DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ A Scandal and Its Fallout Compound the British Museum’s Woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Visitors to the British Museum this week could be forgiven for thinking it was business as usual. In the museum’s Egyptian galleries, tourists jostled to get a closer look at the Rosetta Stone. Nearby, a teenager posed for a photo in front of a huge statue from Easter Island. Since news broke in August that an employee had been fired over the theft of potentially thousands of items from its storerooms, the British Museum has struggled to deal with the fallout, which is exacerbating challenges it already faced. At a time when it needs leadership most, the museum is rudderless, after its director, Hartwig Fischer, resigned on Aug. 25.

Persons: jostled, Hartwig Fischer, Tom Jamieson, shutdowns Organizations: British Museum, Rosetta, The New York Times Locations: Easter

☆ British Museum Director Resigns After Worker Fired for Theft
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just days after the British Museum announced that it had fired an employee who was suspected of looting its storerooms and selling items on eBay, the museum’s director announced Friday that he was resigning, effective immediately. Hartwig Fischer, a German art historian who had led the world renowned institution since 2016, said in a news release that he was leaving the post at a time “of the utmost seriousness.”Mr. Fischer said that it was “evident” that under his leadership the museum did not adequately respond to warnings that a curator may be stealing items. “The responsibility for that failure must ultimately rest with the director,” Mr. Fischer said. The crisis became public when the British Museum announced last week that items had been stolen from its collection. The museum did not say how many items were taken, but said that the missing, stolen or damaged pieces included “gold jewelry and “gems of semi-precious stones and glass” dating from as far back as the 15th century B.C.

Persons: Hartwig Fischer, Mr, Fischer, ” Mr Organizations: British Museum, eBay

☆ British Museum Was Warned Gems Were Being Sold on eBay, Emails Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2021, British Museum officials were alerted to a potential thief in their ranks. That year, Ittai Gradel, a Denmark-based dealer in ancient gems, contacted the august London institution with evidence that he said showed that three gems from the museum’s collections had been offered for sale on eBay. Museum officials were already aware that something was up with one of those artifacts. Another dealer, Malcolm Hay, had gotten in touch to say he had bought one of the gems but was concerned it was stolen. The thief must have been someone inside the institution, Mr. Gradel said in an email to the British Museum that has been obtained by The New York Times.

Persons: Ittai, Malcolm Hay, Gradel, untoward Organizations: British, eBay ., British Museum, The New York Times, The Times Locations: Denmark, London

☆ British Museum Fires Worker Accused of Stealing Gold and Gems
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The British Museum has fired a staff member on suspicion of looting jewels from a storeroom and started a review of its security practices, the museum announced Wednesday. The worker, who has not been named, stole or damaged items including gold jewelry and “gems of semi-precious stones and glass” dating from the 15th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D., the museum said in a news release. The museum said that the majority of the items were small pieces kept in a storeroom. None had recently been on public display, the museum said, adding that “they were kept primarily for academic and research purposes.”

Organizations: British

The two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey said last month that he was ready to return to acting after years in the wilderness following sexual assault allegations. “I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London,” Mr. Spacey told a German magazine, referring to accusations that he had assaulted four men. “The second that happens, they’re ready to move forward.”Mr. Spacey was right in several ways: A British jury found him not guilty of nine counts of sexual assault this week, nearly a year after a federal jury in Manhattan cleared him of battery in a civil case filed by the actor Anthony Rapp. And he has two small projects awaiting release, with directors who could not be more publicly supportive. But the starry Hollywood roles, like Spacey’s conniving politician in “House of Cards” and droll advertising executive in “American Beauty,” may not come back anytime soon, if at all.

Persons: Kevin Spacey, “, ” Mr, Spacey, Anthony Rapp Locations: London, Manhattan, “

☆ Sinead O’Connor’s Death Is Not Suspicious, Police Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sinead O’Connor was found dead in a private home in London, the city’s police said on Thursday, a day after the provocative Irish singer’s death was announced. While few details have been released about the death, the police said that it was not being treated as suspicious. Ms. O’Connor, best known for her rendition of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” was 56. Her family confirmed Ms. O’Connor’s death in a short statement. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead,” the statement said.

