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The Artforum reports that Chris Dercon will remain director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst for another five years: “Why does the international networker want to stay in Munich? Dercon explains that he wants to secure the architectural future of the massive Haus der Kunst, foreseeing possible alterations on top of some much-needed renovations. “Of course, we don’t need more space,” said Dercon. “But a polyvalent use of the east wing is conceivable. We have contracted studies of the entire building from architects who value the museum, in particular Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron. The goal is not architectural designs but a public debate about the future of the Haus.”

According to Wikipedia the building that currently houses the Haus der Kunst was constructed from 1934 to 1937 as the Third Reich’s first monumental propaganda building. The museum, then called “Haus der deutschen Kunst” (House of German Art), was opened in March 1937, showing the Entartete Kunst exhibition, and was subsequently used as a showcase for what the Third Reich regarded as Germany’s finest art. After the end of World War II, the museum building was first used by the American occupation forces as an officer’s mess; in that time, the building came to be known as the “P1″, a shortening of its street address. The building’s original purpose can still be seen in such guises as the swastika-motif mosaics in the ceiling panels of its front portico.

Of course Dercon could consult Rem Koolhaas, who has had his share of dealing with controversial buildings (from the Hermitage to the new CCTV headquarters). But before they start exorcising the building he first should read Structures of Memory, a recent study by Jennifer A. Jordan. The book describes how some places are forgotten by all but eyewitnesses, whereas others become the sites of public ceremonies, museums, or commemorative monuments. Remembering leaves its marks on the skin of the city (or buildings), and the goal of the book is to analyze and understand precisely how. Perhaps it will help to strike a balance between remembering and forgetting.

Go to website Artforum
Go to website Haus der Kunst (in German only)
Read more about Structures of Memory

Egypt said Sunday it would ask museums abroad to temporarily send back some its most precious artifacts including the Rosetta Stone and bust of Nefertiti to be put on display here.

The country’s chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the Foreign Ministry would send letters this week to France, Germany, the United States and Great Britain requesting that the ancient artifacts be loaned temporarily to Egypt.

Hawass has previously demanded that many of the artifacts be returned permanently to Egypt, claiming some of them were taken illegally.

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, April 30, 2007)

Uit nrc de week van maandag 23 april:

“Niets laat volgens hem (Jan Benthem, architect van Schiphol, JvtZ) zo goed de verplatting van Schiphol zien als de dependance van het Rijksmuseum. Iedereen vond het een prachtig idee, zegt hij. Echte oude meesters, dat paste nog eens goed in het concept van de AirportCity! Maar niemand die er een meter vloer voor wilde opofferen. Dus werd er voor de oude meesters een grote gouden doos gemaakt, en die werd hoog opgehangen, te bereiken met een trap. Daaronder kwam een museumwinkel.

Naast de museumwinkel, half voor de trap, zijn nu kramen gekomen met horloges, batterijen en wegwerpcamera’s. Bloody shame, zegt Jan Benthem. Passagiers - hij spreekt van passagiers - worden op Schiphol gereduceerd tot wandelende portemonnees. Hij vindt het beledigend.”

Het Stadsmuseum Tilburg heeft (nog) geen fysiek onderkomen, maar wil op vernieuwende wijze herinneringsplekken in de stad weer de oorspronkelijke betekenis geven en daar een actuele ontwikkeling aan verbinden. Het eerste project is het Tekenlokaal van Vincent van Gogh. Tentoonstellingen en (educatieve) activiteiten vinden steeds plaats op wisselende locaties en in samenwerking met culturele partners.

Go to website Stadsmuseum Tilburg

Ever seen the Mona Lisa? I mean really seen it; been close enough to experience it as the multifaceted work of art it is instead of the familiar, hackneyed pop-culture icon we know it as most of the time.

Probably not. You may have visited the Louvre in Paris, but most likely all you saw of Leonardo’s famous painting were a few dissociated details (an eye, part of the smile, a fragment of the landscape background) through a screen of bobbing heads and jostling bodies.

Welcome to the modern museum experience. There is art in abundance, but a meaningful encounter with it is hard to come by.

Read article (Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2007)

Amsterdam, Arnhem en Den Haag mogen dingen naar het Nationaal Historisch Museum. In juni beslist minister Plasterk (Cultuur) waar het komt. Het museum moet een compleet en samenhangend beeld bieden van de Nederlandse geschiedenis, met name voor het basis- en voortgezet onderwijs.

De ‘schoonheidswedstrijd’ is een tegenvaller voor Den Haag. Vorig jaar gaf Plasterks voorganger aan dat „het museum bij voorkeur in Den Haag wordt gebouwd”. Burgemeester Deetman van Den Haag houdt „vertrouwen”. De Amsterdamse wethouder Gehrels (Cultuur) is verheugd.

Lees het volledige artikel (NRC Handelsblad, 26 april, 2007)

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Olafur Eliasson, the artist who created the giant sun in Tate Modern four years ago, is working with architect Kjetil Thorsen to build the Serpentine Gallery pavilion, in the shape of a spinning top. The annual tradition of a temporary pavilion beside the gallery in London’s Kensington Gardens began in 2000 and this is the biggest yet. Past architects include Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, and Toyo Ito. Last year the gallery began inviting both architects and artists to collaborate; Rem Koolhaas designed the pavilion and Thomas Demand created a decorative screen inside it. A real building rather than a folly, the Serpentine pavilion is used for talks, events, and parties every week during summer months by hundreds of people at a time. It opens in June.

Go to website Serpetine Gallery
Read article (Architectural Record, March 23, 2007)

It might seem natural to dream of a special architecture exhibit accompanying the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago. But there is no point discussing all this in the vacuum of a museum. Better to build on the idea of the city as a living museum, with audio- and docent-guided tours, interpretive signs at key buildings, and a combination of books, videos, podcasts and other technologies to broadcast the lessons of the 2016 Games.

Read full article (Chicago Tribune, April 22, 2007)

The Colombian Doris Salcedo, the next artist to tackle Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, takes familiar objects and makes them seem strangely unsettling.

At some time during last July, visitors to Tate Modern may have noticed a Latin American woman in her late forties hanging around in the Turbine Hall. Every day for more than a week she would arrive in the morning and settle in for the day, loitering with intent, watching other visitors and their reactions to their surroundings, examining the contours of the building, assessing the feel and architectural language of that vast, iconic space.

Read full article (Times, April 25, 2007)

The beautiful women of the ancient world have always had a dangerous streak. The face of Helen of Troy launched a thousand warships, and now the exquisite Queen Nefertiti is at the heart of an imminent museum war between Germany and Egypt.

The 3,400-year-old bust of the wife of the Sun King Akhenaten has been in German hands since it was dug out of the desert by the archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt in 1912. It was smuggled out of Egypt and became a central part of Berlin’s museum collection.

Read full article (Times, April 25, 2007)