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Gail Dexter Lord becomes officer in French Order of Arts and Letters Co-founder of Lord Cultural Resources has worked with Louvre and Centre Pompidou, and volunteers on board of Alliance Française Toronto Toronto Star, 5 December 2014
TORONTO, ON — "Gail Dexter Lord, the Toronto-based but globally ubiquitous museum planner, spends a huge part of her life on airplanes and when I spoke to her by phone the other day, she was in China, getting ready for a long flight back to YYZ. But this time, there was a once-in-a-lifetime celebration awaiting her after she landed. The Government of France has appointed Lord an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. And on Monday, the Alliance Française Toronto will mark the occasion with a reception in her honour at its cultural centre on Spadina Rd. “French culture is very meaningful to me as a Canadian,” says Lord, co-president of Lord Cultural Resources (of which she and her husband Barry Lord are co-founders). “And I mean both French culture in France and the French culture we have in Canada. I have no more than high-school French, but that has given me a window on both cultures and that has been an enriching experience.”
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Cultural News, a monthly global round-up of what’s happening in culture, is a free service of Lord Cultural Resources. Excerpts are directly quoted from the articles – please click on the links to read the full articles on the original news sites. To receive it in your inbox rain or shine, please press the subscribe button above - it will take less than 30 seconds to become a subscriber. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest digest of cultural news.
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Our Clients and Lord Cultural Resources in the News
Sou Fujimoto to create House of Hungarian Music at new Budapest museum park News: Sou Fujimoto is one of three architects that have been selected to design buildings for a Hungarian museum complex in Budapest's City Park (+ slideshow). deZeen, 22 December 2014
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — "Sou Fujimoto's design for the House of Hungarian Music was selected via an anonymous competition process to become one of five new museums planned for a park just outside Budapest's city centre. The scheme is part of the Liget Budapest project – one of Europe's largest museum developments. The Japanese architect proposes a glass-walled building sheltered beneath a white canopy, reminiscent of a giant mushroom. Round openings will create lightwells, which will in some places continue through the floors. The music museum will occupy the site of the former Hungexpo Offices that have been scheduled for demolition."
Lordculture has been assisting Varosliget in planning of the Museum of Ethnography and the New National Gallery & Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest. In November 2013, Laure Colliex, Carolyne Krummenacker and Aline Mandai from Lordculture presented at the international workshop on Budapest's Liget cultural quarter planned for the City Park.
Ontario Office of the Minister of the Environment, Parks Canada, 18 December 2014
TORONTO, ON — "The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, along with Ms. Janet Carding, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Director and CEO, today announced a partnering arrangement to create the Franklin Outreach Project. This innovative project aims to share the story of the Franklin Expedition and all of the unfolding discoveries with Canadians over the next three years. The Franklin Outreach Project will include pop-up displays, lectures, and exhibitions and incorporate contemporary research and technology and Inuit traditional knowledge to bring the Franklin story to life. The centrepiece of the travelling programme is a 3D printed replica of the bell recovered from HMS Erebus. A nationwide program hosted by the ROM is also in development with members of the History Museums Network and Parks Canada to bring to life this important part of Canadian history."
The Royal Ontario Museum retained Lord Cultural Resources in 2007 to provide analysis and recommendations to the museum’s marketing and visitor experience plans. This entailed designing and analyzing qualitative research on the needs and interests of families from a range of ethnic backgrounds reflecting the diversity of the Greater Toronto Area.
Frost Museum snares $1M donation from Miami entrepreneur Business Journal South Florida, 18 December 2014
MIAMI, FL — "The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science received a $1 million donation from Miami entrepreneur Ted Caplow to build its Innovation Center. The Frost Museum, under construction in Miami's Museum Park, has now received more than $90 million of its private fundraising goal of $135 million. Opko Health CEO Dr. Phillip Frost and his wife, Patricia, made a $35 million donation to launch construction, and Miami-Dade County contributed $165 million."
Gillian Thomas on devoting her life to science Business Journal South Florida, 10 October 2014
MIAMI, FL — "Gillian Thomas loves her job so much she wakes up giddy. “I have an overwhelming desire to sing, but I try not to,” she said. What makes the former chemistry teacher wake up in a singing mood? The idea of being able to open people’s eyes to the wonders of science. Thomas spends long hours and weekends preparing for the 2016 launch of the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami. As president and CEO of the museum, she said her goal is to make sure the project is “something that people will hear about around the world.”
Lord Cultural Resources was commissioned to complete the first phase of the master planning process with a Concept Development study and subsequently engaged to prepare a business plan for the new facility, including strategies to maximize attendance and operating revenues. In 2007, we developed the Facility Plan for Grimshaw Architects, the architects selected to design the new Museum. This included advising on the building program, providing systems and standards and room data sheets. Our work has continued into the schematic and design development stages where we are providing further co-ordination and revision of the Space and Functional Programs developed in the Conceptual Design phase, and reviewing the proposed building layouts to ensure optimal operating functionality, and provide research and advice to the Design Team.
Museum of the African Diaspora's Rebirth: Q&A with MoAD Director Linda Harrison SF Weekly, 15 December 2014
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — "Following an extensive six-month $1.3 million renovation, the Museum of African Diaspora has reopened. Since its grand opening in 2005, the museum has become an important place on Mission — the museum is the only one in the City, and one of the few in the country, that offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the African Diaspora: the migration of African people and their lasting cultural and historical impact. The remodel has allowed for a larger exhibition space — in an attempt to guide the museum away from offering (primarily) temporary shows. By gaining more permanent exhibits, the museum is working to aligning itself with that of a fine arts museum (as opposed to a gallery space or exhibition hall). The museum is also now officially a Smithsonian Affiliate, allowing it access to the Smithsonian Institute's vast array of resources, including its unmatched artifact collection, which houses 136-million cultural and historical artifacts."
In addition to developing the concept and theme, Lord Cultural Resources, in conjunction with The Freelon Group (the project architects) also developed the master plan for this new museum. To ensure that the interests and need of the community were being properly addressed Lord Cultural Resources conducted extensive community consultations, research with national and international specialists and academics on the subject of Africa, the institution of slavery and civil rights. Lord Cultural Resources’ facility planning team prepared a space plan, while our financial team prepared a comprehensive business and detailed staffing plan for the Museum. Lord Cultural Resources continued to be involved during the project’s implementation phase and through to opening developing themes, the exhibition plan and preparing text for the premiere exhibit. Lord Cultural Resources continued to be involved during the project’s implementation phase through to opening, which took place in 2005.
Video: Gehry on Cones, Domes and Messiness The New York Times, 4 December 2014
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — "The architect Frank Gehry talks about his asymmetrical design for the planned 450,000-square-foot Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and his inspiration for the museum’s huge, cooling cones."
