Museums & Heritage

For the first time ever, a Korean museum is selling off 'national treasures' at auction

Two bronze Buddha statues are likely to make records for cultural artefacts at auction in Korea

Tate Liverpool plans £30m gallery overhaul—with help from UK government’s ‘level up’ fund

The £10m public grant is part of a new initiative aimed at equalising quality of living between the north and south

Delhi's heritage buildings at risk of being sold to private buyers by right-wing government

The ruling BJP has been accused by a rival party of "selling off Delhi's history" following new licensing around historic structures in the capital

Labournews

Employees at the Art Institute of Chicago museum and school vote to join union

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will now represent 266 employees at the museum and another 249 at the school

Kazakhstan protestors entered leading museum looking for ancient armour

The Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the capital sustained some damage, according to a government statement

Three new non-profit spaces challenge the dominance of real estate and the market in China's contemporary art ecosystem

The Longlati Foundation in Shanghai and the Macalline Art Center and Fen Sonic HQ in Beijing put curation at the forefront

Cameroonian provenance researchers denied visas for Munich conference

The researchers are investigating the origins of 200 artefacts from Cameroon at Munich’s Museum Fünf Kontinente

NFTnews

British Museum banks on Turner NFTs after Hokusai initiative

Prices for Ultra Rare editions start at €4,999 but museum sales percentage remains under wraps

Plans to close pottery museum in Stoke for five months a year and cut full-time positions spark backlash

Gladstone Pottery Museum to be used as a film location under controversial council proposals

American Folk Art Museum gifted major work by itinerant 19th-century portraitist Ammi Phillips

‘Portrait of Frederick A. Gale’ is quintessential of Phillips’s paintings of children, who are the subjects of his most beloved works

What's the tea? Oldest brew in the world discovered in China

The 2,400-year-old remains of tea leaves were discovered in a royal tomb in Shandong province

'It’s time for museums to take critical race theory seriously'

There’s a campaign against discussions of race in the American education system—and museums have a part to play in fighting that

Nigeria seeks to calm tensions over return of Benin bronzes

Government museums body takes control of repatriated artefacts after ruler of Benin challenges new trust set up to unify Nigerian claimants

Museumsanalysis

How an Australian collector’s strings-attached gift paved the way for a new $36m museum

Shepparton Art Museum opened late last year but a ballooning budget and conflicting local politics have made led to a mixed reception

The Virginia museum spotlighting overlooked histories and perspectives

In a trio of current and upcoming exhibitions, the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University will showcase prints, paintings and a sonic environment that champion underrepresented narratives

Archival discovery prompts exploration of 1980s movement to support Central American artists at time of political upheaval

A dozen boxes of materials found in the Museum of Modern Art’s library served as the impetus for a new exhibition on the legacy of the Artists Call group at Tufts University Art Galleries

Louvre's attendance last year dropped to 1986 levels

Covid continued to impact on French museum visits, but the government provided a much-needed financial safety net

Italynews

McDonald’s blocked from building drive-through at Rome's ancient Baths of Caracalla

The council of state upheld a previous ruling preventing the fast food chain from opening at the popular heritage site

Belgium plans to hand back colonial loot to DR Congo

New law will set up expert commission to sift through thousands of objects at the Royal Museum for Central Africa

Labournews

Two years after forming union, MOCA Los Angeles employees still negotiating first contract with museum leaders

Negotiations have been delayed, with wages proving a major sticking point and with administrators proposing increases well below union members’ demands

US museums close or reduce capacity as Omicron variant causes surge in Covid-19 cases

The Metropolitan Museum will stay opened at reduced capacity, while others like the Yale University Art Gallery and the Baltimore Museum of Art close temporarily

Closed since early 2020, Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce faces long road to reopening

Despite challenges wrought by the pandemic and earthquake-caused damage to its building, the museum has a new director and new momentum

Utah museum acquires works by Japanese American artist Chiura Obata made in internment camp

Obata was incarcerated at the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah during the Second World War; now 35 of his works have been acquired by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Museums in London start to shut down as Omicron wave sweeps capital

Natural History Museum closes due to front-of-house staff shortages caused by Covid-19

Nelson-Atkins Museum acquires one of the earliest daguerreotype portraits made in the US

The 1840 profile portrait is part of a collection of early photographic works by Henry Fitz Jr. that is joining the Kansas City museum’s holdings

Business as usual for European museums operating in China, despite genocide ruling

A London panel has assembled the largest cache of evidence on the concentration camps in Xinjiang, but museums will not say if they have examined it

Swiss museum to part with 29 works from Gurlitt trove suspected of being Nazi loot

Kunstmuseum Bern announces results of in-depth provenance investigation of controversial 2014 bequest

From NFTs to LFTs: 2021's biggest art stories—and what they mean

The Art Newspaper team picks apart this year’s most important developments, from demands for colonial restitution to the return of culture wars

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