Archive for the ‘Museum [Insider]’ Category
Tate Modern, Tate Britain, redevelopment, rotunda, £45million
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on August 27, 2010 at 10:50 am
Not content with adding a whole new wing to Tate Modern, Tate are now planning to undertake some major redevelopment work at their Millbank site. Tate Britain isn’t exactly shabby, but they’ve identified a number of key areas where they could do with updating or revisiting how the gallery works, especially in terms of visitors.
In an article on Museum [Insider] I’ve written up the details of what’s planned. They’re spending £45million on works in different parts of the building – so this is more a joined up project with lots of little projects combined into one. 9 galleries at the south end of the building will be redeveloped – and to be honest they need doing. The rotunda and entrance will be transformed and a new education entrance created. There will also be a new cafe – of course – and terrace, to cater for the growing numbers that have been visiting Tate Britain in recent years.
Planning permission for the project is granted and work is expected to start in early 2011. Watch this space for more….
Arts and Crafts, ebook, museum fundraising, museum interpretation, Museum [Insider], redevelopment, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on August 11, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Opened in 1899, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is a magnificent example of Arts and Crafts architecture. But now, the world’s first purpose-built portrait gallery is undergoing a £17.6 million refurbishment and redevelopment. The gallery is closed to the public and is due to reopen to the public in November 2011.
Behind-the-scenes photographs and information about the development of the project – including details of the redevelopment of the building, the works in progress, fundraising and ideas about interpretation – are available in a new article on Museum [Insider] today.
This piece is going into the next version of the new Museum [Insider] ebook, the second volume of which is published in early September.
East Belfast, Eric Kuhne & Associates, Titanic, Titanic Quarter, Titanic Signature Project
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on August 6, 2010 at 9:13 am
There’s a huge development project underway in East Belfast, transforming the dock area into a £7billion leisure and accomodation zone called the Titanic Quarter. And there’s going to be a new museum – all about the Titanic – at the heart of the development.
The Titanic Signature Building will contain a world-class visitor attraction telling the story of the history of the fated ship, but also of the ship-building industry in Belfast and the seafaring folk who herald from the city. Eric Kuhne & Associates have designed the new building, which will open to the public in March 2012.
There’s an in-depth article about the Titanic Signature Building live on Museum [Insider].
e-book, Event Communications, Giants Causeway, Heneghan Peng, National Trust
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 20, 2010 at 6:40 am
At long last, works are commencing on the visitor centre at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. The project has taken an age to get off the ground after the previous structure on the site burned down in 2000. The National Trust is now spending £18.5 million on the new centre, designed by architects Henghan Peng and with interpretation by Event Communications.
I’ve been watching this story for a while, since visiting the site a few years back. There’s a piece about the new visitor centre live on Museum [Insider]. This will also be one of the chapter’s in the forthcoming e-book about museum and heritage development project, which we’ll be officially announcing next week.
Causeway Museum Service, Colearine, Coleraine Borough Council, Market Yard, museum, museum without walls, Museum [Insider] e-book
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 12, 2010 at 6:19 pm
The Causeway Museum Service in Northern Ireland has been operating very succesfully for year without one key element – a building. The service provides temporary exhibition content and outreach projects for a variety of venues but has, hitherto, not had a place it can call home.
That’s all about to change with the requsitioning by Coleraine Borough Council of the old Market Yard, an abandoned market place in the centre of the town. It will be redeveloped and a new museum placed in the centre, revitalising the town and bringing the story of the area to life in a permanent display. There will also be temporary exhibition areas and a community space where locals can get involved.
I’ve spent the last year or so looking at museum development projects, but this is perhaps one of the most ingenious I’ve seen, given that it turns the audience engagement model on its head. Rather than creating a huge building and then spending a lot of time effort and money on getting people in to see objects, Causeway have found the people already, engaged them successfullu and are now going to use that good will to bid to the HLF for money to complete a building for them. There’s a piece all about it – including an itnerview with the designers HKD – on Museum [Insider].
This is one of the pieces that will be going into the new Museum [Insider] e-book, coming out shortly. It’s a review of some of the projects I’ve written about in the last 18 months for the online magazine. It’s being edited right now – we’re digging around again on some of the older stories to bring them right up to date. The collection of articles – plus new material, exclusive to the book – will be issued for sale in about a month. Much more to come on that in the near future.
