Egypt slams Dutch museum's show
Beyonce, Rihanna exhibit raises tempers in Egypt
* In partnership with ATS
Also in this edition: New brand for Natural History Museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery upgrade, Ken Dodd exhibition, largest Warhol in Ireland, last chance to see Armada maps
Happy Friday.
There are two big stories from Scottish museums and galleries in this week’s newsletter. I won’t spoil the news for you, but they are both exciting for museum-visitors (if not so much museum accountants). But these stories filled me with a sense of shame, and I’m now compelled to confess a great sin: I’ve never been to Scotland.
Ok, one caveat: I have been to Orkney, which I KNOW is very much part of Scotland (although that could change soon). It is a wonderful place and a neolithic history lover’s dream (guilty — I was there to facilitate this exciting press visit). But I’ve never been to mainland Scotland. As a Brit, that is a massive error, because I know I’ve been missing out for all my 30-something years. Excellent art, excellent museums, excellent Royal palaces. And yet I’ve never been. I *think* its because from London, if I’m going to travel 6+ hours anywhere, I could head south and be somewhere very much more sunny.
But I know I’m missing out. The two new showings in Scotland revealed below are the perfect excuse to rectify my howling error. And I will. Plus: a not-so balmy Glasgow looks preferable to what’s going on in southern Europe right now.
Now, tell ME! What countries have you not visited that you know you really, really should have. Hit reply to this email so we can compare.
Maxwell
— Enjoying this newsletter or found it useful? Donate to support future editions and to say thank you.
Need To Know
Opening. Finally
Scotland’s national collection of Scottish art will finally go on display to the public at the end of September, four years late and double the original budget.
Works by artists including Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Henry Raeburn and Phoebe Anna Traquair will hang in the new centre on the Mound in Edinburgh, which cost £38.62 million — almost £22 million over budget. The construction of the neoclassical Mound galleries, combining the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy, was one of the most complex engineering projects undertaken in a heritage building in Scotland according to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS). A spokeswoman said: “Although the challenges in construction were formidable, we were determined not to cut any corners but to create galleries of the highest quality.”
Opening to the public on 30 September, visitors will see 130 works, arranged through ten displays, while a further 460 Scottish works are included in a rehang of existing spaces. (Read more)
Dutch museum row
A row has broken out between a Dutch museum and Egypt — and it’s partly over Beyonce.
Leiden's Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is hosting a major show that’s meant to be an empowering celebration of "Egypt in hip-hop, jazz, soul and funk". It features a photo of superstar Beyonce dressed as Queen Nefertiti sitting next to ancient busts, while a video of Rihanna channels Egyptian styles. Images of Tina Turner and Miles Davies are also shown. But Egypt has slammed the exhibition, and has reportedly banned the museum's archaeologists from a dig at a key site in the country.
Egypt's antiquities service said the museum is "falsifying history" with its "Afrocentric" approach, which seeks to appropriate Egyptian culture. The Dutch museum has said it had been hit with comments on social media that were "racist or offensive in nature" after the row blew up in Egypt. The Museum director Wim Weijland calling Egypt's reaction "unseemly". (Read more)
New look
The Natural History Museum (NHM) has revealed a brand new look in the shape of a totally overhauled brand identity and logo. Studios Pentagram and Nomad have designed the new branding over a two-year period that 270 other agencies bid for.
There’s a newly created typeface and colour palette, but the heart is a new symbol referencing earth and the universal connection between everything in nature. “Featuring a circular formation of the letters NHM, it represents the energy of a ripple effect, which pulsates from the centre to form a three-colour sunburst. It’s a shape born from nature” the press release said. But despite all that, the new logo does look remarkably similar to one used by another big art organisation. Oops. Reactions on social media were…mixed. (Read more)
Meanwhile, the new Chair of the NHM, Sir Patrick Vallance, has spoken of his mission for the museum: ensuring it remains a “calm, authoritative, neutral” source of information for today’s environmental crises. “I don’t think the role of the museum is to be a sort of advocate in some sort of campaigning sense” he told the Guardian.
