No Attitude, Nowhere: Conviction, Zero Meaning

Keine Haltung, nirgends Gesinnung, null Bedeutung

The article critiques the current state of the art world and broader culture, arguing that right-wing calls for depoliticized art are intensifying while the progressive art establishment silently tolerates a culture war that restricts free expression. It uses the 2025 Met Gala as a prime example, describing the event as a heartless display of wealth and power aligned with Trump-era capitalism, where celebrities and artists perform progressive values while participating in a spectacle sponsored by anti-union figures like Jeff Bezos. The author draws on Hannah Arendt's ethics lectures to suggest that moral norms have collapsed overnight, and that the commercial art world now legitimizes anti-democratic tendencies through its silence.

We are in danger of losing our sense of community

"Wir drohen das Gespür für die Gemeinschaft zu verlieren"

Christophe Cherix, the new director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, discusses his first months in the role, emphasizing museums as "safe social places" in an era of anxiety and screen-induced isolation. He advocates for collective vision-building with staff and defends the MoMA's independence against political pressure in Trump-era America. Separately, critic Paco Barragán argues in The Observer that biennials are in a structural crisis of repetition, tracing their history from instruments of national soft power to a "Global Neo-Liberal Biennial" system that co-opts diversity without changing its core logic. He introduces the concept of the "vibe-ennial," where discourse is replaced by atmosphere and critique by affect. Meanwhile, longtime Bonn museum director Stephan Berg critiques the boom in immersive art experiences like "Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience," calling them a "surrogate reality" tailored to the Instagram age that destroys the integrity of original works. Artforum reconstructs late-1960s debates on art criticism, focusing on Barbara Rose's challenge to formalists like Clement Greenberg and Rosalind Krauss, arguing that art must engage with societal conflicts such as Black Power and war resistance.

A hated portrait and a forged masterpiece: two new thrillers with paintings at their centre

Two new thrillers center on paintings: "The End of the Vodka" by an unnamed author, which fictionalizes the real story of Frida Kahlo's commissioned portrait of Dorothy Hale—a painting that horrified its patron Clare Boothe Luce—and weaves an imagined conversation between Luce and Wallis Simpson amid the backdrop of World War II. The second, "Sacrifice" by Lynda La Plante, follows Detective Jack Warr as he investigates a possible forgery of a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, leading to murder and a missing art forger.

The Painted Book Cover Is Back

The article reports on a growing trend in book cover design: the use of painted, figurative artwork instead of stock photos or digital renderings. Publishers are increasingly licensing paintings by artists from Hilma af Klint to Shannon Cartier Lucy, seeing them as a way to signal cultural authority and intellectual rigor. The trend is discussed through examples like Victoria Redel's *I Am You* (2025) and Kyung-Ran Jo's *Blowfish* (2025), with insights from LiteraryHub Managing Editor Emily Temple and Astra House publisher Benjamin Schrank.

A Culture Lover’s Guide to Northwest Arkansas, a Land of Contradictions

This travel guide explores the cultural landscape of Northwest Arkansas, focusing on the upcoming 114,000-square-foot expansion of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, set to open June 6, 2026. The author recounts a road trip from Little Rock to the Ozarks, visiting the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (with its new Studio Gang-designed building), dining at Coursey's Smoked Meats, and encountering a white supremacist billboard in Harrison, while also highlighting Thorncrown Chapel by E. Fay Jones as a transcendent architectural stop.

Pappi Corsicato's film on photographer Claudio Abate, which recounts the artistic ferment of Rome between the 1960s and 1990s, is now on RaiPlay

È su RaiPlay il film di Pappi Corsicato sul fotografo Claudio Abate che racconta il fermento artistico di Roma tra gli Anni ’60 e ‘90

RaiPlay has released a new documentary film by Pappi Corsicato titled "Claudio Abate. L’obiettivo nell’arte" (2026), which pays tribute to the late photographer Claudio Abate (1943–2017). The film weaves together interviews, archival materials, and footage from Istituto Luce to chronicle Abate's life and work, focusing on his role documenting the vibrant Roman art scene from the 1960s through the 1990s. It highlights his collaborations with key figures such as Jannis Kounellis, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Fabio Sargentini, and the artists of the Pastificio Cerere school, capturing seminal performances, happenings, and installations that defined Arte Povera and other avant-garde movements.

