NewsMuseums & Heritage
Liverpool World Museum used facial recognition technology on visitors to Terracotta Warriors show
Privacy group condemns move but the museum says people were made aware of the surveillance measures
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Survivors and victims’ families oppose plans for a $40m museum at site of Pulse shooting
The group says fundraising efforts to turn the Orlando nightclub into a tourist destination would be better spent on survivors’ care
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Historians bake sourdough bread with yeast that could date to ancient Egypt
The loaf, made with yeast extracted from an artefact at the MFA Boston, could provide valuable insight into ancient civilisations
NewsMuseums
UK national museums lent almost half a million objects around the world last year
Most were scientific materials, but 69,000 went to cultural venues
NewsRestitution
Growing pressure on the British Museum as Jamaica is latest government seeking return of objects
Spokeswoman for the London museum says it has not been officially approached by the country over the return of the two objects made by the Taíno people in its collection
NewsAncient Egypt
Golden touch up: King Tutankhamun's coffin undergoes first ever restoration at new Grand Egyptian Museum
Famous Ancient Egyptian artefact transferred from Luxor tomb to Cairo for delicate conservation work ahead of museum opening
NewsMuseu Coleção Berardo
Berardo museum stays open in Lisbon despite uncertainty over future of ‘Portuguese Saatchi’s’ collection
Portuguese government has stepped in and seized art assets following protracted legal battle, press reports say
NewsMuseums
Baltimore Museum of Art dedicates a year of exhibitions to women
From Georgia O’Keeffe to Mickalene Thomas, museum will aim to address diversity gaps
NewsMuseums & Heritage
For its centennial, Oriental Institute weds ancient artefacts with contemporary art
Three artists enter a dialogue with Middle Eastern antiquities at the University of Chicago
NewsMuseums
Baltimore Museum of Art to create a Matisse study centre
Museum will draw on its 1,200 works by the artist to help further scholarship
NewsV&A
Extinction Rebellion designs go on show at Victoria and Albert Museum
Flags, pamphlets and logos by the climate activists were acquired for museum's Rapid Response Collecting gallery, which also includes Pussyhats and emojis
NewsWhitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum vice chairman Warren Kanders steps down after months of protests
His company Safariland has been criticised for manufacturing tear gas canisters that have been used on asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border
CommentExhibitions
Museums cannot ignore artists’ values
Artists are increasingly concerned about the ethical principles of the museums and galleries in which they show their work
NewsMuseums
With Jean Pigozzi's contemporary African art donation, MoMA to become a 'leader' in the field
The museum says the gift will play an important role in the reconfiguration of its permanent collection
NewsWhitney Biennial
Four artists withdraw their work from the Whitney Biennial
The move follows on-going calls for the resignation of the museum board's vice chairman
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Uzbekistan's Nukus Museum names new director
Former Roerich Museum director Tigran Mkrtychev wins international competition to head up the famed Russian avant-garde collection long embroiled in controversy
NewsRestitution
Benin gets €20m loan for new museum to show restituted heritage
France’s president pledged to return 26 items seized in the 19th century by the French military
NewsRestitution
Austria promises to return ancient artefacts to Russia that were taken as war trophies
An Austrian army officer took the 2,000-year-old objects from a war-damaged museum in the port of Temryuk at the end of the Second World War
NewsMuseums & Heritage
A mystery for the ages: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist
The world’s greatest unsolved art theft continues to obsess—and stump—investigators
NewsAppointments & departures
In damning online critique of British Museum's ethics, trustee Ahdaf Soueif announces resignation
Prominent Egyptian-born writer cites the institution's BP sponsorship, treatment of workers and its silence over restitution as key issues
AnalysisClimate Change
Venice has no official plan for how to deal with climate change
A new report by Icomos details how the science/culture divide is stopping world heritage coming to the aid of climate change and urges speedy action
AnalysisAntiquities & Archaeology
A Getty lifeline for classical mosaics in the Middle East and North Africa
As the Getty winds down its decade-long Mosaikon project, it leaves behind a legacy of expertise in a region threatened by looting and political unrest
NewsConservation & Preservation
Moscow Kremlin Museums say ‘bravo!’ to restorers
State regalia, Russian icons and decorative pistols go on show in exhibition celebrating the hidden craft of conservation
NewsVictoria & Albert Museum
V&A to mount major Iran exhibition in face of US sanctions
Museum’s director Tristram Hunt says securing loans and sponsorship is “more of a challenge” as tension grows between Trump and Tehran
CommentUnesco