Lord Cultural Resources has worked with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) to develop many of the exciting new cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island, where Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is located. We produced a Concept Plan for the Louvre Abu Dhabi and worked with leading French architect Jean Nouvel who has designed that museum, pictured above. We did a Master Plan for the Abu Dhabi Maritime Museum, working with the great Japanese architect Tadao Ando. For the Zayed National Museum Lord Cultural Resources developed the Master Plan and then used it as the Brief to create and manage the international architectural competition which was won by the leading British architect Sir Norman Foster. We were subsequently asked to help develop a Governance Structure for these museums.
Toronto Zoo considers re-branding, shifting focus to wildlife conservation Zoo venturing into ‘historical moment’ says board member Giorgio Mammoliti mykawartha.com, 1 December 2014
KAWARTHA, ON — "The Toronto Zoo should work for the next five years to be a place whose main goal is “saving animals from extinction.” And the zoo may not want to call itself a zoo anymore, members of the zoo’s management board heard at its recent meeting. The zoo’s latest strategic plan, still a draft, sets its sights on becoming “the leader in wildlife conservation,” with “a shift towards more of a Canadian focus,” though the zoo will also continue overseas conservation initiatives, Ted Silberberg of Lord Cultural Resources told the board."
The Toronto Zoo engaged Lord Cultural Resources in 1994 to provide an objective review of proposed changes to its operation and their impact on programs, visitor attendance, human resources, animal care, international reputation and finances. As part of the study, Lord Cultural Resources conducted interviews with 9 comparable institutions.
Curating hope for a future free of fear at the Museum for Human Rights The Globe and Mail, 28 November 2014
WINNIPEG, MB — "It’s always the little things that get you. A visit to something called the Museum for Human Rights immediately conjures up dark visions of outrage affecting great masses – often entire nations. And, because we’re Canada, usually far, far away. Then you come to the forest of red dresses. ... So simple, so haunting – dozens of empty red dresses hanging in a quiet forest of mostly birch trees. The striking art installation is by Winnipeg’s Jaime Black. She calls it The REDress Project – go ahead, figure out the triple entendre here – and her memorial to missing and murdered aboriginal women is a key part of anexhibit called From Sorrow to Strength."
Lord Cultural Resources has been working with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights since 2000 when the idea was first imagined by the late Izzy Asper. A multi-disciplinary Lord Cultural Resources team led by Co-President Gail Lord helped The Asper Foundation to develop the concept and to craft the three-volume Master Plan and business plan that went to the Prime Minister. We provided the space program and assisted with the international architectural competition that selected Antoine Predock to design the building. In 2009-10, Lord Cultural Resources organized and facilitated the cross Canada consultation process that gathered human rights stories from thousands of Canadians in 19 cities. We have continued to provide advisory services to Board and senior management on all aspects of implementation, content and the inauguration.
Museum CEO says Canada's national treasures need a permanent public home The Ottawa Citizen, 28 November 2014
OTTAWA, ON — "Canada’s national historic treasures need a permanent home where they can be displayed for all to see”, says Mark O’Neill, the president and CEO of the newly minted Canadian Museum of History. If O’Neill has his way, the British North America Act and other documents such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, would have pride of place in his institution. “I’d love to have it (the BNA Act) here,” on July 1, 2017, he said at the opening of an exhibition that showcases the 30-year period leading up Confederation in 1867. “I believe that Canadians have national treasures and foundational documents that are critical to their distinctiveness and I believe that these objects should be on display and available to them in their national public institutions and that’s my objective,” O’Neill said Thursday morning after introducing the new exhibition to the media. “And we want to work with a whole series of like-minded institutions (to make that happen).”
Lord Cultural Resources developed an innovative public engagement and consultation process for the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s cross-Canada tour that sought input from the public on what they would like from their national history museum. Through a dynamic and interactive website, a survey, hands-on activities set up at kiosks in malls, airports and markets around the country as well as a series of panel discussions and roundtables, Canadians were asked to share their thoughts on the major themes, stories, events, and people who have shaped the country’s history. The Lord team received comments on how the Museum could support Canadians in their history-related interests, hobbies and work, and insights into how the Museum ccould engage Canadians in their history regardless of where they might live. The team completed 16 consultations in 9 cities from coast to coast by February 2013. All feedback from the consultations was synthesized in a report by Lord Cultural Resources, developed upon completion of the public engagement process, and will inform the new permanent exhibition and other programming strategies at the Canadian Museum of History.
Museums
Turkish and Islamic Art Museum reopened after 2-year refit dailysabah.com, 21 December 2014
ISTANBUL, TURKEY — "Facing the Blue Mosque in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square, the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum was re-opened on Friday after intensive restoration work that cost TL 16.4 million ($7.09 million). Erected in 1524, the newly renovated museum was formerly the residential palace of Ottoman Sultan Süleyman I's Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik said safeguarding our cultural heritage is not a preferential decision, but a must for the future. "The essence of Turkish politics is rooted in the country's cultural geography. The Culture and Tourism Ministry prioritizes to duly pass on all cultural assets to future generations without discrimination," he continued. Çelik said 123 museums have undergone maintenance and restoration since 2003. During the same period, 44 museums and sub-units opened for visits."
Italy to bring private sector into its museums in effort to make a profit Nation aims to emulate countries including the US – where the Met’s restaurant earned more than all Italy’s museums combined theguardian.com, 21 December 2014
ITALY — "Italy is turning to the private sector to try to increase the profitability of some of its cultural treasures, including the Uffizi gallery in Florence and Borghese gallery in Rome. Under a new initiative sponsored by the government of the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, Italy’s cultural centres are likely to begin to look more like other great museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, by opening more restaurants, gift shops, ticket booths, guides, and other tourist-friendly additions that can start generating bigger profits."
Makawao History Museum relocates to 'heart of town' bradenton.com, 21 December 2014
WAILUKI, HAWAII — "The Makawao History Museum moved to a new location last month to gain more exposure within the Makawao community. The museum now is at 3643 Baldwin Ave., the main street of Makawao town, in a "quaint little spot right at the heart of town," project coordinator Cheryl Ambrozic said Tuesday. The museum opened last year as the Makawao History Project in the former Randy Braun Gallery at 1152 Makawao Ave., using a $22,000 grant from the county Small Town Planning Grant Program. However, "Makawao Avenue was kind of way out; people weren't really going that way," Ambrozic told The Maui News. After a year at the Makawao Avenue location, the board of directors and advisers of the Makawao History Museum jumped at the opportunity to move to its new location, where they have since received greater exposure due to increased foot traffic."
- 200 years on, there is still no memorial on the site to commemorate the bravery of British troops who fought and died there - Monument designed by Vivien Mallock will open on the battlefield in Belgium next year Work will feature two British soldiers and quotes from the Duke of Wellington, who led the British forces dailymail.co.uk, 20 December 2014
BELGIUM — "It was, perhaps, Britain’s greatest military victory – the ferocious confrontation that finally ended the tyrannical reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet 200 years after the Battle of Waterloo, astonishingly there is still no memorial on the site to commemorate the remarkable bravery of the British troops who fought and died there – although there is a memorial to the defeated French. Now that injustice is finally about to be righted. A monument designed by sculptress Vivien Mallock will be opened on the battlefield in Belgium next year."
