Do not go: fake news about museums

The most shocking, stupid and funny artistic fake-nuis of recent years.

In early January, the news spread on the Internet that the feminists carried them to the Plane. A. S. Pushkin an ax and a staircase, tried to castrate a copy of David Michelangelo, failed and received injuries from the brought tools. Anyone who loves museums was immediately obvious that this news was a fake. If only because it is impossible to carry an ax and staircase through metal detectors and protection, as well as because museums in Moscow stood closed to the public because of quarantine. We decided to make a list of other ridiculous news for you, which used to be called newspaper ducks.

"Scream" and Roman Abramovich

In June 2020, the Sotheby’s Life Telegram channel, which was not an official channel of the auction house, appeared that one of the options for the “scream” of Edward Munku purchased Roman Abramovich at $ 120 million. No evidence was given this, however, the news was quickly replicated by many news portals, and on the way it was overgrown with details - for example, that this money will go to the development of the tourism business of Norway. As a result, it turned out that we are talking about an auction purchase of eight years ago, made by a completely different millionaire. However, thanks to the name of Roman Abramovich, the excitement in Runet was huge, some even demanded that he convey the “scream” to the Tretyakov Gallery.

Museum of Seattle and Racism

Fake Nachus is sensitive to the political situation. Last summer, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement (“Black life,”-English), a press release was made from a fake mail address. It stated that the board of directors of the Art Museum voted for self -sampling and the museum will continue to be controlled by the coalition of local artistic organizations of BIPOC, that is, ethnic minorities. The museum had to officially refute this information. The funny thing is that at the end of the false press release it was written that it is false. Only to this place no one read.

Mystical doll and showcase

The famous rag doll named Annabel is the star of the horror films of the franchise "Spell" and "Curse by Annabel". For decades, it has been stored in the occult museum of the Warrenes in Connecticut, and the Americans believe that the doll has paranormal abilities. Therefore, on a carefully locked window it is written: "Do not open!" In August 2020, the Internet exploded from rumors that Annabel escaped from the museum. Its owner had to record a special video message with a refutation of this hearing.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Tretyakovka

In January 2019, shortly after the theft from the Tretyakov Gallery, Arkhip Kuindzhi, an artist, a member of the Pussy Riot group, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, speaking television, said that she also once stole an exhibit from this museum, but did not name which particular. “We looked after a few paintings in the Tretyakov Gallery on the Crimean Val and as a result, something was stuck, but it was smaller, so this scandal did not cause ... no one contacted us about this. She is still hanging on the wall now, but I’ll just say where ... The curators just changed there, at that moment, in my opinion, the curator of the department of the latest trends was Andrei Erofeev, and the one who, apparently, does not understand anything in art. ” The press service of the Tretyakov Gallery wisely called this “the desire to prove”, but politely promised to investigate the issue.

Karl Gustav Mannerheim and Petersburg

In October 2019, the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg had to refute the news that he seemed to initiate the creation of the Museum in the city of Karl Gustav Mannerheim, a former general of the Russian army, who spoke under the name of Gustav Mannerheim, the Finnish commander in chief, a sadly memorable Leningraders for participation in the blockade. The news previously widespread by the city media was obviously generated by the news that the buildings of the stable department, where Mannerheim once lived, has a restoration. There, the interiors of his five -room apartment were partially preserved. Another component: nearby, on one of the buildings of the barracks of the Cavalier Guard regiment, for four months of 2016, a memorial plaque dedicated to him sagged, which had to be dismantled due to protests of the townspeople.

Mummy and rapist

In January 2016, the world Internet was excited by the news that the 44-year-old guard of the Smithsonian Institute, James Monroe, was arrested for committing sexual intercourse with the ancient Egyptian mummy from the exposition. It was reported that the leadership of the museum transferred records from the CCTV cameras to the police. As in the case of David in the Pushkin Museum, the source of fake news was the satirical website of the News Agency, on the main page of which the black and white was written in the liability and warning that this is only humor. However, no one ever pays attention to authorship ... The same site called World News Daily Report was a source of news in November 2020 that the guard of the same institute for money let people into the exposition at night and allowed them to have sex with dinosaur fossils. And the news in July 2019 that the Dinosaur National Monument museum was infected with a sexually transmitted disease from a dinosaur. From there - that in 2014 dinosaurs hatched in the Berlin Museum ... They are repeated, in general.

Toilet and visitor

Often, fake-nuis can be identified by a very monotonous type of humor. In 2007, a private museum of the history of the toilet opened in Kyiv. The news was spread immediately in the press that the 48-year-old visitor to the museum Vasily Kovalchuk took advantage of one of the exposure exhibits. The press service had to refute his hearing. However, was this part of the PR action that accompanied the discovery?

The article was published in The Art Newspaper Russia In January 2021.

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