Persons: Sinead O’Connor, O’Connor, ”, O’Connor’s, Sinead, “, Ms Locations: London

☆ Kevin Spacey Found Not Guilty of Sexual Assault
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shortly after the verdict, Mr. Spacey walked out of the courthouse — shaking the hands of several jurors on the way and kissing two security guards on the cheek — and gave a brief statement to a throng of waiting reporters. During the almost monthlong trial in London, the court heard from four men who said that Mr. Spacey assaulted them between 2001 and 2013. One complainant told the British police that Mr. Spacey touched him multiple times without his consent. During the trial, Mr. Spacey — who appeared under his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler — said that the pair had a consensual “naughty relationship.” The actor added that he felt “crushed” by the complainant’s characterization of their encounters. Elton John, giving evidence for Mr. Spacey’s defense, said that Mr. Spacey only attended his ball once, in 2001, several years before the complainant said he was groped.

Persons: Spacey, “, ”, Old, Elton John’s, Ball, Spacey —, Kevin Spacey Fowler —, Elton John Organizations: British Locations: London

☆ Britpop’s Back. But What Happened to Cool Britannia?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The comebacks have received euphoric reviews, but they are occurring at a starkly different moment for British pop music, compared with the ’90s. In 1996 Newsweek declared London the world’s coolest city. Instead, news articles about the country’s music scene are more likely to touch on venues shuttering — at a rate of one a week this year, according to the nonprofit Music Venue Trust — or the country’s bands, DJs and rappers struggling to tour abroad after Brexit brought in a tangle of red tape. Local news outlets have also lamented the British government’s cuts to arts funding, and warned about the decline of music teaching in schools. Sitting in his West London recording studio recently, Albarn said some things hadn’t changed since Britpop’s heyday.

Persons: ”, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Harry Styles, Brexit, Albarn, hadn’t, “, ” Chuva Organizations: Newsweek, Yorker, shuttering Locations: United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Europe, London, Britain, West London, Portuguese

☆ In U.K. Court, Kevin Spacey Denies Sexual Assault Charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Alex Marshall | More About Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kevin Spacey told a British jury on Thursday that he was “a big flirt” who had what he characterized as gentle, touching and romantic encounters with a man who accused him of sexual assault. He always respected the man’s boundaries, Mr. Spacey said, adding that he felt “crushed” when the man accused him of assault. Mr. Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges relating to incidents that the prosecution says involved four men and occurred from 2001 to 2013. For most of that time, Mr. Spacey was the artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London. Sitting at the front of a courtroom at Southwark Crown Court and facing the jury, Mr. Spacey — who was wearing a gray suit, and light blue tie — was calm and occasionally joked with his legal representative, Patrick Gibbs.

Persons: Kevin Spacey, ”, Spacey, “, Tony, Old, Spacey —, Patrick Gibbs Organizations: Southwark Crown Locations: London, Southwark

☆ Kevin Spacey Called ‘Sexual Bully’ by Prosecutor in U.K. Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The actor Kevin Spacey is “a sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable,” a prosecutor told a British jury on Friday. Speaking at Southwark Crown Court, the prosecutor, Christine Agnew, outlined her case against the Academy Award-winning actor, who is on trial in London facing multiple charges of sexual assault. The actor “abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him" to take “who he wanted, when he wanted,” Ms. Agnew said. Mr. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all charges. For much of that period, Mr. Spacey was the artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London.

Persons: Kevin Spacey, ”, Christine Agnew, Agnew, “, Spacey, Ms, Old Organizations: Southwark Crown, Academy Locations: Southwark, London

☆ With Slashed Funding, British Museums Turn to Philanthropy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Although the National Portrait Gallery soon secured large grants from several donors, including some from the United States, it also had setbacks. In 2019, the museum turned down a $1.3 million donation from the Sackler family’s charitable arm. Although the National Portrait Gallery eventually raised enough for the renovation, it has struggled in other fund-raising drives. It is widely considered one of the most important portraits of a person of color in British art history. The trans-Atlantic collaboration was “hopefully a good blueprint” for other museums struggling to buy masterpieces, Hilliam added.

Persons: Ramos, Cullinan, ”, Joshua Reynolds’s “, Mai, Sarah Hilliam, Hilliam Organizations: Sackler, Purdue Pharma, Paul Getty Museum Locations: United States, London, Los Angeles

☆ Who Owns the Benin Bronzes? The Answer Just Got More Complicated.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After years of ignored pleas and stonewalled requests, deals were finally coming together to return some of Africa’s most prized treasures to the continent. The Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the German government announced they were returning scores of sculptures, plaques and ornaments, known as the Benin Bronzes, that British soldiers had plundered in 1897 from Benin City, in what is now Nigeria but was once the center of a kingdom. Plans were underway for a glittering new museum designed by the British Ghanaian architect David Adjaye to showcase and protect the returned treasures. At a moment when museums worldwide are trying to come to grips with contested artifacts in their collections, this development underscores how complex restitution efforts can be. It decreed that any returned artifacts “may be kept within the palace of the oba,” or in any location that he considers secure.

