Museum fires four for Pokémon misconduct
Van Gogh Museum dismisses workers amid last year's Pokémon mobbing
— In partnership with Hdk
In this edition: British Museum | V&A | Lucy Frazer | Sir Keir Starmer | Perth Museum | Museum of Making | National Trust | Bank of England Museum | American Museum of Natural History | National Gallery of Ireland | Guggenheim Bilbao
Happy Friday!
So the results are in: most of you don’t want phones banned in museums and galleries. But most of you do want their use to be more discouraged. 45% of those of you who voted in my poll would like to see them used less — although 24% would like to see their use fully prohibited. Thanks to everyone who voted. The question now is, how could phone use be discouraged?
Thankfully, January is coming to end. No one likes cold, wet, depressing January — it makes people resort to things like watching the Gladiators reboot just to have something to do. Normally part of January’s bleakness is that nothing much happens. This is especially true in the museum and art world which really doesn’t do much at all until February (maybe it takes the sector a little longer to get over their Christmas hangover?) and so new(s) things are few and far between.
Well, not this year. The news coming out of the sector this week alone has been non-stop. My list of potential stories to include in this edition is longer than it has ever been. Landmark loans, museum reopenings, gallery closings, political interventions from both sides of the House (can you tell we’re in election year?), new appointments, staff firings, record breaking visitors…simply too much to include because this newsletter is deliberately a digest: a curated selection of the stories I think you most need to know!
I didn’t have space to include the David Hockney painting not seen for 40 years, the Klimt painting not seen for 100 years, the 4,000 artworks destroyed by fire in Georgia’s separatist region, George Harrison’s childhood bedroom door going on display, the 1,800-year-old Roman armour painstakingly pieced back together by conservators, or the fact that Sharon Osborne’s “emotional” return to Birmingham revealed the museum dedicated to her husband Ozzy would open “within 18 months.” I just couldn’t fit them all in. Oh look, I just did.
So by my count, there’s 26 news stories in this newsletter. And it’ll still only take you five minutes to read. That’s got to be worth a donation right? Otherwise pray for me when the sector really kicks into gear when February rolls around…
Let’s get into it!
— maxwell
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Need To Know
Landmark Ghana loan
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson has said Britain “would expect” the 32 gold treasures from UK museum collections that are being sent to Ghana “to be returned at the end of [their] loan period.”
The comments came in response to the landmark announcement that the British Museum and the V&A would be lending items of gold and silver regalia associated with the Asante royal court to the Palace Museum in Kumasi, Ghana, later this year. The long-term loan will see the items displayed in the country for the first time in 150 years — and since they were looted by British troops.
The British government said the Ghana deal did not set a precedent for other disputed items in UK collections. “This isn’t a new approach,” the PM’s spokesman, said. “There have been a number of loans [in the past].”
Speaking to BBC News — who first revealed the story — V&A Director Tristram Hunt insisted this "is not restitution by the back door" but that with "objects with origins in war and looting…we have a responsibility to the countries of origin to think about how we can share those more fairly today.” (Read more)
“Squeamish” donors must change
UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said that “donations and sponsorships are key to widening access to great artworks and cultural treasures” in museums and galleries as she called for Britain’s “squeamish” attitude to philanthropy to end.
Frazer was speaking at the launch of a report into major giving by the think tank Onward — called Giving Back Better — which claims that charities are losing out on £3.4bn a year due to the “wealthiest in society not pulling their charitable weight.”
The Secretary of State said that donors were also being put off by “harsh media attacks” and cited the Science Museum dropping the oil company Shell as a sponsor and the British Museum receiving criticism for receiving funds from BP. “For its recent commitment of £50m to the British Museum…I think we should say to BP, thank you,” Frazer said.
The Onward report says that half of all donations from the highest-earning households came from less than 5% of that cohort, and that the top 10% of households donate half as much a share of their incomes as the poorest 10%. It recommends that the government should develop a national philanthropy strategy and automate Gift Aid to help address the issue. (Read more)
Museum worker’s Pokémon misconduct
Four staff members have been fired from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum due to misconduct around last year’s hugely popular Pokémon collaboration.
You’ll remember that the launch of the Pokémon exhibition and — more significantly— the accompanying merch caused mayhem, with actual mobs descending on the museum’s shop to strip the shelves bare. Many were thought to be scalpers — intending to sell the items on for massive mark ups. Many were after a new limited edition trading card — Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat — which had to be discontinued because it caused a riot.
Now the museum has dismissed four members of staff. One employee is accused of stealing a box the limited-edition trading cards, another — who had worked at the museum for 25 years — is accused of leaking to visitors when they could nab the best cards. (Read more)
Such is the ongoing fervour around this collaboration, the Van Gogh Museum had to deny rumours this week which began circulating that they would re-release the limited-edition trading card next month.
