Official statistics show that Beijing has 140 museums, an average of 1 per 100.000 residents. “At least 40 museums have opened to public in Beijing over the past decade, a fast growing period compared with the fact that 100 museums were established from 1949″ says Shu Xiaofeng, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Read full article (Chinadaily, August 17, 2007)

‘Until recently, museums and auction houses were (and were perceived to be) opposite sorts of institutions, their values so different as to preclude cross-fertilization. But in the past decade or so the wall between museums and auction houses has become porous. The auction houses have been reaching out to the rarefied world of museums. And far from being loath to put a price tag on their treasures, museums nowadays can hardly wait to do so’, writes Eric Gibson in The Wall Street Journal (August 17, 2007)

A new Web game developed by a museum group encourages children to single out an exotic artifact — a stone sculpture of a Chinese sea monster, a decorated shield from the Solomon Islands, an African mask or a Hopi kachina doll — and then search for its geographic origin, gaining information about the object along the way.

In this free animated game, called Room of Wonders and meant for ages 6 to 12, intrepid young explorers go by car, boat, plane, balloon or camel as they seek out the antique while the game responds, orally and visually, by releasing amusing bits of information. (If you fail to find the object, you are returned to the start.)

Room of Wonders was developed under the auspices of the French Regional and American Museum Exchange, known as Frame, a coalition of 23 museums that exchange works of art, personnel, technology and resources. The game, stocked with objects from these museums, is at framemuseums.org.

Read full article (New York Times, August 17, 2007)

Click here to launch the game

Cell phones and PDA’s are slowly replacing the once-revolutionary audio handsets in museums. One good example is the Baltimore Museum of Art which offers visitors the opportunity to explore the museum’s Sculpture Gardens while listening to the a Podcast. In addition, for those without a mp3-player, there is also the possibility to hear the BMA’s curators, conservators and artists talk about the artworks on display by dialing a access number on their cell phones. Among the contributors to this cell phone tour are the director of the museum, sculptor Mark di Suvero, and a BMA trustee who grew up with the sculpture collection prior to its donation to the museum.Cell phones are not only cheaper to use, easier to maintain, more hygienic and far more versatile than other hand-held devices, but they also enable museums to interact with visitors. Another museum in Baltimore, The Walters, offers a phone tour that will allow visitors to “talk back” to the curators and experts who put the show together, and their comments could be added to the tour over time. Considering the fact that over 90 percent of all visitors already uses a cell phone, this could revolutionize the way in which museums inform their audiences and involve them in interpreting the collection.

Read article (The Baltimore Sun, August 15, 2007)
Go to website The Walkers Art Museum
Go to website Baltimore Museum of Art
Go to cell phone tour brochure

The plan to add a huge new modernist portico to Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, the most controversial building project of recent times in Italy, is to go ahead.

After nine years of bitter argument and despite the rage of Florentines including the opera and film director Franco Zeffirelli, the dramatic and imposing new portico at the side of Italy’s most famous art museum was given approval this week by the city’s super-intendent of architectonic goods, Paola Grifoni.

Its designer is Arata Isozaki, the celebrated avant garde architect from Kyushu in Japan whose other works in Italy include the ice hockey stadium for Turin’s 2006 Winter Olympics. In 1998 he won the competition to design the museum’s new exit against top foreign practices, including Britain’s Norman Foster and Hans Hollein of Austria.

His solution was simple, bold and arresting: a huge cantilevered canopy fanning out from the gallery, supported by slim rectangular pilasters. There was no attempt to integrate the new work with the Renaissance original: the contrast between old and modern was deliberately stark.

Read full article (The Independent, August 10, 2007)

The organisation that is responsible for reaching thousands of young adults in Amsterdam each year has launched a new initiative: a blog for the museums in Amsterdam. While most museums lack budget and experience to install a blog on their own Web site, the n8 tries to spur the development by inviting museums to write on their site.

Blogs are more commonly used by museums worldwide (e.g. Walker Art Center, Brooklyn Museum) to give more and different information on current affairs, exhibitions and the organisation. For a good overview of museum blogs go to http://www.museumblogs.org/.

n8.nl/blog

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The Baghdad Museum, or the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, has been looted, and stripped of its priceless collection of cultural artifacts that date back to the dawn of civilization. More than four years after these tragic events the museum, which has been sealed with concrete, is forced to reopen to staff. There are concerns that without human intervention, underground water and rats will damage the museum even further. In the meantime, the British Museum is in discussions with Iraqi officials about financial assistance to aid the Baghdad museum and Iraq’s archaeological service.

Read full article (The Art Newspaper, August 2, 2007)
Watch an in-depth video report of the looting (The News Hour/PBS, March 7, 2003)
Go to website The Baghdad Museum Project

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To replicate the success of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) hired the California design group Gensler, as well as the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and lined up the Louvre in Paris. Then they approached Thomas Krens, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Krens was not impressed with the Gensler master plan, but he ultimately decided to help Abu Dhabi expand its ambitions. Krens spoke with Newsweek about the plans for a cultural district, which will include a modern and contemporary art museum, a classic art museum, a national museum, a maritime museum, a performing arts center and a biennale pavilion.

Read full article (Newsweek International, August 6, 2007)

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The 3.2-million-year-old human-like fossil “Lucy” (Photo: BBC)

After 3.2 million years in East Africa, one of the world’s most famous sets of fossils was quietly flown out of Ethiopia overnight for a tour of the United States that some experts say is a dangerous gamble with an irreplaceable relic.

Although the fossil known as Lucy was expected to leave the Ethiopian Natural History Museum this month, some in the nation’s capital were surprised the departure took place under cover of darkness with no fanfare Sunday.

“This is a national treasure,” Kine Arega, a 29-year-old attorney in Addis Ababa, told The Associated Press. “How come the public has no inkling about this? It’s amazing that we didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Read full article (International Herald Tribune, August 6, 2007)
Read BBC article (August 6, 2007)

The J Paul Getty Museum announced yesterday it had reached an agreement with Italy over the return of 40 disputed antiquities, including a prized statue of the goddess Aphrodite.Italian officials have long maintained that artefacts held by the Los Angeles museum were among a haul of antiquities looted from the country.

In a joint statement, the Italian Culture Ministry and the Getty announced the pieces would be returned, marking an end to a bitter dispute between the two and the latest victory in Italy’s global efforts to recover allegedly looted treasures sold to museums worldwide.

The museum will return fewer artefacts than the 46 Italy initially demanded and the fate of a handful, including the hotly disputed Getty Bronze, which held up negotiations, remains in doubt.

Read full article (Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2007)
Read press release “Italian Ministry of Culture and J. Paul Getty Museum Trust Reach Agreement”