Museums & Heritage

NFTreview

The Seattle NFT Museum wants to mint a new art world

The museum’s founders organised an inaugural exhibition that is acutely aware of its place in history

The next Whitney Biennial’s 63 participating artists and collectives revealed

The exhibition’s 80th iteration, originally scheduled for 2021, will open on 6 April with its own official symbol

A Mexican millionaire is building a museum to house his art collection, and using public funds to do it

Mauricio Fernández Garza first proposed the structure, which is a replica of his mansion in San Pedro Garza García, near Monterrey, when he was mayor of the well-heeled town

Lootnews

German museums may have thousands of looted relics from China’s Imperial Palace, research group believes

Collaborative research by major German institutions may expose huge amounts of Chinese objects taken during Boxer Rebellion

Ye Charlotte Ming

Louvre teams up with Sotheby’s to investigate provenance of works bought during the Second World War

The auction house will help the Parisian institution research the history of items purchased between 1933 and 1945, which "may lead to restitutions"

UK’s first LGBTQ museum to open in London this spring

Queer Britain charity pledges new institution will be free of charge

Manicure at the Mauritshuis? Dutch museums turn into beauty parlours in protest over Covid restrictions

Initiative questions why gyms, hair salons and brothels have reopened but culture venues remain closed in the Netherlands

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts settles dispute with its former director

Nathalie Bondil, who was fired in 2020, was seeking $1.5m in moral and punitive damages from the museum’s board

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