the latest news on museums and the coronavirus
newsletter 17: May 2020
so here we are still. most museums in Europe, the UK and North America remain firmly closed. for me in London, that's 7 straight weeks with no trips to see any art: my longest museum dry spell in probably a decade. 😳
the chatter about reopening is building however, and in some European cities (not to mention in Asia) this is already happening. but for the time being, without new shows to see or places to visit, my newsletter remains COVID-heavy.
BUT a museum's work goes on, as evidenced by this week's interview. i had the pleasure of speaking to Sonia Solicari, the Director of the Museum of the Home in East London about their exciting (and important) project to document how we are using our homes in this time of crisis. she also had some very interesting thoughts on her museum's activities in a post-corona world. so make sure you read on!
catch up: news
first: some grim news. New York's Museum of Modern Art "has taken a ‘chainsaw’ to its staff, budget, and exhibitions." expect more of this for museums across the world over the next days, months and even years... Bloomberg
but some green shoots. the 'new normal' begins as German museums tentatively start to reopen. keep your distance mind. The Guardian
hold still. the Duchess of Cambridge has teamed up with London's National Portrait Gallery for a photography project to capture the nation during the coronavirus pandemic. Mail Online
booo! you'll have to wait even longer for the major Marina Abramović exhibition at the Royal Academy. Evening Standard
Damien Hirst has teamed up with Snapchat to let you create one of his famous spin paintings. it's all for a good cause... the i paper
...meanwhile Banksy pays tribute to superhero nurses with a new artwork unveiled at a Southampton hospital. Metro.co.uk
yeah. apparently drone art is a thing now. just ask Rotterdam. dezeen
thought the Met Gala was cancelled because of Covid? think again. it happened all over Twitter thanks to a 19 year-old University of Michigan student. the Daily Beast
and now for something completely different. the British Museum has helped identify a massive hoard of fake Middle Eastern antiquities as part of its ongoing work with the UK Boarder Force. The Telegraph
the Museum of the Home in East London. it will reopen after a major redevelopment in September
listen up: this week's interview
Sonia Solicari joined what was then called the Geffrye Museum as Director in 2017. She took the reigns to steer the Museum through its major £18 million redevelopment which has seen it closed for the past 2 years. After rebranding as the Museum of the Home last year, plans to reopen have had to be pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak. But this month the Museum announced a new collecting project - Stay Home - to capture "an honest picture of what home life looks like" during lockdown.
why have you launched the Stay Home project?
During these extraordinary times, our homes have never been more important. We want to capture the nation’s thoughts and feelings about their homes during lockdown.
what do you hope you'll receive?
We hope that participants will be open about the highs and lows of their current experiences and crucially – not tidy up for the photographs!
what's the response been so far? how many people have submitted?
To date we’ve received around 150 personal stories. Everyone’s responded in their own way, which is the intention of the project - some people write a lot, others are quite brief – some people focus on the physical spaces, others on the psychological and emotional impact of lockdown.
how will you use the submissions in the future?
Submissions are already being featured on our website. In future we hope to be able to create an exhibition of the work and make the submissions permanently available to the public and researchers along with the rest of the Museum’s collections.
will we think about our homes differently after this crisis?
Yes, I think we will. Many people are now working from home who never thought it possible. Our homes have also become multi-functional spaces - nearly all aspects of our life can happen under one roof. This opens up opportunity for how we might structure our lives going forward and how we might look to resolve issues like urban overcrowding, or work/life balance.
how has the pandemic affected your plans to reopen this year? does the lockdown make you reconsider what'll you be displaying?
We are remaining agile around our reopening date, there are still so many unknowns and possible scenarios.
We’re rethinking the role of temporary exhibitions in our public programme. These are often expensive and involve long lead-in times and huge amounts of planning, sometimes with international partners. A more dynamic approach might be needed post Covid-19 – quick-footed, relevant, cost effective and making full use of all our channels of communication - digital as well as physical. We’re ready for it! At the Museum of the Home we've long been thinking of the museum as a magazine, with a mixture of dip-in and dive-in content curated across both physical and digital spaces. The new site also lends itself to a festival programming format and this is something we'll be exploring going forward.
many museums are facing a very uncertain financial future. what's the outlook for the Museum of the Home?
We have significant challenges ahead. Creatively, we’re extremely resilient. Financially we’re compromised.
how have you been getting your cultural fix during lockdown?
I’ve been dusting off old exhibition catalogues I’ve collected over the years and begun actually reading them. It’s made me appreciate the world’s museums even more - you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
take part in the Stay Home project here. the Museum of the Home is due to reopen in September.
last up: and finally
is it time to reopen the UK's museums and galleries asks the Telegraph?
anyone fancy a subsidised holiday to Sicily after lockdown? The Guardian reports you'll be able to free hotel nights and more.
pining for your museum-fix? BBC Four last week broadcast empty 'quarantine' tours of Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the Ashmolean and the British Museum. UK readers can watch them all on BBC iPlayer.
thanks for reading. it takes time to put this together, so if you enjoy what you see, please consider sharing it with at least one museum-loving friend so even more people can see it. BIG THANKS