China: More than a billion people visited museums in China last year, where 20,000 exhibitions took place across 5,136 venues, according to statistics released during a meeting attended by cultural heritage administrators in January.
France: A museum dedicated to 20th-century artists Fernand Léger and André Mare will open in Argentan, Normandy, in June. The building, Léger’s childhood home, the building, has been an artist studio and project space since it was acquired by the council in 1990, will undergo a $1.5m renovation.
Germany: The government has allocated €1.9m to investigate the provenance of items that entered German collections during the colonial era. Culture minister Monika Grütters said colonial history had been a “blind spot” in Germany for many years.
UAE: Pope Francis, on a recent visit to Abu Dhabi, unveiled two acquisitions for the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum. They are a 16th-century wooden sculpture, Christ Shows His Wounds, and four pages from the ninth-century Blue Quran manuscript. US: A pop-up museum in Washington DC is showcasing 500 items of hip-hop history, including iconic album covers from the genre’s heyday. Museum founder Jeremy Beaver said: “Hip-hop is a unique and original American art form.”
Compiled by Rob Sharp. Sourced from the Art Newspaper, People’s Daily Online, Artforum, Khaleej Times and CGTN America