Marine archaeologists from Denmark's Viking Ship Museum have discovered the wreck of the 18th-century Danish warship Dannebroge in Copenhagen harbor. The ship was destroyed during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, when the British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked to dismantle the League of Armed Neutrality. Divers have recovered cannons, uniform fragments, bottles, and sailors' remains from the site.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture has formally petitioned UNESCO to secure enhanced protections for the nation’s cultural heritage sites as regional conflict intensifies. Culture Minister Ghassan Salamé urged the UN agency to intervene with belligerent parties to ensure the safety of irreplaceable landmarks, including the National Museum of Beirut and the Roman ruins of Baalbek. UNESCO confirmed it has shared the coordinates of these World Heritage sites with all involved parties to prevent accidental or intentional targeting during military operations.
Courtney McClellan's exhibition "Simulations" at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in Lower Manhattan features deadpan photographs of empty mock courtrooms at universities across the American South, including a haunting simulation of the Supreme Court's chambers at Liberty University, an evangelical Southern Baptist college in Virginia. The show, which includes images taken over six years, is installed with blue borders and wainscoting that blur the line between architecture and image, placing viewers in the position of judge and jury while highlighting the theatricality of these spaces.
Bulgarian authorities, with support from Europol, arrested 35 individuals and conducted 131 searches across Bulgaria, seizing over 3,000 cultural artifacts valued at more than €100 million. The operation targeted a criminal network trafficking artifacts from Thracian and Greco-Roman civilizations across Europe, with connections to illegal excavations in Bulgaria and the Balkans. The investigation, which began after a 2020 house raid that uncovered 7,000 artifacts, involved law enforcement from Albania, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and the UK, and was coordinated from Sofia and Eurojust in The Hague.
Jacob Pabst, CEO of Artnet AG, resigned late Sunday night just before the company's annual general meeting in Berlin. His contract had expired at the end of August, and he cited a failure to reach an agreement on continuing. Andrew E. Wolff, who holds about 98.93% of Artnet shares and also owns rival platform Artsy, will serve as interim CEO. The meeting proceeded without Artnet management present, leading to criticism from investor-protection group DSW. Shareholders were given an overview of 2024 finances and approved the creation of authorized capital for a possible increase of up to 50% of share capital. Former major shareholder Rüdiger K. Weng announced he will pursue civil and criminal claims against members of the founding Neuendorf family and board members.
The Danish government has ordered the removal of a 13-foot tall mermaid statue known as the "Big Mermaid" from Dragør Fort in Copenhagen, following years of criticism that it is sexualized, ugly, and pornographic. The sculpture, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, was installed without permission on a protected monument site overseen by the Agency for Culture and Palaces, which determined it disrupts the fort's military structure. Critics including Sorine Gotfredsen and Mathias Kryger condemned the work, while entrepreneur Peter Bech, who commissioned it, defended the statue's proportions.
President Donald Trump has announced the United States will withdraw from UNESCO for the second time, effective at the end of 2026. The State Department cited the organization's focus on "divisive social and cultural causes" and its alignment with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as contrary to America First foreign policy, as well as "anti-Israel rhetoric" within UNESCO. This follows a pattern of Trump pulling the US from multilateral bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, and continues a fraught history: the US stopped funding UNESCO under Obama over Palestine's membership, left in 2017 under Trump, and rejoined under Biden in 2023.
A newly discovered mold species, aspergillus section restricti, is damaging artworks and cultural objects across Denmark. Detected in 12 museums including the National Museum of Denmark and Skagens Museum, the fungus thrives in dry environments—the very conditions used to preserve artifacts. Conservators describe it as an "epidemic" that also poses health risks to visitors. The National Museum is relocating affected works to a new warehouse near Copenhagen, but no solution has been found yet. Preliminary studies are underway at 150 additional cultural sites to assess the spread.
Amélie du Chalard, a bi-continental art collector and gallery owner, discusses her lifelong journey with art in an interview with CULTURED. Starting her collection at age 16 through family tradition, she founded her eponymous gallery in Paris in 2015 and later expanded to New York. Her collection and gallery blend design objects with fine art, embracing what she calls 'haptic minimalism'—a tactile, gentle aesthetic. She shares her sourcing process, including using the Drouot auction app and Artsy, and recounts tracking down a piece first seen in a 14th-century palace.
