New Museum of London could cost £500m
New Museum of London could cost £500m
Source says budget has ballooned from original £150m price tag
Also in this edition: Vermeer exhibition breaking records — on the silverscreen; Sir Frank Bowling’s first digital artwork; New York’s American Museum of Natural History opens new wing
— First time here? Subscribe to get the next edition for free
Happy Friday.
Less than 24 hours to go until the coronation. Are you excited? Whatever your answer to this question, it’s likely that you definitely are excited for Monday’s extra Bank Holiday (Apols if you’re reading this from outside the UK — we’ll be thinking of you).
If you want some museum action for the extra day off, then surely it’s the perfect weekend to visit Royal Museums Greenwich? Especially as you’ll get to see the new exhibition at the Queen’s House looking at the celebrated Dutch artists the Van de Veldes, which has nothing to do with the coronation, but it is fantastic. And its free!
After writing this newsletter for nearly five years, this week I ended up writing my first ever guest post for another! I was thrilled to contribute to Georgina Brooke’s excellent Cultural Content newsletter, which celebrates digital content from the cultural sector. Naturally, my piece was all about the power of newsletters.
If you’re interested in why news brands are embracing newsletters and why I think PR professionals should tailor their work towards them, you can read it all via this link below. Do let me know what you think.
Oh and last week’s poll on which London Tate gallery you preferred was almost too close to call. But in the end, Tate Modern just edged it with a 54% majority.
Maxwell
Need To Know
More delays, more money
The cost of relocating the Museum of London is thought to have ballooned to £500 million, reports suggest.
The museum’s move to Smithfield market from the Barbican was originally conceived with a price tag of £150m. Bosses then revealed in 2020 the cost had risen again to £337m due to “construction inflation”. But a source close to the project has told the Building news website that the figure has gone up again, and is currently sitting at the eye-watering mark of half-a-billion pounds.
It’s also going to see further delays. The project is now being split into two phases, with final completion coming in 2028, two years later than previously stated. But the first phase — which will be half of the project — is still slated to open as scheduled in 2026.
The museum’s Director Sharon Ament has confirmed it is set to cost “a lot more” than originally planned but there’s no confirmation on the new figure. Ament has said financing the project had become “really tough” and that the museum is now undertaking further fundraising efforts, mainly from private investors and philanthropists. (Read more)
Jail for historic coin sale
Two metal detectorists have been jailed for more than five years for conspiring to illegally sell a cache of Anglo-Saxon coins which are of “immense historical significance” to the history of the British Isles. And they were worth £766,000.
Roger Pilling, 75, and Craig Best, 46, were caught in an undercover police sting trying to sell the coins to international buyers. They knew the coins were part of a Viking hoard — called the Herefordshire Hoard — which was discovered in 2015 and which was never declared to authorities. Legally it should have been so that ownership could transfer to the British Crown. (In 2019, its two finders were jailed). Therefore it was also illegal for Pilling and Best to own their 44 silver coins.
Gareth Williams, curator at the British Museum, said “the coins literally enable us to rewrite history” because of the story they tell of the relationship between Alfred, King of Wessex, and Ceolwulf II, King of Mercia, in the late ninth century. (Read more)
🔗 In depth: Anglo-Saxon coins: Illegally held hoard rewrites English history (BBC News)
Silverscreen blockbuster
The Rijksmuseum’s blockbuster Vermeer show is not just breaking records in the Netherlands, it’s doing the same here in the UK too. A cinematic ‘private view’ documentary of the exhibition has enjoyed the most screenings of any art film ever released in Britain.
More than 310 cinemas up and down the country have now either shown or plan to show the 90-minute Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition film. The initial screenings last month sold out, and cinemas are planning multiple showings this May. Produced by the company Exhibition on Screen, it was their highest ever grossing release after just two days in cinemas.
For many, it’ll be the only way to see the Vermeer exhibition. All 450,000 visitor tickets sold out in two days, and new memberships are prohibited until the show ends.
Next for Exhibition on Screen is Tokyo Stories, a film of the Ashmolean Museum’s show on Japanese art. There is also a major National Gallery project that is still under wraps. A 200th anniversary rehang film perhaps? (Read more)
News from the UK
In Lights | He’s been a master painter for over 60 years, but now 89-year-old British artist Sir Frank Bowling has created his first-ever digital artwork. Titled Arrival, it will appear across London’s iconic Piccadilly Circus Lights each evening at 8:23pm BST. It’s the latest in arts organisation CIRCA’s rolling series of digital commissions. Bowling’s work is inspired by his move from British Guiana (now Guyana) aged 19. (Read more)
Royal First | A female artist has been chosen to paint tomorrow’s coronation service for the very first time. Eileen Hogan has been appointed to create 10 small paintings of the sights inside Westminster Abbey during the service. The ceremony will be followed by the creation of individual state portraits of HM The King and HM The Queen Consort. (Read more)
Museum Parties | June is shaping up to be party month in museum-land as big celebrations are planned by both the Museum of London Docklands and the National Portrait Gallery. The former will celebrate its 20th birthday with a street party, and the latter will mark its major redevelopment with a star-studded First Look Festival where Sir Paul McCartney and Tracey Emin will take part. (Read more)
New Award | Luxury hotel Claridge’s have teamed up with the RA to create a new art prize for graduating students from the Royal Academy Schools. The inaugural award will be presented by Marina Abramović ahead of her major RA show this autumn, and the winning student will get £30,000 and a solo exhibition at the Claridge’s gallery, ArtSpace. (Read more)
News from around the world
USA | After nine years — and $465m (£370m) spent — a bold new wing of New York’s American Museum of Natural History opened yesterday. It’s officially called the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation. While millions over-budget and four year’s late, the scale of the project has impressed critics with its cave-like appearance. (Read more)
🔗 In depth: Wonder and Awe in Natural History’s New Wing. Butterflies, Too (New York Times)
Austria | Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum could soon be giving its two fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said talks were underway “about the possibility of a loan” but there are few further details. The Greek Foreign Minister said the development was “of huge importance.” (Read more)
Netherlands | An improved Vincent van Gogh museum has reopened in the town of Nuenen after receiving a huge revamp. Formerly the Vincentre, the newly renamed Van Gogh Village Museum is a much-expanded attraction, telling the story of the artist’s prolific output inspired by the region. (Read more) Meanwhile, Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum has received a record number of monthly visits since its own expansion in March. (Read more)
Italy | Artist Bridget Riley has unveiled her newest commission, a stunning ceiling painting for the British School at Rome. The vast new work in the building’s foyer, sees Riley using the bold colours of her Egyptian palette. “I would like to thank the British School at Rome for its invitation to paint the vaulting barrels of Edwin Lutyens’ beautiful ceiling” Riley said. (Read more)
South Korea | An art student has eaten artist Maurizio Cattelan’s famous $120,000 banana artwork — supposedly because he was hungry. Noh Huyn-soo took the artwork off the wall at Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art and ate it in front of other visitors. The museum later placed a new banana at the same spot. Cattelan said the action was "no problem at all." (Read more)
Best of the rest
Listed | A huge surviving section of a Roman wall that lay undiscovered under the City of London until 2006 has been given protected status as a national monument.
Heartwarming | Staff at Nantwich Museum are "overwhelmed and heartened" with the community support following their revelation fundraising cash was stolen from the premises.
Digital | It’s taken 14,000 volunteers and five years, but the Courtauld Institute of Art has completed the digitisation of its one-million-strong photography collection.
Swiftie | Taylor Swift has style. That’s why the Museum of Arts and Design in New York will open an exhibition on all her iconic looks.