Best of 2016
2016 has been an interesting year in museums (not to mention elsewhere). My annual hit list is a little shorter than in some years, but I find I've come away from the year with some really memorable experiences. This year's Top 10 is more event-based than previously, reflecting a definite trend in museums to more tailored, personal experiences. I've also written less about these on this blog than in the past, so my New Year's resolution is to post more.
To kick off, here are my favourites from 2016 in the order that I visited ....
1. Artist and Empire: Facing Britain's Imperial Past at Tate Britain
This was an exhibition rich with objects and themes, that looked in the broadest way at art associated with the British empire, both collected and made. It was controversial in how it 'faced' imperial legacies, however, and really got me thinking about some thorny curatorial questions.
2. In the Age of Giorgione at the Royal Academy
A real gem of an exhibition, which worked beautifully in the RA's Sackler Galleries. This brought together (mostly) portraits from the Venetian Renaissance to evoke a period of art history that I've always loved, and now understand a little better.
3. The Crime Museum Uncovered at the Museum of London
Exhibitions at the Museum of London are becoming unmissable and this was a prime example. Pulling out some of the most fascinating, and gruesome, objects and stories from the Metropolitan Police's Crime Museum, Uncovered also carefully explored the line between enjoying grisly history and voyeurism.
4. The Hospital in the Rock, Budapest
I could not recommend Budapest more highly for a holiday. We found it a wonderful city packed with history, culture, and fabulous food. Most memorable, though, has to be the Hospital in the Rock for an extraordinary first-hand experience of human endurance and ingenuity, combined with a dash of the freaky and the comic.
5. Impropera at the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL
I've got to know the Grant Museum much better through a partnership with the NMM, and their programming is always innovative and highly enjoyable. Impropera has to be a highlight of the year, though, as an opera group improvised responses to the audience's favourite specimens. Sadly no song for my spoon worms though.
6. The National Trust in London
I've written before about my enjoyment of the variety of events run by the National Trust in London. I love their commitment to highlighting different urban heritage. This year added two more experiences to my list: tours and a roof-top car park screening looking at the architecture of Croydon, and a privileged look behind the scenes at the Danish embassy. I can't wait to see what they do next. (I also loved Rainham Hall).
7. Ethics of Dust at the Houses of Parliament
This is one of those small, unusual, installations that I happened to see reviewed, would otherwise have been completely oblivious of, and was mind-changing. Jorge Otero-Pailos cast the ancient stone walls of Westminster Hall in sheets of latex, creating a mesmerising series of hanging sheets that glistened with the imprint of centuries of dust and history.
8. Pablo Bronstein’s Historical Dances in an Antique Setting at Tate Britain
The commissions to take over the central Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain often get forgotten alongside their more gritty ex-industrial sister on the Southbank. Bronstein filled it with elegant movement with his architectural fantasies and dancers, making me think completely differently about the space.
Knowing my work on Hogarth's Rake's Progress, readers of this blog will be unsurprised at my excitement for the Wellcome's Bethlem exhibition. But a linked event with their partners at Bethlem Hospital also took me to the Museum of the Mind, which blew me away. This small museum in Beckenham perfectly encapsulates the best of modern museum practice in bringing a sensitive and complex collection to life.
10. Bowie/Collector at Sotheby's London
What an experience this was. Irrespective of how I enjoyed seeing a very different crowd looking around the Sotheby's sale rooms, it was extraordinary to see this modern collection of such a pop icon, and a captivating display mixing his furniture and artworks. I only wish the collection had stayed together.
I don't feel right putting RMG events into my personal top 10, but this deserves a special extra mention (and I had almost nothing to do with it):
11. The House, launch of Greenwich and Docklands International Festival at the Queen’s House
This was a truly magical show that lit up the front of the Queen's House with projections, light, music and action. As I watched on the eve of the Brexit referendum, it's beauty and its message of the importance of offering refuge and hope were a real balm to the soul.