Why not a classic car museum for Ontario Place? Toronto group’s proposal suggests interactive exhibits, constantly changing collection Toronto Star, 19 December 2014
TORONTO, ON — "If you’ve lived in Toronto for a while chances are you have memories of visiting the futuristic structure of pods at Ontario Place, alongside the iconic Cinesphere dome. As a kid, I happily ran up and down the exposed gantries that joined the pods, peering over the edge to the water below. Pod 5, known as the Future Pod, was a big highlight, where a kid could ogle a full-sized replica of the Canadarm and imagine what it would be like to work in space. Today, the pods sit empty as officials consider what the future might hold for them. A Toronto-based group of car enthusiasts feels that their progressive vision of an automotive museum would be a perfect addition to the plan."
Controversial human Body Worlds museum to open in Berlin A Berlin court has ruled that anatomist Gunther von Hagens will be allowed to open a museum displaying preserved human bodies and body parts. The museum is set to open in January 2015 dw.de, 19 December 2014
BERLIN, GERMANY — "A Berlin court has ruled that anatomist Gunther von Hagens will be allowed to open a museum displaying preserved human bodies and body parts. The museum is set to open in January 2015. Gunther von Hagens' touring exhibition of preserved human bodies, "Köperwelten" or "Body Worlds," has been displayed in different locations around Germany and the world since 1996. However, in September, district authorities refused to allow von Hagens to set up a permanent exhibition at the foot of Berlin's TV tower. Friday's verdict overturned the authorities' decision that, according to German burial laws prohibiting the public display of corpses, von Hagens would need a special permit to exhibit the bodies in his museum."
Work starts on ‘remarkable’ new museum and art gallery in Dunfermline thecourier.co.uk, 19 December 2014
SCOTLAND, UK — "Work to build Dunfermline’s long-awaited museum and art gallery has started. The multi-million-pound project — part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund — will see the new facility integrated with the surrounding listed buildings, including the world’s first Carnegie library. Dunfermline area committee chairwoman Helen Law said: “This is a hugely ambitious and exciting project for Dunfermline. The facility will bring an impressive new focal point to the heritage quarter and wider town centre. “In future it will be an important contributor towards the economic growth of Dunfermline’s town centre.” Fife’s community health and wellbeing spokesman, Gavin Yates, said the complex project has had a long lead time and so it was great to celebrate work starting on what would be a “remarkable” place."
National Corvette Museum Outlines Plans To Construct New Pavillion And Garages At Motorsports Park gmauthority.com blog, 19 December, 2014
UNITED STATES — "The National Corvette Museum has announced plans to build a new racing pavilion at its Motorsports Park, consisting of rental garages, viewing decks, a concession area, restrooms and showers. The NCM says it will break ground on the new 14,062 square foot facility in early January. Users of the track may rent out the garages for a day to work on their car, or to have a place to hang out in between sessions. The NCM is also offering garage sponsorships for $10,000 a year, which includes signage and other benefits at the park. Above the garages is a 340-foot viewing pavilion, which the NCM says provides “prime trackside viewing.” In August, the NCM announced it would name the entry road to the Motorsports Park after the late Kimberlee A. Fast. Kim was an avid motorsports enthusiast and racer and participated in different autocross and high speed racing events on road courses all over the Midwest. The garage pavilion will also be named after her."
Iohannis: I will insist for setting up national communism museum actmedia.eu, 18 December 18, 2014
ROMANIA — "Participating at the ceremonies dedicated to the December 1989 Revolution, Romanian President-elect Klaus Iohannis said in Timisoara on Tuesday that Romania should have a national museum of communism, that should inspire great educational projects, inspire topics relating diversity, the need of tolerance and civic responsibility. 'In my capacity of the president of Romania, I will insist for setting up such a museum, because the president must watch over the cultivation and protection of his nation's memory', Iohannis stressed."
Honda opens $35M training facility, museum daytondailynews.com, 18 December 2014
MARYSVILLE, OH — "Honda has completed a $35 million expansion to its Marysville plant that includes research and training facilities for technicians across North America. It’s called the Honda Heritage Center and also includes a museum highlighting the history of Honda in North America that will open to the public in January. The 160,000-square-foot facility includes five classrooms and robotic cells designed to give technicians a more hands-on experience, according to Honda of America Chief Operating Officer Tom Shoupe. “The development of our associate’s skills is very important to our future competitiveness,” Shoupe said. This summer the company opened another training facility at its Anna Engine Plant called the Powertrain Technical Center. Honda associates test new equipment before it goes into mass production and train on 107 different technologies at that location."
Hourglass installed as Egyptian Museum of Turin nears completion of €50m redevelopment attractionsmanagement.com, 18 December 2014
TURIN, ITALY — "A large hourglass has been installed in Turin, Italy’s, Piazza San Carlo, counting down progress as the €50m (US$62.3m, £39.7m) redevelopment of the city’s Egyptian Museum reaches its final stages. Scheduled to fully reopen on 1 April 2015, Museo Egizio or the Egyptian Museum of Turin is one of the world’s oldest Egyptian museums. Founded in 1824, it ranks second only to its counterpart in Cairo. The museum is at the centre of a major transformation project which is nearing completion after nearly nine years of planning and three years of development. Once complete, the work will almost double the size of the museum."
Barcelona elevates design to a new level Museu del Disseny brings together city's historic collections The Art Newspaper, 17 December 2014
BARCELONA, SPAIN — "The new Museu del Disseny officially opened this weekend in a dramatic building on the Diagonal, one of the city’s main avenues. The Mayor of Barcelona cut the ribbon on Saturday at the new institution that unites the city's historic collections of design, furniture, ceramics, graphic art as well as fashion and fashion photography. The new design museum is part of the Disseny Hub, a €101m project that includes a conference centre, library, archive and auditorium. Designed by MBM Architects, the zinc-clad building overlooks an artificial lake and new public space. The museum has a 70,000-strong collection formed by merging Barcelona’s museums of textiles, ceramics, decorative arts and graphic design. Objects range from Moorish and Renaissance fabrics to a 1934 armchair by Josep Lluís Sert and a Cobi figure in aluminium, the mascot designed by Javier Mariscal for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics."
St. Paul commits $1 million in STAR funds to Children's Museum expansion twincities.com, 17 December 2014
ST.PAUL, MN — "The Minnesota Children's Museum will receive $1 million from the city of St. Paul's Cultural STAR program to help finance its planned expansion and renovation, which will include nine new galleries. St. Paul City Council Member Chris Tolbert sponsored the resolution, which passed the city council on Wednesday. The STAR program is funded by the city's half-cent sales tax. The grants will be distributed over the course of five years. The museum, which draws 450,000 patrons annually, is in the midst of a $28 million capital campaign to expand the facility, with the goal of increasing attendance by 100,000 visitors per year. Construction could start next fall. A funding schedule calls for the museum, which is located downtown on Seventh Street, to receive $50,000 in 2015 and again in 2016, followed by grants of $300,000 in 2017, 2018 and 2019."
