Germany: This summer's blockbuster of French 19th-century masterpieces from New York's Met at the Nationalgalerie Berlin (www.metinberlin.org ) is trialling a new queue-busting technology sponsored by Deutsche Telekom.
Visitors are handed numbers that are either flashed on a monitor outside the museum or sent to them by text message. VIP tickets providing immediate admission are sold for €30 (a €18 mark-up on the price of a regular weekend ticket).
France/Abu Dhabi: A newly-formed French Museums Agency will oversee the development of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by architect Jean Nouvel to house a "universal museum", and planned to open in 2012.
The deal is costing Abu Dhabi €950m: €400m for the use of the Louvre name; €190m for the rotating loan of 200-300 artworks over 10 years; €195m for the provision of four exhibitions per year; and €165m over 20 years for management expertise.
France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering following the British example of allowing free access to permanent collections of major national museums. Dismantling the current admission system (introduced in 1922) would cost an additional €150-200m in subsidies.
The proposal has met with lukewarm response in French museum circles, who argue that 70 per cent of French museum visitors already enjoy reduced-rate or free access.
Netherlands: More than 1,000 works from five Dutch national art collections are being offered for sale through online auction on eBay.
The works being de-accessioned have not been on display for many years or "do not fit" into the museums' permanent displays. The auction runs until October with 50 new items added each week.
See www.ebay.nl
Germany: David Chipperfield has unveiled a new design for a €73m entrance building for the five museums on Berlin's Museum Island. His first glass and steel design was rejected for clashing with the neoclassical architecture of the world heritage site.
Canada: The Libeskind-designed new wing for the Royal Ontario Museum has failed to draw in the anticipated crowds. Weekday attendances in Toronto have been between 1,500-3,500 - well-short of the 10,000 visitors a day the museum had been expecting. As a result, 29 part-time staff were recently laid off.
Finally... A woman who says she was overcome with passion for a painting by Cy Twombly on display at the Collection Lambert museum in Avignon, smudged the canvas with her lipstick, leaving a red stain. Arrested as she left the building, she described her act as a "testimony to the power of art".
Compiled by Magnus von Hausen
Seen in: artsjournal.com; Spiegel Online; BBC Online; NMDC newsletter; New York Times; Toronto Globe & Mail
Visitors are handed numbers that are either flashed on a monitor outside the museum or sent to them by text message. VIP tickets providing immediate admission are sold for €30 (a €18 mark-up on the price of a regular weekend ticket).
France/Abu Dhabi: A newly-formed French Museums Agency will oversee the development of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by architect Jean Nouvel to house a "universal museum", and planned to open in 2012.
The deal is costing Abu Dhabi €950m: €400m for the use of the Louvre name; €190m for the rotating loan of 200-300 artworks over 10 years; €195m for the provision of four exhibitions per year; and €165m over 20 years for management expertise.
France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering following the British example of allowing free access to permanent collections of major national museums. Dismantling the current admission system (introduced in 1922) would cost an additional €150-200m in subsidies.
The proposal has met with lukewarm response in French museum circles, who argue that 70 per cent of French museum visitors already enjoy reduced-rate or free access.
Netherlands: More than 1,000 works from five Dutch national art collections are being offered for sale through online auction on eBay.
The works being de-accessioned have not been on display for many years or "do not fit" into the museums' permanent displays. The auction runs until October with 50 new items added each week.
See www.ebay.nl
Germany: David Chipperfield has unveiled a new design for a €73m entrance building for the five museums on Berlin's Museum Island. His first glass and steel design was rejected for clashing with the neoclassical architecture of the world heritage site.
Canada: The Libeskind-designed new wing for the Royal Ontario Museum has failed to draw in the anticipated crowds. Weekday attendances in Toronto have been between 1,500-3,500 - well-short of the 10,000 visitors a day the museum had been expecting. As a result, 29 part-time staff were recently laid off.
Finally... A woman who says she was overcome with passion for a painting by Cy Twombly on display at the Collection Lambert museum in Avignon, smudged the canvas with her lipstick, leaving a red stain. Arrested as she left the building, she described her act as a "testimony to the power of art".
Compiled by Magnus von Hausen
Seen in: artsjournal.com; Spiegel Online; BBC Online; NMDC newsletter; New York Times; Toronto Globe & Mail
