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VISUAL

New Zealand’s Museums Are In Crisis

What the research revealed was an overworked workforce overly reliant on volunteers, snowballing costs and shrinking funding. Small museums and galleries in the provinces and rural communities are barely being propped up by community goodwill. - The Big Idea

Warhol Museum Director To Step Down

Patrick Moore joined the Warhol Museum as the director of development in 2011, and assumed other leading administrative roles at the museum before being appointed director in 2017. - Hyperallergic

Report: Many Of World’s Biggest Museums Have Recovered To Pre-COVID Visitor Numbers

The number of people visiting the most-visited 100 museums fell from 230 million in 2019 to just 54m in 2020. Although the total number of visitors to the top 100 museums was 176 million in 2023, our survey shows that many of the world’s largest museums are now close to their 2019 visitor numbers. - Art Newspaper

British Museum Had Record Number Of Visitors In 2023

Figures showed the South Kensington attraction had its best-ever year, with a 22% increase in visitors to 5,688,786. The most-visited outdoor attraction was Windsor Great Park, which is managed by the Crown Estate, with 5,487,856 visitors, which was a 3% decline on 2022 figures. - BBC

Putin Has Sent His FSB To Go After Russian Artists

"The (secret police) have reportedly searched at least 30 artists’ homes and studios across at least eight cities. … Among those targeted were members of feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, members of the art activist project Party of the Dead, Yav Art Group members, and renowned conceptual artist Anatoly Osmolovsky." - Artnet

Even 34 Years Later, Tips Still Come In About The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Robbery

"About 20 tips (were) reported to the museum over the past year from people who thought they saw one of the two most recognizable stolen paintings, (Rembrandt's) “The Storm” or Vermeer’s “The Concert,” in homes across the country that were staged for ... real estate listings." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

Remembering America’s Most Notorious Art Heist

The legacy of the heist is always apparent to museum visitors who, decades later, still confront vacant frames on the gallery walls where paintings once hung. - The New York Times

Minnesota Sculpture Park Sells Sculpture For Scrap

"The artist, John Hock, said he thought it was a theft and reported it to the Chisago County Sheriff's Office.” (The Franconia Sculpture Park, unsurprisingly, has a different story.) - Minnesota Public Radio

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth Will Be Filled With Every Woman

Actually, that’s spelled Everywoman, a sculpture that will adorn London’s public art playground. The deputy mayor: "The sculpture prize has entertained and brought out the art critic in everybody for 25 years, and I have no doubt these two very different pieces will continue that fine tradition." - The Guardian (UK)

Ceramics Artist Toshiko Takaezu Is Getting Attention Now, But Only After Her Death

One curator said, "This surging interest and recognition is in large part because of the incredible force of Takaezu’s extended network so deeply committed to her and her legacy,” and another said, "She knew she was ahead of her time.” Now her time seems to have arrived. - The New York Times

Reframing The History Of Modernism Outside Of Its Eurocentric Story

“The main issue is Eurocentric modernism and its history, which can be dealt with by redefining modernism and re-writing its history. How can this be achieved when Eurocentric modernism is persistent in its domination of the art world with all its institutions”? - Hyperallergic

Meet The Last Of Venice’s Artisan Gold-Beaters

Three hundred years ago, the city had around 300 battilori hammering out gold leaf using traditional techniques. Today, Marino Menegazzo's family workshop is the last, and one of only a few in all Europe. Here's a look at how he and his daughter do their work. - The New York Times

The Priest Who Ordered 300-Year-Old Frescoes To Be Painted Over

A contrite Father Héctor Lunar, a Venezuelan refugee on Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, says he had no idea that the murals of his church were heritage-listed. "No one told me about it. All I wanted to do was add another coat of paint … to get ready for Holy Week." - The Guardian

What Should Museums Pay Artists For Participating In A Biennial?

These days, payment for inclusion in a biennial or group show at a US museum tends to range from $500 to $3,000, according to the artists and museums I surveyed.  - The Art Newspaper

How Elizabeth Alexander (And $500M Of Mellon Money) Are Changing Monuments

The project is incredibly ambitious, a national effort to make sure that the commemorative landscape "more accurately tells our collective histories." It has led to shifts — big and small — in how public places are presented and what is even considered a monument. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!

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