The Burlington Magazine - n°1478 vol CLXVIII - May 2026

The May 2026 issue of The Burlington Magazine (n°1478, vol. CLXVIII) presents a rich array of scholarly articles, exhibition reviews, and book reviews covering European art from the medieval period to the 20th century. Highlights include Laure Boyer's study of two photographs of Victorine Meurent linked to Manet's 'Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe' and 'Olympia', Axel Moulinier's analysis of Watteau's copies after old masters, and Richard Thomson's essay on a century of Monet in print. Exhibition reviews cover shows on Monet's Étretat coast, Orazio Gentileschi, Cornelius Jonson van Ceulen, Gainsborough, Seurat, Italian Symbolism, and Iliazd. Book reviews range from medieval art and Pietro Bellotti to Helene Schjerfbeck, Roberto Matta, and contemporary jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Boats and trains, not planes: reflections on a greener—but sometimes greenwashed—Venice Biennale

The article recounts the author's train journey from London to Venice for the 61st Venice Biennale, highlighting the environmental benefits and pleasant experience of traveling by rail versus flying, despite higher costs and longer duration. It then focuses on the Biennale's central exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, which foregrounds environmental themes through works that engage with earth, nature, and ecological stakes, featuring artists like Otobong Nkanga, Célia Vasquez Yui, Theo Eshetu, Linda Goode Bryant, and Annalee Davis.

A Bigflo et Oli video shot in front of a giant Picasso at the Abattoirs in Toulouse

Un clip de Bigflo et Oli tourné devant un immense Picasso aux Abattoirs de Toulouse

French rap duo Bigflo et Oli filmed a live session of their song "Picasso" in front of Pablo Picasso's monumental stage curtain "La Dépouille du Minotaure en costume d'Arlequin" (1936) at the Abattoirs museum in Toulouse. The video, directed by Antoine Zago-Honnorat, features nine musicians and draws on Latin and Spanish pop influences, with the duo citing inspiration from Spanish artist Rusowsky. The choice of venue is personal: the brothers grew up visiting the museum, and Oli co-curated an exhibition there in 2024–2025 titled "Le Musée imaginaire d'Oli," which attracted over 100,000 visitors.

Are You a Queer Artist Heading to Fire Island This Summer? Pack This Book.

Cultured magazine highlights a new book, *Fire Island Art: 100 Years*, edited by John Dempsey, president of the Fire Island Pines Historical Society. The volume surveys queer artmaking on Fire Island from the 1930s to the present, featuring canonical figures like Richard Avedon, David Hockney, and Andy Warhol alongside overlooked artists, and includes contemporary voices such as TM Davy, Nicole Eisenman, and Salman Toor. It draws on archival material, newly unearthed pieces, essays, interviews, and primary texts to reframe the island as a cornerstone of queer modernism.

The Whelm of Massive Group Shows, and My Tender Eyes

The article reflects on the overwhelming experience of massive group exhibitions, using examples like Lawndale's "The Big Show" (77 artists in 2025), "Hecho en Dallas" (66 artists), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's 1999 MFA thesis show (around 150 artists). The author, a gallerist, recounts visiting two recent San Antonio shows—"A Postmodernist Says ¿Que?" at Centro de Artes and "Fan of a Fan 3" at C7 Space—which feature dozens of works hung salon-style, forcing viewers to make choices about where to focus attention.

On the MUBI platform arrives the story of the great New York photographer Peter Hujar

Sulla piattaforma Mubi arriva la storia del grande fotografo newyorchese Peter Hujar

MUBI has announced the exclusive streaming release of "Peter Hujar's Day," a film directed by Ira Sachs, set to premiere on May 22. The film is based on a 1974 conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and author Linda Rosenkrantz, and stars Ben Whishaw as Hujar and Rebecca Hall. It reconstructs a single day in Hujar's life, capturing the creative energy and precariousness of 1970s New York, with appearances from figures like Allen Ginsberg and Susan Sontag.

‘Anger, curiosity and hope’: a planet of protest – in pictures

Matthew Connors' new photo book, *The Axe Will Survive the Master*, compiles 12 years of protest photography from Hong Kong, Cairo, New York, Kyiv, North Korea, and beyond. Published by MACK Books, the work weaves together images from the Occupy movement, the Egyptian revolution, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, the war in Ukraine, and other confrontations with authoritarian power, dissolving geographic boundaries into a single sequence drawn from an archive of 200,000 images.

Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration

Artist Janani Balasubramanian and astrophysicist Natalie Gosnell have co-authored a book titled "Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration," published by the University of California Press. The book reimagines collaboration between art and science as a shared, values-based practice rooted in curiosity, experimentation, and joy, rather than treating them as separate disciplines. It draws from the authors' own partnership and the experiences of other interdisciplinary creators, offering practical strategies for building relationships based on mutual respect, trust, and imagination, while addressing real-world constraints like institutional demands and limited resources.

Aging more slowly thanks to museums? Science confirms it

Vieillir moins vite grâce aux musées ? La science le confirme

A study published on May 11 in Innovation in Aging by University College London analyzed data from 3,556 adults in the UK, measuring their cultural engagement against biological age using epigenetic clocks. Researchers found that those who visit museums, exhibitions, concerts, or libraries at least once a week age approximately 4% more slowly than those who rarely participate. Even three cultural outings per year correlate with a 2% slowdown in biological aging, with monthly visits yielding a 3% effect—comparable to the benefits of physical exercise.