HMS Victory, Mary Rose, Mary Rose Trust, new museum, Portsmouth, Vasa Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 9, 2010 at 7:46 am
Do you remember the Mary Rose being raised out of the water in the 1980s? It’s taken the conservators at the Mary Rose Trust quite a while to get their heads around exactly how to treat and preserve the wooden hull of the ship, which had lain undisturbed for over 500 years, and what sort of structure they want to keep it in on a long-term basis.
But now work is underway at the site in Portsmouth, near the HMS Victory, where the Mary Rose will reside in a purpose-built museum. They’re still working on the hull, spraying it almost continually with chemicals to prevent it from cracking. Once it’s installed in the new museum – shaped like a boat – it’ll need to be dried out very slowly, over a period of years, and should be completely ready by 2016. The museum opens before that though.
It’s reminiscent of the excellent Vasa Museum in Stockholm, one of my favourite museums in the world, where visitors can get up close and personal with the ship on display there and also learn about the lives of the people who lived and worked on board.
There’s a new article about the Mary Rose on Museum [Insider]. This is one of the articles that will be making it into Museum [Insider]‘s first e-book, penned by yours truly, which we’re expecting to launch in about a month. Plenty more coming on that soon…
Canterbury, Canterbury Beaney, Dr James George Beaney, FutureBeaney
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on June 22, 2010 at 9:18 am
The Canterbury what?
The Beaney Institute in Canterbury (named after its benefactor Dr James George Beaney) has had a museum at its town centre site for around 100 years. It’s about to have a major overhaul, to bring the building and museum up to date. In addition to an extended library and building conservation they are also adding an additional wing, full of lovley new gallery spaces.
There’s more about their project on the FutureBeaney website. And, as always, there’s an article about it on Museum [Insider] by yours truly.
architects, Battrle of Bannockburn, interpretation, landscaping, National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Heritage
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on June 3, 2010 at 3:58 pm
The Scots are getting ready to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) in a few years. The two organisations which look after the battlefield (Scottish Heritage and the National Trust for Scotland) have combined forces on a project which will see the site reinterpreted for the public by the time of the anniversary.
The onsite heritage centre will be redeveloped, along with landscaping work in the area, conservation of key battlefield sites and new signage for the whole place. Architecture, lanscaping and interpretation contracts are all out to tender at the moment, but there’s a full review of the plans live in an article about Bannockburn on Museum [Insider]
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on May 24, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) are hard at work on their new public galleries. The project – which is costing nearly £10 million – will see an overhaul of their existing building and the creation of new gallery spaces, telling the story of the history of Birmingham.
It’s a similar project to the one taking place at the Museum of Bristol, which also seeks to tell the story of the history of the city. I worked with the Bristol team recently on the text that will sit alongside the interpretation of their story and I wonder if I should perhaps see if BMAG are interested in finding out more about museum text in a similar way.
In the meantime, there’s an article all about the developments at BMAG on Museum [Insider].
application, bid, English Heritage, Heritage Lottery Fund, planning, Wrest Park
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on May 1, 2010 at 10:02 am
Wrest Park in Bedfordshire has submitted plans to the Heritage Lottery Fund for consideration which will see the site undergo a major upgrade of the visitor experience.
The English Heritage site – consisting of a Grade 1 listed stately home and outstanding historic gardens – is a recent acquisition for the charity and needs plenty of attention.
There’s detail about what they’re planning in an article live on Museum [Insider].
Heritage Lottery Fund, Museum [Insider], Preston Hall Museum, Stockton-on-Tees
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 26, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Preston Hall Museum in Stockton-on-Tees has been awarded £7 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a major redevelopment project. And they’ve been quick off the mark, spending plenty of their cash on new and exciting things. The museum’s site is home to a street of Victorian shops, which have been preserved as a living history centre and these are already being redisplayed. There’ll be loads more happening on site this summer – the final reopening of the museum will be in 2012.
If you want to know more, there’s a piece on Museum [Insider] today.
And on the theme of M[I], there’s exciting news afoot. Can’t say much about it now, but I’m working on a new project with them that’s going to be brilliant. More to follow soon …
Heritage Lottery Fund, National History Museum, National Museums Wales, St Fagans, Wales
In Museum [Insider], new content on April 14, 2010 at 11:25 am
There’s been plenty of debate about whether the UK should have a museum of national history. Loads of other countries have a national history museum and some people think it’s we had one too. The thing is we have a national art collection and we have the British Museum (which isn’t really about Britain) and we have museums of specific chunks of British history. So perhaps we don’t really need one? The jury’s still out on this one.
