This year we can finally answer: things are back to normal. Mostly. Our exclusive survey reveals that in 2023 many of the world’s largest museums recorded very similar numbers to those of 2019, the last full year before the Covid lockdowns began. - The Art Newspaper
According to the lawsuit filed by Denise Lewis, who worked at the museum from 2017 until her firing in January of this year, the museum’s director sought to use the institution’s funds to pay for personal expenditures during a vacation in Mexico last October. - The Art Newspaper
"For more than five years, (Thomas) Little has performed this kind of alchemy, purchasing handguns and automatic rifles from pawn shops and dissolving the iron-heavy parts in acid to form iron sulfate, the basis for writing inks and artists’ pigments in deep blacks, rusty reds and warm ochres." - CNN
The Galleria dell’Accademia’s director, Cecilie Hollberg, has positioned herself as David’s defender since her arrival at the museum in 2015, taking swift aim at those profiteering from his image, often in ways she finds “debasing.” - AP
"Hundreds of employees from the Art Gallery of Ontario gathered on the picket line as they began strike action Tuesday. After months of negotiations, union members ... voted to reject the gallery's latest contract offer, saying it doesn't address wage increases, protections for part-time workers and contracting out positions." - CBC
The loss of the bridge is first a human tragedy. Then it is an economic shock, with a radiating toll that won’t be fully understood for years. But it’s also a powerful symbolic shock, given the metaphorical power of bridges as a form of connection. - Washington Post (MSN)
The conceit of a vanity museum’s design being dubbed “the veil and the vault,” with a perforated exterior draped over a treasury for a private collection being made public, was always more pretentious than meaningful. It’s good to see it go. - Los Angeles Times
The Broad on Wednesday announced a $100-million building expansion that will increase gallery space at one of Los Angeles’ most popular museums by 70%. The sweeping plans could provide a critical boost to downtown L.A. - Los Angeles Times
"The country’s Māori population now numbers 17% and rising, and the new generation’s enthusiastic embrace of tribal cultural identity is making their presence more visible than ever, … (with) a new wave of Māori architects keen to make their mark. … Māori design principles have even been written into urban planning policy." - The Guardian
"The agreement, which (ended a three-week strike and) will be in effect for two years, will increase average pay for bargaining unit’s roughly 120 members by more than 12 percent by the second year." - The Boston Globe (MSN)
"The outgoing National Portrait Gallery director (Nicholas Cullinan) replaces former Victoria and Albert Museum head Sir Mark Jones, who was made interim director following the resignation of Hartwig Fischer over the thefts at the London-based institution." - The Independent (UK)
As visitor numbers begin to stabilise, it remains unclear whether museums will reinstate those eliminated positions, an issue that has become more urgent as funds are increasingly allocated to other projects. - The Art Newspaper
“I thought we would sell out and would probably have about half a million visitors. In the end we had 650,000, but we could have easily sold two million tickets. That’s something I didn’t expect.” - The Art Newspaper
"The Smithsonian’s internal Office of the Inspector General last month released a report saying that the institution misused a portion of the $7.5 million it received in COVID relief funds from the 2020 CARES Act." - ARTnews
With the completion of the Chapel of the Assumption in 2025 and the last and highest of its six towers the following year, construction of architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece will conclude after 140 years, just in time for the centennial of his death. Well, complete except for the enormous, controversial staircase. - CNN
