This Is What Happens When an Art Auction Bidder Changes Their Mind

Auction houses are grappling with a rise in bidders attempting to back out of winning bids, often citing flimsy excuses like cats jumping on keyboards. Richard Wright, CEO of Rago/Wright, describes a 'cat button' on their website that locks the bid button to prevent accidental clicks, but some buyers still renege by blaming spouses or pets. The problem has worsened with online bidding, as remote participants may not grasp the binding nature of a winning bid. Houses like Freeman | Hindman and Eldred's require deposits and registration to mitigate risks, but defaults persist, with Wright estimating 1% of sales become problematic.

Boston Public Art Triennial launches with more than a dozen projects across the city

The inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial launches on 22 May, bringing over a dozen site-specific installations, performances, and community-led activities to public spaces and cultural institutions across Boston through October. With a projected cost of $8 million, the free event features newly commissioned works by artists including Stephen Hamilton, Swoon, Nicholas Galanin, Beatriz Cortez, and Ekene Ijeoma, exploring themes such as Indigenous experience, trauma and healing, social justice, and humanity's relationship with nature.

Folk is having a revival—in the art world too

The article reports on the growing revival of folk culture in the visual arts, centered on the Neo Ancients festival in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. The second edition of the festival, held over May Day weekend, featured an eclectic mix of music, Morris dancing, talks, film screenings, and exhibitions celebrating British folklore. Art dealer James Elwes organized a show at the local gallery Rattle and Brash, featuring artists like Sue Webster, Jeremy Deller, and Stanley Donwood, who presented works outside their usual practices. Exhibitions included Donwood's 'Floralia' and Webster's new self-portraits exploring pregnancy and reinvention.

CULTIVATING A VIRTUAL GARDEN LEO CASTANEDA'S NEW INTERACTIVE DIGITAL WORK

CULTIVATING A VIRTUAL GARDEN LEO CASTANEDA S NEW INTERACTIVE DIGITAL WORK

The Whitney Museum of American Art has launched a new interactive digital artwork titled 'Camoflux Recall Grotto' by artist Leo Castañeda. Commissioned for the Whitney Biennial 2026, the web-based game invites players to cultivate a garden within a surreal, primordial landscape inspired by the Amazon and the Everglades, blending organic and technical infrastructures.

Art exhibits open in Earlville

The Earlville Opera House Art Galleries in Earlville, New York, will open the second round of 2026 visual artist exhibitions on Saturday, May 9, from 1 to 3 p.m. The series features three artists: Bruce E. Webster with his retrospective "A Legacy in Wood" showcasing over 40 years of fine wood furniture; Linda Kays-Biviano with "From Clay to Character: Featuring Woodland Spirits," hand-sculpted fantasy figures in polymer clay and resin; and Lawrence Kinney. The exhibits run through July 2, with free admission and an Artist Talk at 1:45 p.m. on opening day.

Art and Light Gallery spotlights artist Eric Benjamin at The Anchorage

Art & Light Gallery has partnered with The Anchorage restaurant in Greenville to host an exhibition of works by local artist Eric Benjamin. The show, available virtually on the gallery's website and on view through July 7 at the restaurant, features Benjamin's landscape paintings characterized by bold color and abstract energy created with hand-mixed oil paints. A ticketed artist talk is scheduled for June 18.

Local art gallery to open new music venue in Oshkosh

Jambalaya Arts Inc., a non-profit art gallery in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is expanding by opening a dedicated music venue called The Jamb on High Avenue. The new space, set for a soft opening at the end of March, will host live music events, allowing the gallery to stop the labor-intensive process of converting its existing Main Street gallery for performances.

Artnet et Artsy amorcent leur intégration

Artnet and Artsy, both acquired in 2025 by British fund Beowolff Capital, are beginning their integration under a shared management structure while maintaining separate brands and websites. The reorganization has already involved job cuts and aims to more closely align market data, online visibility, and transactions amid a fragile online art sales environment.