But it looks like Wales might get one. St Fagans is the most popular museum in Wales with over 600,000 visitors a year. An outdoor museum of Welsh built and cultural heritage, it’s almost a village dedicated to Welsh-ness. Under the umbrella of National Museums Wales (who run the big museums in Cardiff and Swansea, among other places) they have submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £20million to overhaul the place and to turn it into the National Museum of Wales.
They’ll hear back on their funding application in due course, but if you’d like to follow the story I wrote an article about the project for Museum [Insider].
fourth plinth, National Trust, Seaton Deleval Hall, Trafalgar Square
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 8, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Until about a week ago I hadn’t really heard of Seaton Deleval Hall, never mind knowing how to pronounce it! It’s another glorious architectural gem in Northumberland – one of the finest examples of the English Baroque. The country house and extensive grounds and parklands were saved for the nation a few years ago and have now passed into the hands of the National Trust.
There’s a new piece about the plans for the site on Museum [Insider]. What impressed me most about the project is the Trust’s recent, and ongoing, consultation with members of the public about what they’d like to see at Seaton. While parts of the hall will be displayed in the traditional National Trust style with historic rooms finely decorated with furniture and antiques – what I call ‘manor manner’ – some of the property is to be used in a different way.
The central hall at Seaton was ruined years ago by fire and is now a unique open space in the middle of the building complex. The idea is not to conserve the space back to how it looked in the 18th century, but to allow local artists and community groups to suggest what they might like to do in there. A music concert, an art exhibition, a meeting space. The Trust liken the project to the fourth plinth idea in Trafalgar Square where different artists are asked to respond to the space in different ways. Great thinking National Trust – we’ll look forward to finding out more about how the space is being used.
Bletchley Park Trust, Enchanted Palace, Heritage Lottery Fund, Heritage Trends, Kensington Palace, Museum [Insider], Project Tracker
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 27, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I’ve had two new pieces published on Museum [Insider] in the last week or so.
The first is about the Bletchley Park Trust, who are at the start of a major redevelopment of the visitor experience at their site after receiving development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The money is there to help them develop plans and submit a full HLF bid in the next two years. The article describes their plans and outlines the funding news on the project. There are also some contracts up for grabs at the moment, which M[I] subscribers can see using the Project Tracker tool.
The other article is a commentary piece about cross-cultural collaboration, inspired by a recent visit to the newly opened Enchanted Palace exhibition at Kensington Palace. They’ve achieved wonderful things there and created a very special exhibition through working in collaboration with a theatre company and group of fashion designers. The piece calls for more of this kind of collaboration. Working with unlikely partners can yield fantastic results.
The commentary piece is the first in a new stream of articles I’ll be writing for M[I] about heritage trends. I’ve got my own column – and there’s a picture of me on the homepage. Very exciting!
Hadrian's Wall, Hadrian's Wall Heritage Limited, HLF, Romans
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 12, 2010 at 3:33 pm
There’s a new museum telling the story of the Romans in northern Britain in the planning in Cumbria .
It’s at Maryport, at the idyllic end of Hadrian’s Wall – the famous Roman frontier zone in the north of England. Overlooking the sea there is a spot called Camp Farm which, until recently, has been in private hands. But thanks to the clever folks at Hadrians’ Wall Heritage Limited – an independent organisation which seeks to cultivate contacts and collaboration along the wall – 150 acres of land have been purchased and are to be turned into a new museum.
The project has support to take it through to a formal HLF funding bid, which is sure to succeed. Details of the plans and the project are in a new article by yours truly on Museum [Insider].
I’ve had a bit of a break from writing articles for M[I], whilst I’ve been working on other projects, but we’re back on form now. Expect more to come out soon.
Enchanted Palace, Historic Royal Palaces, Kensington Palace, Prince Charles
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on February 3, 2010 at 8:42 am
There’s a huge redevelopment project taking place at Kensington Palace - I wrote about it last year for Museum [Insider]. After getting a green light from project planners, the work is now underway. But the project received a minor setback when one part of the plans was rejected by the local authority. There’s a new piece on MI now with an update about the ongoing controversy and Prince Charles’s involvement in the project.