The Contemporary Austin hosted its annual Art Dinner 2025 at the historic Driscoll Villa along the Colorado River, transforming the museum grounds into a festive gala reminiscent of Studio 54. The event featured an auction with works by RF. Alvarez, Sarah Crowner, Lubaina Himid, and Ed Ruscha, where participating artists could receive up to 50 percent of the winning bid. Attendees included film producer Bettina Barrow, Nike CEO Elliot Hill, athletes Chris Bosh and Zach Martin, collector Suzanne Deal Booth, and actors Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Elizabeth Reaser, with live performances by TheBrosFresh and Mama Duke.
Material gewordene Geschichte
The German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale has been transformed by artist Sung Tieu, who clad its Nazi-era facade with millions of small marble tiles to replicate the look of a prefabricated East German apartment block—specifically the Gehrenseestraße housing complex in Berlin where she spent part of her childhood. Inside, the exhibition features glass casts of her mother's limbs, aluminum beams evoking cramped living quarters, and works by the late Henrike Naumann, all curated by Kathleen Reinhardt to explore bureaucracy, migration, and systemic violence.
Berlin-based Swedish artist Sanna Helena Berger makes her Danish debut with "Difference" at Matteo Cantarella in Copenhagen. The exhibition explores the concept of the remainder—the mathematical and physical space left behind when one value is subtracted from another—through a series of sculptural and spatial interventions.
The Brickell Key Gallery (BKG), also known as Ccucu Gall-Art, is set to make history as the first art gallery to open on Miami’s Brickell Key. The inaugural event, scheduled for March 13th, features a solo exhibition by artist Ricardo Garcia, whose contemporary works are heavily influenced by the techniques and aesthetics of the Old Masters.
The Preservation Society of Newport County is hosting "Full Circle" at the Rosecliff mansion, an exhibition that revisits the landmark 1974 outdoor sculpture show "Monumenta." The current display features scale models, preparatory drawings, and archival photographs of works by modern masters such as Claes Oldenburg, Alexander Calder, and Willem de Kooning. A significant portion of the show is dedicated to Richard Fleischner, whose site-specific earthwork "Sod Maze" remains the only original piece from the 1974 project still standing in its original Newport location.
Saina Heshmati and Amir Amini have opened ANTiPODE Art Gallery in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, a new space dedicated to showcasing the work of immigrant artists. Located in a basement shared with the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, the gallery functions as a multi-modal hub for cultural exchange, hosting art exhibitions alongside film screenings, tea ceremonies, and experimental music. The founders, both Tehran natives, aim to bridge the gap between Seattle and distant global cities through diverse programming that emphasizes the intersection of different artistic disciplines.
Art a path to conservation
Dunedin-based artist Clare Reilly is celebrating her 50th year of exhibiting with a practice that merges vibrant depictions of New Zealand’s native flora and fauna with active environmental advocacy. Her work, which frequently features birds in flight as symbols of spiritual uplift, serves as both a tribute to the natural world and a warning about habitat loss. Through her career, she has collaborated with her late husband Max Podstolski under the Primitive Bird Group banner and participated in hands-on conservation efforts, such as the tūī relocation project to Banks Peninsula.
The University of North Texas recently shuttered an on-campus art exhibition shortly after its opening, marking a significant escalation in campus censorship. This incident follows a pattern of administrative interference, including the removal of pro-Palestinian student work and the resignation of a museum director at Pepperdine University over the alteration of politically sensitive artworks. These actions are part of a broader national trend where university administrations are increasingly intervening in artistic expression to avoid political controversy.
Multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites in Iran, including the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan, have sustained significant damage from recent US-Israeli airstrikes. The attacks shattered historic windows, doors, and decorative tiles at several monuments in Isfahan's historic center, and also damaged the third-century Falak-ol-Aflak Citadel, despite the display of protective Blue Shield emblems.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will host "Treasures of the Pharaohs," an exhibition of 130 ancient Egyptian artifacts including granite statues, gold jewelry, funerary masks, and sarcophagi, opening in March 2027. The show features Queen Ahhotep’s golden sarcophagus and recently unearthed objects from a worker’s community in the Valley of the Kings, on loan from the Luxor Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is currently on view in Rome and will travel to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco before arriving in Fort Worth as its second and final North American stop.
Recent US-Israeli strikes in the Iranian city of Isfahan have caused significant damage to several UNESCO World Heritage sites and historic landmarks. Reports indicate that the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun Palace suffered shattered windows, broken doors, and a large crack in a major fresco depicting Shah Tahmasp and the Mughal Emperor Humayun. Nearby, in the historic Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, the Ali Qapu Palace and the Jame Abbasi Mosque also sustained damage, including the destruction of iconic turquoise tiles and intricate fretwork.
