Notorious Nero blockbuster
British Museum exhibition opens next month. Plus: Uffizi unearths treasures
Happy Friday. It’s a very happy Friday as I’ve had a haircut and the sun is out. And there are just 24 days to go until England’s museums are allowed to reopen, which after 4 months feels like NOTHING. So life is good.
To my readers in Scotland: have a very happy museum reopening day on Monday. You’ll be seeing a PR campaign in the coming days to get you back through the doors (but I doubt you need much encouragement).
Most of you know that my day job is doing press and media for the British Museum. It’s been a brilliant week for us as we announced that the Museum would be reopening on 17 May, the earliest possible date we can (subject to government guidelines). You can already book your free tickets - and if you loved Netflix’s The Dig during lockdown, why not come and see the real treasures of Sutton Hoo up close. I know I can’t wait to do just that again.
There’s some more on the British Museum’s announcement in the news round up below, so let’s get stuck in!
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He’s no mean fiddler, and now the notorious Nero get’s his own blockbuster show at the British Museum. Nero: the man behind the myth is the first UK exhibition dedicated to the Roman Emperor - who’s said to have murdered his mother and two wives, persecuted Christians and set fire to Rome (!) - and will open next month. The Guardian
London’s Evening Standard this week used their Leader column to call for the capital's museums and galleries to be allowed to reopen. They say it "would be one government U-turn everyone would welcome." Evening Standard
The Church of England had announced they were to repatriate two ‘Benin Bronzes’ in their possession. But it’s been revealed the items were actually made in the 1980s. The Telegraph
Workers installing a new ticket office and cloakroom at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence have stumbled upon hidden 17th-century frescoes, a medieval-era well, three skeletons and they’ve excavated a 16th-century stable. What else is hiding under there?! The Times
Jane Austen House has hit back at media reports that accused it of “woke madness” for highlighting the novelist’s links to slavery. They’ve assured people they “have never had any intention to, interrogate Austen, her characters or her readers for drinking tea.” The culture wars hey? The Guardian
There’s a new Camille Walala-designed pop-up shop at London’s Design Museum, selling pimped up versions of everyday household essentials such as kidney beans and toilet roll. All the items have been given a fresh visual treatment by a different emerging designer. Time Out London
One step forward… New York’s museums and galleries will be allowed to increase their visitor capacity to 50% from Monday. It’s been capped at 25% since August 2020. Hyperallergic
Two steps back…Germany has shut some museums again due to the increasing third wave of coronavirus. The Art Newspaper
Here’s one for your summer 2022 holiday. Rome's "Area Sacra” - reckoned to be the site of Julius Caesar's murder - will become an open-air museum next year. This means walking amongst the ACTUAL RUINS rather than gazing on them from street level. France 24
Olafur Eliasson has flooded a Swiss museum and its surrounding park with green liquid. There’s a lot of art waffle about what the piece - titled Life - means, but it looks bloomin’ brilliant. designboom
Drab windows of shops in Weston-super-Mare have been transformed into an outside art gallery by a team of local artists. What a lovely initiative. Bristol Live
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