Persons: David Adjaye, Muhammadu Buhari, oba Organizations: Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art Locations: Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, British Ghanaian

☆ Was Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Originally ‘Mongolian Rhapsody’?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Lauren Fleishman for The New York TimesAn early draft of the lyrics to one of rock’s most famous songs contains a secret. When Freddie Mercury wrote Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” he originally seemed to have toyed with another title, which he then scratched out. What if we all found ourselves singing along to “Mongolian Rhapsody”?

Persons: Lauren Fleishman, Freddie Mercury, ” Organizations: The New York Times

☆ Andy Rourke, Bassist for the Smiths, Dies at 59
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Andy Rourke, the bass player for the Smiths, one of the most influential bands of the 1980s, has died. His former bandmate Johnny Marr, the Smiths’s guitarist, announced Mr. Rourke’s death on social media and said that the cause was pancreatic cancer. He did not specify when or where Mr. Rourke died. “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul,” Mr. Marr said, “and as a supremely gifted musician.”Mr. Rourke played on all of the British band’s most well-known songs, including “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “This Charming Man,” helping turn the Smiths into a cult act in the United States and a chart-topping group in his home country.

☆ How Will the Greek Election Affect the Parthenon Marbles?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Since November 2021, Greece’s prime minister and the British Museum have been holding back-room talks about the potential return of at least some of the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of antique treasures that once decorated the famed pillared temple in Athens. The collection, which includes statues of Greek gods and carved friezes, was taken from Greece in the early 1800s by Lord Elgin, a British aristocrat. The prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has met several times with George Osborne, a former chancellor of the Exchequer who is now chairman of the British Museum.. The rapport between Mitsotakis and Osborne has widely been seen as one reason the talks have progressed so far. But on Sunday, Greece holds an election and the talks have been postponed until the result of the vote is clear.

☆ Sweden Wins a Eurovision Song Contest That Showed Solidarity With Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Alex Marshall | Maria Varenikova | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Eurovision Song Contest grand final, held in Liverpool, England, on Saturday, was meant to be Ukraine’s party. After Ukraine won last year’s edition of the beloved, campy singing competition, the country won the right to host this year’s spectacle. But with Russia’s invasion showing no sign of ending, the event was relocated to Liverpool. In the midst of a war, and with millions watching live, Ukraine’s entrant, Tvorchi, was among the favorites to win this year’s edition of the glamorous and, often, oddball event — a sign of the European public’s ongoing solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

☆ How Liverpool Put on a Song Contest for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Ukraine won last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it gained the right to hold this year’s event. And despite Russia’s invasion, it insisted it would do it. Last summer, Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister at the time, told reporters that Ukraine won Eurovision “fair and square,” so it should host, regardless of the war. “It’s going to be fine.”But Ukraine’s dream of staging this year’s Eurovision has failed to materialize. On Saturday night, the final of the glitzy contest — which is expected to draw a television audience of around 160 million — will take place 1,600 miles from Kyiv, in Liverpool, England.

☆ Undaunted by Air Raids, a Ukrainian Duo Gets Ready for Eurovision
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Marc Santora | Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has taken the contest’s entanglement with politics to new heights. The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, banned Russia from competing immediately after its invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian victory at last year’s Eurovision, awarded by a mix of jury and public votes, was widely seen as a show of solidarity with the besieged nation. “Get out of my way,” Kehinde sings. His mother, panicked, called him on the morning Russia started bombing Ukrainian cities and urged him to get out.

☆ Beyoncé Returns to the Stage With a ‘Renaissance’ Spectacle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Alex Marshall | Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The star’s eagle-eyed fan community speculated online that the singer was injured. A spokeswoman for Beyoncé did not respond to questions about her performance. Kristin Hulden, a Swedish fashion student who was wearing an embroidered jacket she had made that depicted Beyoncé riding a horse (the image on the cover of her latest album, “Renaissance”), said she had noticed the star’s more limited movement, but it hadn’t bothered her. Competition for tickets to pop’s biggest, priciest concerts has been stiff, and many in the crowd had traveled far — even thousands of miles — to guarantee that they would see Beyoncé this time. Rhoyle Ivy King, 26, an actor wearing a fluorescent turquoise jumpsuit and shades, said before the show that he had come from Los Angeles for the concert, spending about $2,500.

