Museums

Museum community must agree on binding protocols to counter 'increasing political interference' across Europe, leading directors say

A slew of cases of museum directors forced from their positions is a "spectacular moment of crisis,” the Museum Watch Committee chair said at annual museums conference

Moscow museum director removed after complaint against institution’s lack of ‘traditional Russian spiritual and moral values’

Zelfira Tregulova, who has headed the State Tretyakov Gallery since 2015, will be replaced by Elena Pronicheva, who has links to Vladimir Putin

An art bet for the big game: US museums wager loan of painting on outcome of Super Bowl

Philadelphia Museum of Art and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art have agreed that the institution in the losing city will send a work to the victorious city #MuseumBowl23

What will museums of the future be like? Three key takeaways from a new book

András Szántó spoke to 21 architects about how museum architecture is shaping up, here are some of his findings

Huge earthquakes in Turkey and Syria devastate heritage sites including 2,000-year-old castle

Gaziantep Castle has been heavily damaged by quakes that have killed more than 1,000 people

Madridnews

‘Extreme right’ attacks contributed to resignation of Madrid’s Reina Sofia museum director, open letter says

The museum community has leapt to the defence of the former leader of Spain's national museum of 20th-century art after a series of prominent articles accused him of internal rule-breaking and "political propaganda"

Derelict ice factory in the desert transformed into UAE's newest contemporary art venue

Opening in time for the Sharjah Biennial, the Kalba Ice Factory building boasts 20,000 sq. m exhibition space

Museumspreview

Manchester Museum gets £15m revamp—and hires UK's first curator focused on Indigenous perspectives

Reopening this month, the English institution plans to explicitly deal with its links to colonialism and actively support repatriation

Museumspreview

Bangalore's new Museum of Art & Photography looks to attract India's digital generation

While the pandemic held up MAP's construction it made 100 exhibits available online—a strategy that will continue beyond its physical opening

'Like being on display in a zoo': judges rule in favour of luxury flat owners living next to Tate Modern in battle over privacy

Landmark Supreme Court ruling finds Tate Modern's viewing platform as private nuisance to luxury flat owners it overlooks

Leaderscomment

'Black History Month is not a checkbox—museums need to work on yearlong, holistic programming'

As Black History Month begins in the US, arts administrator and historian Tsione Wolde-Michael gives three key points for institutions to consider

Special investigation: Serious concerns over fate of Ukraine’s museum works taken by Russians

The Art Newspaper probes the complex issues arising from the removal of the Kherson Museum’s collection, sent to Crimea for “safekeeping”

World's only Vagina Museum closes its doors in East London and seeks new home

It is the second time in a year that the space, dedicated to the female reproductive system, has had to move

Death of Vatican cleric puts his lauded but mysterious art collection under new scrutiny

Canon Monsignor Michele Basso was investigated for fraud in 2000 after allegedly trying to sell fake works

LGBTQnews

Controversial UK politician slams Tate for hosting children's drag queen storytime session

Conservative Party peer Emma Nicholson has lambasted the London museum for "propaganda" in open letter

Museumscomment

'This is a watershed moment for UK museums—their expanded civic role has never been more vital'

With cuts both to creative education in schools and learning departments in museums, its time for institutions to find vital new purposes, says Art Fund UK director Jenny Waldman

Heritagecomment

London National Gallery revamp sets troubling precedent on the preservation of newer heritage sites

Existing plans to redevelop the gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, which will transform its entrance, demonstrate how newer listed buildings are treated with less respect than older heritage sites

No plans to return Berlin's star museum attractions Nefertiti and Pergamon Altar, German official says

Statement comes after Berlin state secretary for diversity and anti-discrimination spoke out in favour of restituting the artefacts to their countries of origin

UK's oldest toy museum announces closure, sending thousands of antique toys into storage

Pollock's Toy Museum, a historic fixture of London's Fitzrovia district, will remain closed unless "major capital funding" is found

Groups in Guatemala demand return of Maya throne sent to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Guatemalan law prohibits the export of such artefacts for exhibition, local culture organisations say

SFMoMA acquires its first NFT, a work by tech art pioneer Lynn Hershman Leeson

The museum is one of the most prominent to date to acquire a blockchain-backed digital artwork for its permanent collection

Amid national crisis, Beirut builds museum to house hidden art collection

Two years after an explosion caused billions of dollars of damage, the Beirut Museum of Art has broken ground in the Lebanese capital

British Museum's hopes of a 'loan arrangement' for the return of the Parthenon Marbles imperilled ahead of Greek elections

The Greek prime minister has pledged to repatriate the 2,500-year-old sculptures if re-elected

Charleston reckons with its role in the international slave trade through its museums

The historic Charleston Museum and the forthcoming International African American Museum will explore the city's painful past

New York's Frick Collection acquires its first-ever Renaissance portrait of a woman

According to the museum, the portrait by Giovanni Battista Moroni is “the most significant Italian Renaissance painting” it has acquired in more than half a century

Art books coming soon in 2023: the pick of the crop

The Art Newspaper’s books editor Jacqueline Riding selects spring and summer publications to look out for, from the Surrealism of Leonora Carrington to 100 years of Black figuration

Lootnews

Revelations in Cambodia looting scandal name ‘scholar’ at Denver Art Museum as accomplice to disgraced dealer Douglas Latchford

Researcher Emma Bunker aided the notorious looter in sourcing and selling Southeast Asian antiquities