New folk art museum working to come to Pittsboro indyweek.com, 17 December 2014
PITTSBORO, NC — "Things will be stirring in the local art world this spring. As the North Carolina Museum of Art embarks on a major renovation, a mom-and-pop business in Pittsboro hopes to break ground on a new folk and outsider art museum. It’s an exciting prospect for an area whose rich artisanal tradition predates its fine-arts pedigree. The Small Museum of Folk Art is the vision of Dave Clark and Lisa Piper, who own the Small B&B Café. According to a press release, they received a gift from an unnamed donor of more than 400 pieces of folk and outsider art, including pieces from notable locals such as Vollis Simpson, the whirligig creator who passed away last year, as well as Clyde Jones, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and Virgil Lee Johnson."
Oval's Olympic museum gets funding boost City of Richmond has spent over $2 million on Richmond Olympic Experience where visitors will be able to simulate sports and view Olympic paraphernalia richmond-news.com, 17 December 2014
RICHMOND, BC — "An Olympic museum at the Richmond Olympic Oval will feature more interactive games than previously planned thanks to a $4.3 million boost to its budget. Scheduled to open next spring, the Richmond Olympic Experience — or ROX as coined by Oval staff — will now cost $10 million, up from the original $5.7 million budget announced in January 2013. ROX will feature at least five interactive sports simulators, including kayaking, bob sleighing, ski jumping, sit-skiing and race car driving. Overlooking the Oval ice rinks, ROX will also feature Olympic paraphernalia and a small movie theatre featuring sports films. "It will celebrate the history of the Olympics and the Paralympics, the 2010 Games and our city's role as an official venue city in 2010," said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie on Wednesday at the Oval, a city-owned facility."
For the Harvard Art Museums, a Top-to-Bottom Renovation and Rethinking hyperallergic.com, 17 December 2014
CAMBRIDGE, MA — "On a warm day in June six years ago, the front doors of the Fogg Museum closed quietly. There was no banner reading “Closing Day” on Quincy Street at the edge of Harvard Yard, no ceremony, no press, no speech. At five o’clock, museum visitors shuffled out the exit in droves, toting travel books and the last discounted souvenirs. Once the doors had shut, more than 250,000 works of art began to be packed up and the building completely emptied to ready it for destruction — the first step in a massive renovation that was completed last month. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the plan called for the joining of the three Harvard Art Museums collections — among the six largest art collections in the country — under a single roof on the site of the Fogg’s historic footprint."
Egypt unveils renovated Tutankhamun gallery BBC, 16 December 2014
CAIRO, EGYPT — "Four renovated halls in the Tutankhamun gallery in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo have been unveiled. The renovation is part of a seven-year project to refurbish the entire Egyptian Museum. The renovation of the museum is being aided by funds from the European Union and other international donors. James Moran, who heads the EU delegation in Cairo, said the EU gave support to help to boost Egypt's tourism sector whose "revival... is fundamental for the economy". The EU, he told AFP, would offer 92,500 euros ($115,000, £73,300) next year to help renovate the eastern wing of Tutankhamun gallery. The halls, opened by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, house treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun that were unearthed in 1922."
Museum of Glass Expansion Nears Completion binghamton.twcnews.com, 16 December 2014
CORNING, N.Y. — The idea is nearly 10 years old, construction nearly four, and the result now well in sight. The finishing touches are being put on the long awaited expansion at the Corning Museum of Glass. "The staff is already incredibly proud of what we've achieved with this North Wing expansion," Museum of Glass executive director Karol Wight said. "This is really a dream come true. For many of them, the culmination of ten years of work because we've wanted this space for so long." Officials said the architecture of the new space is enough alone to draw people in. The 26,000 square foot contemporary glass collection features light floors, walls, and ceilings - letting it's glass shine bright."
Detroit’s Art Museum Shoulders $350 Million Burden bloomberg.com, 16 December 2014
DETROIT, MI — "Detroit’s world-class art collection became a fulcrum for the city’s bankruptcy settlement, with such cherished works as Vincent Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait” leveraging an $816 million deal to fund city pensions. Now, the Detroit Institute of Arts must raise as much as $350 million to fulfill its end of the bargain and sustain it after a local arts tax expires in 2022. That’s a tall order for donors who’ve already dug deep for the museum. The effort may be aided thanks to the 129-year-old museum’s brush with liquidation. “When I first came here, I had to tell people what a great collection this was, how valuable it was,” said Graham Beal, DIA director since 1999. “I don’t have to do that anymore.”
Africa: Hollande Condemns Racism At Long-Awaited Immigration Museum Opening RFI English/All Africa, 16 December 2014
PARIS, FRANCE — "President François Hollande on Monday paid tribute to the role of foreigners France's history at the official opening of an immigration museum his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy avoided. At the Museum of the History of Imigration, which is housed in a striking 1930s building at Paris's Porte Dorée, Hollande warned against what he called a discourse of fear around immigrants, as anti-immigrant voices, including France's far-right Front National, are rising across Europe. "Foreigners are always accused of the same evils - that they come to steal jobs from the French, to take advantage of undue benefits, even when the most thorough studies show they contribute more than they receive," he said. The same prejudices are being peddled in a new context today, Hollande continued."
Construction begins soon on Blues Museum KSDK.com, 12 December 2014
ST. LOUIS, MO — "Construction will begin by the end of the year on the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, now that financing is in place. Organizers say the 23,000-square-foot museum will open late next year in downtown St. Louis. It will feature exhibits, a theater, special event space and classrooms. The museum is a nod to the historic significance of the blues in American music, celebrating the musicians who created it and those who advanced the art form."
Restoration Work Begins for Walt Disney Birthplace Project Following a successful fundraising campaign, Phase One of the restoration of Walt Disney’s birthplace has begun. www.blooloop.com, 18 December 2014
CHICAGO, IL — "The house that Walt Disney and his brother Roy were born in was designed and built by his parents and sits in a quiet residential area just outside of downtown Chicago. The home is in need of restoration to return it to its authentic state. However the project’s aims extend beyond the restoration of the house. Research will be undertaken into this period of the Disney family’s history and ultimately it is hoped that the property will help promote the importance of family in nurturing creativity, collaboration and innovation in children." [see also The Walt Disney Birthplace]
Newly Playful, by Design: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Reopens The New York Times, 11 December 2014
NEW YORK, USA — "On Friday, Dec. 12, 1902, Andrew Carnegie moved into his just-finished home at 91st Street and Fifth Avenue, with his wife, Louise, and his 5-year-old daughter, Margaret, to whom he handed the key. By the lights of Manhattan society, the house was in nowheresville, near a former shantytown with only a lemonade stand by way of local shopping. No problem. Wherever Carnegie, a 5-foot-2 master of the universe type, decided to settle became a someplace soon. From Day 1, the mansion was a must-see. This wasn’t because it was beautiful — it’s like a bank vault, chunky and dark — but because it was technologically advanced, with full electricity and climate control, and because certain details — its elevator, its pipe organ, its exotic wood carving — set a standard in domestic luxe. Carnegie lived there until his death in 1919; Louise until hers in 1946. Margaret was married there but moved next door. When she died in 1990, her childhood home had long since become headquarters for the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum."