I’ve also been invited to the press view of the new exhibition at Kensington Palace in March. It’s called Enchanted Palace and it looks like it’s going to be just brilliant. Full report to follow….
conservation, Cutty Sark, fire
In Museum [Insider], new content on January 23, 2010 at 1:28 pm
There’s a new piece on Museum [Insider] about the ongoing conservation project at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. The ship was already closed for major conservation work when it was ravaged by a fire in 2007. Fortunately, the majority of the wooden mateirals were off site in a conservation lab at the time, so they weren’t damaged. After reinforcing the iron hull and reintroducing the boards and planks – and a major overhaul of many other aspects of the ship – it will re-open to visitors sometime in 2011.
We all look forward to a trip down to Greenwich to investigate.
National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, Royal Naval Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on January 18, 2010 at 2:53 pm
The Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth (recently rebranded as part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy) is planning to rework their displays about the modern Navy. The twentieth century galleries will be brought right up to date in 700 square metres of exhibition space. They are in the process of appointing a design company to work on the concept and future tenders about the build will be out in due course.
There’s an article about the background to the project live now on Museum [Insider].
Bodleian, New Bodleian, Swindon, University of Oxford
In Museum [Insider], new content on November 2, 2009 at 3:09 pm
The New Bodleian Library, part of the University of Oxford, isn’t that new. But it’s about to have a revamp. They are in the process of reworking the buildings which holds the special collections of the library – it’s going to be beautiful when it’s done.
And the sheer number of books being added to the giant collections of the Bodleian means they’re very nearly out of space in the city centre. So the University is building a high-density storage facility just outside Swindon – not too far away, so that books can be ferried back to the academic reading rooms pretty swiftly.
There’s a piece about the redevelopment of the Bodleian live now on Museum [Insider].
Design Museum, local authority, Museum [Insider], planning permission, relocation
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on October 26, 2009 at 11:07 am
I’ve been writing quite a few pieces for the online magazine Museum [Insider]. The articles are usually about huge development projects taking place in the heritage sector – often around the construction or renovation of museum buildings. Museum [Insider] tries to get the inside word on what’s going on and give its readers an edge in the competitive world of tenders and contracts.
Some trends have started to become apparent in the way in which some of these projects are managed. Something that has struck me of late is the way many ambitious building projects don’t get planning permission approved when they are first submitted to their local authority. Someone always comes along and voices opposition to the scheme. But after a small redesign and resubmission, the plans often get waved through.
It’s happened quite a few times on various different projects. I’ve picked it up and explained my theory on how it happens in the most recent article about the plans behind the relocation of the Design Museum’s headquarters.
A344, English Heritage, National Trust, Stonehenge, Wiltshire Council
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on October 15, 2009 at 11:05 am
In many ways, I don’t want to get started on Stonehenge. It’s been a long, hard struggle for the many organisations involved, but after nearly twenty years of wrangling and non-decision making it looks like English Heritage and their partner organisations (such as the National Trust) are ready to move forward with Stonehenge.
Years ago, it was agreed by the many stakeholders that the A344 road should not pass so closely to the stones for reasons of conservation. It’s been a long time in the planning, but everyone has now agreed that the road will be moved and how visitors will interact with the stones there. Plans submitted to Wiltshire Council now indicate a bespoke visitor centre, set into the hillside, 1.5 miles from the stone circle. There visitors will be able to learn about the historic landscape in which Stonehenge sits – it’s huge and stretches for miles – and then get into road trains which take them up to the stones.
The reason it’s taken so long os that there have been so many people involved in the decision-making process. Plus, with changing governments who see it as more or less of a priority than their predecessors, it’s been difficult to get any real leadership.
Everyone is now hoping that the plans are passed by Wiltshire Council. They will, of course, be undertaking their own consultation on the plans. But if they get the go-ahead, the visitor centre could be open in time for the Olympics.
There’s a piece analysing the plans and giving more context to the Stonehenge debacle on Museum [Insider].
arts quarter, Great Yarmouth, St Geroge's Chapel, theatre
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on October 1, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Great Yarmouth is working on a really exciting project to turn a listed, but ignored, church building in the town centre into the hub of a new cultural quarter. It’s going to be turned into a theatre space, which will hopefully attract visiting production companies. They have big money for it, and big aims too. They also intend to renovate other lsited buildings in the area and get loads of arts organisations to move in.
