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The problem is that the proposed new work is something else altogether to Venturi and Scott Brown’s playfulness and personality. It has curving glass balustrades, white walls and oak-clad pillars, and expanses of plain paving outside. It is an architecture of near-emptiness, the default style of international art-world good taste. — The Guardian
Moore ran through the litany of changes Annabelle Selldorf is making in replacement of the current iteration’s “bum notes,” which the critic pinned on a rift between the original expansion's benefactors and what was then called Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Related on Archinect... View full entry
Rather than fancy restaurants and gimmicky stores, lobbies could host outside organizations to convene and organize. The museum might act as a partner and participant, catalyst, and amplifier. Here, there are no bananas stuck to the wall, but ample meaningful information for an active audience. Guards would protect patrons over property. And during the next protest, lobbies could open up and transform into staging grounds, sanctuary spaces, and broadcasting stations for citizen journalists. — artnet
Architect Florian Idenburg offers alternative uses for boarded up museum fronts in New York City during the social uprising and protests and questions the corporate policies now running the museum's public interface on city's sidewalks. "Amid the stream of information about systemic racism... View full entry
Today, the art museum provides several functions. Wealthy collectors lend works they own for exhibitions, increasing the value of their holdings while allowing them to avoid taxes. Museums are also semi-public repositories for objects of cultural value and education initiatives. Nothing that costs $25 to enter can really be considered public. — SSENSE
Dana Kopel, archive editor at the New Museum in New York City, ruminates on the significance of museums in contemporary society as sites of labor and work, conditions that have been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kopel writes, "The museum is a place: a situated and permanent space... View full entry
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) will vote on a new definition of museums in September. The proposed change includes language about “social justice, global equality and planetary wellbeing.” Critics say the text is too political for most museums to employ. — Hyperallergic
After almost 50 years of consensus, the definition of the museum as "a nonprofit institution” that “acquires, conserves, researches, communicates, and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment," is being... View full entry
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has set multiple ambitious agendas for his desert kingdom. Turning it into a major cultural destination may end up being one of the highest-profile. For part of the plan, the Saudi government has turned to Sotheby’s, the biggest U.S. auction house, and Allan Schwartzman, the co-chairman of its fine art division. — Bloomberg
The largest auction house in the US, Sotheby’s, is in talks with Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to build a cultural center in the northwest deserts of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg. The contemporary art program is to be located in the Al-Ula region, which... View full entry
The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha has selected the architecture firm Snøhetta for its recently announced expansion. The ambitious plans will add a new building to join the original Art Deco museum, built in 1931, as well as a later 1994 addition designed by Norman Foster. Snøhetta's extension... View full entry
Princeton University has tapped Sir David Adjaye to build the school's new art museum. Done in collaboration with local firm Cooper Robertson, it will replace the current museum with a “dramatically enlarged space for the exhibition and study of the museum’s encyclopedic collections, special... View full entry
When the legendary artist Jim Jones, known for his painting of Zion and the Grand Canyon, died in 2009, he donated his Rockville home, and 15 of his late paintings, as well as the copyrights, to the Southern Utah University. The Cedar City native's gift was to provide the university with the seed... View full entry
The most radical art space to launch in Paris in decades will open next spring in a five-storey, 19th-century building in the Marais district. The Fondation d’Entreprise Galeries Lafayette, run by the eponymous French retail chain, commissioned Rem Koolhaas and his OMA company to renovate the historic building at 9 rue du Platre. — The Art Newspaper
OMA has placed a glass and steel exhibition tower in the building’s courtyard, which operates as a ‘curatorial machine’,” according to a project statement. This tower incorporates four mobile platforms that move in and out of sight, allowing 49 different spatial configurations. As the... View full entry
The Minneapolis Institute of Art has tapped the British architect David Chipperfield to reconfigure its campus, which boasts a 1970s extension by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange and a new wing designed by Michael Graves from 2006. This is the first step for the museums's long-term strategy to... View full entry
As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has tapped the Culver City-based firm wHY to design their new renovation and expansion plans. The architecture practice headed by Kulapat Yantrasast, has become known over the years for conjuring environments that... View full entry
