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- An environmental group has unveiled a life-size melting statue of Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
- Liverpool announces Beatles projects for the city, including a 100,000-square-foot museum.
- The Victoria & Albert Museum’s unionized staff plans to strike across all four London sites.
The Headlines
MELTING AWAY. A statue of Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been unveiled in Tallahassee, Florida, which is slowly melting away to reveal a skull under the Republican governor’s face, reported The Guardian. The statue is a public protest from the environmental group 350 Action and advertising agency Uncommon, in response to DeSantis’s lack of action on the climate crisis. “The climate crisis is one of the top issues facing our planet today. And yet, some candidates running for office still deny it’s happening, and deny the bold climate action that the people want,” said Candice Fortin, campaign manager at 350 Action. The Florida governor’s time in office comes to an end in January after eight years. In 2018, he said “I am not a global warming person, I don’t want that label on me.”
HERE COMES THE MUSEUM. Beatlemania is on the rise again: four biopics on the British band are slated for release next year and now, Liverpool, the Beatles’ home city, has announced that it’s moving the Beatles Story Museum to a new 100,000-square-foot location in the city, according to The Times of London. Ownership of the museum is also being handed over to the Beatles’ media company Apple Corps, who has also acquired the St Johns Beacon, Liverpool’s second-tallest building, which will be used as a separate attraction themed around the 1968 animated musical Yellow Submarine. The project is scheduled to finish by 2028. Paul McCartney has called the project “extraordinary” and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said this is the “kind of ambition I want to see more of across Britain.”
The Digest
The show must go on: Bayeux Tapestry tickets go back on sale today. [The Standard]
James Bond items to hit auction, including Daniel Craig’s “Skyfall” suit and Ana de Armas’s “No Time to Die” dress. [The Hollywood Reporter]
The National Gallery in London is staging an exhibition of art acquired through tax schemes. [Artlyst]
London museums join forces for a new South Asian arts festival. [The Art Newspaper]
Ancient Assyrian artifacts damaged by ISIL in Iraq have been restored. [Al Jazeera]
A Russian archaeologist from the Pushkin Museum has been charged with conducting illegal excavations in Kerch, Ukraine. [UNN]
Valkyrie Historical Auctions cancels the sale of a Torah looted during the Holocaust. [VINnews]
You Hong-june, the director of the National Museum of Korea, resigns following his misattribution apology. [The Korean Times]
The Kicker
FOUR STRIKES. The Victoria & Albert Museum’s unionized staff is planning to strike across all four of the museum’s London sites on October 29 and 30, reported Hyperallergic. Since the summer, V&A staff have been demanding better pay and working conditions, citing lack of hydration breaks and restroom use at the newly opened V&A East Storehouse. Prospect Union’s general secretary, Mike Clancy, said in a statement that “Prospect members are dedicated to their jobs, and it is these dedicated staff who make the museum the world-class attraction it is” and that the museum’s director, Tristram Hunt, has been refusing to participate in negotiations.