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Ancient Egypt Gallery opened in Liverpool, and there’s more to come…
Updated: December 8 2008, 09:44 CET
LIVERPOOL: Last Friday, December 5th, the World Museum in the European Capital of Culture 2008 Liverpool opened her renovated Ancient Egypt gallery. About 1,300 objects - including animal mummies, ancient musical instruments and a tomb reconstruction based on a 4,000-year-old burial place - from the collections of the museum and interactive present visitors the incredible world of the Pharaohs.
The former Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool was over 30 years old. Since 2006 we have been working to update and expand the Egyptian gallery - one of the most popular galleries in the museum. World Museum Liverpool’s Egyptian collection ranks among the finest in the UK, and is both nationally and internationally significant. There are more than 15,000 items in the collection, almost 5,000 of which were donated to the museum by local goldsmith and antiquarian Joseph Mayer in 1867. Over the next century the collection was systematically enhanced through subscription to controlled excavations by the Egypt Exploration Fund, the British School of Archaeology in Egypt and the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology (now University of Liverpool). The museum developed strong links with Egyptologists at the University of Liverpool and for over a century the city has been a centre for the study of Egyptology.
The opening of the new gallery is just one of the initiatives to put Liverpool on the cultural map. Following the success of Liverpool's tenure as European Capital of Culture 2008, the City Council has re-iterated its wholehearted, ongoing commitment to arts and culture in the city. The focus of the ‘Arts and Culture Investment Strategy’ for 2009/10 and 2010/11 however is to consolidate the growth of the past five years and not to focus on expansion.
Liverpool has more galleries and national museums than any other city in the United Kingdom apart from London. The Tate Liverpool gallery houses the modern art collection of the Tate in the north of England, and was until the opening of Tate Modern the largest exhibition space dedicated to modern art in the United Kingdom. The Liverpool Biennial is a festival of arts held (as the name implies) every two years. This year the Victoria gallery & museum opens to the public.One of the city’s most recognisable landmarks has been transformed during a £8.6m, restoration project and now welcomes the public to enjoy the University’s rich and varied fine art, ceramics, and heritage collections. Highlights include artworks by Joseph Wright of Derby, JMW Turner and Lucien Freud, plus an early 20th century dental surgery and an unusual collection of skulls and skeletons
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Global crisis hits pop concerts in Australia
Updated: December 2 2008, 12:26 CET
SYDNEY: The weak dollar has already seen Neil Diamond, The Eagles, Green Day, Metallica and Paul McCartney putting their Australian tour plans on hold, according to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph newspaper. And now another big name has pulled out of Australian tour plans: Madonna. The pop diva has reportedly ditched plans to perform in Australia due to the country's current economic gloom. She had planned to perform at Sydney's ANZ Stadium and Melbourne's Docklands in January as part of her Sticky & Sweet tour, according to the newspaper, but the current global financial downturn means she can no longer justify high-price tickets (with top tickets of $400), so she has scrapped the dates.
Australian promoter Michael Coppel of Live Nation has confirmed the shows were planned - and tickets were due to go on sale in November. Coppel says, "Everyone is feeling their way. The risk level has gone up substantially.'' According to promoter Michael Chugg said the industry has become wary due to increased financial risk."It's unknown territory at the moment. A lot of tours went on sale before the dollar crashed. We are only starting to see the effect of the economy on the tour industry," he said.
For Madonna the show already is a financial success. Her Sticky & Sweet tour which kicked off in Cardiff, Wales in August, is set to rake in about US$282 million in ticket sales when the South America leg wraps in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 21, making it the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist or solo artiste. She will break her previous record for her Confessions tour whick took in US$193.7 million during its worldwide sold-out 25-city run in 2006
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Vienna museum addresses restitution policy issue
Updated: December 1 2008, 11:08 CET
VIENNA: The last 10 years one of the major issues in the international museum world is about the rightful owner of their collections. This week the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art opens her doors to ‘Recollecting Looted Art and Restitution’ an exhibition presenting art and everyday objects from Jewish possession and their history between robbery and restitution. Even before the Art Restitution Act was passed in 1998 the MAK actively addressed the problem of unrightfully acquired and inventoried items in its collections and their restitution. Moreover, the MAK also hosted the 1996 “Mauerbach Benefit Sale” organized by the London-based auction house Christie’s on behalf of the Federal Association of Jewish Communities of Austria, and thus the museum took a clear political stance early on.
