Who Went to Venice Last Week? Jenny Saville, Glenn Lowry, Jewel, and Many Other Power Players

Artnet News reporter Katya Kazakina recounts her experience at the opening week of the 61st Venice Biennale, describing a whirlwind of art, parties, and chance encounters. Notable figures spotted include former MoMA director Glenn Lowry, singer-songwriter Jewel (who debuted her visual art show "Matriclysm: An Archaeology of Connections Lost"), and Japanese Nintendo heir and collector Banjo Yamauchi. High-profile events included Thaddaeus Ropac gallery's reception for Georg Baselitz's final paintings (priced up to $1.5 million) and François Pinault's annual party at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, attended by Selma Hayek, Lorna Simpson, and JR. The article also highlights the social dynamics of the biennale, where dealers, curators, and collectors network across historic palazzos and hotels.

Chile to get a new contemporary art museum

A new contemporary art museum, the New Museum of Santiago (NuMu), is set to break ground in Chile's capital in August 2025. Led by businessman and philanthropist Claudio Engel and his four children through the Engel Foundation, the museum will be built around the family's collection of over 1,000 works by more than 200 artists, including Alfredo Jaar, Paz Errázuriz, and Pilar Quinteros. Designed by architect Cristián Fernández, the 2,000 sq. m facility will feature exhibition spaces, a sound-art room, an auditorium, a library, a restaurant, and a museum shop. It will be the first large-scale contemporary art museum in Chile housed in a new structure, located in Vitacura's Bicentennial Park.

A Massive Design Store is About to Open Inside an Entire 19th-Century Palace in Milan

A Milano sta per aprire un enorme negozio di design dentro un intero palazzo dell’Ottocento

The American luxury interior design giant RH (formerly Restoration Hardware) is set to open its first Italian flagship store in Milan's historic Palazzo del Principe di Piombino. Located on Corso Venezia, the massive 5,000-square-meter "Gallery" occupies a 19th-century neoclassical palace that has undergone an extensive restoration costing at least €10 million. The site will feature multiple floors of luxury furnishings, a 1,000-square-meter garden, and a subterranean restaurant called La Volta housed under a crystal dome.