Exciting times. There’s an article about the renovation of St George’s Chapel on Museum [Insider].
In Museum [Insider], Museums, happiness, new content on September 30, 2009 at 1:01 pm
So, it’s six months today since I left full-time employment and went it alone as a freelance writer. What have I achieved and what will the next six months have in store?
I’ve realised that I know a lot of things now I didn’t know in April. And they aren’t things I necessarily expected to learn as I went along. That’s what’s been so much fun about this lifestyle I’ve chosen for myself – things change, work (paid and unpaid) comes along and networking is still as important as ever. And the nature of writing for the web is continually evolving as well – new technologies and tools come along. I didn’t even know what twitter was six months ago!
The great thing about publishing quite a lot of online material is that I’ve been able to see the results of my work pretty much instantly, and I’ve also been able to solicit feedback from others about what I’ve been writing. Other projects are yet to be published, but will come into the public domain in the next few months.
A quick summary of my first six months as a real writer:
I co-authored the content for the British Museum’s new multimedia guide (like an audio guide but with pictures, video and interactive games). I also wrote an audio-described tour of the Parthenon galleries at the BM for visually impaired visitors. Both of these will go live in December 2009.
For the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, I’m writing a new audio tour for the entire museum. That’s a work-in-progress at the moment, but I need to move fast on it as it opens to the public in late November 2009.
A lot of web articles have appeared all over the place. I wrote 23 features articles for Museum [Insider], the online magazine for suppliers to the heritage sector in the UK. There were also 14 new articles for Dulwich OnView, an online magazine about life in and around south London. And using this website as a promotions tool, I’ve created exactly 100 posts – the latest one just this morning.
There were a few random pieces of work as well. I’ve written content for a local film-maker’s website; edited text for the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery website; scribed some pieces for an international travel blog; chaired a strategic direction workshop for Kingswood House and even edited an academic conference paper on the nature of discipleship amongst the evangelical Christian movement in the UK!
I continued work on my ongoing research project into the nature of happiness and what it means to us today. It’s had to take a bit of a back seat for the moment while I focus on paid work, but the idea is to start firing a book proposal off to publishers in the near future. My research notes find their way on to this website every so often.
Up next, I’m going to be doing some consultancy for a large heritage venue in London – secret as yet, but news coming soon. I’ll be soliciting responses from their visitors about ideas for potential future exhibitions. The regular pieces for M[I] and DOV will continue as well as some happiness research and there’s some more audio writing in the pipeline. And I’m going to teach a workshop on online wrting for a local school.
What will the next six months yield? Will I have a book deal? Will more people read me?
Who knows, but I’m certainly having a ball right now.
Henry W Pollard and Sons, Museum of Somerset, Taunton Castle
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on September 24, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Building works are well underway at Taunton Castle, where the Museum of Somerset will find it’s new home in early 2011.
They’re using a local builder called Henry W Pollard and Sons. While working on the project, renovating the Great Hall, buolding workers discovered a piece of graffiti from the last time the building was tended to in 1934. It turns out, Pollard was the contractor then as well, so the firm is now looking back into its archives to see if they can identify who it was. What will they find on the site in another hundred years, I wonder.
There’s a piece about the development project at the Museum of Somerset and deails of the architects, designers and contracts coming up there on Museum [Insider].
new museum, Southampton, Titanic
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on September 13, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Southampton City Council are to build a new museum on the site of their present magistrates court and police station which will tell the story of the city’s maritime and naval history. But rather than dwelling on the comings and goings of ships and boats over the centuries, the story will be dominated by the ill-fated ship, Titanic. Many of the souls lost at sea on the ship were staff and crew members from Southampton, a fact sometimes overlooked when interpreting the story. A similar exhibition, with private money, is also being planned in Belfast, where the ship was built.
There’s a piece about the planned museum and news of who’s working on the project on Museum [Insider].
Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Repetory Theatre, brown roof, Library of Birmingham
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on September 10, 2009 at 8:39 am
I published an article about Birmingham’s new library, set to open in 2013. It’s going to be huge – utterly enormous.
Set on Centenary Square in the middle of the city – the site of much regeneration work of late – the new nine-storey library will share a building with the Birmingham Repetory Theatre. There’ll be an amphitheare out the front and the top of the building is a ‘brown roof’ which means it’s covered in plenty of living things to attract other living things to live there.
