Christmas is, for many, a time of contradictions, and I feel them very much here, in the choice of dark black and bright pink. With rosy cheeks from the cold and a clutch of festive goods being hurried along in the snow …
Everyone who worked on the redevelopment of the museum is represented here. It’s a way of crediting everyone’s hard work with more than just a name on a list – and wherever they go in their careers from here onwards …
Since he died last week, and with Christmas not long away, I’ve been re-reading Benjamin Zephaniah’s famous Turkeys poem and it’s been making me smile. I can imagine him writing on his typewriter, the rhythm of the poem matched by the clacking of the keys …
How should one go about describing this painting in a gallery label? Or perhaps not even describe it but to direct visitors’ eyes, brains or emotions in a certain direction? It’s part of the skill of the curator to write this text and also the interpreter …
2,000 pieces of white porcelain formed into letters of the English alphabet, and components of Chinese characters, are suspended from the ceiling of the museum. Liu, one of China's best-known contemporary ceramic …
The yellow pigment has faded over time, leaving a white canary and blue foliage, but the subject of this painting – a young girl’s sadness at her first confrontation with death – is as clear to us as it was to viewers nearly 300 years ago …
Incongruous as it may seem in a museum about the history and heritage of this country, among the traditional art and artefacts there are also many rooms of ‘general heritage’ – tea pots and ties, kids’ bikes and tourist t-shirts …
What drama, peeking around the red curtain. A devil-like figure, once considered too controversial for the audience of its time, has resurfaced from the depths of this painting, thanks to investigative conservators. They found layers of …
What is this thing, the MET? I found it quite difficult to categorise it. Is it an arts space? Yes, but it’s also a local community centre. Is it temporary? Yes, but it is fairly hefty and can’t simply be moved on. The MET is an opportunity. Instead of finding answers to existing challenges …
Current reading of this book from 1873 provides us with a reminder to keep on seeing things afresh, to keep on learning and to keep on reinterpreting. Abbi Parcell, a PhD candidate, has been reading this book …
Designed for measuring the height of the flood waters on the River Nile each year, Ancient Egyptians used this gauge, in part, for predicting the level waters would rise further downstream. But its real function …
50 loaves of stale bread have been shaped into a head in an exhibition called Ingenuity. The artist says “He may look like a big tough chap, but he is actually quite a delicate flower. Please treat him with the love …
Officially recognised by the world record people from Guinness, this really is the biggest pencil on the planet. The museum shows how pencils are made, why they’re made in the Lake District (a ripe seam of graphite exists there) and even …
W. E. Gladstone – tried, trusted and true – peeks out of this image with his trademark grimace, amongst a bouquet of lurid flowers. Silk pictures made by Thomas Stevens of Coventry, known as Stevengraphs, became popular from the late 1870s …
In August 1990, this box was used for the ballot on East Germany’s accession to the Federal Republic of Germany. Intentionally made from glass, it symbolised a new transparency in parliamentary decision-making …
Leandro Erlich designed this ‘pool’ especially for Voorlinden. At first sight, it seems like a real swimming pool – the pool blue on the walls, the typical lamps and even a real ladder on which visitors seem to be able …
Step into the world of Igor Gazdík (1943–2006) – art historian, librarian and bibliophile – in this innovative display of books. Once housed in a block of flats, today in the gallery space, the collection offers visitors …
Each square in this patchwork quilt commemorates the life of a woman who was killed by a current or former partner – 598 of them in England and Wales between 2009 and 2015. It’s a visual representation of …
There are 375 instruments in the college’s collection of historic instruments. In addition to being heard, some of them have to be seen to be believed. This one might look like it belongs in a fairy tale with its fantastical serpent’s head …
Something magical happens when letters and the book become the raw material of art, so says the curator of temporary exhibition Alphabets Alive! Next to the carefully crafted lettersets and exacting alphabet books, I found the irregularity of print rather charming …
‘How much noise can you make with Annie’s pram?’ visitors are asked as they enter the museum. The infamous fishwife used to sell ware from her pram, making as much noise as she could …
Just think, it could have been known as a ‘snargleglow’. But as you well know, the author reached instead for the word ‘gruffalo’ – and here’s the very first time she scribbled it …
While the building is being renovated, the hands of the town hall clock have been brought down to our level and are now on display in the Central Library. Viewing them up close, is a completely different prospect …
A group of girls chatting in their school playground during a break makes for a seemingly innocent piece of textile art. But these girls are in Afghanistan, where an innocent scene like this simply can’t play out any more, since the return of the Taliban there and the barring of girls and women from formal education …
The dagger, flint arrowheads, wrist guard and ceramic pot are all trappings of burials belonging to a group of people who arrived in the British Isles somewhere around 4500 years ago. The pot – or beaker – led to them being called the ‘Beaker people’ by historians, which seems a little unfair …
Portraying something of the personality and character of the sitter is just one of the challenges facing the portrait artist. Jean Muir is described as being ‘calm in a psychedelic storm’, a symbol of understated elegance in British fashion …