A former Unesco chief denounces its failure to protect Venice at Baku meeting
“Where have the ethics and sense of a global mandate to protect the world’s heritage gone?”, asks Francesco Bandarin
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Cultural divisions deepen in Jerusalem amid Israeli election campaign
Christian institutions are calling attention to their marginalisation in wake of Israel’s focus on Jewish-centric policies
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Hungary presses ahead with sprawling culture hub in Budapest city park
Vast collections centre for 300,000 objects inaugurated as construction continues on ambitious museums quarter for Hungarian capital
NewsUnesco
In a first, Unesco gives Frank Lloyd Wright buildings World Heritage status
US architect's distinctive designs are among 29 cultural sites recognised for their “outstanding value to humanity”
NewsMuseums & Heritage
New museum tells Palestinian stories in the centre of US politics
One-room space in Washington, DC, focuses on art and culture rather than “catastrophe”— but a section is dedicated to the 1948 mass exodus
NewsBritish Museum
British Museum director endorses controversial sponsor BP as part of future vision
Oil company will support one exhibition at the museum next year, but not a show dedicated to the people of the Arctic
NewsBrazil
Unesco visit brings new growth to Roberto Burle Marx’s home and garden
Brazil funds major renovation of landscape architect's lush estate, which could become a World Heritage site in 2020
NewsRestoration
A rich tapestry of English life unfurls in Oxford with restoration of 400-year-old woven maps
Three huge silk and wool works depicting England’s Midland counties have been painstakingly preserved by the Bodleian Library and the National Trust
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Banksy on a barge: world's first floating street art gallery makes waves on Paris's Seine
Moored besides the Pont des Invalides in Paris, Fluctuart will open with an exhibition by the Brooklyn-based artist Swoon
NewsMuseums & Heritage
St Fagans National Museum of History wins Art Fund Museum of the Year award
The Cardiff museum is the first Welsh winner of the £100,000 prize, beating other finalists including V&A Dundee and Pitt Rivers Museum
NewsCivil Rights
State of Massachusetts investigates reported racism at the MFA Boston
"Experiences like this are literally taking away from academic growth", says principal of students who filed a complaint during a class trip
NewsConservation & Preservation
Going undercover: Scotland's leaky Mackintosh treasure shielded by 197-tonne chainmail box
Hill House in Helensburgh has been covered to protect it from the rain while National Trust makes conservation plans
NewsTurkey
'Game-changer' museum to open in Istanbul in time for city's biennial
Turkish non-profit contemporary art space Arter is relocating to a state-of-the-art exhibition space in Dolapdere district
NewsRestitution
Uffizi recovers Nazi-looted painting from Germany
The Dutch still life heads back to the Florence museum after bold campaign by director
NewsMusée du Louvre
Nan Goldin’s activist group storms the Musée du Louvre
Pain protestors demand that museum officials rename 12 rooms named after the Sackler family
NewsObituaries
Barbara Hunt McLanahan, the executive director of the Children's Museum of the Arts, has died aged 55
Her tenure reflected her "steadfast belief in the transformative power of art", the museum says
NewsPoland
'Life in the shadow of a death world': new Holocaust installation shines a light on Auschwitz survivors' stories
The open-air exhibition structure has been designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind
NewsPolitics
Plan to merge Uffizi and Accademia in Florence stokes row over Italian museums reform
Critics say the move by Italy's populist coalition government will compromise the autonomy of museums
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Three become one: Montpellier Contemporain unites art school with exhibition venues
The newly created institution will involve all 200 students of the Montpellier School of Fine Arts
NewsOpenings
Bordeaux gets €60m Meca for creative industries
Bjarke Ingels-designed culture hub will be the new home of the Frac regional contemporary art centre
NewsMuseums & Heritage
New chief executive takes the reins at the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art
Steven Parissien is not horsing around as he trots us through the forthcoming programme at the Newmarket museum
NewsBuilding projects
New Museum unveils Rem Koolhaas design for addition
Building to rise next door that will double the museum’s exhibition space
NewsAppointments & departures
MoMA PS1 hires former Garage Museum curator as its director
Kate Fowle, known as a champion of artists and curatorial innovation, succeeds Klaus Biesenbach
NewsUnions
Rally at New Museum reception brings attention to union negotiations
Bargaining committee member says it is “feeling hopeful that progress will be made”
CommentCensorship
'Museum directors have lost panache and grit': 30 years on, the legacy of the Corcoran's Robert Mapplethorpe cancellation
New exhibition at the George Washington University looks back the censorship of the photographer's work—but what impact did it have on the art world?
