Museums

‘These are terrible crimes’: A Ukrainian museum director’s fight to recover art

Alina Dotsenko of the Kherson Art Museum explains how her team is working to find stolen objects

Dia at 50: a new era

A look at the past, present and future of the famed New York contemporary-art institution, which started out with an ambitious mission to create massive public works and has morphed into a museum for the 21st century

Young V&A wins UK Art Fund Museum of the Year prize

The prize rewards a space for children that “will cement museums as places they belong and feel welcome as they grow up, regardless of their background”

Marion Ackermann appointed first woman to run Berlin state museums

Ackermann is to take up the post in June 2025 after nine years managing Dresden’s state art collections

‘Like a child in a messy divorce’: Mary Beard and David Olusoga tackle Parthenon Marbles debate in British Museum panel

Complexities of restitution, the relevance of the universal museum and burgeoning collections were all on the event's agenda

Spain’s plans for a national Civil War museum in disarray

Construction has begun, but wrangling between opposing political factions about how to represent one of the darkest chapters in the country’s history threatens to stall project

National Galleries of Scotland will continue to take sponsorship from Baillie Gifford despite protests over ties with fossil fuel industry and Israel

The asset management company ended its sponsorship of nine book festivals after campaign groups protested against their involvement

Philanthropyanalysis

Cash-strapped museums struggle with ‘moral reckoning’ over sponsors

The Israel-Gaza war has escalated campaigns against arts funders deemed to be problematic

Street behind Tate Modern closed after glass panels fall from building

Window panes from the Neo Bankside development, whose residents forced the museum to restrict access to its viewing gallery, smashed into the street

UK general election: the dawn of a new era for the arts?

We look at the impact of 14 years of Tory rule on the culture sector—and ask if the future looks any brighter

Museumscomment

Art of the Ice Age has a lot to teach us—it’s time the British Museum dedicated a gallery to it

The museum is only one of two institutions in the world to see Ice Age art as part of human cultural endeavour, but it needs a proper space to explain and explore this

‘Art gives you something to hold on to’: Dutch museum launches dementia-friendly programme

A series of events will use the museum’s collection to spark memories and emotions

Right-wing director of Warsaw contemporary art centre ousted by culture minister

Piotr Bernatowicz was selected by Poland's former Law and Justice government

Welcome to the slow museum, where less is more

In an effort to deepen existing programming and community engagement, some institutions are choosing to stage fewer exhibitions

Activismcomment

Victory without damage: ‘Just Stop Oil’s climate activism is one of the most successful disobedience campaigns ever’

The climate catastrophe has been brought to the forefront of the public mind without causing serious harm to the targeted works, says John Paul Stonard

John-Paul Stonard

Walker Art Center invites visitors to reimagine its galleries

The Minneapolis institution has crowdsourced its rehang—which means a lot more than just new configurations of works

Collector Reinhard Ernst’s abstract art gets a new home in Germany

The Museum Reinhard Ernst, opening this week in the city of Wiesbaden, houses works by Frank Stella, Jackson Pollock, Damien Hirst and Neo Rauch

Palm Springs Art Museum launches permanent LGBTQ+ programming

The California institution’s new Q+ Art initiative is the first of its kind in the US and includes exhibitions, public programming, acquisitions and awards

Almost untouched for a century, Swiss painter Albert Anker’s rural home opens to visitors

The Centre Albert Anker in Ins, Switzerland, is set to open to visitors on 7 June with an exhibition on the artist's travels to Italy

British Museum opens new storage and research facility

Known as BM_ARC, the site in Berkshire houses around 1.3 million objects from the London museum and is intended for scholars as well as members of the public

Where do the UK political parties stand on culture?

Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party—even the Animal Welfare Party—tell us about their policies for the arts

Tate director Maria Balshaw criticises British Museum’s sponsorship deal with BP

In an interview in the Observer newspaper, Balshaw also discussed the controversy around Tate Britain's Hogarth show, which one art critic described as "wokeish drivel"

Los Angeles's Institute of Contemporary Art reveals details of $12m revamp and expansion

The downtown museum has announced an ambitious renovation plan that centers local artists

Ukrainian museums call for better recognition of their role in reconstruction

More than 100 Ukrainian museum professionals, meeting in Berlin, pledge to rebuild a modern, inclusive cultural sector

New ‘Caravaggio’ work unveiled at the Prado divides scholars

Ecce Homo work goes on show at Madrid museum but some critics disagree with new attribution

Palais de Tokyo patron row intensifies after French art world figures sign letter of support

Sandra Hegedüs, who withdrew funding for the Paris centre, responded to the letter, signed by Chris Dercon among others, in Instagram posts

Palais de Tokyo ‘strongly rejects' patron's accusations it is ‘dictated by wokeism’

Sandra Hegedüs quit the Amis du Palais de Tokyo patrons group, withdrawing her financial support of the Paris institution, after stating that a show on Palestine was misleading

The Week in Art podcast | Should UK museums charge for entry? Plus, Michelangelo’s last decades and Maria Blanchard

The case for and against the policy of free admission for UK museums, a tour of the British Museum's new Michelangelo show and an in-depth look at Maria Blanchard’s Girl at Her First Communion in Malaga

Baroque guardhouse’s floating concrete cube in Dresden holds vast avant-garde gift

Archive of the Avant-Garde in German city’s renovated Blockhaus hosts Egidio Marzona’s collection of paintings, drawings and vast documentary archive of letters, manuscripts, sketches, invitations and stickers

Prizesnews

Young V&A makes shortlist for UK museum of the year prize

The shortlist of five for Art Fund's ₤120,000 award also includes the Craven Museum, Dundee Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery and the Manchester Museum