Royal approval
*In partnership with ATS
Last year ATS was granted a Royal Warrant by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of their supply of digital guide services. Royal Warrants of Appointment are a mark of recognition to those who supply goods or services to the Royal households, and show their commitment to the highest standards of service, quality and excellence. It was awarded for ATS's work with Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and today their products are also used in sites such as the four Tate galleries and Guinness Storehouse.
ATS work with cultural and heritage sites of all shapes and sizes, helping them to deliver extraordinary on-site and on-line visitor experiences via audio and multimedia guides, digital opportunities and film.
They provide an inclusive service; from consultancy and support for the planning of new, or improving existing, audio and multimedia guides, to developing creative content and providing the right technology to bring your story to life.
Storytelling telling is at the heart of what they do and the relationship between their technical and operational support teams and their clients, ensures a flawless process from planning through to the final visitor experience. (Discover their work)
News from the UK
Gallery upgrade | South London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery has launched a fundraising campaign for the biggest upgrade of the gallery in 20 years. The £4.6million transformation will see them extend into the gardens, create a sculpture garden, and build a whole new building for families. They hope to double visitor figures in ten years. (Read more)
Perry’s best | Sir Grayson Perry has officially opened the biggest exhibition of his 40-year career. Smash Hits, opening tomorrow, looks back on his entire body of work and is held at the Royal Scottish Academy. Speaking at the opening he said he’d done a “lot of work” and “wants to celebrate it.” (Read more)
No, Doddy | Get your tickling sticks ready: the Museum of Liverpool is to host a major exhibition on the city’s beloved comedian Sir Ken Dodd. Happiness! will see Dodd — who died aged 90 in 2018 — remembered through some of his famous props and costumes, plus video reflections from Lee Mack, Miriam Margolyes and Ian Sir McKellen. (Read more)
Landmark exhibition. Burma to Myanmar will be a major exhibition at the British Museum this winter, and will be the first in the UK to focus on the country which was renamed in 1989. It’s being timed to coincide with the 75th year of its independence but will examine over 1,500 years. A highlight is the magnificent letter written in 1756 on rolled gold from King Alaungpaya of Burma to George II. (Read more)
New statement | The Roald Dahl Museum has acknowledged the author’s antisemitism in a new statement published on its website and soon to be displayed on a panel at its entrance. Dahl’s racism was “undeniable and indelible”, the museum in Buckinghamshire said. Its statement comes more than two and a half years after Dahl’s family apologised for his antisemitism. (Read more)
News from around the world
Ireland | The largest ever Andy Warhol exhibition in Ireland is to open at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. It’s the first Warhol show to open in the country in 25 years and will feature more than 250 works from museums and private collections in the US, Canada and Europe. Titled Andy Warhol Three Times Out highlights include the famous Campbell’s Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe pieces. (Read more)
USA | A major Spike Lee exhibition is coming to the Brooklyn Museum. Described as ‘immersive’ and “honoring his deep connection” to the borough, it will feature more than 300 works from Lee’s personal collection. There’ll be set dressings and props pulled directly from some his most beloved films, including his Brooklyn-based titles Do the Right Thing and She’s Gotta Have It. (Read more)
Iraq | A 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in the city of Basra has been demolished to make way for road expansion. It’s a move that has enraged locals and cultural authorities who condemned it as a further erosion of Iraq's cultural heritage. The country’s Minister of Culture Ahmed Al Badrani threatened legal action over the destruction. (Read more)
Germany | Four men suspected of stealing a trove of Celtic gold coins from a museum north of Munich last year have been arrested, Bavarian police officials said. One of the men was found with lumps of gold of the same composition as the coins in a plastic bag, suggesting a melting down. "Seventy of these coins have been irreparably lost," said Markus Blume, the Bavarian art minister. "There is still hope of finding the rest." (Read more)
Best of the rest
🔗 Outgoing British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has suggested a statue of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing should be placed permanently on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.
🔗 The museum manager of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter is leaving after 22 years due to a large cost-cutting restructure.
🔗 Services on the "Hogwarts Express" steam train have been cancelled in the Scottish Highlands because the heritage doors are knackered.
🔗 Be quick warns the National Museum of the Royal Navy, as hugely rare maps charting the Spanish Armada defeat are going off display potentially for years due to light protections.
— Enjoyed this issue or found it useful? Donate to support future editions.