Museums
'It's Not Just About Art—It's About Our City': Why Decolonize This Place Held a Nine-Week Protest at the Whitney
Two organizers from the organization that spearheaded the demonstrations in New York City discuss how their members' background in art and art history informed their nine-week action.
'Dinosaur Diplomacy': Andrew Carnegie Thought Fossils Could Save Europe From World War I
Ilja Nieuwland's new book is the story of how fossils and their replicas become tools of capitalism, power, and privilege.
Why Gen Z Isn't Content With Traditional Museum-Viewing
Social institutions that nourish the arts need to offer young people aesthetic experiences that reflect their lived experiences.
American Museum Collections Are Overwhelmingly White and Male
An analysis of the artists represented in the permanent collections of America's major art museums finds three-quarters of them are white men.
America's Endangered Natural History Museums Hold the DNA Secrets of a Vanishing World
If it's true we're on the verge of a sixth extinction, these smaller collections offer crucial perspectives—and specimens—that bigger museums simply can't provide.
Why Don't We Ever Seem to Learn From History?
When we ask images and monuments to bear the burden of our conscience, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Viewfinder: Austria's Capital City Celebrates Vienna Modernism
Visitors stand on a suspended bridge to take a closer look at paintings by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
A Traveling Museum Builds Support for Native Resistance to Resource Extraction
The Natural History Museum is popping up across the country to draw attention to the struggle of the Lummi Nation in the Pacific Northwest.
Capturing the Precarious Beauty of the Ice on the Great Lakes
Multimedia artist Julia Christensen took video cameras to Lake Erie to document the ice that keeps the lake healthy—and what its absence could mean in the future.
Americans Are Reading Fewer Novels, but More Poetry
New National Endowment for the Arts research finds arts attendance is rising, but remains below 2002 levels.
How Might We Decolonize the Brooklyn Museum?
In refusing the restitution of stolen artifacts, museums ironically ask us to forget the crimes of the past while serving as custodians of history.
What Did You See in That Painting?
New research finds the eyes of children and adults are drawn to very different things.
A Museum for Healing Broken Hearts
In Los Angeles, the Museum of Broken Relationships gathers its emotional collection from the public—and, in the process, invites civilians of all classes and backgrounds to heal.
And That's Me With the Mona Lisa!
Surprised museum researchers find many visitors snap photographs of themselves with the masterpieces.
Do We Have to Start Worrying About the Integrity of Museums Now?
Big oil companies like Shell and BP sponsor museums for good PR. But they're beginning to affect what's on display, too.
Arts Organizations Search for the Missing Audience
A National Endowment for the Arts report finds people who decline to attend arts events cite some unexpected reasons for staying home.