Museum Moves 6 -12 December 2024

Museum Moves – 13 December

Appointments

Recently retired senior RAF officer Edward Stringer has been appointed as RAF Trustee of the Imperial War Museum for four years. Stringer will serve in the role until October 2028. Stringer was previously Director General of the Defence Academy, the director of military operations in the MOD, and the effective deputy chief of the RAF. He has been on the boards of the RAF, Civil Aviation Authority, and the Defence Nuclear Enterprise as has previously served a trustee of the museum.

Museums Galleries Scotland has appointed Duncan Dornan as new Chair of the Board. Dornan joins the Board following his recent retirement as Head of Museums and Collections at Glasgow Life, where he served from 2013 until August 2024.

Museums Galleries Scotland appoints former Glasgow Life lead as Chair

Openings & closures

Several museums across the country are being considered for closure as councils attempt to reduce spending in upcoming budgets. Abbey House Museum in Leeds, and the Museum of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire are among the venues which could be closed as councils cut spending.

Exhibitions

The Design Museum‘s major exhibition next spring, ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style’, will showcase over 200 objects exploring swimming’s evolution across social, cultural, and technological contexts, including Pamela Anderson’s iconic red Baywatch swimsuit, Britain’s first female Olympic solo swimming gold medal, and one of the earliest surviving bikinis from 1951. Notable items also include the LZR Racer swimsuit, architectural models of the London 2012 Aquatics Centre, and a collection of 1980s Speedos. It will examine swimming culture from the 1920s to present day across pool, lido and natural environments. The exhibition will run from March 2025.

The exhibition ‘Designing for the Green Transition’ at V&A Dundee showcases the Design HOPES initiative’s projects exploring the intersection between healthcare and environmental sustainability in Scotland, featuring work from five Scottish universities in partnership with NHS Scotland. The free exhibition displays videos, imagery, designed products and a Green Ward Toolkit, alongside innovative projects such as Flow, which aims to reduce hospital visits and their environmental impact. The exhibition runs until 17 February 2024 at V&A Dundee’s Design Residency Studio before touring various locations including Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

The first major retrospective in thirty years of Cumbrian artist Sheila Fell brings together nearly 100 works at Tullie in Carlisle, including Frank Auerbach’s ‘Head of Sheila Fell’ (1954), ‘Haystack in a Field’ (1967) from TATE, and her final unfinished painting from 1979. The exhibition explores themes spanning her entire career through paintings, prints and drawings, alongside featuring a 1963 BBC ‘Monitor’ segment and a new interview with Melvyn Bragg. The exhibition ‘Sheila Fell: Cumberland on Canvas’ runs from 23 November 2024 – 16 March 2025.

The National Portrait Gallery‘s exhibition ‘Edvard Munch Portraits’ brings together more than 40 works exploring the artist’s relationships through four thematic sections, featuring key pieces such as ‘Evening’ (1888), ‘Hans Jaeger’ (1889), and the never-before-displayed UK portrait of Thor Lütken (1892). The exhibition includes significant loans from major institutions including the Munchmuseet, Moderna Museet, and The Van Gogh Museum, showcasing Munch’s intimate family portraits, bohemian connections, patron commissions, and paintings of his ‘Guardians’. The exhibition runs from 13 March – 15 June 2025 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The Tate Modern‘s 25th anniversary celebration will feature a diverse programme including live music, performances, pop-up talks, tours, and a special display trail of 25 key artworks throughout the building. Iconic works returning to the gallery include Louise Bourgeois’s monumental bronze spider ‘Maman’, Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals, and Dorothea Tanning’s ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, alongside new exhibitions ‘A Year in Art: 2050’ and ‘Gathering Ground’ featuring works by artists including Umberto Boccioni, Ayoung Kim, Outi Pieski, Carolina Caycedo, Edgar Calel, and Abbas Zahedi. The celebrations will take place from 9 May 2025 – 12 May 2025.

Guermonprez’s Legacy – ‘the Gilbert White of Bognor’ explores the natural history collection of Henry Leopold Foster Guermonprez, who earned the moniker’ for his extensive wildlife observations and specimens gathered in the region. The collection, transferred to Portsmouth from Bognor Regis Museum in the early 1970s, features documented natural history specimens that continue to serve as valuable resources for modern biological researchers. The exhibition runs at Cumberland House Natural History Museum from 14 December 2024 – 31 December 2025.

‘We Carry It With Us’ at Weston Park Museum in Sheffield presents nine portraits by photographer Jeremy Abrahams exploring the impact of childhood bullying on adult life, featuring subjects including women’s leadership coach Carol Stewart and award-winning author Helen Mort, with their personal stories embedded within each photograph. The free exhibition includes a portrait photography workshop and meet-the-photographer session during its run. The exhibition is open from 26 November 2024 – 23 February 2025.

Funding

A new charitable fund, established in memory of the late British philanthropist Julia Rausing, has announced millions of pounds in grants for museums, galleries, cathedrals and gardens. The Julia Rausing Trust, set up after Rausing’s passing this year, has committed £100m to charities and organisations in its first year and annually thereafter.

New philanthropist’s trust gives £16.7m to museums, galleries and cathedrals