Museum Moves 2 – 8 September 2022

Appointments

New PM Liz Truss has appointed MP Michelle Donelan as Culture Secretary, as Nadine Dorries stepped down from the role hours before Truss formally became leader. A member of parliament since 2015, Donelan represents the Chippenham constituency in northwest Wiltshire. Before her time in politics, Donelan worked in marketing for Pacific Magazines, The History Channel, and WWE.

Truss appoints Michelle Donelan as new Culture Secretary

Earlier this week before resigning Dorries – and then PM Boris Johnson – made a significant number of appointments in the museum and heritage sectors, just hours before the ballots close for the new leader.

Government makes raft of museum and heritage appointments

The National Science and Media Museum, part of the Science Museum Group, has appointed digital entrepreneur Lopa Patel MBE as Chair of the museum’s Advisory Board. Patel has been a Trustee of the Science Museum Group since 2016 and was re-appointed by the Prime Minister for a second term of four years in 2020. The appointment comes as the National Science and Media Museum begins to develop two new permanent galleries as part of its Sound and Vision project.

Openings

The world’s oldest iron-framed building opens to the public this Saturday as a visitor destination after a £28 million restoration. Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings has been sustainably restored by Historic England in partnership with Shropshire Council. Its new exhibition The Mill tells the story of the mill and its role in the industrial revolution.

The World War One warship HMS Caroline at the National Museum of the Royal Navy has had its opening pushed back. Originally set to reopen this year, the full reopening is now planned for early 2023.

Ipswich Museum will soon begin a redevelopment which will see it close its doors for over two years. The £8.7m project will begin early next month, and is expected to be complete in 2025.

Northumberland’s upcoming historical visitor experience Ad Gefrin has secured loans from the British Museum and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to bolster its local Anglo-Saxon story. The 6th and 7th century objects will be displayed when it opens in February 2023.

Ad Gefrin secures British Museum loans ahead of 2023 opening

Exhibitions

A body of work by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz is to go on show at Tate later this year. Known as ‘Abakans’, the crafted collection of objects are made of organic materials such as horsehair, sisal and hemp rope. A total of 26 of these works will be displayed for the first time in the UK. Runs from 17 November 2022 – 21 May 2023.

The Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is to go on loan to the Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Saturday 22 October. The exhibition will follow the announcement of the winning images on 11 October 2022 during an awards show at the Natural History Museum. Saturday 22 October – 24 December 2022.

As part of this year’s national Heritage Open Days, The National Waterways Museum has taken inspiration from the event’s theme of ‘Astounding Inventions’. It will display an 18th century diving suit, an internal combustion engine and canal locks. A trail around the museum will run 9 – 18 September 2022, with free public open days available on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 September 2022.

Next year’s exhibitions at the Design Museum have been revealed. Among them is Ai Weiwei’s first exhibition focusing on design, which will mix recent works with commissioned pieces. The exhibition draws on Weiwei’s “fascination with historical Chinese artefacts, placing their traditional craftsmanship in dialogue with the more recent history of demolition and urban development in China”. Runs from 7 April – 30 July 2023.

Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire – Austen’s home for the last eight years of her life and where she lived, wrote and published her novels – will display two newly acquired Austen letters for the first time as part of two new exhibitions for the autumn. ‘Jane Austen in Love’ and ‘Jane Austen in London’ will run from 8 September through to 5 March 2023.

New works have been unveiled at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP), including the return of Antony Gormley’s One and Other (2000) and the acquisition of Ro Robertson’s Stone (Butch), 2021. YSP has also announced an extension of the headline exhibition Robert Indiana: Sculpture 1958–2018, which will now run through to 16 April 2023.

Funding

Gawthorpe Textiles Collection has been awarded more than £249,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to improve its collection as part of an 18 month project, ‘Cherish the Past, Create for the Future’. Plans for the project include recruitment of volunteers, work with community artists, and the digitisation of its collection.