Trump issues executive order to remove ‘improper ideology’ from Smithsonian

On Thursday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the end of ‘divisive, race-centred ideology’ at the Smithsonian Institution and the restoration of ‘public monuments, memorials, statues, markers’ that have been removed or changed. Accompany the order titled ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’ a factsheet explains that Vice President J.D. Vance is ‘to eliminate improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo’. Vance sits on the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, but Congress oversees the institution; the executive order calls on Vance to work with Congress to withhold funding from exhibitions or programmes that ‘degrade shared American values, divide Americans by race or promote ideologies inconsistent with federal law’. Specific projects criticised in the order include ‘The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture’, an exhibition currently at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and – in what seems to be a reference to an online project of 2022 – attempts by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum to celebrate transgender athletes. The Smithsonian receives 62 per cent of its funding from the federal government and is currently trying to raise $2.5bn – the biggest fundraising campaign in its history – to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Reports of extensive looting from the Sudan National Museum are emerging after the Sudanese army retook parts of the capital, Khartoum, previously held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Speaking to the BBC World Service, Sudan’s director of museums, Ikhlas Abdel Latief, said that collections that had been packed away while the museum was being restored had been stolen and that a strong room containing archaeological gold had been raided. Concerns about looting at the museum –­ which houses the world’s oldest collection of Nubian artefacts – grew last September after the national broadcaster, the Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, said that it had satellite images of trucks smuggling artefacts out of the country. This prompted UNESCO to call for the art market to avoid ‘acquiring or taking part in the import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property from Sudan’. Some 150,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced since civil war broke out in April 2023.

In South Korea, ancient temples and other heritage sites are at risk from the largest wildfires in the country’s history. As of 28 March the fires, fuelled by unusually dry conditions and strong winds, have been largely contained. The BBC reports that they may have been started by accident. The Associated Press reports that the fires have destroyed hundreds of structures, including the majority of the buildings in the Gounsa temple complex, dating back to the 7th century, in Uiseong County, 90km south-east of Seoul. Two UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites, Byeongsan Seowon Confucian Academy in Andong City and Hahoe Village were evacuated. At time of writing more than 45,000 hectares acres of land have been burned, there have been at least 28 deaths and tens of thousands of people are displaced.

Christophe Cherix will be the next director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, reports the New York Times. Taking over from Glenn Lowry, who has headed the museum for 30 years, Cherix joined MoMA in 2007 and has been chief curator of drawings and prints since 2013, with a specialism in art from the 1960s and ’70s. His appointment was announced in a letter to MoMA staff from the museum’s chair, Marie-Josée Kravis, and its president, Sarah Arison. Cherix is described in the letter as having ‘[risen] to the top of an impressive pool of global candidates’. Cherix will take up his new post in September.

Just Stop Oil, the UK group campaigning against climate change, has announced that its last direct action will be at the end of April, reports the Guardian. Hannah Hunt, who first spoke on behalf of the group in February 2002, made the announcement outside Downing Street in London on Thursday: ‘Just Stop Oil’s demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history’. Dozens of protestors have been jailed since 2002, including for blocking the M25, its most disruptive protest. Other highly divisive actions have included throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery and spraying point on the stones of Stonehenge. The group also issued a statement saying, ‘Just Stop Oil was intended to be a campaign to prove the effectiveness of disruptive tactics in bringing about necessary change, and we have been incredibly successful in that aim, but it’s now time to change.’

Anthony Kiendl has stepped down as director and CEO of Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) after almost five years in the role, reports the Art Newspaper. His resignation comes at a ‘suitable time to amicably go in different directions’, the chair of the museum’s board, Jon Stovell, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In December, the museum announced that it was cancelling a planned extension by Herzog & de Meuron after costs were projected to reach CAD $600m and $60m had already spent in pre-construction fees. Eva Respini, deputy director and director of curatorial programs, and Sirish Rao, senior director of public engagement and learning, will jointly lead the gallery while Kiendl’s replacement is found.

Emanuela Tarizzo has been appointed the next director of Frieze Masters. Tarizzo, an art advisor and a former director of Tomasso gallery, will take over from Nathan Clements-Gillespie in April. The announcement comes in the same week as the private equity group Silverlake has bought all the outstanding shares in Frieze’s parent company, Endeavor, in a deal that values the new company at an estimated £25bn.