Month: December 2010 (Page 3 of 4)

Welcome to the third week of Museums in the News!

Highlight this week is the lawsuit filed by Chuck Kortlander, director & owner of the Custer Battlefield Museum. Apparently in 2005 and 2008 his home, business, and the museum were raided by two dozen armed federal agents who claimed they had evidence that he was trafficking in American Indian artifacts. No charges were ever filed, and Kortlander has now filed a civil suit against those federal agents. Read more at the Billings Gazette: Custer Battlefield Museum Owner Sues BLM Agents. (There’s some background on the Four Corners case at the nifty Museum Security blog, here.)

Museum sells pieces of its past, reviving a debate (Philadelphia History Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Museum rallies supporters in budget battle (Monroe County Historical Museum, Monroe, Michigan)

Taiwanese brothel is being re-opened as a museum (The Special Tea House Museum, Kimmen Island, Taiwan)

Getty Villa prepares to say farewell to its goddess (Getty Villa, Malibu, California)

Pirate museum to open in St. Augustine (Pirate & Treasure Museum, St. Augustine, Florida)

Museum Secrets – New television series to premiere in January (Various museums)

Welcome to Week 2 of the Museums in the News roundup!

Probably the biggest museum news of the week comes from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Curators there removed a video art installation of an ant-covered crucifix after complaints from, among others, the Catholic League and members of Congress. It’s a complicated, controversial issue, and the first few links below are just the tip of the iceberg. If you know of any other good articles, drop a line in the comments.

Ant-covered Jesus video removed from Smithsonian after Catholic League complains

After the Shock is Gone

Gallery vows ongoing protest against Smithsonian

The GOP and the artist who spoiled yet another Christmas

Pulled from National Portrait Gallery, Video Emerges Elsewhere in Washington

Art or sacrilege?

Gay Portraiture Exhibit Sparks Funding Debate

Some other exciting news this week that isn’t currently related to museums, but hopefully will be soon: Picasso’s electrician reveals artist’s ‘treasure trove’

Art in the Time of Midterms: Museum as Democracy and the MCA’s New Show. Very, very good and thoughtful exhibition review.

Let’s Exhibit Interest in Troubled Museum (Jack Diem Museum of Natural History in Fort Wayne, IN)

Museum Looking for Soldiers’ Stories (Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum in Waterloo,  Iowa)

O’Keeffe Museum Hopes to Shed One “Canna” (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Edgar Degas masterpiece stolen more than three decades ago going home to France (Malraux Museum, Normandy, France)

Noah’s Ark and Tower of Babel to be built at Kentucky Amusement Park (Creation Museum, Petersburg, Kentucky)