If it gets the go-ahead from Birmingham City Council (it should do – they are the client after all) it will become the second most expensive heritage building project in the country, next to Tate Modern’s extension. If it all goes ahead, I’d even consider a trip to Birmingham to have a nosy!
British Film Institute, Inglorious Basterds, national Film Collection, nitrate-based film, Quentin Tarantino
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on September 3, 2009 at 10:27 am
The British Film Institute is building a new film storage facility to house the National Film Collection. It’s a high-tech building keeping the nitrate-based film at low temperatures and humidity.
If you’ve seen the movie Inglorious Basterds (saw it yesterday and very much enjoyed it, despite Quentin Tarantino’s messing with history) then you’ll know that the film is highly combustable – some of the characters conspire to blow up a cinema full of Nazis by setting fire to a pile of nitrate film.
There’s a piece about the companies involved in the archive building project on Museum [Insider].
Heritage Lottery Fund, Hugh Broughton, Maidstone Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on August 26, 2009 at 8:50 am
You might not think it, but Maidstone is a hotbed of cultural funding.
The town has had 53 grants to date from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which have seen over £8.4 million invested there. And now they are asking for more, for a huge redevelopment of Maidstone Museum. Fair play to them, I say – the money is there for the taking (after a long and complicated application process) so good luck to them.
The designs look great – the usual swathes of glass and steel, but sensitively balanced with the charming exisiting red brick building. and they plan to uncover previously unseen Tudor walls inside the building. It’s all been designed by Hugh Broughton architects, who are a small, but award-winning practice.
They are due to hear back from the HLF in September about their current application, which is detailed in my recent article on Museum [Insider].
new exhibition galleries, triforium, visitor experience, Westminster Abbey
In Museum [Insider], new content on August 17, 2009 at 1:01 pm
There’s a large piece of consultation going on at the moment about proposed plans for an overhaul of the visitor experience at Westminster Abbey. They’re planning to update the visitor facilities and overhaul their education service (like everyone else does).
But there are also exciting ideas around about new exhibition galleries high up in the building, in a presently unused area called the triforium. And they’re even thinking about adding a domed top to the building which, they say, isn’t techincally finished yet.
As always, there’s a piece all about these plans on Museum [Insider].
British Museum, UAE, Zayed National MUseum, Sheikh Zayed, Louvre, Guggenheim, Bedford Museum, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 28, 2009 at 10:33 am
News broke this weekend that the British Museum is to work on a new museum for the United Arab Emirates. Saadiyat Island, a natural island along the coast of Abu Dhabi, will be home to the new Zayed National Museum, which will reflect the life and achievements of Sheikh Zayed (1918-2004) – a major player in the establishment of the federated UAE.
Unlike the Louvre and Guggenheim projects currently underway on the island, this will not be an outpost of the British Museum, rather a partnership project delivered in conjunction with the museum. The BM is acting in an advisory role as a consultant. There’s an article about the new Zayed National Museum on Museum [Insider].
I also had a piece published there last week about the work taking place in Bedford City centre as they begin an HLF-phase 1 project to link Bedford Museum with its neighbour the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery.
Arnolfini Gallery, Banksy, Bristol, Museum of Bristol, SS Great Britain
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 20, 2009 at 9:09 am
Hot on the tail of their Banksy exhibition promotions, the council-run museum service in Bristol is now set to open their new flagship Museum of Bristol in 2011. It’s housed in a reconditioned harbourside building in the emerging arts quarter of the city, not far from the SS Great Britain and the Arnolfini Gallery.
Read all about the plans and see lovely pictures of what’s going to be going on inside the build on Museum [Insider].
ACE, AIM, DCMS, heritage sector, HLF, Museum sector
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on July 8, 2009 at 10:59 am
The professional museum sector in the UK is a baffling place. There are so many organisations working at strategic and managerial levels across the museum and heritage one may quite legitimately suggest that, while there is certainly a lot of broth, there are perhaps a few too many cooks.
One might ask how many quangos, directives, strategic reviews and government agencies do we need to run a succesful arts sector.
I’ve worked in the museum sector since 2001 and have, over that time, now built up a reasonable knowledge of who does what at a strategic level in the UK. But as a supplier to the sector it must be very confusing to see all these organisations out there. Do you know your AIM from your ACE. Or your DCMS from your HLF?
