It's getting hot in here
Plus: Surrealism at the Design Museum
Been a bit warm hasn’t it.
I hope you all managed to stay relatively cool during this week’s scorcher (It’s a bit late now, but a slightly damp t-shirt in the freezer is your saviour, trust me).
The record-breaking temperatures we’ve seen here in the UK has painfully highlighted how Britain’s infrastructure is not designed to function in these (increasingly common) extreme temperatures. And that includes our museums.
A number of them had to close - either fully or partially - because galleries became just too hot. It wasn’t suitable for visitors or staff. It included the British Museum, whose top floor galleries are usually a sauna by the time the clocks go forward so god knows how they felt this week. The BM closed them throughout the hottest days of the week, and shut the whole building early twice too (some pointed out the ‘irony’ of doing this in a heatwave just a few months ahead of having an exhibition sponsored by BP).
The V&A’s glass-roofed Ceramics galleries were closed in the heat too. There were early closures for all four sites of Royal Museums Greenwich and its neighbour the Old Royal Naval College. The temperatures were so extreme they extended far further north than usual, and the Thackray Museum of Medicine in *checks notes* LEEDS had to shut too.
Now while 40 degrees is not expected to be an annual occurrence (yet) it does seem that there will be heatwaves each year from now on. Museums are going to have to think about how they deal with this - after all, even a few hours of closure has a financial cost. But let’s not forget, summer isn’t over yet…
Stay cool.
Maxwell
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This week’s news
The first major UK exhibition to tell the story of surrealism up to the present day will open at the Design Museum in October. “If you think surrealism fizzled out in the 1960s, think again” says the show’s curator, as nearly a third of objects displayed will be from the last 50 years. The Guardian
The tiny Brunel Museum in London is about to be not so tiny. The museum that tells the story of the Thames Tunnel - the world’s first tunnel to run under water - has just secured £1.85m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in order to create a new gallery and welcome pavilion, and to restore the famous Engine House. The only downside is that the work will require the museum to close for a number of months from 2023. Museums Journal
London mayor Sadiq Khan has said that a deal should be done with Greece to find a way of sharing the Parthenon Sculptures. Putting aside the fact that they are already split half and half between Athens and London, and the fact that in the interview Khan is really just saying museums should loan more rather than repatriation, the most eye catching part of the interview is that his position means he agrees with George Osborne (the British Museum’s Chair). “That’s the end of my career” Khan said. HuffPost UK
A Brummie icon has returned - and all to celebrate next week’s Commonwealth Games. A replica of a King Kong statue that first appeared in Birmingham 50 years ago has just been unveiled. This one’s bigger than the original too - standing at over 7m tall - and has been made in consultation with the original artist’s family. BBC News
A museum in Dorset had to be evacuated after a visitor handed over an object they wanted to donate. It was a hand grenade. metro.co.uk
Proving you can never have too much of a good thing, yet more Yayoi Kusama art is going on show at Tate Modern. From tomorrow, her interactive work The obliteration room goes on show, for its biggest iteration to date. Originally commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia, it is a big white space with white furniture and visitors are given coloured stickers to turn it into a riot of colour. I think it’s brilliant. FAD magazine
It seems glueing oneself to important art supposedly in the name of climate change has well and truly become *a thing.* It’s now happened in Italy following multiple incidents in the UK this month. This morning protestors glued themselves to Botticelli's Primavera (Spring) at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Thankfully the Museum said no damage had been done. The National
The family of Frida Kahlo has authorized the development of Frida, The Musical, a new stage work based on the life story of the groundbreaking 20th Century artist. Deadline
And finally
The V&A has launched its new website…which looks an awful lot like the old one.
Fancy a new challenge? The (excellent) Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate is looking for a new Chair [h/t to the Vaizey View newsletter].
People are fuming at Russell Crowe for taking a photo of the Sistine Chapel during a private tour. Celebs get special treatment shocker.
All the content in this newsletter is provided to you for free. Why not buy me a digital coffee if you enjoyed it?