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Christopher Knight: Questions About The Broad Museum Expansion

The conceit of a vanity museum’s design being dubbed “the veil and the vault,” with a perforated exterior draped over a treasury for a private collection being made public, was always more pretentious than meaningful. It’s good to see it go. - Los Angeles Times

LA’s Broad Museum Announces Major Expansion

The Broad on Wednesday announced a $100-million building expansion that will increase gallery space at one of Los Angeles’ most popular museums by 70%. The sweeping plans could provide a critical boost to downtown L.A. - Los Angeles Times

Māori Postmodern: Indigenous Architects In New Zealand Are Creating A New Style of Design

"The country’s Māori population now numbers 17% and rising, and the new generation’s enthusiastic embrace of tribal cultural identity is making their presence more visible than ever, … (with) a new wave of Māori architects keen to make their mark. … Māori design principles have even been written into urban planning policy." - The Guardian

Strike At Mass MoCA Is Over As Union Ratifies Contract

"The agreement, which (ended a three-week strike and) will be in effect for two years, will increase average pay for bargaining unit’s roughly 120 members by more than 12 percent by the second year." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

Hoping To Move Beyond Thefts Scandal, British Museum Appoints New Director

"The outgoing National Portrait Gallery director (Nicholas Cullinan) replaces former Victoria and Albert Museum head Sir Mark Jones, who was made interim director following the resignation of Hartwig Fischer over the thefts at the London-based institution." - The Independent (UK)

US Museums Cut Staff, Blaming Falling Visitor Numbers

As visitor numbers begin to stabilise, it remains unclear whether museums will reinstate those eliminated positions, an issue that has become more urgent as funds are increasingly allocated to other projects. - The Art Newspaper

How Two Amsterdam Museums Managed Hyper-Demand For Blockbuster Shows

“I thought we would sell out and would probably have about half a million visitors. In the end we had 650,000, but we could have easily sold two million tickets. That’s something I didn’t expect.” - The Art Newspaper

Smithsonian Misused Federal COVID Relief Funding, Finds Internal Audit

"The Smithsonian’s internal Office of the Inspector General last month released a report saying that the institution misused a portion of the $7.5 million it received in COVID relief funds from the 2020 CARES Act." - ARTnews

Sagrada Familia In Barcelona Will Be Finished (Sort Of) In 2026

With the completion of the Chapel of the Assumption in 2025 and the last and highest of its six towers the following year, construction of architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece will conclude after 140 years, just in time for the centennial of his death. Well, complete except for the enormous, controversial staircase. - CNN

Large Warhol Silk Screen Painting Missing From College

The print was inspired by U.S. President Nixon’s trip to China to meet Chairman Mao Zedong, ending years of diplomatic isolation between the U.S. and China, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Warhol created 199 silkscreen paintings of Mao in five scales between 1972 and 1973. - Los Angeles Times

Items From Brooklyn Museum’s Period Rooms Sell For An Excellent Price

"Four period rooms that the Brooklyn Museum put up for auction (went) for as much as 30 times their low estimates." The items were sold to free up exhibition space for parts of the museum's collection, such as African art and Native art, that have never had permanent galleries. - Artnet

Photographs Are No Longer Proof Of Anything

Not only are digital images infinitely malleable, but the tools to manipulate them are as common as dirt. For anyone paying attention, this has been clear for decades. - Wired

How Curators Chose Art For This Year’s Whitney Bienniale

This year’s event, called “Even Better Than The Real Things,” features 71 artists, whose works include short films, sculpture and abstract painting. - Gothamist

Activists Unfurl A Massive Quilt For Gaza On The Steps Of The Met

"As the quilt was spread out across the museum’s main entrance, activists encircled the display, carrying signs that read ‘We See Genocide,’ ‘Let Gaza Live,' and 'None Of Us Are Free Until Palestine Is Free.' The protesters also broke into Palestinian dabkeh folk dance." - Hyperallergic

The Chicago Art Institute Reconsiders Its Relationship To Women Artists

The Art Institute’s effort to change "can especially be seen in the museum’s arts of the Americas department, where 33 percent of its acquisitions in 2016-23 were by named women artists — 61 out of 183 objects. That pace is significantly higher than that of the museum world at large." - Chicago Sun-Times

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