The Rapprochement Between Artnet and Artsy Takes Shape

Le rapprochement entre Artnet et Artsy prend corps

Artnet and Artsy, two major online art market platforms, have announced a strategic merger under the common ownership of British investment fund Beowolff Capital. The companies will retain their distinct brands and websites but will be led by a unified management team, with Artsy's CEO Jeffrey Yin taking the helm. The consolidation has already resulted in dozens of job cuts, particularly at Artnet News, and follows a period of economic strain for Artnet, which reported a 12% revenue drop in the first half of 2025.

design david webster anthony ross costanzo new york

Architect David Webster's preserved High-Tech design home and office in New York, completed in 1981, has been purchased by countertenor and Opera Philadelphia general director Anthony Roth Costanzo. The apartment, located near the Chelsea Hotel, features an industrial, off-the-shelf aesthetic with repurposed vanity lightstrips, custom iron windows, and a sliding door. Webster and Costanzo discuss the home's history, design details, and the legacy of gatherings that once included writer and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.

Collapse Finance, Part 1: Introduction

The global financial landscape is undergoing a structural shift toward "collapse finance," where institutions designed to manage risk are increasingly profiting from and accelerating systemic instability. Amid geopolitical turmoil and the abandonment of green initiatives, traditional concepts of market security are unravelling, replaced by a system that monetizes uncertainty through instruments like catastrophe bonds and volatile cryptocurrencies.

Lambeth Open 2025 will be happening on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October

Lambeth Open 2025 will take place on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October, from 10 am to 6 pm, transforming the borough into a free, public gallery. Artists and makers across Lambeth will open their studios and homes, inviting visitors to explore paintings, sculptures, design, and craft. The event, started in 2009, requires no tickets and features an interactive map on the Lambeth Open website to help plan routes.

How Myanmar's art community rallied after a deadly earthquake

Following the devastating 7.7 earthquake on 28 March in Myanmar, the country's art community—both at home and in exile—has mobilized fundraising efforts to support relief and rebuilding, deliberately bypassing the ruling Tatmadaw junta. Curator Kyel Sin Lin is auctioning a work by prominent artist Htein Lin depicting the epicenter Sagaing and the collapsed Ava Bridge, while galleries in Yangon such as The Collector Art Gallery, Sar Ga Gallery, and Nawaday Tharlar Gallery are holding earthquake relief sales. In Hong Kong, 10 Chancery Lane raised $13,000 through a fundraising night and online sale of works by Moe Satt and Htein Lin, and Karin Weber Gallery is selling a painting by Burmese Modernist San Win to benefit the educational non-profit Prospect Burma.

African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta revisits the works of W.E.B. Du Bois

The African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) has opened a new exhibition revisiting W.E.B. Du Bois' groundbreaking "Exhibit of American Negroes" from the 1900 Paris World's Fair. Developed in partnership with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the show builds on a Black History Month project by reporter Mirtha Donastorg and photographer Natrice Miller, who revisited Du Bois' original data and photographs. The exhibition features contemporary portraits of Black Atlantans alongside historical images, asking what has changed and what has endured in Black American life over the past century.

Notta Gallery Celebrates Hispanic Art and Culture with Fuego Festival and ‘Caballo de Fuego’

Notta Gallery in Lakeland, Florida, is launching a major retrospective titled 'Caballo de Fuego: Firehorse' dedicated to the 90-year-old Cuban master Gonzalo Borges. The exhibition features over 40 works spanning three decades, ranging from 1994 to a new piece completed in 2025. To mark the opening, the gallery is hosting the inaugural Fuego Festival, a street event celebrating Hispanic heritage through art, Latin cuisine, and live music.

kennedy center adds trump name

The board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to add President Donald Trump's name to the institution, renaming it "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts." The vote was described as unanimous by spokeswoman Roma Daravi, but Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio board member, disputed this, claiming she was muted when trying to voice opposition. The move has been met with disapproval from members of the Kennedy family and legal experts who argue it violates a federal stipulation from 1963. The name change has already been reflected on the institution's website and façade, following a year of turmoil that included Trump being booed at a performance and a Washington Post exposé on staff turmoil and declining ticket sales.

