To mark the BBC's #MuseumPassion campaign and the recent announcement of the Art Fund's Museum of the Year winners, we go 'behind the scenes at the museum' with Dinah Casson as she reflects on the challenges faced by museums and the future of exhibitions, post-Covid-19...
Curatorial research must be at the heart of the museum, not carried out in isolation, but integrated with the museum’s public outputs and its long-term development. Research should not be seen as a luxury addition to the activity of the museum, but instead part of its core work, informing (and being informed by) the plans and priorities of the museum for which it is conducted. A commitment to creating opportunities for research in a wide range of disciplines can only enhance the museum’s strength as a relevant and active institution. Managing an active research programme, supporting staff research plans, and providing staff with time and resources to continue their research activities and develop their expertise are vital to this.
The National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) opened on the 27th March 2019 in Doha, Qatar. The now famous building designed by Jean Nouvel and inspired by the desert rose crystalline formation found in Qatar’s deserts belongs to the spectacular architecture trend led by architects such as Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid. This trend blossomed during the first two decades of the twenty-first century in particular in China and the Arabian Gulf, as discussed in my book, The Global Spectacular: Contemporary Museum Architecture in China and the Arabian Peninsula(Lund Humphries 2018).
Earlier last month we published The Global Spectacular: Contemporary Museum Architecture in China and the Arabian Peninsula by Karen Exell, Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Qatar. The book provides,...
Had enough of the great British heat wave already? Cool off at one of this summer’s great British art shows… Like Wimbledon and the Proms, the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, now in its 245th year, has long since gained the status of a British institution. Which is not to say that all of the 1000 plus […]