Historic England slams station development
“Grossly opportunistic" project risks London Liverpool Street heritage
Also in this edition: Audacious antique heist sees museum raided, Budapest museum ordered to ban under-18s, first V&A East exhibition revealed, ‘secret’ Michelangelo room opens, Science Museum’s new star object
Happy Friday.
Last week I was writing this newsletter from the sun lit cafe of the Turner Contemporary. This week it’s from a very soggy London. Can’t win ‘em all.
I hit send just as I was about to go and see Mark Leckey’s new exhibition In the Offing at the gallery. I know you’ve probably had sleepless nights waiting for my verdict, so here it is: it was…meh. The premise is strong: a group show of work reflecting and responding to Margate, seaside towns, nostalgia and the future. But it promises much more than is delivered, because it’s all concept. Impenetrable high art that tbh just takes itself too seriously.
I think one of the main reasons I felt this was because it was heavy on the video art (yes, I know, don’t go and see a show by a video artist if you don’t like video). But does anyone actually like video art? I’ve never really met anyone who does. For an art form that has so much in common with the world’s most popular entertainment media it can’t half be boring. Or is that just me?
Why don’t we test this out with a poll? Otherwise I might (genuinely) have many sleepless nights not knowing your verdict — and if I stand alone.
And now, onto the news.
Maxwell
p.s. if you missed my interview I sent you this week on the 1,000 Van Gogh masterpieces you might not know, you can catch up here:
Need To Know
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Hitting the buffers
Historic England have joined a growing list of public bodies and leading figures objecting to a “grossly opportunistic" building development planned for London’s Liverpool Street railway station. England’s conservation body says the plans — which would include rebuilding an 1884 Grade II-listed hotel — would “destroy” the heritage of the station, and would “harm the character of the City of London as a whole."
The proposed £1.5 billion development would also involve constructing huge office blocks and shops over the station, removing the concourse’s natural light. Broadcaster Stephen Fry, artist Tracey Emin, comedian Griff Rhys Jones, the Victorian Society and Save Britain’s Heritage are all against the plans too. Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England said: "This scheme is fundamentally misconceived and misses the opportunity to unlock real public benefits.”
The growing objections come as it’s revealed London’s financial district will get ELEVEN more skyscrapers by 2030. [Yes, London’s ugly skyline is only due to get uglier, well done everyone]. (Read more)
Audacious antique heist
A manhunt is underway for a gang who stole priceless historical silver antiques in an “audacious, planned and targeted” heist on a military museum in Nottingham.
The valuable haul was snatched from the Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum in Newark on Sunday. The thieves cut a hole in the museum floor to steal the items, and it was only discovered when the case containing the treasures was moved to reveal how they went through the floor to access the inside of the cabinet. Among the treasures stolen was a dish thought to be the sister piece to the famous Wimbledon women's singles trophy.
Curator Steve Cox said: 'It's disgusting that they've taken history from the people who have served and fought for this country.” Nottinghamshire Police said “these criminals may think they've got away with a lot of silver… but they definitely haven't got away with the crime.” (Read more)
Hungarian government vs national museum
Budapest’s National Museum has said a government order to restrict its latest exhibition to over-18s — otherwise it would contravene the law against "promoting" homosexuality to minors — is unenforceable.
The prestigious World Press Photo exhibition features five photographs documenting a community of elderly LGBTQ+ people in the Philippines. The images led a far-right Hungarian lawmaker to file a complaint with the cultural ministry, which subsequently found that they violate a Hungarian law that prohibits the display of LGBTQ+ content to minors. The law is hugely contentious, with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, previously calling it “a disgrace”.
But the museum told news agency AFP that it "cannot legally enforce" the government order as it cannot ask for identity cards. "The Museum relies on the cooperation and compliance of visitors” they said, and highlighted that "there are notices on the site that under 18-year-olds are not allowed to buy tickets.”
