In 2009, a pair of thieves got into the René Magritte Museum in the Brussels suburb of Jette, located in the artist's former home, and stole Olympia, a reclining nude portrait of his wife. The painting was returned two years later, after what amounted to a ransom payment by the museum's insurer. The assumption had been that the robbers...
"A huge burial mound holding the corpses of at least 30 warriors in Syria could be the oldest war memorial ever discovered, dating back at least 4,300 years at the now submerged site of Tell Banat, said a team of archaeologists. The memorial is also the first example of a particular type of monument described in ancient inscriptions from...
On culture wars as a symbol of democracy: "It’s not only democracy, it’s about art as symbols of our existence. You know, whenever we talk about democracy, we’re never talking about a perfect state, but rather continuous questioning and argument. are about us, about those questions, not about any authority." - The Observer (UK)
That is, welcoming to all, free, and more a central part of public life? There's a little problem with this idea, which former Queens Museum president and executive director Laura Raicovich pitches in a new book about politics and museums. "Museums lack 'public spirit' because museums are capitalist institutions," unlike public libraries. - The Nation
Zimbabwe-based photographer Tamary Kudita has her contemporary subjects pose in Victorian outfits - often made with contemporary fabric, by designers - to show links between present and past, to combine the two strands of her family's history, and to immense visual effect. She says, "There are collective identities and there are also individual and incredibly diverse stories. All these together...
A top-secret project made the Medici Chapel gleam anew: "In the months leading up to Italy’s Covid-19 epidemic and then in some of the darkest days of its second wave as the virus raged outside, restorers and scientists quietly unleashed microbes with good taste and an enormous appetite on the marbles, intentionally turning the chapel into a bacterial smorgasbord."...
It's not a simple no, however: "The port authority, which owns the site of the proposed museum, gave the green light but the council has objected on the grounds of location and fears the scheme will provide little value to local residents." - The Guardian (UK)
It takes extraordinary measures to deal with the thieves. "Looters have been plundering Italy’s cultural sites for decades, but since 2012 their trade has not been as fruitful, owing to an intensified crackdown by Italy’s art police. ... In 2020, the squad found 24 illegal digs, arrested 68 thieves and recuperated 17,503 archaeological artefacts. The unit carries out controls...
Yes, that's a weird confluence, but Cruella still makes it happen. "Cruella signposts something essential about punk: the power of reinvention. For the original punks, clothes weren’t just clothes but a ticket to a whole new you, cut to your own design." - The Guardian (UK)
And that goal is to decolonize itself. Museum director Bethany Montagano: "We felt a sense of urgency to do this because colonial systems of oppression were really rearing their ugly head in the wake of COVID ... especially as it relates to Asian Americans and the colonial brand of poison projected onto Asian Americans." - Los Angeles Times
Does that sound hyperbolic? It is, a bit. It's time to abolish what musuems have been in order to see what they can be, how we can be. "Museums exert control over how we vision ourselves, past, present and future. They are the time loops that hold and hoard the works of art that can help us chart a...
Philip Kennicott: "The new members aren't just visionaries with a firm command of inspiring rhetoric; they know how to read a plan, look at a model, scrutinize a drawing and make precise comments about the small questions of design, materials, spacing, proportion and light. … Rather than simply assess the impact and design of selected federal projects, most of...
"The long-awaited Barcelona branch has finally been given the green light for development. The port of Barcelona's board of directors announced on Thursday that a proposal for the Hermitage Barcelona was approved, despite considerable resistance from the city authorities. The building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito, is slated to open in 2024." - ARTnews
Despite the fact that Nefertiti and many other works of African cultural heritage reside within the “white cube” of the museum, the developing digital space for a new version of the museum, known as the “black box,” carries both potential and risk. The idea of a universally accessible, digital museum could challenge traditional models. Conversely, it may allow algorithms...
Centuries have gone into the making of these rules and assumptions — and a bit of sleight of hand, as well. Men were not always inclined toward minimalism. For a good portion of human history, they were flamboyant in their dress, prone to peacocking their social rank, financial success and sexual prowess from 100 paces. - Washington Post
