Finland: The Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki is to reopen next month following a six-month refurbishment. A retrospective of 250 works by the late US photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (13 March-13 September) will inaugurate the venue.
France: The Louvre attracted 9.3 million visitors last year, making it the world’s most visited museum. The figure represented an increase of 100,000 on 2013. Overseas visitors accounted for 70% of footfall, with large numbers from China, Brazil and the US. More than half of all visitors were under 30.
UAE: Officials at the Zayed National Museum, which is to open in Abu Dhabi in 2016, are in negotiations to borrow several hundred items from the British Museum, including a relief depicting Assyrian soldiers from 640BC. The museum, based on Saadiyat Island, is building its collection with advice from British Museum curators, who will also help organise temporary exhibitions.
US: Graham Beal is stepping down as the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts following 16 years in the post. After bankruptcy proceedings were brought against the city, Beal helped protect the institute’s collection by reaching a $100m fundraising goal for the Grand Bargain scheme to support Detroit’s pensions and permanently transfer ownership of the city-owned art to the institute.
Compiled by Gareth Harris. Seen in the Art Newspaper, France24 and Detroit News
France: The Louvre attracted 9.3 million visitors last year, making it the world’s most visited museum. The figure represented an increase of 100,000 on 2013. Overseas visitors accounted for 70% of footfall, with large numbers from China, Brazil and the US. More than half of all visitors were under 30.
UAE: Officials at the Zayed National Museum, which is to open in Abu Dhabi in 2016, are in negotiations to borrow several hundred items from the British Museum, including a relief depicting Assyrian soldiers from 640BC. The museum, based on Saadiyat Island, is building its collection with advice from British Museum curators, who will also help organise temporary exhibitions.
US: Graham Beal is stepping down as the director of the Detroit Institute of Arts following 16 years in the post. After bankruptcy proceedings were brought against the city, Beal helped protect the institute’s collection by reaching a $100m fundraising goal for the Grand Bargain scheme to support Detroit’s pensions and permanently transfer ownership of the city-owned art to the institute.
Compiled by Gareth Harris. Seen in the Art Newspaper, France24 and Detroit News
