ICYMI: six interesting new museums that caught our attention in 2022
Shuttered and silent during the long months of the pandemic, museums have stirred back into life in 2022, with a steady uptick in visitor numbers paving the way for a host of new openings. Here are some you may have missed.
1. Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo
Scandinavia has a new king in the world of curation and, fittingly, it comes bearing a crown. An illuminated exhibition hall adorns the roof of Norway’s epic National Museum in Oslo, which became the largest museum in the Nordic region when it opened in June. Inside, there’s enough room for a princely permanent collection, comprising 6,500 objects. It chronicles the history of Norwegian art, from the near-millennium-old Baldishol Tapestry, incredibly discovered among the ruins of an old church, to works by Norway’s favourite expressionist, Edvard Munch, including his earliest version of The Scream.
2. Museum of Broadway, New York
This November, the curtain finally comes up on this eagerly anticipated New York venue, which enwraps visitors in the vibrant, glamorous world of Broadway theatre. After an overview of how a thoroughfare once lined with car garages became the heart of the US theatre industry, the museum morphs into a selection of sets from influential productions. Visitors are able to wander through the East Village from Rent, and ‘ease on down’ the fluorescent yellow LED staircase from cult Oz-inspired musical The Wiz.
3. Queer Britain, London
The UK opened its first national LGBTQ+ museum in London this summer, welcoming visitors ahead of the 50th anniversary of the country’s first gay pride march. The free-to-enter venue, located at the canalside Granary Square complex in King’s Cross, provides a crash course in British queer history through a thought-provoking collection. The fantastic, feather-lined costumes worn by modern drag artists stand in stark contrast to the pale cell door that Irish playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned behind for ‘indecent acts’ of homosexuality in 1895.
4. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry, Maldonado
Appearing like the bow of a great galleon crashing through the green landscape of Maldonado, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry (MACA) marks uncharted waters for Uruguay as the first contemporary art museum in the country. Opened in January, it’s the brainchild of artist Pablo Atchugarry, who’s best known for his monolith-like marble sculptures. The beautiful, breezy new space — and surrounding 99-acre sculpture park — aims to showcase South American talent to the world, featuring artists including Julio Le Parc, whose plexiglass murals create illusions with light, and Carmelo Arden Quin, an abstract painter who co-founded the Madí art movement.
5. Bob Dylan Center, Tulsa
In 1969, a fresh-faced Bob Dylan crooned that he ‘threw it all away’. Thankfully for music fans the world over, the singer — considered by many to be the greatest songwriter of all time — wasn’t referring to his own belongings. Instead, more than 100,000 of Dylan’s personal effects were bought by the George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa and used to stock this swanky new museum, which opened in May. The breadth of the collection is staggering, with paintings, poems, songbooks, unreleased recordings and unseen video footage spanning every stage of the celebrated singer’s life.
6. Museum of Hangovers, Shanghai
Most museums centre on events or individuals worthy of remembrance, but Shanghai’s newest cultural offering chooses instead to focus on those mornings (after the night before) we’d all rather forget. An outpost of Croatia’s Museum of Hangovers, this space aims to mimic the experience of having one too many, achieved with the help of hands-on exhibits, such as a ‘drunk text translator’, and snippets of salacious stories shared by past visitors. Things get more sobering in the final room, which aims to educate visitors on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption.
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