Greta slams Science Museum
Plus: London's newest attraction shuts after two days
Hello. It’s Friday once more, hurrah!
I don’t know about you, but my attention this week has been transfixed on Tokyo 2020. After the trauma the world has seen over the past 18 months, the spectacle and the human triumphs are the tonic we all need I think. Plus, Team GB are smashing it!
I also had a lovely recent visit to the current history-making exhibition at the Wallace Collection, which has reunited two paintings by Rubens for the first time in 200 years. Check it out on my Instagram (and don’t forget to follow) @maxwellmuseums
There’s a bit of a theme running through today’s news round up: the relationship between cultural projects and developers/architects. From London’s woeful new tourist attraction to developments threatening the UK’s important heritage sites, it’s not been a good week for these uneasy bedfellows. Often problems arise from cost-cutting which betrays early promises, whether that’s for new proposals or preserving old ones. Perhaps something to bear in mind next time you see shiny ‘artist’s impressions.’ Thank god the Garden Bridge was never built.
Till next time.
Maxwell
This week’s top story
London’s newest tourist attraction opened on Monday. By Wednesday it had closed after becoming a laughing stock in the world’s media and ticket bookers demanded refunds. The Guardian
These pictures of the £2 MILLION Marble Arch Mound went viral on the opening day showing just how poor the new site looked, clearly unfinished, and shockingly below what was promised. It was supposed to offer glorious views of the capital from a lush, human-made hill in order to tempt visitors back to the capital. But as the New York Times truth-bombed, what people got was a “a pile of scaffolding.”
Westminster city council said there had been “teething problems” and that visitors would be welcomed back once the landscape had “had time to bed in and grow.” Quite why they thought it could open when so clearly unfinished is a mystery. And why this expensive folly was thought to be a good idea in the first place is equally baffling. These developments nearly always over promise and underdeliver in order to save cash. Just look at these shocking examples.
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This week’s other stories
Greta Thunberg last night slammed London’s Science Museum after it was revealed they had signed a gagging clause as part of an agreement with Shell to sponsor a current exhibition on carbon capture. But the Museum “entirely reject(s) the unsubstantiated claim” its curators were influenced by external sources. The news was trending on Twitter, and this tweet is *doing numbers* as we say. Yahoo News
The British Museum will piece back together eight ancient glass artefacts which were shattered in the devastating 2020 Beirut port explosion. Hundreds of shards will be painstakingly reassembled by the expert conservators at the Museum, in a project supported by TEFAF. It’s the ultimate jigsaw puzzle. The i
UNESCO have gone on a listing spree and awarded World Heritage status to dozens of new sites across the globe. The dramatic slate landscape of north-west Wales has become the UK's 33rd site on the prestigious list, which the Welsh First Minister said was “a time to celebrate.” Also added was the entire city of Nice in France, Bologna’s stunning medieval porticoes, and Madrid’s expansive Retiro Park, which for my money is one of Europe’s most beautiful urban parks. Bad luck Liverpool.
Speaking of Liverpool, UNESCO has this morning sent a stark warning to the UK government that they risk becoming the first country in the world to have TWO sites stripped of World Heritage status (after the northern city was delisted last week due to a planned new football stadium). Stonehenge is the next major risk due to a proposed road tunnel. The UN body warn that “ill-advised” developments across the country need to be curbed. As someone who has lived in London for 12 years, I’m not sure there’s any other kind. The Guardian
A £100 million UK national Holocaust memorial and education centre is to be built in the heart of Westminster after the government gave it the go-ahead. However opponents say while they support a memorial, they argue it’s in the wrong place and shouldn’t result in the loss of a valuable public park. The Guardian
The Turner Prize is heading back to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years in 2022. It’ll be at Tate Liverpool, the same venue which became the first ever to present the prize outside of London. BBC
Anish Kapoor is setting up shop in Venice. He’s begun converting a vast, crumbling, but stunning Venetian palace into a permanent exhibition space and workshop where some of his most famous works will be displayed. Can’t wait. The Art Newspaper
The Smithsonian Institution has reversed its mask policy, and once again requires all visitors as young as age 2 to wear face coverings to enter its museums in an effort to thwart the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus. CNN
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