St Croix to add “Living Museum” attraction caribbean360.co, 9 December 2014
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US VIRGIN ISLANDS — "As part of a commitment to keep the heritage and culture of the United States Virgin Islands alive, the Department of Tourism has entered into a partnership with the St. Croix Landmarks Society to present a “Living Museum” experience at Estate Whim Museum. Beginning in January, stay-over visitors, cruise passengers and residents will have the opportunity to participate in traditional Crucian experiences that reflect the island’s rich historical crafts, cuisine and lifestyle. “Working with local historians, tradition bearers and young preservationists, the attraction will honor our traditions as we remember our past and envision our future,” said Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner of Tourism of the U.S. Virgin Islands."
Archaeological site uncovered by Lawrence of Arabia to be opened under the eyes of Isil Ancient biblical city of Carchemish, once at the heart of the Ottoman Empire, is being excavated and opened to the public amid the backdrop of war telegraph.co.uk, 22 November 2014
TURKEY — "The archaeological site excavated by Lawrence of Arabia before the First World War is to be opened to the public for the first time for nearly a century, despite being partly under the control of jihadists from the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant. In a remarkable example of living history - or foolhardiness - the site of biblical Carchemish, scene of battles over the millennia between Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians among others, is being re-excavated in the midst of a fresh war, between the Syrian regime, the Free Syrian Army, and Isil." [see also Lawrence of Arabia museum to open on Turkey/Syria border amid Islamic State fighting, worldleisurejobs.com, 5 December 2014]
Architecture
Grand steel & glass museum opens to the public at confluence of the Rhône & Saône World Architecture News, 22 December 2014
LYON, FRANCE — "An unusual 46,476 sq m science centre and anthropology museum has opened this weekend at the confluence of two major rivers in the French city of Lyon: the Rhône and the Saône. Musée des Confluences has been designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au and is considered a ‘medium for the transfer of knowledge’. Rather than a static showroom for products, the Musée des Confluences has been designed as an active development for visitors and a ‘distinctive beacon’ for those approaching from the south. Situated on a peninsula that was extended 100 years ago, the Musée des Confluences had to face a number of construction challenges, starting with 536 metre-long piles which had to be driven into the ground for stability." [see also Cloud, Crystal and Promenade: Confluence Museum Opens in Lyon, France, The New York Times, 22 December 2014]
Hawaii unveils designs for Obama Presidential Centre bid News: three international design teams, including architects Snøhetta and Allied Works, have developed designs for Hawaii's bid to host Barack Obama's presidential library. dezeen, 22 December 2014
HAWAII — "The University of Hawaii commissioned three designs for its presentation in the battle to build the US President's official library this month, having identified a beach site adjacent to the Kaka'ako Waterfront Park. Although the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York are the current favourites to win the bid, Hawaii is hoping to tempt Obama by turning the library into a multi-purpose centre for education, including a Global Youth Leadership Academy and a museum. All three locations have a personal connection with Obama, who grew up in Honolulu, studied at Columbia and worked in Chicago. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was Obama's first chief of staff at the White House."
World Architecture News, 22 December 2014
LOS ANGELES, CA — "Becher Neme is an LA-based expert in BIM and 3D technologies. Following stints at TETRARC and Gehry Partners, Neme launched his own specialist firm Neme Design Solutions two years ago and has since worked with prominent practices such as Aedas (on the Museum of Tolerance) and HOK (on ARTIC). A regular on the LA speaking circuit, Neme has also penned a number of technical articles, including a Tech Focus piece for WAN published in June 2014. In this interview, we looked to find out a little more about the man and the role he played in these high-profile projects."
ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture selected for Memorial to the Victims of Communism World Architecture News, 18 December 2014
OTTAWA, ON — "ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture has been confirmed as the winner of limited competition to design the new Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Ottawa, Canada. The concept was selected from a shortlist of six projects, judged by a professional jury and members of the public. The 5,000 sq.m. memorial is due for completion in November 2015. ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture asserts: “This national memorial will create awareness of the horrors of communism and pay tribute to the more than 100 million people worldwide who perished or suffered under communist tyranny." The Memorial will be located on Confederation Boulevard within close proximity of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Library and Archives Canada. Placed within the open-air plaza - or ‘memory square', as it has been termed by the architects - is a life-size concrete cast of an unknown victim, lying face down."
World Architecture News, 18 December 2014
Xi’AN, CHINA — "London-based practice Office for Architectural Culture (OAC), led by Charles Phu, has won the design competition for the regeneration of an area of approximately 300 hectares in the heart of the City of Xi’an, China. This mixed-use project covers part of Daming Palace Heritage Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the site of the large early-20th Century Dahua Wool Spinning Factory. In OAC’s design proposal, the core area of the project, which will be the first phase to be developed, is an area of approximately 580,000 sq m. It has a mixture of developments including culture-themed retail, galleries, class-A corporate offices, creative offices and live-work studios, two five-star hotels, apartments and large public outdoor spaces. A 12,000 sq m Silk Road Museum is proposed, part of which falls in the Daming Palace Heritage Park. The museum will form a centre and platform for cultural exchange across Eurasian continents, along with an adjacent area where bi-annual global expo events showcasing cultures and art will be held."
Designers shortlisted to convert Olympic Park into cultural quarter Asif Khan, Eley Kishimoto, Ab Rogers and Thomas Matthews are among designers shortlisted to work on the huge “Olympicopolis” cultural and education quarter on the site of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London. Design Week, 15 December 2014
LONDON, UK — "The plan for the former London 2012 Olympic Park will see The Victoria & Albert Museum, University of the Arts London, the Smithsonian and Sadler’s Wells all open new outposts at the site. In addition, University College London will open its first School of Design as part of the project. Six teams of architects and designers have now been shortlisted for the project."
Work completes on schmidt hammer lassen-designed Halifax Central Library in Canada World Architecture News, 11 December 2014
HALIFAX, NS — "As the new Halifax Central Library opens to the public on 13 December 2014, the citizens of Halifax, Canada, have been given a civic landmark which has already received international recognition. The contract to design the 15,000 sq m library was won in an international competition in 2010 by the Danish schmidt hammer lassen architects and local firm Fowler Bauld & Mitchell. Sited on a prominent location in the heart of Halifax, the library stands as a cultural hub accessible to everyone and as a result of what can be achieved through co-creation. The new Halifax Central Library has an open design which reflects the city’s diverse population and heritage. The building is a catalyst for the regeneration of the downtown area and the product of an extensive co-creation process involving monthly public consultations and workshops with various focus groups."
