NEWS IN BRIEF - MUSEUMS, GALLERIES AND HERITAGE NEWS
By Culture24 Staff
17/11/2008
Welcome to the 24 Hour Museum news in brief page for the week ending November 23 2008. This page is updated every week day.
21.11.2008 - National Gallery to hold major Picasso exhibition in the spring
The National Gallery is to hold its first ever exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso in spring 2009, revealing how the greatest artist of the 20th century pitted himself against the great European painting tradition.
Picasso: Challenging the Past will feature over 60 of the artist’s major works and focus on the enduring themes of European art history and his own career, with sections on the self portrait, characters and types, the nude, still life, models and muses and the artist’s later ‘variations’.
Every major period of Picasso’s work will be represented with loans from the major public and private collections of Europe and North America.
Picasso: Challenging the Past runs from February 25 – June 7 2009.
21.11.2008 - Rotherwas Ribbon Dates Back To The Bronze Age
Experts have confirmed that the Rotherwas Ribbon in Herefordshire dates back to the Bronze Age.
Archaeologist Dr Keith Ray estimates that the ribbon was still in use between 2100 and 1900Bc.
Further investigations have also found that the ribbon was resurfaced by Neolithic road builders in the third millennium BC.
Local campaigners have dubbed the ribbon Hereford's Stonehenge and were gutted when the council made the decision build a modern road over part of the ribbon.
Campaign director Bob Clay said: “Sadly the campaign has gone dormant following the council's decision to proceed with the road that now covers one end of the ribbon. It has taken the council over a year to agree with English Heritage that there needs to be geo physical work at the site to find out the extent of the ribbon.
“A lot of people were so gutted when the decision was made to build over the ribbon.”
20.11.2008 - Victorian Society organises pub Ccawl
A historic pub-crawl lead by the Victorian Society will be taking place on December 1, 2008.
The guided tour will explore some of the city’s great Victorian banks that have been converted into pubs.
Geoff Brandwood will lead the tour around four pubs, two near the Royal Courts of Justice and two more near Bank and the evening promises to be an evening of good beer, good conversation and good company.
Tickets are £10 and to book your place go to www.victoriansociety.org.uk and follow the links to the events page.
20.11.2008 - Science Museum announces special lates
The Science Museum is offering a fun opportunity for adults to explore the museum at night and enjoy a drink with friends once a month throughout 2009.
The next Science Museum Late will be on January 28 between 6.30 and 10, entry is free and there is no need to book.
Visitors recently enjoyed the first ever Late when they had the chance to build their own robot and had a go on the interactive gallery Launchpad.
The money will go towards Surfers Against Sewage who in return will donate an eco surfboard to the museum for their collection.
The appeal has already raised £250 and the new surfboard will go into the ‘Art History of Britain’s surfing display next year to highlight the work that SAS does in protecting beaches waterways and seas.
You can send donations securely online via PayPal to - thesurfingmuseum@btinternet.com and you can post cheques or Postal Orders (no cash) to - The Surfing Museum Ltd, c/o Seaside Cottage, 69 St George's Road, Brighton BN2 1EF.
19.11.2008 - Towcester volunteers forge ahead with museum plans despite funding disappointment
Volunteers are planning to go ahead with ambitious plans to open a museum in Towcester despite failing to gain Heritage Lottery fund backing.
Last month the volunteers were told that their five year bid for funding had been turned down after despite being given the go-ahead by South Northants council to convert a 17th Century stable block into a museum.
The Towcestor Museum Trust was hoping for £850,000 to get the museum started but is now drawing up an action plan to raise the money locally.
The Trust hopes to have the museum open next year and will be displaying a range of artefacts from pre-Roman times to the present day.
18.11.2008 - Free entry to 'Late at Tate' for Liverpool Biennial
The last ‘Late at Tate’ event of 2008 at Tate Liverpool will be taking place on November 27 and will act as the gallery’s unofficial closing ceremony to the Liverpool Biennial.
The gallery is offering one off free access to the Made Up exhibition and audiovisual event Nelco’s AV Social will be animating the gallery’s foyer between 18.00-21.00.
A special ‘In Conversation’ event with Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie and New York based Adam Cvijanovic, chaired by Simon Grant, Editor of Tate Etc Magazine will take place between 18.00–19.30.
To book tickets for ‘In Conversation’ contact Tate Liverpool on 0151 702 7400.
Nautical archaeologists and enthusiasts are invited to the first introductory meeting of the Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) at the Museum of London on Saturday November 22.
At low tide the Thames is the largest open-air archaeological site in London and the TDP is concerned that many important sites are currently unmarked and unrecognised.
Large areas of the foreshore are accessible to the public and the programme is keen to get as many people involved as possible to record and monitor the sites that are buffeted by the tides everyday.
The meeting will start at 11am, please go to www.thamesdiscovery.org or email Lorna at tdp@thamesweb.com for more information.
17.11.2008 - Queen and Country moves into Scotland
Queen and Country, the artwork commemorating British service men and women killed in Iraq opens on December 3 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA).
The artwork was created by official war artist and Turner Prize winner, Steve McQueen, in collaboration with 136 families, including many from Scotland, whose loved ones were killed in Iraq.
Queen and Country was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum and the Manchester International Festival, and consists of a cabinet containing a series of facsimile postage sheets, each one dedicated to a member of the armed forces who has died in the conflict.
It will be on public view at the gallery until February 15 2009.
17.11.2008 - Winner of Fantasy Character competition announced at Royal Armouries
Five times Oscar winner and co-owner of the Weta workshop in New Zealand, Richard Taylor, has selected the winner of the Royal Armouries Museum’s design competition, celebrating its exhibition: ‘Arms and Armour from the Movies: The Wonderful World of Weta.'
Entrants were asked to create their own fantasy figure including the weaponry they would carry.
The design that most impressed Richard Taylor was created by David DelaGardelle, whose fantasy character, Wignonrik, has been awarded the limited edition Weta Ray Gun or ‘Dr Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillator’ to give it its proper name.
The full-scale antique-styled sci-fi weapon, worth hundreds of pounds, was hand crafted by Weta’s master model-maker David Tremont and is highly sought after by collectors.
The exhibition features weapons and armour from some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters including The Lord of the Rings trilogy ; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; The Last Samurai; King Kong and Hellboy.
17.11.2008 - Kelvingrove gears up for blockbuster Dr Who exhibition
A Dalek and a Hath descended on Kelvingrove this morning November 17 ahead of the Museum and Art Gallery's Doctor Who Exhibition in March 2009.
A whole galaxy of monsters and props from the hit television series will be on display at Kelvingrove next year including favourites such as the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and the Ood. Fans of the series will also be able to get close to some of the actual costumes and monsters used to make the programmes.
The Doctor Who Exhibition, which proved a massive hit for the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Manchester during 2008 begins on March 28 2009 and will remain in the Royal Bank of Scotland temporary exhibition space until 4 January 2010.
Tickets are available from the SECC website, www.SECxtra.com and through their telephone sales line. Customers will also be able to buy tickets at SECC box office and SECC ticket centre in the St Enoch Centre. Adult tickets cost £7.50 and children and concessions are priced at £4.50. Service fees will also apply. Family tickets will cost £18 plus the service charge.
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