I wrote a piece recently for Museum [Insider] which reviews the top organisations (and their many acronyms) and provides an overview of who’s who.
conservation, restoration, Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland
In Museum [Insider], new content on July 6, 2009 at 10:45 am
Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland is presently undergoing a major piece of restoration work. They’ve not only decided to revisit the stonework of this charming building (built 1446), but also to make it fit for the future by conserving the building, reworking the roof and other facilities on site. And there’s going to be a brand new all-singing, all-dancing visitor centre there too. There’s more in a recent piece on Museum [Insider], as per norm.
2015, Science Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on June 18, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The Science Museum is 100 years old this week. Big news.
What’s bigger news is that they’ve just unveiled their plans for what the museum is going to look like in 2015. It’s a huge project which basically involves sticking lumps on the existing building. There’s going to be a domed blob protruding out the front of the building, through the glass, and a huge golden inverted take-out tray on the roof for a new gallery about Space. The whole thing opens in 2015, so there are, doubtless, plenty of jobs coming up there in the next few years.
Take a look at the images of the what the build will look like and read about it on Museum [Insider].
Anna Cutler, Gillian Wilson, Tate Modern, TM2
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on June 10, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I wrote a piece a few months ago about the proposed developments at the back of Tate Modern. Turns out Tate got planning permission for the new extension which will rise eleven storeys high from the back of the existing building.
I went back to Tate Modern last week to interview Anna Cutler (Head of Learning) and Gillian Wilson (Curator of Interpretation) about what they’re up to now. We chatted about the content planned for TM2 and the interpretive thinking about their audiences that’s going into the project. Their plans sound really exciting – there’ll be a wider variety of interpretive devices in the TM2 – something for everyone.
The resulting article is live on Museum [Insider] now.
Commonwealth Institute, Design Museum, Kensington, relocation
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on June 4, 2009 at 8:25 am
There are plenty of rumours around at the moment about the Design Museum and their potential change of venue in the not too distant future. But who knows what’s fact and what’s merely flotsam and jetsam on the museum industry drinks circuit?
Gossip ferret here had a little look around and wrote a piece about the potential move to the former home of the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington for Museum [Insider].
National Railway Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on May 26, 2009 at 8:16 am
The National Railway Museum (York) opened in the 1970s and hasn’t really had much of an overhaul since. The great hall, the central exhibition space where the huge exhibits are stored, is due to have a revamp soon. HLF have awarded them £200,000 to firm up their proposals, but it’s thought the full project will cost in the region of £20m. There’s a piece about it on Museum [Insider].
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art
In Museum [Insider], new content on May 18, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Glasgow School of Art is set not only to revisit its main building (designed by the youthful Charles Rennie Mackintosh) but also to create a new wing over the road. There’s been an astonishing response to the call for architectural practices interested in working on the project – over 150 companies applied. There’s an article all about it on Museum [Insider]: Mackintosh’s Glasgow Gem Expands.
British Museum, First Emperor, Hadrian
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on May 7, 2009 at 7:31 am
My old stomping ground, the British Museum, are set to open a brand new wing in 2012. It’s going to house their new state-of-the-art research and collections management centre, plus a new puspose-built exhibition suite. That means they’ll be able to move out of the Reading Room and return it back to a library, which will please many. The BM has proven in recent years that it is just as capable of putting on blockbusters as the National Gallery and Tate, and that they need a space large and well-serviced enough to do just that. First Emperor and Hadrian were such huge successes and it’ll be great to see them build on that.
As ever, I’ve written a piece about it for Museum Insider. Take a look if you’d like to know more.
Glasgow Guggenheim, Kelvingrove, Riverside Museum, Zaha Hadid
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on May 2, 2009 at 10:07 am
Turns out Glasgow is having even more investment pumped into its arts scene. After the huge success of Kelvingrove, the old museum of transport is now being transformed into the Riverside Museum. Heralded as the ‘Glasgow Guggenheim’ - because of the striking design of the building (Zaha Hadid) – it will open to the public in 2011.
I’ve had a bit of a root around for some info and there’s a piece now live about it on Museum [Insider].
