籌劃、建造或者正在完成大規模的擴建計劃。 這些計劃或者已經根本性地改變了博物館門面與展廳的設 計，或者預期在不久的將來會這樣做。單單在紐約市，六個主要機構或者已經向空中和周 圍擴展，或者正準備這樣做。

    大家一致行動的原因是復雜多樣的，但其中的一個因素是普遍 考慮的空間問題。隨著收藏品的增多，也隨著博物館的需要和功能的變化，空間已經變成 了一項非常珍貴的商品。在我國，也許沒有任何其他地方比費城藝術博物館更符合這個事實。這個博物館幾十年來一直需要額外的空間，十年前進行了最后一次重大的翻新。由于空間緊缺，該藝術博物館在考慮購買與受贈藝術品已越來越謹慎，有時甚至放棄增強藝術收藏的 機會。

    由于博物館的空間問題，將藝術品脫手或者說賣掉已經有了新的重要意義。 博物館館長們被迫巧妙輪換利用陳列館的空間，輪流著把一些藝術杰作向公眾展出，而把另一些送 入存儲室中。雖然對額外的陳列室和存儲室空間需要很明顯，但據費城藝術博物館經理講："博物館還沒有在未來十五年打破這個束縛的計劃。"