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 Prime Minister has reappointed David Marks as Trustee to the National Gallery for a two-year term from 12 June 2025 to 11 June 2027. Marks, who has served as a trustee since 2017, is co-founder of London-based real estate investment firm Brockton Everlast.
The Association for Cultural Enterprises has appointed a new Chief Executive. Paul Griffiths will lead the culture sector trade body, after having serving as CEO in the UAE, overseeing the site of Al Jazeera Al Hamra.
Openings & closures
The David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse opens this week, introducing both a new model of public access to collections and a series of unseen items from the artist’s archive. Nine rotating displays will show around 200 objects from the archive of over 90,000 items.
David Bowie Centre to open this week revealing artist’s unrealised musical
Exhibitions
Tracey Emin: A Second Life
Tate Modern, London
26 February 2026 – 31 August 2026
This exhibition traces 40 years of Emin’s practice through painting, video, textiles, neons, writing, sculpture, and installation, including career-defining works alongside pieces never previously exhibited. Featured works include the Turner Prize nominated ‘My Bed’ (1998). The exhibition is presented in the Eyal Ofer Galleries in partnership with Gucci.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
National Portrait Gallery, London
4 June 2026 – 6 September 2026In celebration of Monroe’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, the exhibition brings together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside photographs by over 20 photographers including Cecil Beaton, Philippe Halsman, Bernard of Hollywood, André de Dienes, Eve Arnold, Inge Morath, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, Richard Avedon and George Barris. Personal belongings including books, scripts and clothes will also be displayed.
L-R: Marilyn Monroe, by Cecil Beaton, gelatin silver print, 1956, Collection: National Portrait Gallery, NPG x40269; The Only Blonde in the World, 1963, Pauline Boty, © The estate of Pauline Boty. Photo: Tate.
Swords of Lucknow
The Wallace Collection, London
26 November 2025 – 22 March 2026
Five Indian swords from 18th- and 19th-century Lucknow, nearly a metre in length and decorated with intricate enamel and goldwork, form the centrepiece of this display. The swords feature the fish motif, a key emblem of Awadhi courtly identity, and were acquired by Sir Richard Wallace and the 4th Marquess of Hertford during the latter half of the 19th century. The display forms part of the museum’s reinterpretation of its Asian, African and Ottoman arms and armour collections.
Play Back Forward
Hove Museum of Creativity, Hove
04 October 2025 – 12 April 2026
The exhibition explores early film technologies through contemporary lenses, featuring archival films, creative responses by local young people, and new collaborative installations by artists Chahine Fellahi and Annis Joslin. The show examines the legacy of filmmaking pioneers including the Smiths and James Williamson, combining early film techniques with contemporary experiments and analogue processes with digital elements. The exhibition is presented as part of Days of Wonder, a three-year project exploring the heritage of film and media in Brighton & Hove.
Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait, Edinburgh
18 October 2025 – 19 April 2026
The first major exhibition dedicated to Alfred Buckham (1879-1956) brings together over 100 photographs and objects from the Scottish national collection alongside archival material from Buckham’s grandsons, including personal letters, photographs, and his passport displayed publicly for the first time. Featured works include his composite photograph of Edinburgh (about 1920), displayed with the original camera and glass negatives used to create it, The Heart of the Empire (1923) on loan from the V&A Museum, the 1918 RAF Turnhouse Christmas card, and photographs spanning his 1931 fifteen-week journey across the Americas covering 19,000 miles.
70 Objects 70 Stories
Gilbert White’s House & Gardens, Selborne
2 September 2025 – 21 December 2025
This anniversary exhibition features 70 objects chronicling the museum’s history, including a prayer from the opening day, bottles from the Gilbert White brewery, photographs, press cuttings, videos and a letter from the King. Visitors can scan QR codes to access detailed stories and historical photographs associated with each object through the Bloomberg Connect museum guide. The exhibition is funded by Arts Council England and free with admission.
The Nature of Gothic
Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, Blackburn
13 September 2025 – 13 December 2025
The exhibition explores artistic representations of the natural world across centuries, featuring medieval and Islamic manuscripts from Blackburn’s Hart collection, ceramics, textiles, Private Press Books, and works by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, alongside contemporary artistic responses. The display forms part of the Museum’s National Portfolio Organisation outcomes and has been supported by the Brian Mercer Trust with loans from museums and galleries across the UK.
Fossil Hunters: Unlocking Swindon’s Jurassic Past
Museum & Art Swindon, Swindon
04 October 2025 – 11 April 2026
The exhibition explores Swindon’s Jurassic geology and features geological figures including William Smith, Gideon Mantell and W.J. Arkell. On display are Jurassic marine fossils including ammonites, marine reptiles, molluscs and the newly acquired Swindon Stegosaur vertebra, alongside specimens on loan from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Funding
The National Gallery has revealed plans and record-breaking funding for a new wing to house an expanded collection. Already, £375m of cash pledges have been secured, made up of the two largest ever publicly reported single cash donations to a museum or gallery globally.
National Gallery to create new wing with record-breaking £375m donations
