Image: Sarcophagus of Ta-Kr-Hb (Julie Howden: Culture Perth and Kinross), to be displayed at Perth Museum's 'Waters Rising’ exhibition
The weekly feature rounds up the latest updates in museum appointments, openings, funding and new exhibitions from across the UK.
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Appointments
The National Portrait Gallery has announced the appointment of its thirteenth Director. Victoria Siddall joins the London institution having most recently co-founded two charities hoping to drive better environmental responsibility in the art sector.
Venda Louise Pollock has been announced as the new Director of Collection and Research at National Galleries of Scotland, who will join in November from Newcastle University.
New Director Of Collection and Research at National Galleries Of Scotland
Openings and closures
Leicester Museum & Art Gallery is to close to the public from Thursday 5 September until Sunday 15 September, while new fire curtains are installed and other maintenance works carried out.The museum will reopen on Monday 16 September with limited access to the Dinosaur Gallery and the Leicester Stories Gallery until Saturday 21 September, while new temporary exhibitions are installed on the first floor.
Exhibitions
Perth Museum has announced the exhibition will follow its debut, Unicorn. ‘Waters Rising’ will be an “exploration of how flooding and climate breakdown have impacted Perth and Kinross, Scotland, and the world”. Photos, memories, and oral histories from residents affected by flooding, and will also feature an Egyptian sarcophagus with Nile flood damage, a rare illuminated bible from the thirteenth century, ceremonial brass bowls commemorating the Hindu flood myth of Vasudeva and Krishna. The exhibition will open on 8 November 2024.
At an October exhibition in Birmingham, visitors will be able to participate in a scent experience, with scents paired to paintings on display.‘Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites’ at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts will explore the motif of scent in Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movement paintings, featuring works by artists such as John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale. The exhibition examines how fragrance was visually suggested throughout history, and highlights the role of the olfactory sense and its significance for some of Britain’s best-loved art treasures. Runs 11 October 2024 – 26 January 2025.
All Our Stories, a new exhibition at the Migration Museum in London, will showcase migration’s central role in British life through immersive installations, art, film, photography, personal stories, and keepsakes. The exhibition features a Chinese takeaway installation, a tent with stories from a former refugee camp, a vending machine highlighting ‘British’ brands with migration stories, and various artistic responses to migration experiences. Runs 12 September 12 2024 to the end of 2025.
The ‘Lionesses of Hull’ exhibition at the Streetlife Museum in the city showcases the football careers of Carol Thomas, England defender and captain, and Flo Bilton, co-founder of the Women’s Football League. The exhibition includes commissioned interviews with local women footballers from different generations. Runs August 27 2024 – February 23, 2025.
The sixtieth edition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition opens at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington in October, before embarking on a UK and international tour. 100 photographs from around the world will be exhibited, chosen from nearly 60,000 submissions from 117 countries and territories. Runs 11 October 2024 – 29 June 2025.
A sign from London nightclub fabric is the latest to be added to the new London Museum when it opens its doors in 2026. The sign, which hung outside fabric in 2019 to mark their 20th anniversary, is the latest to be donated following the museum’s call-out last year for signs from across the capital, and will appear as part of permanent installation ‘Hanging Out’.
The National Galleries of Scotland‘s upcoming exhibition ‘Celebrating 40 Years of Scotland’s Photography Collection’ will showcases over 100 artworks from the nation’s photography collection, spanning from the 1840s to the present day. The free exhibition features historic photographs, famous faces, and explores various themes including portraiture, landscape, and documentary photography. Runs 26 October 2024 – 16 March 2025 at its Portrait gallery.