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19 October 2015
Episode 210
30 minutes
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates
We take a global tour of some recent and upcoming art gallery openings including the Sursock Museum in Beirut, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London and The National Gallery Singapore. Plus: we meet the guerrilla artists in Belgrade who are taking the delayed opening of the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art into their own hands.
19 October 2015
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Museums in Beirut are far and few between but this autumn, after seven years of renovations, the grandiose Sursock Museum has finally thrown its doors back open to the public. It offers a much-needed meeting place in a fractious city marked by divisions.
6 minutes
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Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates
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Newport Street Gallery in London’s Vauxhall is dedicated to showing Damien Hirst’s vast collection of more than 3,000 artworks. Not many people know what comprises this arty haul so there’s much anticipation about what might end up hanging on the walls. To begin with, Hirst has chosen 33 eye-catching works by British abstract artist John Hoyland. Holly Fisher finds out more.
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Photo: Viktor Markovic
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Although Belgrade’s Museum of Contemporary Art should have been opening this week – or rather reopening in time for its 50th anniversary – its eight-year closure continues, much to the frustration of artists and public alike. However, all is not lost as a group of Serbian artists stage their own opening of sorts.
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The National Gallery Singapore has taken 15 years to open its doors to the public. Occupying the former Supreme Court and City Hall, the new institution is Singapore’s answer to the likes of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the Tate in London. Ahead of the opening in November, Monocle’s Jason Li takes a peek behind the curtains.
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