Canada
The Exhibit Transportation Service, a state-funded programme using climate-controlled trucks to ship artworks and artefacts "at cost" to far-flung museums and galleries since the late-1970s, is being threatened by red tape forcing contract drivers to be placed on the government payroll. Curators not working in major cities are unlikely to be able to afford to switch to private carriers.
China
Admission to museums and memorial halls listed as bases for patriotism education will be free by 2009. Historical sites will continue to charge.
Denmark
The Museum of Danish Cartoon Art plans to buy the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide riots when they were published in 2005.
France
France's 34 national museums attracted a record 24 million visitors in 2007, an 8 per cent increase on 2006. This continues an upward trend since 2002, when the figure stood at 15 million.
France
The Louvre has published its masterplan for the period to 2020. Among the first projects is the creation, by 2011, of a collections centre, with state-of-the-art storage, conservation and research facilities, in the Paris region. The project, which will benefit collections stored in facilities threatened by the flooding of the Seine, is being funded from the Louvre Abu Dhabi deal.
Netherlands
The Dutch government's committee charged with evaluating claims for the restitution of Nazi-looted art has been reappointed for three years. Since it was established in 2002 it has advised on 50 of the 91 applications received. All recommendations and reports can be found at www.restitutiecommissie.nl
Russia
Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is drawing up a masterplan for re-exhibiting displays at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, starting with the Islamic and Chinese art collections.
No major building work will be carried out under the project, which will run to 2014, the museum's 250th anniversary. It will be funded by the Dutch government and a Moscow-based luxury-goods group.
US
New York collector and Metropolitan Museum of Art trustee and donor Shelby White will return nine Greek and Etruscan objects from her collections to Italy.
This is the first such agreement between Italy and a private collector on the restitution of works illicitly excavated and exported to the US. In return, Italy has agreed not to pursue 200 other objects catalogued for a 1990 exhibition of the collection at the Metropolitan.
US
The Smithsonian is being paid $178,000 for a feasibility study into the creation of a museum of the Emirates' Bedouin culture in Abu Dhabi. It would join the Louvre and Guggenheim museums on Saadiyat Island.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen.
Seen in: artsjournal.com; The Art Newspaper; culture.gouv.fr; Bloomberg.com
The Exhibit Transportation Service, a state-funded programme using climate-controlled trucks to ship artworks and artefacts "at cost" to far-flung museums and galleries since the late-1970s, is being threatened by red tape forcing contract drivers to be placed on the government payroll. Curators not working in major cities are unlikely to be able to afford to switch to private carriers.
China
Admission to museums and memorial halls listed as bases for patriotism education will be free by 2009. Historical sites will continue to charge.
Denmark
The Museum of Danish Cartoon Art plans to buy the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide riots when they were published in 2005.
France
France's 34 national museums attracted a record 24 million visitors in 2007, an 8 per cent increase on 2006. This continues an upward trend since 2002, when the figure stood at 15 million.
France
The Louvre has published its masterplan for the period to 2020. Among the first projects is the creation, by 2011, of a collections centre, with state-of-the-art storage, conservation and research facilities, in the Paris region. The project, which will benefit collections stored in facilities threatened by the flooding of the Seine, is being funded from the Louvre Abu Dhabi deal.
Netherlands
The Dutch government's committee charged with evaluating claims for the restitution of Nazi-looted art has been reappointed for three years. Since it was established in 2002 it has advised on 50 of the 91 applications received. All recommendations and reports can be found at www.restitutiecommissie.nl
Russia
Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is drawing up a masterplan for re-exhibiting displays at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, starting with the Islamic and Chinese art collections.
No major building work will be carried out under the project, which will run to 2014, the museum's 250th anniversary. It will be funded by the Dutch government and a Moscow-based luxury-goods group.
US
New York collector and Metropolitan Museum of Art trustee and donor Shelby White will return nine Greek and Etruscan objects from her collections to Italy.
This is the first such agreement between Italy and a private collector on the restitution of works illicitly excavated and exported to the US. In return, Italy has agreed not to pursue 200 other objects catalogued for a 1990 exhibition of the collection at the Metropolitan.
US
The Smithsonian is being paid $178,000 for a feasibility study into the creation of a museum of the Emirates' Bedouin culture in Abu Dhabi. It would join the Louvre and Guggenheim museums on Saadiyat Island.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen.
Seen in: artsjournal.com; The Art Newspaper; culture.gouv.fr; Bloomberg.com