The Hasakah Museum in Syria, a completed but never-opened archaeological museum, is finally being prepared to open to the public after being occupied by military forces for over a decade. The building, constructed in 2002, was seized by the Assad regime's military in 2011 and used as a base and weapons depot, becoming part of a fortified security zone in the city center until the regime's forces withdrew in December 2024.
The Netherlands will return a 3,500-year-old stolen Ancient Egyptian statue to Egypt after it was spotted at the Tefaf Maastricht art fair in 2022 by an eagle-eyed visitor. The stone statue, believed to depict a high official from the dynasty of Pharaoh Thutmose III, was flagged via an anonymous tip, leading the dealer to voluntarily surrender it. An investigation by Dutch police and the Information and Heritage Inspectorate confirmed it was likely plundered unlawfully and illegally exported. The statue will be handed to the Egyptian ambassador in The Hague later this year, in line with the 1970 Unesco convention against trafficking cultural property.
The article 'From Paris To Gyeongseong’ Illuminating The Flow Of Modern Art' explores the historical and cultural exchange of modern art between Paris and Gyeongseong (the former name of Seoul during the Japanese colonial period). It traces how Western modernist movements, particularly from Paris, influenced Korean artists in the early 20th century, highlighting the cross-cultural dialogue that shaped the development of modern art in Korea. The piece examines specific artworks, exhibitions, and the role of key figures who facilitated this artistic flow.
The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee announces a summer 2026 season featuring three exhibitions: the Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists 2025, showcasing five local artists; After the Empire: American Prints from the Haggerty Collection, examining American identity through satire and social commentary; and Defying Empire: Revolutionary Prints from Britain and America, challenging traditional narratives of the American Revolution. The exhibitions run from June 4 to August 1, 2026, with the Nohl Fellowship co-presented with the Lynden Sculpture Garden.
The Venice Biennale has announced the voting rules for the new Visitors' Lion awards, which replace the traditional Golden Lions after the original jury resigned before the opening. On the same day the popular voting opened, dozens of artists from the central exhibition 'In Minor Keys' and several National Pavilions announced their withdrawal from the competition in solidarity with the resigned jury, releasing a statement via e-flux on May 9, 2026. The voting system requires visitors to have attended both the Giardini and Arsenale venues, with anonymous voting open until November 22, 2026.
Contemporary artist Tumi Magnússon has opened a solo exhibition titled "Herefrom Thereto Therefrom Hereto" (Héðan þangað þaðan hingað) at the Reykjanes Art Museum in Keflavík, Iceland. Curated by Gavin Morrison, the show marks a significant return for both the Copenhagen-based artist and the U.S.-based curator to the Icelandic art scene. The exhibition features a dialogue between Magnússon’s early post-conceptual paintings from the late 1990s and his more recent explorations in video, sound, and digital imagery.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) is hosting a specialized sale titled "PRESENT TENSE: Ultra-Contemporary & Street Art" via the Artsy platform. The auction features a curated selection of works from high-profile contemporary and street artists, including Barry McGee, Shag, and RETNA. Bidders are invited to participate through pre-registered max bids or real-time live bidding as the sale concludes on March 17, 2026.
The third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale has opened in Riyadh’s JAX District under the title 'In Interludes and Transitions.' Curated by Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, the exhibition features over 65 artists from 35 countries, focusing on themes of migration, oral storytelling, and the movement of ideas across borders. The show is housed in repurposed 1970s industrial warehouses with a scenography designed by Formafantasma that emphasizes intimacy despite the monumental scale of the venues.
The Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown is hosting a major exhibition titled 'The Scandinavian Home: Art and Identity, 1880-1920' from February 7 to May 17, 2026. The show features over 80 objects, including paintings, textiles, ceramics, and furniture, drawn primarily from the private collection of Dr. David and Susan Werner. It is organized into thematic sections exploring movements like Norwegian Revival, Art Nouveau, Vitalism, and Symbolist Experimentation, showcasing works from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
The Korea Art Authentication and Appraisal Institute (KAAAI) released its "2025 Art Market Analysis Report" on January 21, 2026, revealing that the Korean art market grew 5.16% in total auction sales to 142.7 billion won, despite a decline in the number of lots offered. The global market saw a similar trend: combined sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips rose 11.1% to $4.56 billion, but the number of works sold fell by 33.3%. Demand concentrated on high-priced blue-chip works by artists like Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Mark Rothko, René Magritte, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, while ultra-contemporary art sales plunged 39.1%.