World Press Photo executive director Joumana El Zein Khoury said "there is nothing explicit or offensive in these images." (Read more)
News from the UK 🇬🇧
Sade to Seal | The inaugural exhibition for the V&A East Museum has been revealed. Opening in 2025, The Music Is Black: A British Story will chart more than a century of musical development, from calypso and reggae to grime and drill. Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Director said it would be “a landmark show…[of] a long-overdue story.” The exhibition has been made possible thanks to full access to the BBC’s extensive archive. (Read more)
🔗 MORE: V&A East rolls out its new visual identity, aligning it with the museum group’s new brand refresh (Read more)
Give Yoko a chance | Tate Modern have revealed the title of their upcoming Yoko Ono retrospective. MUSIC OF THE MIND will open in February, and they also revealed the fact it’ll have over 200 works on display, that it’ll spill out of the exhibition gallery into other spaces, and that visitors will be invited to add photos of their own mother to a new iteration of 2004’s participatory installation My Mommy Is Beautiful. (Read more)
Demon restoration job | A haunting ‘lost demon’ has emerged from the shadows in a recently restored Sir Joshua Reynolds painting. The National Trust’s Petworth House has uncovered the creepy figure in a work depicting a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry VI (Part 2). The detail was panned by the Times’ art critic in a review when it was displayed in 1789, but sometime later it disappeared from the image. (Read more)
Sculptures in the shire | Internationally renowned sculptor Tony Cragg is to take over two iconic Yorkshire venues next year for landmark exhibitions. The 18th century Castle Howard and the 7th century York Minister will collectively host over 30 artworks by Cragg. His display at Castle Howard will make him first contemporary artist to exhibit at Britain’s most famous country estate. (Read more)
News from around the world
Italy 🇮🇹 | A remarkable ‘secret room’ decorated by Michelangelo is to open to the public for the first time. The tiny space sits beneath the Medici Chapels in Florence and is thought to be where the artist hid for a few weeks while a death sentence was ordered on him. The sketched charcoal figures were first discovered in 1975 during restoration works. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | The Frick Pittsburgh has postponed an exhibition of Islamic art — due to open tomorrow — citing the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war and fears the show could become “a source of unintended insensitivity or offence.” The decision was criticised by some Muslim and Jewish groups. The museum’s Executive Director Elizabeth Barker said the move “was motivated by concerns that [the exhibition] trivializes and risks objectifying Islamic culture as merely decorative.” (Read more)
France 🇫🇷 | Activists scaled the famous glass pyramid of the Louvre in Paris and covered it in orange paint in the latest climate protest at high-profile museums. Protesters of Derniere Renovation (Final Renovation) were responsible, and a dozen were arrested following the stunt. One protestor climbed up the edge of the Pyramid and sprayed paint whilst others threw balloons from the ground. (Read more)
Australia 🇦🇺 | A $174m impressionist masterpiece by Monet has gone on display on a former cow paddock in rural New South Wales, in a town that has just 1,000 residents. Monet’s Meules, milieu du jour is on show at the Tweed Regional Gallery as part of a major new initiative for the National Gallery of Australia to share its collection around the country. “We never thought we would have a Monet on our farm,” said Margot Anthony, who donated the land for the gallery. (Read more)
France 🇫🇷 | Three years after pulling the plug due to a diplomatic row with China, the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne museum in Nantes has finally opened its blockbuster show on Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire. In 2020 the French museum’s collaboration with the Inner Mongolia Museum in China was scrapped when Chinese authorities demanded that certain words including “Genghis Khan”, “empire” and “Mongol” be taken out. Its new iteration is now a collaboration with museums in Mongolia. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Storm shutters sites | UK museums and cultural sites were forced to shut due to Storm Ciarán this week. Kew Gardens and Sutton Hoo were affected, as were indoor venues including Turner Contemporary and the Hastings Museum.
Headdress to return | A sacred headdress which has been in the collection of Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum for more than 90 years is expected to be repatriated to Canada and the Blackfoot Nation of Alberta community. (More)
Patching up the place | Cromwell Place — the Grade II-listed gallery hub that opened in Kensington in 2020 — is to undergo a £2m redevelopment, with the creation of an 80-seat restaurant and the number of galleries sliced from 14 to 12. (More)
Science’s speedy star | The world’s fastest all-electric aircraft Spirit of Innovation is now on display at the Science Museum in London. Suspended as if in mid-flight, it’s a new highlight of the Making the Modern World gallery. (More)
CAN you visit? | 28 huge sculptures have just gone on show in Lower Manhattan — made entirely of tinned food. They’re in the shape of an alien, Barbie and [my favourite], a Ninja Turtle. It’s all for a good cause as the food will be donated to those facing hunger. (More)
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