☆ King Charles’s Photographer Wanted a ‘Little Piece of Theater’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As King Charles III was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Saturday, Hugo Burnand, a British photographer, waited in Buckingham Palace’s glittering Throne Room for the most important moment of his career. The royal household had commissioned Burnand, 59, to take the official portraits of the newly crowned monarch — to create images that every newspaper in the world clamor to publish, and that art historians rush to analyze. Yet given the coronation’s complex schedule, Burnand would have limited time to do it. On Monday, the royal family released the results of Burnand’s short session with the newly crowned king, queen and other members of Britain’s monarchy, giving royal watchers worldwide a chance to judge whether Burnand had lived up to the commission. In Burnand’s pictures, King Charles III is depicted sitting forward in full regalia, holding the Sovereign’s Orb, a hollow gold globe made in the 17th century and decorated with a large cross, as well as the Sovereign’s Scepter.

☆ A King Who Actually Likes the Arts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With these varied interests, Charles is the most culturally attuned monarch for well over a century. In the 17th century, Charles I, a patron of painters including Rubens and Van Dyck, built one of Europe’s most important art collections. But where previous monarchs were known for their passions, Charles has often been defined by the things he doesn’t like. In a phone interview, O’Regan said that once you “delved into Charles’s likes and dislikes,” a picture emerged of a man whose interests were “obviously nuanced.”“He’s someone who is clearly very affected by music and other arts,” O’Regan said. “I remember being so completely transfixed by the magic of it,” Charles said during a 2018 radio interview.

☆ Tate Modern Finds Its New Director in Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Karin Hindsbo, the director of Norway’s recently opened National Museum, was on Friday named the new director of Tate Modern in London, one of the world’s most popular museums. Hindsbo, a Danish-born art historian, will take on the role in September, replacing Frances Morris, who has led Tate Modern since 2016. Last October, Morris announced she was leaving to focus on curatorial projects, and to work on addressing the art world’s climate impacts. The directorship of Tate Modern is one of the European art world’s highest-profile roles, with the museum expected to regularly stage blockbuster exhibitions of contemporary and modern art. Under Morris’s leadership, it’s hosted acclaimed shows including a sold-out Cézanne retrospective, a career-spanning exhibition of the British artist Steve McQueen’s video pieces and an exploration of work by African American artists during the civil rights era.

☆ Artist of Black Portraiture Leads Turner Prize Shortlist
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Barbara Walker, a British artist who draws huge portraits of Black people onto gallery walls, and Jesse Darling, a sculptor whose works evoke fragile bodies, are among the artists nominated for this year’s Turner Prize, the prestigious British visual arts award. The four-strong shortlist was announced on Thursday at a news conference at the Tate Britain art museum in London. Walker, 58, is perhaps the highest-profile artist to be nominated, with works in the collections of Tate, the British Museum and the Yale Center for British Art. She is nominated for “Burden of Proof,” which appeared last year at the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates, and included charcoal portraits of people affected by Britain’s “Windrush scandal,” in which some long-term British residents, originally from the Caribbean, were misidentified as illegal immigrants and threatened with deportation. Walker drew these portraits directly onto the gallery walls, as well as onto copies of the paperwork that the British government demanded the residents produce.

☆ A Restless Star Makes the Case for Danish-Language Pop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Despite those attention-grabbing travels, his career only truly took off in Denmark with the 2022 album “When the Soul Vomits,” written with the producer Arto Eriksen and filled with ’80s influenced pop songs and personal songwriting. Soon, he was working on tracks about his Kurdish heritage and his father’s emotional distance. So far, becoming a pop phenomenon — even in a small country like Denmark — has been a mixed experience. He pulled out of the show and public life, only returning with this spring’s arena tour. He is now feeling better, he said, and in recent weeks he released two tracks, “Toget” (“The Train”) and “Orange,” about the year’s challenges and a more hopeful future.

☆ Wes Anderson and Todd Haynes to Compete at Cannes Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Alex Marshall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Movies by Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes and Ken Loach will compete for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the event’s organizers announced during a news conference on Thursday. But Martin Scorsese will not compete at the festival, which opens May 16 and runs through May 27. Instead, his eagerly anticipated movie “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and is about the murder of Osage Indians in 1920s Oklahoma, will appear out of competition. Thierry Frémaux, Cannes’s artistic director, said during Thursday’s news conference that the festival wanted “Killers of the Flower Moon” to play in competition, but Scorsese had turned him down. The Wes Anderson picture in competition is “Asteroid City,” about a space cadet convention that is interrupted by aliens; Todd Haynes will show “May December” a love story about a young man and his older employer, starring Julianne Moore.

Search resuls for: "Alex Marshall"

25 mentions found