NewsConservation & Preservation
Getty shores up Peruvian church in an earthquake zone
The preservation project could serve as a prototype for saving other earthen buildings
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
World Heritage Committee will not discuss Notre Dame at its 2019 annual meeting
France is due to provide a report on the fire-ravaged church this year
CommentMuseums & Heritage
Mission statements and paychecks: let's put our money where our mouths are
A call for concrete action on art world salaries
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Donna De Salvo steps down as Whitney senior curator
After organising popular shows like a Warhol retrospective, she resigns to “pursue other interests’’
NewsEconomics
Sizing up salaries in the visual arts world
A US survey compares compensation for employees by age, job type and education level
NewsDesign
Poster House, the first US museum dedicated to the medium, opens in New York
“We don’t want to be an art museum,” the director says
NewsConservation & Preservation
British Library shares conservation experts with Palestinian Museum
New partnership will preserve the Birzeit museum’s most ‘at-risk’ objects on paper
ReviewConservation & Preservation
Quarries, quarrels and a lesbian affair: the life of sculptor Mary Spencer Watson
The Dorset farmhouse in which she lived with her father, the portrait painter George Spencer Watson, has been recently restored by the Landmark Trust
NewsNational Academy of Design
New York's National Academy of Design has no plans to reopen its museum
After weathering financial and structural crises, the institution is looking for new ways to fulfil its mission
NewsCollectors
Sikh Empire collector hopes to open dedicated museum
The London-based collector Davinder Toor holds one of the most significant collections of Sikh works in the US and the UK
NewsConservation & Preservation
Conservation project channels thinking of Angkor’s original builders
World Monuments Fund completes restoration of the eastern half of Phnom Bakheng temple
CommentLacma
LACMA is building an institution for the 21st century
Museums were never “encyclopaedic”—nor should they be, Michael Conforti says
NewsUnions
Employees at the Guggenheim seek to unionise
Labour representative says the organisation is engaged in “union-busting” tactics
ReviewExhibitions
How Renoir’s nudes helped the Clark get its groove back
An exhibition sheds refreshing new light on the artist’s development
NewsConservation & Preservation
Ugo Rondinone’s day-glo desert installation Seven Magic Mountains gets a fresh coat of paint
The popular public art work has been restored with the aim of keeping it Instagram-ready through 2021 or longer
NewsPhotography
Hossein Farmani's homecoming sees two photography centres open in Iran
The Lucie Awards organiser plans to open a museum in the city of Kashan next April
NewsJair Bolsonaro
Brazil’s museums dodge Bolsanaro’s cultural funding caps—at least for now
The Rouanet Law, which the Brazilian leader claims enables corruption, was amended in an official announcement
NewsHeritage
Gaudi’s Sagrada Família secures building permit—137 years later
A deal between the city and the church foundation aims to complete construction work on the architect’s quixotic final project
NewsState Russian Museum
State Russian Museum refurbishment cancelled amid protests
The renovation threatened the museum's architecture and collection, plaintiffs argued
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Former Louvre director donates his collection to forthcoming museum devoted to the 'Sun King'
Pierre Rosenberg has pledged his collection of works by Charles Le Brun and other artists to the new museum
NewsMuseum of Norwich
Rotting 17th century wooden sculpture renovated by Norfolk Museums
The former nightclub 'doorman' is now on display at the Museum of Norwich.
NewsAppointments & departures
Diane 'Dede' Wilsey steps down as board chair of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
The leader has been both generous and controversial
CommentLaw
Why this Cézanne painting could hold the key to solving thorny heritage disputes
Innovative agreement to share contested work from Gurlitt trove provides a roadmap for similar legal cases
Sharon Hecker