The Venice Biennale has announced the five-member jury for its 2026 edition, which will award the prestigious Golden Lion prizes. The jury president is Solange Oliveira Farkas, founder of the Videobrasil Biennial, and she will be joined by curators and academics Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi.
Roland Rudd, chair of Tate, insists the institution is thriving despite recent leadership changes, citing record visitor numbers of 6.2 million, strong exhibition attendance (Turner and Constable at Tate Britain, Lee Miller, and Tracey Emin at Tate Modern), and 155,000 members. However, Maria Balshaw has stepped down as director after nine years, leaving her successor to confront a financially strained organization hit by pandemic losses, multiple redundancies, and low staff morale amid culture war battles.
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan has been appointed as the new director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, DC, effective September 8. She returns to SAAM, where she began her career and later served as chief curator, from her current position as executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. She succeeds acting director Jane Carpenter-Rock, who will remain as deputy director.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of London's Serpentine Galleries, revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he has never been able to secure a studio visit with the reclusive painter Jasper Johns. Obrist, known for his extensive artist interviews and visits, stated that Johns, now 95, "doesn't see anyone," making him the one artist who has consistently refused Obrist's requests.
Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland has appointed Rahel Kesselring as its inaugural botanical curator, a newly created position supported by the Chanel Culture Fund. Kesselring, a former research associate at Humboldt University, will develop a hybrid curatorial programme focused on the museum's park and surrounding ecosystems, aiming to integrate botanical knowledge with artistic practice on a practical, material level.
Raphael Fonseca, a prominent curator specializing in Latin American art, has been appointed as the new visual arts programmer at Culturgest in Lisbon. He will relocate to Portugal in June, succeeding Bruno Marchand, while maintaining a curator-at-large position with the Denver Art Museum, where he has served since 2021.
Swiss art historian Maria Schnyder has been appointed as the new director of the De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art in Tilburg, Netherlands. She will succeed the retiring director Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen in October. Schnyder is an internal promotion, having joined the museum in 2013 and served as its deputy director for the last four years.
The Judd Foundation has appointed Alexandra Cunningham Cameron as its first director of design, a new role overseeing Donald Judd Furniture LLC. Cameron, currently a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, will start on April 27, guiding product development, operations, and strategic growth for the foundation's furniture line, which produces over 70 designs based on Donald Judd's original specifications.
Une nouvelle directrice pour le Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, 75, has been appointed director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), succeeding Stephanie Stebich after a vacancy of nearly 17 months. Hartigan, who began her career at SAAM in the 1970s and rose to chief curator before leaving in 2003, most recently served as executive director of the Peabody Essex Museum, becoming its first woman to lead the institution. She will assume her new role on September 8.
Artnet News resurfaces an interview with painter Taína H. Cruz, who is featured in both the Whitney Biennial and MoMA PS1's Greater New York exhibition. Cruz, born in 1998 and a recent MFA graduate from Yale School of Painting, creates moody paintings often depicting Black female figures, drawing on African American and Caribbean folklore, horror, fantasy, and personal imagery. The interview, conducted by Ben Davis, explores her influences and her response to the sudden surge of attention from major institutions.
Thiago de Paula Souza, a Brazilian-born curator and educator, has been appointed curator of the Eighth Athens Biennale, scheduled for spring 2026. De Paula Souza, based in São Paulo and a member of the artistic committee of NESR Art Foundation in Angola, is recognized for focusing on artistic practices involving transmutation through eroticism, gender nonconformity, and intimacy. He previously cocurated the 2025 Bienal de São Paulo, the 2024 Panorama da Arte Brasileira at MAM São Paulo, and the survey “Some May Work as Symbols: Art Made in Brazil, 1950s–70s” at Raven Row, London, and served on the curatorial team of the 2018 Berlin Biennale.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) has appointed Lynda Roscoe Hartigan as its new director, concluding a 17-month search. Hartigan, who is leaving her position as executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum, will begin her role in September, succeeding acting director Jane Carpenter-Rock. She previously worked at SAAM as a curator in the 1970s and has held senior leadership roles at the Peabody Essex Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum.
Raphael Fonseca has been appointed as the new visual arts programmer at Culturgest in Lisbon, the cultural foundation of the Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos. He will relocate to Lisbon in June while transitioning to a curator-at-large role at the Denver Art Museum, where he currently serves as curator and head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art.
The Vancouver Biennale has appointed Marcello Dantas as senior curator for its 2027-29 edition. Dantas, a Brazilian curator and art director, has worked on major projects including co-curating Desert X AlUla in Saudi Arabia, curating an Es Devlin exhibition in São Paulo, and serving as art director at Sfer Ik in Tulum. He previously contributed to the Vancouver Biennale's 2013-15 edition with a Vik Muniz project. Dantas emphasizes collaboration with local First Nations and community groups, and plans to explore themes of belonging, displacement, and public art that is ephemeral and participatory.
La giuria della Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026 sarà tutta composta da donne
The organizing body of the Venice Biennale has announced the international jury for its 61st International Art Exhibition, titled 'In Minor Keys.' For the first time, the five-member jury is composed entirely of women: Solange Oliveira Farkas (president), Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. They will award the prestigious Golden Lions and special mentions during the awards ceremony on May 9.
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan has been appointed as the new director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is a former chief curator of the museum and most recently served as executive director of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
La fiera miart 2026 è finita e non ha più un direttore. Chi dirigerà l’edizione 2027? Il totonomi
The 2026 edition of the Milanese art fair miart has concluded, but its director Nicola Ricciardi is not expected to continue. The fair's owner, Fiera Milano, issued a closing statement with results and future dates, but failed to announce a successor, leaving the leadership for the 2027 edition in question.
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is stepping down as director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, to become the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, D.C., starting September 8. Hartigan, who began her career as an intern at SAAM, previously served as PEM's first chief curator in 2003, deputy director in 2016, and returned as director in 2021 after a brief stint at the Royal Ontario Museum. During her tenure at PEM, she oversaw the reinstallation of a 40,000-square-foot wing, guided a five-year strategic plan, and expanded programs in global fashion, contemporary art, photography, and American art.