Steven Holl wins first international design competition for a public building in Mumbai World Architecture News, 9 December 2014
MUMBAI, INDIA — "Steven Holl Architects has been selected to design a new wing for the Mumbai City Museum, also known as Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum. Besting competition from Zaha Hadid, OMA and Amanda Levete, plus 5 other finalist teams, Steven Holl Architects will now work in collaboration with Opolis Architects, Guy Nordenson & Associates and Transsolar on the design. The museum will be expanding to the north with a 125,000 sq ft addition, situated in Mumbai’s oldest museum garden in Byculla. Working with the site boundary, Steven Holl Architects has designed a sculptural addition in white concrete which diffuses the light, ensuring that each of the gallery spaces receives 25 lumens of natural light." [see also NY firm to design new wing of Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai Mirror, 7 December 2014]
SYAA Designs New Natural Science Museum Complex in Romania ArchDaily, 8 December 2014
CONSTANTA, ROMANIA — "SYAA has just been named first prize winners for their design of a new Natural Science Museum Complex in Constanta, Romania. Proposed at an unprecedented scale for the region, the design seeks to become a significant destination in the Black Sea tourist industry. Incorporating features of an amusement and leisure park into the program of a science museum, SYAA proposes a building equipped to adapt to a diverse variety of public activities and events. Some of the primary functions will include an aquarium, dolphinarium, exotarium and tropical greenhouses, planetarium, and observatory."
Third generation architect John Reed talks to WAN about his evolution in the industry World Architecture News, 7 December 2014
NEW YORK, USA — "Established almost 100 years ago by Will Cannon Sr., CannonDesign is now a thriving international company boasting projects from Sabanci University in Istanbul to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. The practice is run with a solid multidisciplinary approach and a ‘fun and intense work environment’. Design Principal in the firm’s New York office John Reed spoke to WAN about his experiences in architecture, from his family’s early influences to a recently-completed project close to his heart."
Architect Submits A Plan to Save Brutalist Building in Orange County Arts Beat, 5 December 2014
GOSHEN, NY — "An architect who has offered to buy and restore a controversial Orange County, N.Y. government building, designed by Paul Rudolph but panned by many as an eyesore, presented detailed plans Friday for his proposal to turn it into an arts center. The county has been debating whether to demolish the building, which had been used as its government center, or perhaps renovate it. The architect, Gene Kaufman, the owner and principal of Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects in New York City, previously announced that he hoped to restore the building. The plans presented Friday to Orange County leaders gave his detailed vision of what he hopes to do."
Spanish architecture studio SelgasCano tapped to design next Serpentine Pavilion World Architecture News, 4 December 2014
LONDON, UK — "Spanish firm SelgasCano is to design the 15th Serpentine Pavilion, it has been revealed. The annual pavilion commission is granted to an architect or practice that is yet to complete a building in the UK and has seen the likes of Frank Gehry, Sou Fujimoto and, last year, Chilean architect Smiljan Radic. Established in 1998 by Jose Selgas and Lucia Cano, the design studio blends synthetic materials and cutting edge technology with subtle references to nature to create distinctive projects, often shot through with bright colour. The team will be submitting their initial designs for the pavilion in February 2015. The Serpentine Pavilion is commissioned each year to create a dynamic temporary space in London’s Kensington Gardens. The structure must be highly flexible and include a café, but the style and form of the pavilion is left to the architect."
Latin American Art Museum unveiled by Fernando Romero EnterprisE in Miami World Architecture News, 3 December 2014
MIAMI, FL — "During Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 (4-7 December), FR-EE / Fernando Romero EnterprisE will be revealing the new Latin American Art Museum (LAAM). The New York and Mexico City-based practice was commissioned by a private art collector keen to expand his existing gallery into a grand museum in Miami. The expansive collection includes works by Diego Rivera, Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, and Guillermo Kutica. In an official release, FR-EE states: “Just a few days ago, President Barack Obama allowed millions of illegal immigrants (most of them Latinos or Hispanics) to establish legally in the USA. In this historical socio-political context, the proposal for a new museum for Latin American art is a trigger to renovate the relations with the USA, and it also constitutes an unbeatable chance to rethink the significance of Latin American architecture and art in America.”
Aranguren & Gallegos Arquitectos to design base for ICA Miami in Design District World Architecture News, 2 December 2014
MIAMI, FL — "The Board of Trustees of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) has announced that the museum will build a new, permanent home in the Design District, on land generously donated by Miami Design District Associates - a partnership between Dacra’s Craig Robins and L Real Estate. Located on NE 41 Street, the new 37,500 sq ft building is being designed by the Spanish firm Aranguren & Gallegos Arquitectos, marking their first U.S. project to date. The design and construction of the new museum, along with the acquisition of additional land for a 15,000 sq ft adjacent sculpture garden, are being funded entirely by a major capital gift from Irma and Norman Braman."
Six anonymous submissions move forward in Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition World Architecture News, 2 December 2014
HELSINKI, FINLAND — "A shortlist of six teams has been released for the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki Design Competition hosted by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Selected from 1,715 submissions, the six shortlisted designs have been left anonymous, however the names of the successful teams have been released (in no particular order): 1. AGPS Architecture Ltd. (Zurich, Switzerland and Los Angeles, United States of America) 2. Asif Khan Ltd. (London, United Kingdom) 3. Fake Industries Architectural Agonism (New York, United States of America; Barcelona, Spain; and Sydney, Australia) 4. Haas Cook Zemmrich STUDIO2050 (Stuttgart, Germany) 5. Moreau Kusunoki Architect (Paris, France) 6. SMAR Architecture Studio (Madrid, Spain and Western Australia)"
Grand 16,000 sq m museum of archaeology and ethnography sits within Skåde hillside World Architecture News, 1 December 2014
AARHUS, DENMARK — "Opened in October 2014, the Henning Larsen Architects-designed Moesgaard Museum sits proudly on a hillock in the Danish city of Aarhus. The 16,000 sq m facility blends seamlessly with the Skåde hillside having been set into the rising grassy mound, creating a grand roofscape covered in moss, flowers and grass. Henning Larsen Architects explains: “The rectangular shaped roof plane seems to grow out of the landscape and during summer it will form an area for picnics, barbeques, lectures and traditional Midsummer Day’s bonfires. Come winter snowfall, the sloping roof will become transformed into the city’s best toboggan run.”
