Australia: The Collections Australia Network, which enabled small institutions to promote events online and provided information for sector volunteers, has closed. The organisation responsible for funding collection projects since the mid-1980s, the Cultural Ministers Council, is also set to shut in June.
China: Norman Foster has won the competition to design a masterplan for the $2.8bn West Kowloon cultural district in Hong Kong. The 40-hectare site will host 17 cultural venues including an opera house and the M+ museum of modern art.
Egypt: The minister of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, has resigned, saying on his website that following the uprising in January, he “cannot stay in Egypt and see antiquities being stolen when [he] cannot do anything to stop it”. He said the Egyptian army was no longer protecting heritage sites or the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Hawass said that 18 objects were stolen from the Egyptian museum, while 70 had been damaged.
Hungary: The Hungarian government has scrapped plans to redevelop Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts. The project involved creating an 8,000sq m extension underneath Heroes’ Square, where the museum is located. But the ruling party is thought to favour an extension above ground. EU funding for the €15m scheme had been secured.
Netherlands: The reopening of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has been further delayed after the main contractor, Midreth, was declared bankrupt. The project includes the refurbishment of the museum’s original 1895 building and a new wing designed by architects Benthem Crouwel.
Qatar: The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha is hosting the first major exhibition of Dutch Old Master art in the Gulf. The Golden Age of Dutch Painting: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum, which runs until 6 June, features 44 paintings by artists such as Frans Hals and Rembrandt.
US: The Museum for African Art, which will open its 7,000sq m building on New York’s Fifth Avenue this autumn, has received a $3m donation from the Ford Foundation.
Seen in the Art Newspaper, New York Times, Guardian, Wall Street Journal and www.significanceinternational.com
China: Norman Foster has won the competition to design a masterplan for the $2.8bn West Kowloon cultural district in Hong Kong. The 40-hectare site will host 17 cultural venues including an opera house and the M+ museum of modern art.
Egypt: The minister of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, has resigned, saying on his website that following the uprising in January, he “cannot stay in Egypt and see antiquities being stolen when [he] cannot do anything to stop it”. He said the Egyptian army was no longer protecting heritage sites or the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Hawass said that 18 objects were stolen from the Egyptian museum, while 70 had been damaged.
Hungary: The Hungarian government has scrapped plans to redevelop Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts. The project involved creating an 8,000sq m extension underneath Heroes’ Square, where the museum is located. But the ruling party is thought to favour an extension above ground. EU funding for the €15m scheme had been secured.
Netherlands: The reopening of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has been further delayed after the main contractor, Midreth, was declared bankrupt. The project includes the refurbishment of the museum’s original 1895 building and a new wing designed by architects Benthem Crouwel.
Qatar: The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha is hosting the first major exhibition of Dutch Old Master art in the Gulf. The Golden Age of Dutch Painting: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum, which runs until 6 June, features 44 paintings by artists such as Frans Hals and Rembrandt.
US: The Museum for African Art, which will open its 7,000sq m building on New York’s Fifth Avenue this autumn, has received a $3m donation from the Ford Foundation.
Seen in the Art Newspaper, New York Times, Guardian, Wall Street Journal and www.significanceinternational.com
