Category: visual

In a letter sent September 22 to several public bodies, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media, and sport, Oliver Dowden, set out the government’s position on contested heritage: “The Government does not support the removal of statues or other similar objects.” – Artnet

An A-list cadre of contemporary artists and intellectuals have similarly decried the museums’ decision in an open letter that asks them to reinstate the exhibition as planned. – Artnet

“[Mwazulu] Diyabanza, along with four associates, stood accused of attempting to steal a 19th-century African funeral pole from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris in mid-June, as part of an action to protest colonial-era cultural theft and seek reparations. But it was Wednesday’s emotionally charged trial that gave real resonance to Mr. Diyabanza’s struggle, as a symbolic defendant was called to the stand: France, and its colonial track record.” – The New York Times

“[The museum] could fully close for three years, beginning in 2023, or close partially for seven years, in order for necessary repairs to be made to the iconic 1970s building. … [Except for the external escalators,] no major work [has] been done on the structure since it opened in 1977.” – Artforum

The Frick’s two-year tenure in the Breuer — the 1966 Brutalist building owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and recently occupied by the Metropolitan Museum of Art — will allow the Frick to continue exhibitions while its 1914 Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue undergoes renovation. – The New York Times

As a part of its “New Start Culture” program, the country’s culture ministry will provide support to commercial galleries across the country in the form of grants that range between €5,000 ($5,837) and €35,000 ($41,000) for its early 2021 programs. In a statement to the press, culture minister Monika Grütters says her aim is to help “stabilize the art market,” citing its importance both to culture and the economy. – Artnet

LACMA’s buildings from the 1960s were pedestrian, vertical, confining, the mid-1980s addition looking from Wilshire Boulevard like a giant mausoleum. Zumthor and Govan are clearly attempting to place the art-going experience on a higher, newer plane, one that forsakes the normal strategies. Yes, the risks are great, but so are the possibilities. – Los Angeles Times

Kevin Young, 49, the poetry editor of the New Yorker and the author of 11 books of poetry, said he is eager to continue Lonnie Bunch’s efforts to record, represent and interpret the stories of African Americans. – Washington Post

“The Victoria and Albert Museum is planning to make 103 retail and visitor experience staff redundant – approximately 10% of its overall workforce – with job losses in other departments set to follow. Staff were briefed on Tuesday about a process to reduce costs by £10m annually … ‘in order to secure the V&A’s survival’.” – The Guardian

“The faint traces of a charcoal underdrawing, visible thanks to multispectral analysis, are evidence of the spolvero technique, in which the artist pricks tiny holes along the outlines of the drawing and uses charcoal dust to transfer the cartoon to canvas. The discovery, published by scientist Pascal Cotte in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, was more than 15 years in the making.” – Artnet