Museum openings: V&A East and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Plus, William Blake in Dublin

Museum openings: V&A East and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Plus, William Blake in Dublin

From The Week in Art by The Art Newspaper

April 16, 2026 · 1h 1m

About this episode

This episode discusses the openings of V&A East and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, along with a feature on William Blake's work in Dublin.

Two museum openings feature on this week’s podcast—V&A East in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In our 300th episode in 2024, Gus Casely Hayford, the director of the V&A East, told us about the community-driven programming at the museum and its connection with its local environment in East London. Now, as the museum opens, he takes Ben Luke on a tour of its commissions, displays and its first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story. In California, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) has just opened its new building by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, which cost more than $700m, and has generated some controversy. Ben speaks to our correspondent in Los Angeles, Jori Finkel, about the new building and the debate about its scale, its cost, its suitability for LA and whether Angelinos and tourists will take to Zumthor’s building. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils (around 1826) by the great 18th-century artist and poet, William Blake. The work is part of a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland, called William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy, which opened this week. Ben speaks to the…

People in this episode

Host: Ben Luke

Guest: Gus Casely Hayford

Topics covered

  • museum openings
  • V&A East
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • William Blake
  • art exhibitions
  • community programming

Keywords

  • museum openings
  • V&A East
  • LACMA
  • William Blake
  • art exhibitions
  • community programming
  • Satan Smiting Job

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: V&A East, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Gallery of Ireland

Books & works: Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils

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