Look at this absolute unit
First meme acquired by Science Museum Group
This edition also features: British Museum pavilion plans | Paisley Museum bailout | World's largest museum coming to India
Happy Friday
This is the final — and 61st — edition I’ve sent you in 2024.
In total, these emails have had over 259,000 views this year alone. It blows my mind.
And some rough maths suggests I’ve brought you around 1,000 news stories from the world of museums, galleries, heritage and art this year — all for free.
What were the biggest news stories of the year? Well, exactly one year ago the British Museum stunned everyone by signing a new £50m sponsorship deal with BP. But the museum can claim to have had one of its most positive years in a long time, with a new Director in the form of Nicholas Cullinan, and its £1bn Masterplan finally making progress after years of floundering. More on that below in fact.
2024 also saw climate protestors jailed for throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers — before it was attacked again hours later. Others targeted Stonehenge. The Natural History Museum opened their brand new gardens, followed by announcing it would embark on a £550m revamp. The £27m new Perth Museum opened its doors with the Stone of Destiny at its centre, while more of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery welcomed visitors again. The first woman to lead the National Portrait Gallery was revealed, while the V&A decided they needed to hire more men.
And of course, the most enduring story — which depressingly only accelerated as 2024 progressed — was the financial struggles of Britain’s museums and galleries. Each week another local authority wanted to cut opening hours or close venues to save money. Even some of the biggest players suffered. V&A Dundee slashed costs in January, Wales’ national museums saw their largest ever budget cut, and just last week I reported on how Tate finances are not in a good state with “uncertainty over [it’s] ability to operate in its current form.” I expect I’ll be reporting on the financial crisis even more in 2025.
Internationally, one of my favourite stories of the year was the tantrum billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart had when discovering an unflattering portrait of her was being displayed in the National Gallery of Australia. She demanded it be removed. She was ignored.
Elsewhere overseas we saw the remarkable unveiling of the rebuilt Notre Dame, the ongoing saga over Australia’s Mona Museum and its installation that bans men, and more and more cultural money and influence flowed out of Saudi Arabia (In February the Science Museum signed up to help build a new museum ‘hub’ in Riyadh).
What a year! Thank you to everyone who has read, supported, shared or even donated to my newsletter this year. I continue to be humbled that people enjoy it so much.
So have a happy holidays, a merry Christmas, and I will see you again here in your inbox in early January.
Now onto the news for one final time!
— maxwell
ps. It’s Christmas! Donating £8 to this newsletter buys me a festive pint (yes, I do live in London now you ask).
Need To Know
Look at this absolute unit
The UK’s national science collection has acquired its first ever meme. The National Science and Media Museum — part of the Science Museum Group — will display it when it reopens after a revamp from January.
The ‘absolute unit’ meme was Tweeted by the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in 2018 and became an early viral hit for a cultural institution. Its success made global headlines.
Its acquisition makes it the first object to originate in a fully digital form for the Media Museum. What the museum now owns is a web recording of the meme, jpeg files and its data.
Dr Arran Reese helped acquire the work. He told me “memes are essential for any museum that wants to document social and communicative practices.” He added his work involved “cracking how to acquire a meme in a way that illustrates their aliveness and how they sit within other digital platforms.”
Adam Koszary, who originally posted the meme for MERL, commented that it “showed that museums reach a much wider audience if we communicate in a way that the internet understands.” (Read more)
Masterplan moves forward at British Museum
The British Museum’s entrance courtyard will be transformed through “soft landscaping and plants” according to the design team appointed to replace the much-hated security tents.
Studio Weave will now work with the museum to finalise designs for the new ‘entrance pavilions’ which are due to be in place by spring 2026. The one image released of their proposals shows a tree-and-planter-filled space. The surly security bag checks must be just out of frame. (Read more)
Meanwhile the five shortlisted teams to massively overhaul a third of the museum’s galleries have put some of their ‘work in progress’ ideas on display in the Round Reading room. The most catching concepts include 6a architects wanting to create a biodiversity-led ‘ecosystem of artefacts’ through greening and the reopening of courtyards dating back from 1838. David Chipperfield wants to create two new public halls, where “contested histories are all embraced.” OMA’s graphics show an escalator in the museum, and promise “vertical storage” to allow more of the collection to be seen. (Read more)
News from the UK
Runaway costs 🏴 | More crisis for the transformation of Paisley Museum as the local council has been forced to bailout the project by giving it an additional £12.5m. Its budget has now ballooned to £65m due to “unforeseen defects” in the museum building. A veteran local politician has slammed the project’s bosses. “Nobody seems to be in charge [of the budget]” Councillor Eddie Devin said. “If we can’t afford it, we can’t afford it, but it doesn’t seem to have a limit.” (Read more)
An ACE review 🗂 | A wholesale independent review of Arts Council England will launch in the new year led by former Labour culture minister Baroness Margaret Hodge. The review will look at all aspects of the public body that distributes taxpayer cash to arts organisations, including “mechanisms to strengthen the role of local voices in decision making.” The review’s findings and the government’s response will be published in early 2026. (Read more)
Bourgeois’s BACK 🕷 | Louise Bourgeois’ iconic spider sculpture is coming back to Tate Modern to mark its 25th birthday in May. The monumental work was the first installed in the Turbine Hall. It’s coming back to launch a trail of 25 newly installed iconic artworks. Director of Programme Catherine Wood, said the trail would “lead visitors around the whole building on a journey from old favourites to new discoveries. The selection showcases how art – and Tate Modern itself – has always pushed the boundaries and challenged norms.” (Read more)
Derry development ⚓️ | A new multimillion-pound museum in Derry/Londonderry that will explore the city’s maritime heritage has been given the final go-ahead by the Northern Ireland Assembly. Stormont’s Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd approved a planning application, meaning the £13m project will proceed. Construction will begin in the coming weeks with an autumn 2026 opening date planned. The museum will feature stories including a famous surrender of German U-boats near the city in 1945. (Read more)
— Christmas gifts are very much welcome in the form of donations. Donate here — every pound will bring me festive cheer!
