from The Guardian -
The curse of the blockbuster
go to article

Can't live with them, and can't live without them. Or is it?

"The problem is not blockbusters. It's that in London we get too many exhibitions that sound big, but in reality are very small."

Substitute your favourite global city for "London" and it probably still holds true. "Primary Colours", anyone?
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from Emerging Technology Trends -
Nanotechnology-based self-cleaning fabrics
go to article

Another application of the self-cleaning technology that is based on the application of a thin coating of titanium dioxide, which breaks down organic materials in the presence of ultra-violet radiation.

Also see earlier posts:
"Self-Cleaning Tiles"
"Cleaning walls? No sweat - just add sunlight and rain"
"Eco glass cleans itself with Sun"
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from The Guardian -
British Museum and army team up in move to rescue Iraq's heritage
go to article

As the Chinese saying goes:"Mending the fence after loosing all the sheep." Too little, too late, one might add.
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from Emerging Technology Trends -

Lensless camera for nanoscale imaging
go to webblog post

Taking images of individual atoms in color
go to webblog post

3-D imaging with FINCH
go to webblog post

T-rays used to reveal old hidden art
go to webblog post

Yet more updates and information on new and improved imaging technologies that have potential use in the technical exmamination and analysis of cultural heritage materials.
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from The Artful Manager -
Allocating that complex asset, the museum collection
go to article

A thought-provoking argument that since most museums' collections do not see the day-light of things, the conventional wisdom that museums must be predicated upon an ever-expanding collection and acquisition policy has to be considered as suspect. Alternative models of shared acquisitions and loans must be seriously explored for museums to be sustainable and viable institutions.

In a related article in the Art Newspaper, the (inevitable) trend towards private museums, at least in the US context, will eventually entail the need for reassessment and rethinking on the museum front:

"As the scale and number of private art museums increases, their influence on museum practice will too, and codes of practice and policies around such issues as de-accessioning, conflict of interest policy and reciprocity in loans will come under pressure as these new institutions explore and test received wisdom and standard practices."

Which may be contentious but not necessarily entirely bad.

And the re-thinking might already be underway in the UK, or not. See:

BBC News
Museums to offload unwanted items

The New York Times
British Museums Told to Clean House

The Guardian Art & Architecture Blog
What happened to civic duty?

sp!ked
Why museums should dump the ‘Disposal Toolkit’

from Materials Today -
Dark-field X-rays shed new light on structure
go to article

Another new technique in x-ray imaging which offers better contrast in detecting minute cracks and micro-structures, which otherwise do not show up on conventional x-rays. Using x-ray as an imaging tool would be useful in the technical examination of heritage artefacts. Furthermore, this new improvement could be easily adapted to existing x-ray equipment.
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from Institute for Conservation, UK -
20:20 Vision - The Conservation Workforce of the Future
go to symposium web-page
go to presentations

A brief but wide-ranging look at conservation education, training, and professional accreditation within the UK context. This holds pertinent lessons and learning points for all, if we wish to resolve the problem of long-term sustainability of the profession.
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from Metropolis Magazine -
Self-Cleaning Tiles
go to article

from Materials Today -
Nanoparticles help paint resist germs
go to article

The first, a self-cleaning coating on ceramics which both absorbs pollutants and breaks down organic dirt by the action of ultra-violet radiation.

Also see previous posts here and here on the same technology but applied to clear glass panels.

While the second uses the antiseptic properties of metal particles to combat the growth of disfiguring micro-organisms on painted surfaces.

Still eagerly waiting for such technologies to be transferred to outdoor sculptures or even as a protective coating on historic monuments.
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from Hanging Together -
Virtual Museum Collections, 19th Century Style
go to article

An intriguing comparison of the similarities between 21st-century digital preservation strategies and 19th-century museum practices.
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from The Boston Globe -
Finders, keepers
go to article

A highly contentious issue for those who love and breathe museums - to return or not to return artefacts of contested provenance. One particular point made in the article by James Cuno, the current director of the Art Institute of Chicago, sets up the core assumption of this debate:

"The problem with these seemingly laudable efforts, according to Cuno, is that they're not really about the artifacts, but about politics."

So it comes down to "artifacts" - and by that Cuno must had meant culture, heritage and all associated lofty ideals - and "politics". Then again, is culture or heritage really void of political underpinnings and vice versa?
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