Gabrielle Goliath, Richard Avedon, “Chicken Linda”

Hyperallergic editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara reflects on skipping the New York art fairs and a record-breaking $181 million Jackson Pollock sale at Christie's, instead focusing on a profile of pioneering performance artist Linda Montano (now 84) who welcomed a contributor in a chicken costume, and Gabrielle Goliath's exhibition "Elegy" which was banned from South Africa's Venice pavilion by the culture minister but is now on view in a church. The newsletter also announces Hyperallergic's New York Press Club journalism award for Noah Fischer's comic "A Prospect Heights Ghost Story," supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and rounds up other art news including a $1 billion Christie's sale, a Billie Holiday monument commission, and public sculptures by Sarah Lucas, Roberto Lugo, and Kyle Goen.

Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Matthew Barney, Gerhard Merz,

The article appears to be a headline or listing mentioning artists Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Matthew Barney, and Gerhard Merz, sourced from Artsy. No further details about events, sales, or exhibitions are provided in the text.

Everyone Keeps Getting Yoko Ono Wrong

Paul Morley's new biography of Yoko Ono, *Love Magic Power Danger Bliss*, attempts to reframe the artist beyond her reputation as a 'Beatles wife' but ultimately fails, according to this critical review. The book covers Ono's first three decades, from her birth in Japan in 1933 to meeting John Lennon in 1969, but is dominated by lengthy asides on male avant-garde figures like George Maciunas and Pete Townshend, leaving Ono a passive presence in her own story. Morley promises not to mention Lennon but breaks that promise, and the review argues the book is aimed more at 'rock dads' still upset about the Beatles breakup than at understanding Ono's artistic contributions.

The Short Circuit of Art in Venice. The Tensions at the Biennale Are Not Just Geopolitics

Il cortocircuito dell’arte a Venezia. Le tensioni alla Biennale non sono solo geopolitica

The article analyzes the recent tensions and controversies surrounding the 2026 Venice Biennale, which began with President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco's announcement in March that Russia, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, and Belarus would all be allowed to participate, framing it as a foreign policy gesture. This sparked immediate polarization, leading to two open letters from half the invited artists and curators demanding the exclusion of Russia, Israel, and the United States; the resignation of the jury a week before the opening over a decision to exclude countries under ICC indictment; and a historic strike by workers on May 8 that shut down many pavilions, merging protests against genocide with those against precarious labor conditions.

Biennale’s Kazakh Pavilion Roiled by Controversy after Artwork Fails to Make It on View

Controversy has erupted at the Kazakhstan pavilion of the Venice Biennale after artist Äsel Kadyrhanova's multimedia installation *Machine* (2013), which addresses Stalin-era repression in Kazakhstan, was dismantled before the exhibition opened. An open letter published on e-flux, signed by prominent Kazakhstani art community members, alleges the work was removed on May 5 on orders from the nation's Ministry of Culture or pavilion organizers. The pavilion's curator, Syrlybek Bekbota, claims he personally made the decision to dismantle the work after negotiations with the artist failed, citing contractual restrictions from the venue, the Museo Storico Navale di Venezia, which prohibits "political, ideological," or "propagandistic" content. The venue's management company, D'Uva, denies any role in the removal, while the project's co-commissioner, Danagul Tolepbay, disputes the accuracy of the open letter's claims.

“Villa Borghese è perfetta e non si tocca”. Siamo andati a vedere se è proprio così perfetta

A private company donated a design competition to the Galleria Borghese in Rome, aiming to expand the museum's exhibition spaces and services. Before any winning project was selected, associations like Italia Nostra protested, claiming the initiative would desecrate Villa Borghese. The article's author visited the park to document its current state, finding decay: a wrecked Globe Theatre, neglected ponds, graffiti, trash, dilapidated buildings, and a degraded horse-riding track. The author argues that while the park is defended as "perfect and untouchable," it is actually suffering from real neglect that goes unaddressed by the same groups opposing development.

RESONANCE 2026 Opens Fully Funded Paris Residency

ART X Lagos and Cité internationale des arts, in partnership with the Embassy of France in Nigeria / Institut Français du Nigeria, have opened applications for the 2026–2027 edition of the RESONANCE residency programme. The fully funded three-month residency in Paris is open to Nigeria-based visual artists, curators, and designers, offering a live-in studio at the Marais site, a monthly allowance of €1,200, round-trip travel, professional mentoring, and institutional visits. Applications are due by 31 May 2026, with separate residency periods for curators (October–December 2026) and visual artists/designers (November 2026–January 2027).

Il Museo Nazionale d’Arte dell’Ucraina di Kiev colpito e danneggiato dai bombardamenti russi. Le immagini

Between the night of May 23 and the early hours of May 24, 2026, Russia launched a massive attack on Kyiv and other areas of Ukraine using 600 drones and 90 missiles. The National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) in Kyiv suffered severe structural damage, along with government buildings. The attack was reportedly a response to a Ukrainian bombing of a dormitory in Russian-occupied Starobilsk. The museum, founded in the late 19th century and housed in a neoclassical building opened in 1904, holds nearly 40,000 works spanning over a thousand years of Ukrainian art, including medieval icons, Baroque masterpieces, and avant-garde pieces.