Art trends 2022: major museum openings in Oslo and Glasgow focus on Northern Europe
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While its institutions and employees were not the only ones to suffer from the impact of COVID-19, the international museum sector has experienced difficult times over the past two years, with almost all of the major museums in the world. world closed during long shutdowns.
By studying the damage, The Art Newspaper calculated an overall drop of 77% in the top 100 art museums in 2020.
Europe has fared particularly badly, assaulted as it was (and still is) by some of the worst epidemics of the pandemic. The most visited museum in the world, the Louvre in Paris, saw its attendance increase from around 9.6 million visitors in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2020; visitors to the Prado in Madrid fell over the same period from 3.5 million to just 852,000; while the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate Modern in London have all seen visitors drop from over 6 million visitors to less than 1.5 million each.
Despite the gloom and loss of revenue, however, the industry has not stood still. Museums, in general, were able to celebrate their reopening after a virus-forced hibernation, but they were also joined by others emerging, like pupae, from longer periods of closure, renovation and reinvention.
Important arrivals and reopenings in 2021 include the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Courtauld Gallery in London and Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. In Budapest, meanwhile, the Hungarian Music House, a concert and exhibition center housed under an impressive roof structure, is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
As part of the Liget project – a vast museum building project billed as the largest urban cultural development in Europe – the music center is expected to be joined by the new Budapest Museum of Ethnography which will open in the same park year round. next, followed in the future by a new national gallery designed by the Japanese architectural firm SANAA.
With notable openings set to continue across Europe in 2022, here we take a look at two key developments that will shift attention north, marking important milestones for the art scenes in Norway and Scotland.
Oslo’s New National Museum
Having already seen the arrival of the new 13-story MUNCH museum in Oslo in October this year, the European art world will once again focus on the Norwegian capital in the summer of 2022, with the reopening in June of the National Museum. Norwegian Art, Architecture and Design.
Built with materials such as oak, bronze and marble, and designed by German architects Kleihues + Schuwerk, the iconic new building will feature more than 5,000 pieces from a collection totaling nearly 400,000 objects.
Covering everything from medieval tapestries to modern design and contemporary art, the large print will undoubtedly be the first painted version of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. With later versions of this flagship piece also on display at the dedicated MUNCH museum, fans of the artist will be spoiled for choice in the city.
More broadly, however, the opening of the new National Museum will confirm Oslo‘s rise as a destination for art, giving it the largest museum in the Nordic region, with 13,000 m2 of art space. exposure.
Explaining the importance, the National Museum’s communications director, Eirik Kydland, told Euronews: âOpening a museum like this is a unique experience and a huge event in Norway. This is the first time that we will have a comprehensive presentation of art, architecture, design and craftsmanship under one roof, and the very first time that we will have a permanent exhibition of contemporary art.
Noting that the cost of the construction works amounted to just over 600 million euros, Kydland said the project would complete Oslo’s recent cultural transformation, with the city “now home to a thriving art scene with galleries and artist-run initiatives, such as world-class museums like the Munch Museum and the National Museum. â
The first show planned for the spectacular temporary exhibition space on the roof of the National Museum, known as the Light Hall, will be a major showcase of contemporary Norwegian art, featuring works by 147 artists and collectives.
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow
Ahead of Oslo’s big time in the summer sun, one of Scotland’s most important art and antiques repositories, The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, will have its own reopening in March 2022.
Closed to the public in 2016, the museum building, located in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park, underwent a major renovation, at a cost of £ 68.25million (⬠80.45million ).
Home to a collection assembled by Glasgow shipping magnate Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), the rejuvenated museum will offer a 35% increase in exhibition space, a new entrance and improved outdoor spaces.
Highlights from the collection will be showcased in new exhibits, including Chinese pottery and porcelain produced over 5,000 years, an important treasure trove of medieval artwork and weapons, and paintings by artists. such as Manet, Cézanne and Degas.
The rarely exhibited Wagner Garden Rug will also be on permanent display – a 17th-century woven fabric over 5 meters long, considered one of the three oldest Persian garden rugs in the world.
Part of a group of museums now run by the Glasgow Life charity, which operates cultural institutions and other venues and services on behalf of Glasgow City Council, The Burrell Collection has been closely associated with the cultural regeneration of Glasgow since its opening in 1983. Its funders are now hoping that the museum’s reopening will have a similar impact.
Dr Bridget McConnell, Managing Director of Glasgow Life, told Euronews that it âwill be the most important cultural event in Scotland, if not the UK, in 2022â¦. Just like the [original] The opening of the Burrell Collection signaled Glasgow’s ambition to use its cultural heritage to become a must-see destination, the reopening in 2022 will continue to develop the city’s appeal as a place to visit, live and work.
McConnell adds that the new layout will take “visitors on a tour of 6000 years of history through rare and remarkable treasures … using innovative interpretation and exhibits.” All three floors of the building will be open to the public for the first time, including the storerooms on the lower ground floor.
Acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic “has caused significant and unexpected problems” for the renovation project, McConnell says that a team-based effort after a six-week shutdown, as well as the provision of additional funds, means that ‘they are’ firmly on track to reopen in March 2022.
Museum officials across Europe will no doubt be united with McConnell in the hope that the worst effects of the pandemic are now behind them and that they can now focus on providing their visitors with inspiring experiences. and stimulating.
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