Appointments
Tate Modern has today announced a new partnership with London-based not-for-profit organisation Asymmetry Art Foundation, in which two curatorial positions specialising in Asia-Pacific art will be supported.Alvin Li has been appointed to the role of Curator, International Art and Hera Chan has been appointed Adjunct Curator, Asia-Pacific, both supported by Asymmetry Art Foundation. The appointments will take on the new roles having previously served as adjunct curators at Tate.
Tate Modern makes two curatorial appointments in Asia-Pacific art
Openings/closures
The Queen’s House in Greenwich, which closed 15 January for a rehang, will reopen with artworks from its permanent collection next month. Included in the rehang will be new acquisitions such as the first formal portrait of a woman serving in the Royal Navy, and pieces not recently displayed, such as a portrait of Captain Frederick Cornewall, which was recently discovered to have been created by Thomas Gainsborough. Opens 2 March 2024.
Derby Museums reopened the Museum of Making this week after flooding forced its closure last October 2023.The temporary closure was caused by severe rain from Storm Babet which led to water levels reaching 3.58m – the highest level since records began.
Exhibitions
The British Museum has announced a new display which will feature some of the 2000 objects stolen from its collection. The museum said the majority of the stolen items were classical gems and items of gold jewellery, and news of their theft has since “sparked a renewed public interest in these objects”. Runs 15 February – 15 June 2024.
First items recovered from British Museum thefts to go on display
New bank notes featuring King Charles are expected to be in circulation by mid-2024, but the notes will be on display for keen visitors this month. The Bank of England Museum’s Future of Money exhibition will be the first chance for visitors to see the notes in person, as part of an exhibition which will explore digital currency and the future of physical cash. Opens 28 February 2024.
An exhibition of photographs and short films will tell the personal journeys of displaced women and children from Ukraine at The Foundling Museum. Through its first-hand photographs, personal films and recorded conversations, ‘Leaving Ukraine’ follows its subjects through job interviews, first days at school, and family reunions. Runs 15 March – 1 September 2024.
This Spring, the first exhibition of work by photojournalist, filmmaker and humanitarian, Tim Hetherington opens following Imperial War Museum’s (IWM) acquisition of his full archive from the Tim Hetherington Trust in 2017. Featuring over 65 of his photographs, ‘Storyteller: Photography by Tim Hetherington’ opens at IWM London on the 13th anniversary of his death while covering the Libyan Civil War in 2011. Newly displayed objects and photographs include the camera and diary he used in the days leading up to his death. Runs 20 April 2024 – 29 September 2024.
A new exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Wirral, will present a different perspective on British landscape art, focusing on work by women. ‘Another View: Landscapes by Women Artists’ will showcase around 40 works dating from the early 1800s to the 1980s, featuring work by artists such as Vanessa Bell, Ingrid Pollard and Dame Ethel Walker. Runs 20 Apr 2024—18 Aug 2024.
A new display ‘Celebrating Hackney’s Adventure Playgrounds’ is to open at Hackney Museum this month. Created with people who made, used and worked in adventure playgrounds in Hackney, the display features personal stories, photographs and objects from from the 1950s to the present day. Visitors will be able to touch objects often found in adventure playgrounds, and contribute their own written memories of adventure playgrounds to a memory wall. Opens 10 February 2024.
Funding
The fourth round of the Cultural Development Fund has opened, with a pot of £15.2m to be made available to fund a new range of projects across the country. This year’s round will be the first which does not exclude projects in the capital, a decision the government said will “[expand] the range of places that can benefit” from the investment.
Latest round of Cultural Development Fund reopens to London projects
The redevelopment of Wrexham Museum into a ‘Museum of Two Halves’ has been further supported with a grant of £150,000 from the Wolfson Foundation. The museum project was last boosted with a grant of £5.6m from the Welsh Government. Wrexham Museum closed late last year to allow redevelopment work to begin, which is due to be completed in 2026.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has today announced a new £6m project to support UK-based artists and organisations to explore the creative potential of immersive technology. Grant funding of £3.6m will be made available to over 200 artists and organisations using immersive technology including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).
£3.6m grant funding to support UK organisations exploring VR/AR creativity