Catherine Parr, Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII, Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 21, 2009 at 8:01 am
Had a grand day out last week at Hampton Court Palace, nosing around their new Henry VIII display. 2009 is the 500th anniversary of Hennry’s accession to the throne and as such they are theming the year’s programming around him. The palace is set up as if it were his wedding day (wife no. 6, Catherine Parr). Visitors are invited to the wedding party and costumed actors are parading around the place the whole day. Great fun.
Whilst there, I also interviewed someone from Historic Royal Palaces about the planned redevelopment of the visitor experience and interpretation at Kensington Palace, due to open in 2012. The first tranche of work is focussed on Queen Victoria, who spent her early years at Kensington before she became queen.
There’s a piece on Museum [Insider] with some exclusive details about what they’re planning.
museum, Southend-on-Sea
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 16, 2009 at 11:20 am
It looks like Southend-on-Sea is to close its museum and art gallery and roll them into one shiny, new arts venue right by the seafront. The plans look pretty exciting and they’re certainly enthusiastic about it in the town.
Here’s a new piece about it on Museum [Insider].
ceramics, V&A
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on April 9, 2009 at 2:23 pm
The ceramics galleries at the V&A have been closed for a while for a major redevelopment. The new galleries are going to be completed in two phases, with the first suite set to open in September 09. They promise to be stunning.
I’ve written a piece about them which went live on
Museum [Insider] today.
Tate Modern
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 31, 2009 at 2:22 pm
It’s almost as if the Tate brand can’t stop expanding. St Ives, Liverpool, Tate Modern. Now planning proposals are in to build a huge extension on the back of the Bankside site, to create vast new public spaces and areas for display. As ever, I’ve written a piece about it on Museum [Insider].
Dundee, V&A
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 27, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The V&A in London is perhaps going to follow suit with other national museums and open a branch in the provinces. Tate went to Liverpool and St Ives; the Imperial War Museum went to Manchester; and the National Maritime Museum went to Falmouth.
Now the national museum of art and design is considering opening a branch in Dundee. The proposed idea is wouldn’t be owned by the V&A, but it would take blockbuster exhibitions from there and show them to a Scottish audience.
Plans also propose close collaboration with local artists and universities, with artist in residence schemes planned to run continuously. It’d be a great addition to the Scottish arts scene.
There’s a new piece about it on Museum [Insider].
Barbara Hepworth, Hepworth Wakefield
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 21, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Wakefield is to get a new multi-million pound art gallery devoted to the work of iconic British sculptor Barbara Hepworth. I wrote a piece about the development and what we can expect there for Museum [Insider].
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on March 6, 2009 at 1:06 pm
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was the first ever public museum (opened 1683). It’s had a long and prestigious career. But the current building is not fit for purpose in the 21st century, so they’ve decided to give it a face lift. From the outside it will look pretty much the same, but the interior is in the process of being extensively overhauled, including the interpretation.
Here’s an article I wrote about the transformation of the museum for Museum [Insider].
Edinburgh, Museum of Scotland, Royal Museum
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on February 25, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I was in Edinburgh at the end of last year and visited a few of the museums there. The Museum of Scotland is a wonderful place, recently redeveloped with a new interpretation strategy and a great display technique involving placing star objects in the middle of open spaces and forcing people to look at them.
Next door is the Royal Museum, currently under development itself. I’ve written a piece about the planned changes to the building for Museum [Insider]. There’s also a short film of what the new building will look like. I look forward to going back and seeing what’s happened.
Dulwich Picture Gallery
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on February 16, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Here’s a piece published today on Museum [Insider] about forthcoming plans at my local, favourite museum Dulwich Picture Gallery.
The Gallery will celebrate its bicentenary in 2011 and there’s news here of how they intend to celebrate with an ingenious exhibition idea – borrowing twelve masterpieces from other art galleries around the globe and displaying them in the enfillade, one a month. So, you have to go back twleve times in one year to see them all. Good idea.
Here’s the piece.
Museum [Insider], Robert Burns
In Museum [Insider], Museums, new content on February 5, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I’ve just started writing articles for the new online magazine Museum [Insider]. The aim is to provide online information for suppliers to the museum and heritage industry about what’s going on inside our nation’s museums. From tenders and contracts to features articles and inside news, the idea is to give access to news about developments in museums to those in the private sector. Anyone can read the bulk of the content on the site for free, but only those paying for the subscription service get access to the juiciest details.
My first piece about the developments at the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum has just gone live on the site.
