New Museum and Gallery Roundup

The opening of The Hepworth Wakefield (21st May) is the latest in a remarkable sequence of ongoing museum and gallery developments in the UK. Below is a brief round-up of the most notable:

• The Hepworth Wakefield
• Turner Contemporary in Margate
• The Holburne Museum extension in Bath
• Nottingham Contemporary
• Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art (mima)
• Firstsite in Colchester
• Museum of Liverpool
• V&A Dundee

The Hepworth Wakefield

Named in honour of Wakefield born sculptor Barbara Hepworth, the gallery, designed by David Chipperfield, is the largest purpose built gallery to open in the UK since Tate St Ives in 1993. The opening exhibitions feature Eva Rothschild: Hot Touch (21st May - 9th October) and a display of work by Hepworth.

Eva Rothschild - installation in Hepworth Wakefield

Barbara Hepworth - installation in Hepworth Wakefield

 Read review of the gallery by Alfred Hickling.

Turner Contemporary 

The Turner Contemporary (opened 16th April, 2011) in Margate is named for J.M.W. Turner who attended school in the town and  allegedly declared that the skies over Thanet were 'the loveliest in Europe'. Like the Hepworth Wakefield, the Turner Contemporary is designed by David Chipperfield. Read Jonathan Glancey on the gallery and Laura Cumming's review of the opening exhibition: Revealed, featuring Turner, Daniel Buren, Douglas Gordon and others.

Daniel Buren, Borrowing and Multiplying the Landscape,installation in Turner Contemporary

The Holburne Museum extension in Bath

The Holburne Museum was developed around the collection of Sir William Holburne a naval officer who, as an 11 year old, experienced the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). His collection was housed in the former Sydney Hotel: this classical late C18 building has now been extended with a design by Eric Parry, remarkable if only for being permitted by the notoriously heritage sensitive planners of Bath. Read Rowan Moore's review of the building. The Museum was 're-opened' on 14th May by Peter Blake whose own collection, A Museum for Myself is the opening exhibition (until 4th September).

Peter Blake, Elvis Shrine, Holburne Museum

Nottingham Contemporary

Nottingham Contemporary opened in November 2009 in a building designed by Caruso St John. Current exhibitions include Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping and Egyptian artist Wael Shawky (both until 26th June).

Huang Yong Ping, Bat Project IV, 2005

Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art (mima)

mima was opened in 2007 in a building designed by Erick van Egeraat. The museum provides a home for a collection of around 3,000 pieces including works by David Hockney, Bridget Riley and Stanley Spencer and hosts temporary exhibitions, currently including videos and photography by Carey Young: Memento Park (until 20th July).

Firstsite in Colchester

Firstsite is scheduled to open in September in a building designed by Rafael Viñoly. The gold-clad, crescent shaped building will, according to the organisation's website, reinvent the traditional art gallery as an innovative cultural and social space with contemporary art at its heart.

Museum of Liverpool

The new Museum of Liverpool will open in July in a dramatic waterfront building designed by 3XN.

Finally, what might be the most ambitious project of all, scheduled for 2014: 
V&A Dundee

The winning design is by Japanese firm Kengo Kuma. The proposal is for a low-slung angular building, constructed out of a stone compound and glass, on a site in former docks in Dundee, partly sunk into the river Tay. It will be the first permanent museum building for  the V&A outside London - all subject, of course, to raising some £45m...