from The New York Times -
Online, It’s the Mouse That Runs the Museum
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It is less about being populist than understanding that if it is the victorious that writes history, then authority is not winning people over as it has been before.
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from The Observer -
Enlightened age for the arts in Britain is cast into shadow
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And to end the year with an eye on what is happening in UK museums that could serve for all as a lesson (from the past) and a warning (from the future), perhaps:

"The culture shift began with free entry to museums and has developed down the years to force once standoffish institutions to engage with wider School trips, outreach and working with diverse communities have come to rank as highly as research and fundraising."

And,

"The fear is that a collapse in private philanthropy combined with a political arms race of expenditure cuts and quango-bashing could soon return our galleries and museums to the dark days of charges, closures and pandering to the familiar."

from The Guardian -
China loses thousands of historic sites
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"The last 20 years have been the worst time for cultural heritage site protection with the rapid development. It is even worse than in the Cultural Revolution"

Intense urban development finishing what misguided ideology could not ... and, then some.
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from The New York Times -
An Italian City Shaken to Its Cultural Core
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go to images

"Shortages of money, political will, architectural good sense and international attention — along with a distinctly Italian predilection for a kind of magical thinking — threaten to finish what the quake started."

This is yet another case-in-point for national efforts in setting aside funds and identifying expertise before crisis happens.
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from The Art Newspaper -
Heritage marketing: Love is not enough
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Heralding the rise of a new breed "museum worker" - the interpretation expert - whose job is to make historical information more tasteful and digestible for the (imaginary?) general public. What a load of condescending bung!
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from The Royal Academy of Arts -
Conservation: Principles, Dilemmas and Uncomfortable Truths
go to web-page
download talks and discussions

"Conservation today is as much about conserving intangible values as it is about conserving material culture, yet the Codes of Ethics for conservators fail to guide them in understanding and prioritising such values."

Still no answers to be had, but this is a first step in opening up a space for honest discussions within the profession - rather than hiding behind "mantras" derived uncritically from such "codes of ethics".
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from The New York Observer -
Copy That! Wait, Don't. Whitney Ponders Problem of Replication in Modern Art
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Yet another take on the issues surrounding the preservation of contemporary art. Perhaps, it is more useful to see such diverse preservation efforts not in a monolithic or unified way but as pragmatic measures in the race against time. Let's argue less about (impossible) philosophical ideals and think more about setting acceptable standards beyond which all manner of approach is (to be) welcomed.

See earlier link to various papers published online on the 2007 conference held at the Tate mentioned in the article
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from New York Times -
Digging Into the Science of That Old-Book Smell
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A non-destructive method of detecting elevated levels of harmful chemicals inherent in the paper. If proved consistent, this could be potentially useful in prioritising and targeting efforts in the preservation of paper-based artefacts.
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from Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter -
Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art
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go to PDF (6.7 MB)

A timely overview of some of the latest research directions and thinking in the preservation of contemporary art and materials.
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from The New York Times -
When Ancient Artifacts Become Political Pawns
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"But the larger truth is that all patrimony arguments ultimately live or die in the morally murky realm of global relations, meaning that modern governments like Egypt’s and Iraq’s may win sympathy today by counting on Western guilt about colonialism when asking for the return of art from ancient sites within their current borders. At the same time there’s no international clamor for Russia to return storerooms of treasures it stole from Germany at the end of the war, or, for that matter, for Sweden to fork over the spoils of a war 350 years ago with Denmark. It’s about emotion, not airtight logic and consistent policy."

Perhaps, the way to take all these twists and turns of events is to realise that when a field of professional work becomes sufficiently mature, petty politics moves right in. Welcome to the world ...
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