Meanwhile a — surprisingly loose-lipped — number of staff told the Guardian what the experience was like in the early days of the collaboration. “Pure chaos” said one. “Quite awful” said another. (Read more)
News from the UK
Finally flying in | Finally, the new £27m Perth Museum has revealed its opening date: 30 March 2024. Also revealed is that the first major temporary exhibition will be on Scotland’s national animal: the unicorn. It’ll be the first UK show ever on the mythical creature. Objects on show will include manuscripts, illustrations, paintings, coins, sculpture, tapestry and shop signs. (Read more)
🟦 MORE: A contestant on ITV gameshow The Chase thought the new Perth Museum was called Perthy McPerthface
Starmer supports Trust | Conservative Party attacks on the National Trust are desperate and damaging, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Leader of the Opposition accused the governing party of demeaning the valuable work of the Trust by taking a “divisive” approach led by the “politics of self-preservation”. He pledged a Labour government would "reset" the relationship between government and civil society. (Read more)
Miracle museum reopening | Hundreds of people packed into Derby’s Museum of Making to mark its reopening after months of closure due to flooding. Museum Director Tony Butler said it was “such a relief to welcome back our visitors”. Derby City Council’s deputy leader hailed the speed of the reopening since October’s flood as a “miracle”. The public are able to visit again from today. (Read more)
Golden treasure year | 2022 saw more treasure unearthed in England and Wales than in any other year. 1,378 legally-defined Treasure hauls were reported to the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme in the year, while a further 53,490 archaeological finds were recorded too. As usual, most were found by metal detectorists. Lincolnshire knocked Norfolk off the top of the list of most finds per county. Highlight items found include a 3,000-year-old gold dress fastener. (Read more)
Show me…the King | New King Charles III banknotes will be seen for the first time next month as part of a new display at the Bank of England Museum. It’ll be the first opportunity to see the polymer banknotes before they officially enter circulation later this year. They’re part of an exhibit examining the future the money that also looks at Bitcoin and Fintech. (Read more)
News from around the world
USA 🇺🇸 | The American Museum of Natural History is shutting two major galleries exhibiting Native American objects in a dramatic response to new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying cultural items. Many other US museums are covering displays as they grapple with the new rules. The changes came into effect to hasten the repatriation of Native American remains and objects, with museums given five years to do so. (Read more)
Iran 🇮🇷 | Government officials are objecting to the planned loan of the famous antiquity the Cyrus Cylinder to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The head of Iran’s museum service says it would be “inappropriate” due to “potential risks.” Minutes of the British Museum trustee meetings confirm the loan to Israel was approved in 2022, but in a comment to the Art Newspaper they state that “any future venues” are yet to be announced. (Read more)
Spain 🇪🇸 | A remarkably ambitious — or totally ridiculous depending on your POV — plan to link the Guggenheim Bilbao to a new outpost on the Basque coast via a 40km tunnel have have been put on ice. The regional government have announced a two year pause on the project to reassess the viability, partly citing the uncertainty around changes to the Guggenheim’s board in the USA. I wouldn’t bet your house on this project ever being spoken about again. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | A performance artist has sued the Museum of Modern Art, saying that officials neglected to take corrective action after several visitors groped him during a nude performance within the exhibition Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present in 2010. In the lawsuit he says was sexually assaulted seven times by five museum visitors while performing Imponderabilia, a work re-performed at Abramovic’s RA retrospective last year. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Summer is coming | Korean architect Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies will design the 2024 Serpentine Pavilion. Supported by Goldman Sachs for the 10th consecutive year, this summer’s commission is titled Archipelagic Void. (More)
Tate’s Chief appointment | Congratulations to Dr Melissa Buron the newly appointed Director of Collections and Chief Curator at the V&A. She joins from Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and will look after the museum’s 2.8m objects. (More)
Bounce back in Dublin | And congratulations to Director Caroline Campbell and the National Gallery of Ireland who saw 1 million visitors in 2023 — their highest annual attendance since 2017. (More)
Literary Lubaina | Turner Prize winning artist Lubaina Himid will release her memoir in 2026. Do You Want an Easy Life? has been “conceived as an artwork in itself” according to publisher Hamish Hamilton. (More)
Hidden gem reopens | London's beloved Grant Museum of Zoology will reopen its doors next month after nearly a year of closure for a significant £300,000 refurbishment. It’ll welcome visitors to its atmospheric galleries again on 6 Feb. (More)
Learn from the best | Anna Rafferty is VP of the LEGO group. She leads global teams on direct-to-consumer digital products. Digital cultural professionals can learn from her — and dozens of other experts — at a new conference this April. (Book your place)*
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