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A Right-Wing Mayor Opens Museums In France Despite National Restrictions

Not that left-wing art-lovers can't sympathize (and a socialist mayor in another town is planning to defy the national orders as well), but ... well, honestly? This is another seemingly bizarre restriction. A member of the Louvre's board: "Right now, you can go and buy lingerie! ... But how come museums — something that is paramount for social cohesion,...

Malls And Nail Salons Are Open, But Not Museums?

Dear Gavin Newsom, this makes no sense at all. Signed, a lot of LACMA and other art-lovers in California. Weirdly: "LACMA can open its Resnick Pavilion gift shop but not the galleries within the same Resnick Pavilion — even though the two share a front door and a ventilation system. The same goes at the Huntington Library, Art Museum...

Dramatic Stone Henge Discovery In Wales Suggests Irish History

Its diameter of 110m is identical to the ditch that encloses Stonehenge, and it is aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise, just like the Wiltshire monument. A series of buried stone holes that follow the circle’s outline has been unearthed, with shapes that can be linked to Stonehenge’s bluestone pillars. One of them bears an imprint in its base that...

Historic Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus, Under Threat Of Development

The site, which the City of Federal Way annexed in 1994, has been lauded over the years for the pioneering way it intertwines building and landscape. Today, it is caught up in controversy over plans to build massive warehouses that opponents say would disrupt the balance with nature but that the property’s new owner says are necessary to pay...

They’ve Found The Emperor Hadrian’s Breakfast Room, And It Was Quite Something

"Researchers discovered the breakfast area within the ruins , and it reveals how the emperor and his wife began each day with an impressive display of power. They believe the emperor would have sat on a raised marble platform, flanked by fountains. … Both Hadrian and his wife were positioned as if on thrones, with retractable bridges further setting...

L.A. MoCA Is Restructuring, Will Hire New Executive Director

"Museum of Contemporary Art Director Klaus Biesenbach will take on a new role as artistic director … will focus on programming, collections and exhibitions, international and digital outreach as well as fundraising and development. … The executive director … will steer daily management and operations at the museum, including 'establishing key strategic, institutional and capital priorities, long range...

LA’s Empty Museums

Los Angeles, where the coronavirus pandemic has been particularly severe, is the largest city in the nation whose museums have yet to reopen even temporarily since the pandemic struck last March. - The New York Times

Vancouver Art Museum Backs Down Its Major Expansion

Fundraising for the project has been at a virtual standstill for the past two years, since Vancouver’s Chan family, headed by Burrard International Holdings founder Caleb Chan, committed $40 million toward the project now estimated to be worth $355 million, including a $50 million endowment fund. That total does not include the City of Vancouver’s gift of a 99-year...

New Lead In Case Of Picasso Stolen In Athens

"Almost nine years ago, two thieves carried out a near-perfect heist at the National Gallery in Athens, taking two works by modern masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, as well as a a sketch by Italian Mannerist artist Guglielmo Caccia. … The case remains unsolved, but a new investigation suggests at least one work — Picasso's Head of a...

More Monoliths. (Is This Irritating Yet?)

Even though it has a little more flair, I hope we can accept the Turkish monolith as a normal part of life in 2021. It is not a mystery — even though we don’t know who exactly put it there, we know human beings did it, and we know that they were undoubtedly inspired by the 100-plus other monoliths...

Last Summer, Museums Made Promises About Diversity. What Are They Actually Doing?

"Many workers regarded it as a positive step this summer when numerous leading institutions released detailed diversity, equity, and inclusion issues (DEI) plans. But more than six months later, employees are still waiting for progress reports. Artnet News surveyed more than a dozen museums across the country, none of which agreed to share the full amount of money they...

Frick Collection Set To Open At Old Whitney Museum Building

"The Frick Collection will open in the Breuer building as the Frick Madison on March 18, the museum announced on Tuesday, beginning a two-year stay in the Brutalist space while its 1914 Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue undergoes renovation." - The New York Times

Defying National Government, French City’s Mayor Reopens Museums

"Louis Aliot, the right-wing mayor of Perpignan, a city in the south of France, will let four museums begin welcoming visitors once more, effectively disobeying countrywide COVID-19 safety guidelines that are keeping museums throughout the country shuttered." - ARTnews

Why The California Attorney General Is Investigating The San Francisco Art Institute

The attorney general does not comment on ongoing audits, but Hyperallergic has acquired documents raising questions about board member self-interest and misuse of tax-exempt bonds that nonprofit attorneys interviewed by Hyperallergic say are within the office’s investigative scope. The documents shed light on the school’s debt-financed expansion into Fort Mason that jeopardized SFAI’s original campus on Chestnut Street and...

To Deaccession Or Not, And Why? Museum World’s Long Argument About This Is Now Playing Out In Public

Once the AAMD, looking at the financial carnage wrought by COVID, relaxed its strict rule about museums selling their art only in order to acquire other art, the sales started — with major museums in Brooklyn, Syracuse, the Berkshires, and, above all, Baltimore drawing a huge amount of scrutiny, more than a little condemnation, and even (though it's not...

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