Museum Moves 3 – 9 February 2023

Appointments

Former housing minister Lucy Frazer has been appointed the new Culture Secretary during a reshuffle this week. Frazer has been given a mandate for culture, media and sport while a new digital brief will be led by her predecessor Michelle Donelan.

Lucy Frazer appointed Culture Secretary to ‘refocus’ on creative arts industry

Exhibitions

Ancient Greek and Roman gods are the focus of a new exhibition at the World Museum in Liverpool. ‘Return of the Gods’ features a collection of over 100 sculptures and objects never before displayed together, including two-metre-high statues of Zeus, Aphrodite, and Athena and two handled ceramic pots which are more than 2000 years old. Opens 28 April 2023 – 25 February 2024.

The first major exhibition in the UK to explore the life and legacy of Saint Francis of Assisi will open at the National Gallery this spring. The exhibition will display over 40 works of art from European and American public and private collections, spanning more than seven centuries. They will range from medieval painted panels, relic-like objects, manuscripts and even a Marvel comic. Runs 6 May – 30 July 2023.

Featuring loans from Chanel, Dior, Vivienne Westwood, McQueen, alongside Tate, V&A, National Museums of Scotland, Fashion Museum Bath, and the Highland Folk Museum comes a new exhibition celebarting Tartan. ‘Tartan’ is the first major exhibition curated by V&A Dundee, with Jonathan Faiers of the University of Southampton and will incorporate ‘the People’s Tartan’ – a changing selection of objects owned and sent in by the public. Opens 1 April 2023.

An exhibition exploring how international contemporary artists are helping to reframe our responses to the climate crisis opens later this year at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre. ‘Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis’ will include new commissions and feature works from more than 15 international artists, inviting visitors to consider the role of art in climate debate and activism. Runs 1 June – 3 September 2023.

From the Royal Photographic Society comes a new exhibition to Scarborough Art Gallery this spring. ‘Squaring the Circles’ explores how ten contemporary photographers are using traditional techniques and approaches in their work to address contemporary issues. The works on show reveal experiments with photographic processes and include cyanotypes, daguerreotypes, pinhole and cameraless imagery. Runs 4 March –- 1 May 2023.

A touring photographic exhibition documenting the stories of 40 Cumbrian farmers comes to Windermere Jetty Museum in the Lake District. Lakeland Arts is hosting an exhibition by British Life Photographer of the Year, and Cumbrian farmer, Amy Bateman in the creative spaces and gallery at the museum. ‘Forty Farms’ focuses on the stories of 40 farmers, through photography, products, and film. Runs 4 March – 4 June 2023.

An exhibition showcasing the work of six Black artists of Caribbean heritage based in Hastings begins in April. We Out Here (WOH) at Hastings Contemporary will see artists create new culturally specific artworks and collaborations to produce a large-scale, multi-media show. Working in different mediums, the themes explored include migration, Black lives in coastal towns, relationships with the sea, climate justice and racial injustice, fast fashion and the Black presence in crafts. The project is led by local artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown RCA MBE, known as the ‘Banksy’ of the knitting world for her use of the medium for social commentary. Runs 1 April – 4 June 2023.

A pair of portraits of a husband and wife are to be reunited for the first time in over a hundred years at Dorset Museum this Valentine’s Day. The Museum has taken guardianship of A Portrait of Elizabeth Bragge by Thomas Gainsborough dating to 1767. From 14 February 2023, the painting and a companion portrait of Elizabeth’s husband John Bragge will be reunited in the Museum’s Artists’ Dorset gallery.

Valentine’s Day: Dorset Museum to reunite husband and wife portraits separated for a century

Openings

Plans to open the first permanent location for the East End Women’s Museum have been pushed back as an advanced project to open its first location are cancelled. Its trustees said lease and funding complications meant its current plans would have to be cancelled. A spokesperson for the museum said the search for a new site will continue.

East End Women’s Museum cancels plans for permanent location

Funding

Urgent repairs and improvements are to be carried out over the next two years at the Science and Industry Museum, after it was recently awarded £14.2million of national capital funding by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Science and Industry Museum receives £14.2m DCMS funding for repairs