News from around the world
USA 🇺🇸 | ABC News will pay $15 million towards Donald Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum after settling a defamation lawsuit brought by the President-Elect. Trump had accused anchor George Stephanopoulos of acting "with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth" during on-air comments. ABC News’ move has surprised media commentators, due to the high threshold required to prove defamation. The Trump museum has yet to be established. (Read more)
India 🇮🇳 | France has agreed to help build a new museum — “the world's largest” according to officials — in New Delhi. Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum will tell the story of India, a timeline spanning more than 5,000 years. It will be created across two of the main blocks of India’s government buildings at Raisina Hill, which are undergoing a massive redevelopment. It’s reported the museum will consist of 950 rooms over four storeys. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | After closing due to hurricane-related damage earlier this year, the landmark Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, reopened to the public. The hurricane damage resulted in its indefinite closure, but conservators and engineers have repaired the walls and ceiling to allow visitors again in time for the holiday season. But four of the 14 monumental Mark Rothko paintings that are displayed inside are still off-site as their damage is assessed. (Read more)
Australia 🇦🇺 | Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) will charge an entry fee in 2025 for the first time in 25 years. Stagnant government funding has been blamed for the new $20 fee. The MCA — which last year reported a $2.6m operating loss — said “We have already implemented a range of measures to cut costs – including closing one day per week – but our current financial position means we cannot afford to keep admission free.” (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | A stone tablet described by Sotheby’s as the oldest in the world inscribed with the Ten Commandments has sold for $5 million, despite questions around its authenticity. Sotheby’s said the tablet was about 1,500 years old. Supposedly discovered in 1913 in Israel, one expert said “Several elements of the story… seem to stretch belief.” The anonymous buyer plans to donate it to an Israeli institution. (Read more)
— There’s still time to donate to me and this newsletter before you get to the end of the final edition of 2024! Donate here to bring some cheer!
Best of the rest
Royal appointment | My National Gallery — the film marking the gallery’s 200th birthday — will get its UK TV premiere this Christmas. Featuring contributions from HRH Princess Eugenie, it airs on ITV1 on 30 December. (More)
TikTok GOAT | Leeds’ Royal Armouries has been the breakout museum TikTok star this year. Now they’ve revealed visitor numbers have surged by 60% thanks to their ‘Gen Z script’ trend success. (More + Watch TV report below)
Grave worries | An £18m plan to redevelop and protect Highgate Cemetery has been unveiled, in part because tombs — including that of Karl Marx — are at risk from falling trees. (More)
Jones’ jibe | Comedian — and President of the Victorian Society — Griff Rhys Jones has slammed Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner as he battles to save London’s Liverpool Street Station. “It’s depressing they’re so ill-informed [about heritage]” he said. (More)
Dudley DIY | The Black Country Living Museum has teamed up with, er, IKEA! The museum’s ‘Gentlemen’s Outfitters’ — which was once a working shop — has been recreated in IKEA’s Birmingham store. (More)
Good leadership | Leading a cultural organisation is challenging in 2024. But the latest Arts & Culture podcast episode could ease your pain in 2025. Hear insight and advice from the heads of two top-class UK museums. (Listen here or on your podcast platform)*
*This is sponsored
👀 Last week’s most clicked news story | Tate’s finances are on the skids — with an urgent new business model demanded by Trustees
📊 Last week’s poll results | How many exhibitions did you visit in 2024?
— 1 to 4 9%
— 5 to 9 20%
— 10 to 19 33%
— 20 to 29 13%
— 30+ 26%
— Enjoyed my newsletter in 2024? Help me grow it even more in 2025! Donating £30 pays for one of my (many) news subscriptions which lets me bring you 1,000 news stories each year.