museum diplomacy

December 17, 2011

How does culture sell a nation? Monocle and the V&A host a lively discussion on museums as soft-power ambassadors, with panellists including nation branding expert Simon Anholt, the senior French heritage curator Lurence de Cars and the Minister of State at the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Through the meeting of cultural heritage for these countries and with the blessing of science and technology, everyone can now open wider horizons and a promising future through working together with a spirit of friendship and humanity, he said.

Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem have partnered to launch a new website that allows the public the ability to examine the Dead Sea Scrolls in fine detail. The site provides searchable, high-resolution images of the scrolls, plus explanatory videos and background on the foundational texts.

August 17, 2011

This is the opportunity to raise the bar. In fact, like the treasure of King Tut, some of the exhibits must be assembled for a travelling exhibition. That would be India's best step forward in cultural diplomacy. It would make a statement about enhancing the country's presence and reinforcing faith in our living tradition.

On the whole, the story of American public diplomacy is largely missing from the Newseum. This absence presents a golden opportunity for the public diplomacy community to work with the Newseum to design an exhibit on public diplomacy.  

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is part think tank, part open-air forum, part community center. New York will be the first stop for the lab on a worldwide tour that will also include Berlin and Mumbai. In each city curators will invite leaders in fields including architecture, art, design, technology, education and science to participate in programs: lectures, workshops, games, performances and film screenings.

The British Museum is to stage a major exhibition dedicated to the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam will bring together historic and contemporary objects – including manuscripts, textiles, archaeological items and photography – to explore the experience and importance of the pilgrimage. The museum's director said it would enable a global audience to deepen their understanding of the significance and history of the hajj.

If the story of “Fuchun Mountains” is richly symbolic of China’s tumultuous history and its six-decade estrangement from Taiwan, then the painting’s reunification last month at the National Palace Museum here in the Taiwanese capital is a made-to-order metaphor for the reconciliation that Communist Party leaders have long imagined for what they deem a breakaway province.

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