Bjarke Ingels Group's Malaysia Square plan for Battersea Power Station unveiled World Architecture News, 1 December 2014
LONDON, UK — "Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the Malaysia Square public concourse at Battersea Power Station, London has now been unveiled by the Malaysian consortium of S P Setia, Sime Darby Properties and the Employees Provident Fund. The flowing pedestrian space creates a two-storey link between the southern entrance of the Grade II* listed Power Station and the top of the new Electric Boulevard High Street. The latter is bordered on one side by Gehry Partners’ Prospect Place and on the other by Battersea Roof Gardens, designed by Foster + Partners. “The innovative and thoughtful concepts underlying the creation of Malaysia Square honours the heritage and shared history of two nations to form a vibrant and exciting public space for residents and visitors to meet, mingle and shape the future together,” explains Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, Chairman of Battersea Project Holding Company Ltd. “It is the shareholders' fondest wish that this will become an enduring landmark which celebrates the best of global East-West collaborations whilst giving every Malaysian who visits this spot in Central London a true sense of belonging and reminder of home.”
Technology
A Virtual Island of Algorithmically Generated Art Museums Hyperallergic.com, 22 December 2014
MANCHESTER, UK — "Manhattan may have an okay assortment of cultural institutions, but in Secret Habitat, a free game by Manchester-based indie video game developer Strangethink, users navigate an island that’s home to 99 small museums. Their algorithmically generated buildings are filled with similarly populated exhibitions of glitchy abstract art. The hallucinogenic game is set in a landscape whose soil is a gradient of neon blues and pinks — where leafless, turquoise trees sway like they’re made of Jell-O (or mimicking the movements of a wacky waving inflatable flailing tube man) and small pools of water glow a toxic-looking yellowish-green. The museum buildings are intensely sober and somber by comparison, with their slide-like ramps and heavy walls looking like a fantasy collaboration between Carsten Höller and Tadao Ando."
Earthquake-Proofing Michelangelo’s Statue of David Hyperallergic.com, 22 December 2014
FLORENCE, ITALY — "After more than 250 small earthquakes shook Italy last week, the Italian Ministry of Culture announced it will spend €200,000 (~$245,000) on an anti-seismic base to secure Michelangelo’s statue of David, the Agence France-Presse reported. The 17-foot marble figure is housed in Florence at the Accademia Gallery. The news follows a study released last spring that showed the sculpture was in great danger, with several micro-fractures observed in its ankles and base. Tourist crowds and nearby traffic weren’t helping. At the time, authorities announced they would stabilize the work with a new base, but funding for the project wasn’t immediately available."
Tate Digitizes 52,000 Artifacts from the Lives of British Artists Hyperallergic.com, 19 December 2014
LONDON, UK — "Around 52,000 letters, sketchbooks, photographs, and other ephemera of 20th-century British artists will be accessible online by next summer. The first 6,000 items were revealed this month as part of the Tate Archive. Reported Tuesday by the Guardian, the project complements the 70,000 artworks already digitized by the Tate. “Integrating these items with the online collection will allow people to search, browse and make links between archive items and collection works,” the Tate Archive website states. The London institution has over a million items relating to British artists dating back to 1900, making it largest archive on British art in the world, so the thousands of items are only a fraction of what’s available, but has long been invisible to off-site researchers."
Smithsonian’s Asian art collection goes online More thank 40,000 works have been digitised and will be fully accessible to the public in the New Year The Art Newspaper, 15 December 2014
WASHINGTON, DC — "The Smithsonian’s museums of Asian art in Washington, DC, are due to release their entire collections online on 1 January 2015. More than 40,000 works, from ancient Chinese jades to 13th-century Syrian metalwork and 19th-century Korans, will be accessible through high-resolution images without copyright restrictions for non-commercial use. The vast majority—nearly 35,000 objects—have never been seen by the public. The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery are the first Smithsonian museums and the only Asian art museums to complete the labour-intensive process of digitising and releasing their entire collections online. The project, completed over the past several years, is “driven in part by our director, in part by the Smithsonian’s digitisation efforts, and in part by President Obama’s push for open access of federal data”, says a spokeswoman. The endeavour required 6,000 staff-hours in the past year alone and resulted in more than 10 terabytes of data."
MoMA acquires "4D-printed" dress News: New York's MoMA has acquired a "4D-printed" dress that automatically changes shape, and the technology used to create it, a month after the museum added five DIY electronics products to its permanent collection. dezeen, 9 December 2014
NEW YORK, USA — "Design studio Nervous System's Kinematics project creates complex, adjustable garments by 3D-printing interlocking components connected with articulated joints. "We refer to Kinematics as a 4D printing system because it generates compressed objects that unfold into their intended shape after printing," creative director Jessica Rosenkrantz told Dezeen. "The garments that we've designed can only expand to their full size after being removed from the printer and they do so automatically, no assembly is required." Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announced today that it has acquired the first dress produced using the technique, along with the app software that customises the design and a concept video demonstrating the idea."
Art and Culture
The war against culture, and the battle to save it. indiegogo.com, December 2014
USA — "Imagine if someone blew up the Pyramids at Giza. Or leveled the Eiffel Tower. It’s hard to comprehend the shattering impact it would have on our sense of the world - but we need to imagine it. The Eiffel Tower was ordered to be destroyed by Hitler - saved only by the refusal of one of his Generals. Coptic churches along the Nile were torched in 2013. In a politically unstable post-Arab Spring Egypt, are the Pyramids any safer than Bamiyan's Buddhas, blown sky high in 2001? After 9/11, we can't assume that even our most monumental structures are going to outlive us. Over the past century, cultural destruction – the purposeful destruction of buildings, books and art in order to erase collective memory and identity - has wrought catastrophic results on every continent. But the war is by no means over. If anything, this kind of cultural warfare has been steadily increasing."
Egypt banking on art and heritage to bring back prosperity attractionsmanagement.com, 22 December 2014
EGYPT — "The Egyptian government is bidding to reinvigorate its art and heritage sector through heavy investment into the renovation and restoration of its historical cultural sites and institutions. The most significant part of the investment – the renovation of the Tutankhamun gallery at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo – is part of a seven-year project to refurbish the entire Egyptian Museum. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab was on-hand for the launch of the four renovated galleries, which feature Tutankhamun's mummy alongside various treasures that were excavated from his tomb, discovered in 1922. The gallery renovation alone is thought to have cost around US$7.8m (€6.3m, £5m)."
World's Most Ambitious Re-Creation of Prehistoric Cave Art to Open After three years of effort, a precision replica of a French cave and its 36,000-year-old art will open to the public in April. nationalgeographic.com, 19 December 2014
FRANCE — "On a September afternoon in 2013, Gilles Tosello sat sipping a cup of American-style coffee in his Toulouse studio, pondering the talents of cave painters who lived in France 36,000 years ago. Tosello enjoyed a personal connection with those painters because he was the man the French Ministry of Culture and Communication had engaged to re-create their most famous works, some of the oldest, most beautiful, and best preserved cave art on Earth: the images in the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc. Its legendary Panel of Horses includes exquisite charcoal horse heads, snarling lions, and battling wooly rhinoceroses drawn across 475 square feet of undulating rock. Even more famous is another tableau he was hired to re-create, the spectacular Lion Panel, 750 square feet of prowling lions, baby mammoths, and charging rhinos. Tosello sighed."
