ICYMI: Highlights from the week that was Dec. 31 – Jan. 5, 2019
No one can keep up with everything, so let us do it for you. We’ll gather the top Smithsonian stories from across the country and around the world each week so you’ll never be at a loss for conversation around the water cooler.
No, we do not just open their enclosures and let the Zoo animals fend for themselves during a shutdown.
Shameful’: As U.S. Government Shutdown Forces Museums to Shutter, Artists Respond
ArtNews, January 2
Off view until further notice: Bill Traylor’s Untitled (Yellow and Blue House with Figures and Dog), July 1939, which is included in the Traylor retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
PHOTO: GENE YOUNG/SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
In Washington, D.C.’s museum world, 2019 is beginning with a whimper.
As the partial shutdown of the federal government enters its second full week, all Smithsonian museums and many other agencies in D.C. and beyond have shuttered for lack of funds, or are getting ready to close for an indefinite period. Among those closed on Wednesday were the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.; the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. and New York; and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. Read more from Andrew Russeth for ArtNews.
Zoo animals still need to be fed despite government shutdown
Associated Press, January 2
The empty entrance of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Hungry pandas don’t particularly care whether there’s a partial government shutdown.
The Washington National Zoological Park’s most famous residents still need to be fed, as do thousands of other animals, even as the facility closed its gates Wednesday.
The zoo is part of the Smithsonian network of museums, and all stayed open through New Year’s Day using pre-existing funds. That money has now been exhausted.
“We plan to maintain the current level of care for the animals, and that’s not going to change no matter what,” said National Zoo spokeswoman Annalisa Meyer. Read more from Ashraf Khalil for the Associated Press.
Team at Harvard-Smithsonian and Brown Use Virtual Reality to Look Inside Stars
Reality Technologies, December 31
Cassiopeia (Image via NASA/CXC/SAO_
Space fans have seen vivid images of vivid paint-spattered galaxies, supernovas, and stars from images taken by astronomers. Now, Teams at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Center for Computation and Visualization at Brown University are using Virtual Reality to get a view of stars from the inside. Read more from Juanita Leatham for Reality Technologies.
Smithsonian optimistic about U.S.-China cultural exchanges
New China, January 3
Giant panda Tian Tian enjoys its birthday cake at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C., the United States, on Aug. 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)
David Skorton, head of the U.S. Smithsonian Institution, said he remains optimistic about the cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States in the future.
The secretary and chief of the prestigious U.S. cultural and research institution made the remarks in a recent interview with Xinhua at the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution, which is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.Read more from New China.
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Posted: 6 January 2019
