Apollo Magazine

UK government wants to widen legal definition of treasure

Plus: Annabelle Selldorf to design Forbidden City’s visitor centre | Ramiken Gallery awarded inaugural Armory Show prize | and recommended reading

Watlington Hoard

The Watlington Hoard, discovered in Oxfordshire in 2015, was saved for the nation in 2017 after the Ashmolean Museum raised £1.65m. Image: © Trustees of the British Museum

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

UK government wants to widen legal definition of treasure  | The heritage minister Michael Ellis has announced proposed changes to the Treasure Act (1996). The broader definition, put forward by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, suggests that all finds worth more £10,000 will be considered treasure and offered to museums before it can be offered to private buyers. Currently, artefacts must be over 300 years old, made of silver or gold, or found with artefacts made of precious metals to qualify as treasure. Buyers of unreported treasure finds will also have a responsibility to report such finds to the local coroner. The proposals are now open for consultation.

Annabelle Selldorf to design Forbidden City’s visitor centre | The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has announced this week that New York-based Selldorf Architects will design the visitor centre at Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City, as part of a broader conservation project undertaken by the WMF and the Palace Museum in Beijing. The garden was built in the late 18th century for the Qianlong Emperor, and has never previously been open to the public.

Ramiken Gallery awarded inaugural Armory Show prize | The inaugural Gramercy International Prize, awarded by the Armory Show to support ‘young and pioneering New York galleries’, has been awarded to Ramiken Gallery. Ramiken, which does not currently have a permanent location, is presenting an exhibition of work by Darja Bajagić and Andra Ursuţa. The prize allows the gallery to exhibit at the fair for free.

Recommended reading | In Open Space, SFMOMA’s online platform, Siddharta Mitter and Carolina A. Miranda consider journalistic responsibility in the arts and discuss the Nigerian art scene and American politics, among other topics. In the New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl has mixed feelings about Lucio Fontana at the Met Breuer.

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