Boat Bearing JR Artwork Rescues Drifting Migrants Hyperallergic.com, 19 December 2014
MEDITERRANEAN SEA — "Sometimes art and life converge in miraculous ways. That happened last week in the Mediterranean, where drifting migrants were rescued by a cargo ship plastered with an image by French artist JR, the Wall Street Journal reported. The container carrier had been heading back to France from Malaysia when its crew answered a distress call alerting them to a boat carrying 213 refugees lost at sea. They included migrants from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Sudan, and Somalia, who had boarded a Libyan fishing boat in the hopes of reaching Greece. The carrier’s crew cared for the refugees for two days, feeding them and offering their cabins to the women and children. Once they reached the Italian port of Taranto, they handed them over to authorities. Thousands of migrants arrive in Europe by boat every year; in 2014 alone, 3,000 people died trying, according to Amnesty International."
'Early Mona Lisa' goes on public display for the first time A painting claimed to be an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been unveiled to the public in Singapore telegraph.co.uk, 16 December 2014
SINGAPORE — "An "earlier version" of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has gone on public display for the first time in Singapore. Researchers into the provenance of a painting dubbed the "Early Mona Lisa" reported that they had identified an English noble who probably bought it in Italy in the late 18th century and a country house where it was found in 1911. A Swiss foundation holding it have argued that Leonardo painted it before the version that sits in the Paris Louvre. "We feel these latest discoveries and new scientific analysis leave little doubt that it is Leonardo's work," said David Feldman, a Geneva-based auctioneer and vice-president of the Zurich Mona Lisa Foundation. "The vast majority of experts now either agree with us or accept that there is a strong case for our thesis," he said."
Locked Away for Years, Skeleton's Secrets Rewrite Prehistory of North America National Geographic , December 7, 2014 People came to the New World thousands of years earlier and by different means of locomotion than expected, says the Sherlock Holmes of old bones.
NORTH AMERICA — "In the summer of 1996, while wading in the shallows of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, two students stumbled onto a skeleton. Dated to 7000 to 6900 B.C., it would turn out to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in North America. But the land where the remains were found belonged to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Despite repeated requests to examine the skeleton, the Corps locked the bones away. A coalition of Columbia River Basin Indian Tribes also claimed the bones."
World's Oldest Art Identified in Half-Million-Year-Old Zigzag National Geographic, December 3, 2014 A carved shell suggests the first artists were our Homo erectus ancestors, not us.
WORLD — "A zigzag engraving on a mussel's shell may transform scientific understanding of what has long been considered a defining human capacity: artistic creativity. Until now, the earliest evidence of geometric art was dated from 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. Scratched into rocks found in South African caves, those engravings signified behavioral modernity: Homo sapiens' unique cognitive journey into a sophisticated world of abstraction and symbol."
DNA Confirms: Here Lieth Richard III, Under Yon Parking Lot The king's genes also raise some royally embarrassing questions about the legitimacy of the Tudors who ended his reign. National Geographic, 2 December 2014
LEICESTER, UK — "Ancient bones discovered under a parking lot have been confirmed as those of the medieval king Richard III, through a DNA test that also raises questions about the legitimacy of Henry VIII and other famous English royals. The team of genetics detectives reported Tuesday that DNA from the skeleton shows that the bones were Richard III's, with a probability of 99.9994 percent. This is the first genetic identification of a particular individual so long after death—527 years. Archaeologists had peeled back a parking lot in 2012 to excavate the skeleton, which was among buried relics of the Greyfriars Friary in Leicester, England, long the reputed burial site of Richard III. Most people know the hunched-shouldered king through Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which the maligned ruler utters such memorable lines as "Now is the winter of our discontent/Made glorious summer by this son of York," and "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
Van Gogh Museum gets multicoloured make-over Redisplay puts more emphasis on what draws visitors to the Amsterdam institution—the artist’s tortured life The Art Newspaper, 27 November 2014
AMSTERDAN, NETHERLANDS — "Vincent Willem van Gogh, the great-grandson of the artist’s brother Theo, unveiled this week the first major redisplay of the Van Gogh Museum’s collection since its opening in 1973. The new presentation responds to the main reason which attracts so many visitors to the Amsterdam museum: a wish to know more about the artist’s tortured life. In the new display, Van Gogh’s masterpieces are given greater space, and the result is impressive."
Creative Economies, Creative Cities, Innovation and Urban Planning, Cultural Tourism
Congress approves plan to expand Gettysburg park The Sun Herald, 12 December 2014
WASHINGTON, DC — "Congress gave final approval on Friday to a plan that expands Gettysburg National Military Park by 45 acres and adds the historic Lincoln Train Station. The Senate passed the proposed expansion as part of the $585 billion defense policy bill. The plan expands the park to include environmentally sensitive land at the southern end of the battlefield, where cavalry skirmishes occurred during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The Lincoln Train Station, located in downtown Gettysburg, was built in 1858. It served as a hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg and was where President Abraham Lincoln arrived on the eve of his Gettysburg Address. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jamaican tourism to focus on cultural heritage sharenews.com, December 2014
KINGSTON, JAMAICA — "Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says that, with the exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico, “there is no other Caribbean island which can boast a wealth of cultural heritage to outpace Jamaica”. “It is precisely because Jamaica has paid attention to our cultural heritage that we are one of the most attractive tourism destinations in the Caribbean,” Bartlett was quoted as saying in a speech which was read by Executive Director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund, Ian Neita. Neita was addressing a dinner at Fort Charles, Port Royal, last week which was held for delegates attending the Inter-city Intangible Cultural Co-operation Network (ICCN) conference. Bartlett said the nation’s recent successes on the world sporting stage have led to “a major interest into who Jamaicans are as a people, what is our history and what it is that makes us run so fast and why we dance the way we do”.
Aboriginal 'cultural' tourism booming in B.C. Travellers seeking cultural, spiritual and meaningful tourism experience CBC News, 18 March 2014
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — "Squamish First Nation Chief Ian Campbell, wearing a cedar strip headdress and a sea shell-covered vest that makes clicking noises every time he moves, earned a standing ovation in Namibia, Africa, last fall for his passionate, no notes invitation to book an authentic aboriginal travel experience in British Columbia. Campbell had the more than 600 delegates at the Adventure Travel World Summit standing and clapping — calling for more of what B.C.'s aboriginal tourism supporters are calling a cultural, spiritual and meaningful tourism experience. Keith Henry, Aboriginal Tourism Association of B.C.'s chief executive officer, says he's had similar experiences in Australia and New Zealand, countries long considered innovators when it comes to developing aboriginal tourism markets, but it's the Aussies and Kiwis who now are looking to B.C. for new ideas."
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