On show at MAK visitors are confronted with both restituted objects and pieces whose rightful owners are still being searched. The about 100 loans come from private possession in Austria, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the USA as well as from museums and institutions in Austria and abroad and comprise pieces from former collections of paintings and porcelain, but also everyday items such as furniture, books, photographs, and even a car. The exhibition also wants to cast light on exemplary aspects of the Nazi bureaucracy and its continuities in the Austrian restitution policy after 1945 as well as an on the present-day practice of provenance research and active search for heirs as is currently being conduced by a number of Austrian museums and institutions. Furthermore 14 new artworks were created especially for this show putting this issue of controversial topicality in a present-day perspective and reflecting subjects such as the Nazi bureaucracy of robbery, collection and family histories, and the present-day awareness of restitution.
The MAK is a center for ART. At the MAK, the ideas of the artist and the intentions of the work are given free rein. Often art is created on the premises; and if necessary, art is defended. The MAK is a hub of emerging global communication. Thus, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles1 and the Artists and Architects-in-Residence program at the Mackey Apartments are central to an intense discourse on the interweaving of contemporary themes in art and architecture.
According to their mission statement the MAK is a center for ART. At the MAK, the ideas of the artist and the intentions of the work are given free rein. Often art is created on the premises; and if necessary, art is defended. The MAK is a hub of emerging global communication. Thus, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles1 and the Artists and Architects-in-Residence program at the Mackey Apartments are central to an intense discourse on the interweaving of contemporary themes in art and architecture
The show opens at 3th December and runs until 15 February 2009.
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Sydney museum invites visitors on a journey in space
Updated: November 27 2008, 12:30 CET
SYDNEY: It was as if The Millennium Falcon, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder and Han Solo's spaceship the Lambda-class shuttle and Imperial landing craft and many other spaceships had landed in Syndey, when 15 truckloads of pieces from Star Wars arrived in the Australian capital. What is going on? Next week the international blockbuster exhibition of George Lucas’ film series ‘Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination’ is opening at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney for the first time.
Darth Vader, C-3PO and R2-D2, a Stormtrooper and a white gown worn by Princess Leia were among those unpacked from crates in preparation for the exhibition. At its website the museum invites visitors to go on an epic journey through the Star Wars universe with over 80 costumes, models and full-scale replicas from all six films. The exhibition includes extensive video interviews with filmmakers, scientists and engineers, and more than 20 hands-on interactive displays from the six Star Wars films shot over 30 years.
Visitors can experiment with magnetic levitation devices, build their own miniature droids or take a spin on a personal hovercraft! While hardcore fans will delight at the memorabilia, the exhibition's aim is to highlight the link between the franchise and current technology. Powerhouse Museum's Hayley Gallant said the exhibition will fascinate visitors of all ages. "Developed by the Museum of Science, Boston, in collaboration with Lucas film Ltd., Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination explores the fantasy technologies depicted in the Star Wars movies, the real science behind them, and the latest research that may someday lead to remarkable real-life equivalents," she said. Furthermore she explains to the Australian press: “Star Wars droids, including C-3PO and R2-D2, help visitors discover the latest advances in real-life robotics. How do we develop robots that can operate easily in the everyday world or communicate in increasingly intelligent ways? Listen in as C-3PO and a leading roboticist from MIT debate the merits of R2-D2 in the exhibition’s immersive Robot Theatre, then try your hand at designing your own mini-robot.”
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is showing at the Powerhouse Musuem in Sydney from December 4 to April 26, 2009.
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New York Museum helps visitors to understand financial crisis
Updated: November 25 2008, 11:23 CET
NEW YORK: The Museum of American Finance in New York is hot thanks to the current financial crisis. Tourists have been flocking to Wall Street, mystified and intrigued. The number of visitors making their way to the museum, at 48 Wall Street, in the marble-clad former home of the Bank of New York, America’s oldest bank, was up 44 percent in October. That translates to 150 visitors a day, compared with about 100 a day during the previous month, according to the museum.
Lee Kjelleren, the museum’s president, told The New York Times, “We have a particular societal role in creating an understanding of what the heck is going on.” Soon the museum will be updating the diagram indicating the Dow Jones industrial average. The diagram, a jagged red stripe runs from left to right, starts in 1896, when the Dow Jones industrial average was born. It runs through the crashes of 1929 and 1987, and finally screeches to a halt in late 2007, when the exhibition was built.
A few days ago the museum opened her doors to the exhibition: ‘Trading on the street’ telling the story from the outdoor auctions on the street in the late 18th century to the computerized transnational exchanges that exist today. Overall, the museum’s attitude toward American finance is celebratory. One gallery displays $5 and $10 bills in a glass case, along with less common specimens: the $1,000 bill, the $10,000 bill and a 60-pound gold brick from California, circa 1857. The building, which opened in 1929, just before the crash, evokes nostalgia for a confident era, with lofty allegorical murals depicting concepts like foreign trade and national credit. Still, reminders of Wall Street’s darker moments are in evidence, among them a yellowed, mysterious note from a man of finance named Matt, dated Nov. 8, 1929.
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