Asking where this is all going to end is a very effective means of whipping up panic. But slippery slope arguments are themselves slippery and need to be treated with caution. They force us to take one of two extreme, polarized positions and do not allow anything more nuanced. – Times Literary Supplement
Category: visual
Here’s The Group That Created The Google Spreadsheet Showing How Much Museum Employees Actually Make
“Founded at the end of May 2019 by a ‘nonhierarchical group of arts and museum workers who are friends and colleagues,’ Art + Museum Transparency prefers to answer questions collectively. ARTnews contacted the group to inquire about what it took to put the spreadsheet together, and the good they believe it can do.” – ARTnews
U.S. Museums Are (Finally) Developing Art Therapy Programs
“Although psychologists have long recognized the benefits of art therapy, … few American museums have devoted resources toward creating programs. But the demands of a grief-stricken public are now compelling cultural institutions around the country to create trauma-aware initiatives that put their art collections and educators at the forefront of a mental health crisis created by the pandemic and the worldwide protests over police brutality and racism after George Floyd’s killing.” – The New York Times
Cash-Strapped British Air To Sell Off Its Art Collection
The airline is known for its collection of at least 1,500 pieces that includes esteemed works by artists such as Richard Deacon, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Callum Innes, Anish Kapoor, Chris Ofili, and Fiona Rae. – Artnet
What Should Be Done With Toppled Statues?
As statues fall around the world in symbolic revolt against the histories of slavery and colonialism, city and town leaders, museum officials and historians faced with these toppled monuments are asking, Now what? Should they be cleaned up and moved into the safety of a museum? Should their scars be kept or cleaned off? Or should we make new artworks out of them? – The New York Times
Boarded Up Museums Send The Wrong Message
Why did most of New York’s largest museums botch this chance to connect to a younger audience—one that has grown distrustful of their boards, labor practices, executive salaries, and even the art on their walls? Were they too impaired by the prolonged shutdown and associated financial hardship? Or could the lobbies themselves not offer adequate support in these extraordinary times? – Artnet
A Fisherman May Have Just Found A 700-Year-Old Statue Lying In A Riverbed
“The mossy and somewhat eroded form of a granite statue of the Virgin Mary and child that could date from the 14th century … was discovered 11 days ago in the Sar River on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela by an angler looking for trout.” – The Guardian
Humboldt Forum In Berlin Will Open Before Year’s End (They Swear!)
Well … “As long as there are no further pandemic-related hold-ups or lockdowns, the first parts of the complex will open on the ground floor and first floor in December, the Humboldt Forum’s leadership said in a statement. An exhibition on the history of the location and a Berlin city history exhibition will be among the first spaces to open to the public, along with an arcade of museums shops and a restaurant in the Schlüterhof courtyard. – The Art Newspaper
Now That Confederate Statues Are Coming Down, Why Do We Need Statues To Famous People Anyway?
It’s worth thinking anew about the value of living memorials, and why so little of our mad fetish for public memorialization has been devoted to them. Could we rethink not just the whom and what we seek to venerate, but also evolve beyond the need for traditional memorials and monuments altogether? – Washington Post
National Gallery In DC Will Begin Partial Reopening This Weekend
“The National Gallery of Art will open its six-acre Sculpture Garden to visitors on Saturday, marking the first step of a multiphase comeback from the museum’s coronavirus closure. The second phase, with a date still undetermined, will include the opening of the ground floor of the West Building. The East Building will remain closed for several months to prepare for a major renovation.” – The Washington Post