nifty gateway nft platform shutters

Nifty Gateway, one of the earliest and most prominent NFT marketplaces, announced it will shut down on February 23, 2026, citing sharply declining activity. The platform, founded in 2018 by twins Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster and acquired by Gemini in 2019, has entered withdrawal-only mode, advising users to move their assets before the deadline. At its peak in 2021, Nifty Gateway reported $300 million in gross merchandise value, boosted by a Sotheby's partnership for a $17 million NFT drop by the artist Pak. The closure follows the collapse of the NFT boom, with trading volumes plummeting and other platforms like Async Art, KnownOrigin, and MakersPlace already shuttered.

christies website down microsoft outage

Christie's website experienced a temporary outage on Wednesday, October 29, due to a global Microsoft 365 and Azure cloud platform disruption. Visitors saw an error message apologizing for the inconvenience and providing contact numbers for Christie's branches in London, New York, Paris, and Hong Kong. A Christie's spokesperson confirmed the outage was caused by the Microsoft issue, and the site was restored after Microsoft pushed a recovery configuration. No live auctions were scheduled that day.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley Expands THE DELUSION Beyond the Gallery with New Interactive Online Game

Serpentine has launched "I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT," a new online game and critical thinking tool by artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. Available from May 21, 2026, on web and mobile platforms, the project extends the world of Brathwaite-Shirley's acclaimed "THE DELUSION" and explores polarization, identity, and social connection beyond the gallery. Developed with nonprofit Beyond Code Collective and supported by Glass Castle Foundation, the game places players in a post-apocalyptic universe where they encounter fictional characters and make decisions that shape narratives and determine multiple endings, drawing on real-world materials from news cycles, social media, and community testimonies.

Deep space photography on view at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) is opening a pop-up exhibition titled "Beautiful Universe" featuring deep space astrophotography. The exhibit, a collaboration between the MAH and UC Santa Cruz's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, showcases celestial images captured by astrophotographer Steve Mandel and collaborator Bob Fera using remotely operated telescopes in the Sierra Nevada mountains and Chile. The photos, printed on large metal sheets, depict galaxies, nebulae, and supernova remnants using color filters similar to those on the Hubble Telescope.

'Cheaper parcel post and paintings' at 1301SW, Melbourne, Australia on 23 May–27 Jun 2026

The article describes an upcoming exhibition titled 'Cheaper parcel post and paintings' at 1301SW gallery in Melbourne, Australia, running from 23 May to 27 Jun 2026. The exhibition is listed on Ocula.com, an art platform, though the full article text is blocked by a security verification page, preventing detailed reading of the show's content or artists involved.

Arts Council News – Fine Art Exhibition Awards

Student artists shine in RAM exhibition

19 early-career artists, curators and students to benefit from professional development opportunity at Wales in Venice

The Arts Council of Wales has announced a 19-strong team of early-career artists, curators, and students who will travel to Venice this summer to support Wales' presence at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, running from May 9 to November 22, 2026. As part of the Invigilator+ programme, participants will spend at least one month in Venice acting as ambassadors for the Wales in Venice exhibition, an official collateral event. The exhibition, titled Sownd, is led by artists Manon Awst and Dylan Huw, jointly organized by Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen and Oriel Davies in Newtown, with Steffan Jones-Hughes as Curator and Catherine Spring as Exhibition Project Director. The invigilators include Lily Tonkin Wells, Robert Oros, Ophelia dos Santos, Grace Springer, Cerian Wilshire Davies, Megan Evans, Howl Hubbard, Temeka Davies, Llyr Evans, Chloe Goodwin, Abby Pouslon, and Niamh O'Dobhain, while student team members come from Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Wales Trinity St David, Wrexham University, and Aberystwyth University.

Henrike Naumann—selected for this year's Germany pavilion at the Venice Biennale—has died

Artist Henrike Naumann, who was selected alongside Sung Tieu to represent Germany at the 2024 Venice Biennale, has died at age 39. She passed away on February 14 in Berlin after a short, serious illness, which her website specified was a late cancer diagnosis. The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Ifa), which oversees the German Pavilion, confirmed her death and stated that her planned work for the Biennale will be realized posthumously according to her completed vision.

Giant spider on Belfry tower heralds opening weekend of Brusk art gallery in Bruges

A giant spider sculpture by Compagnie La Machine, titled *La Grande Araignée*, has been installed on the Belfry of Bruges to herald the opening weekend of the new Brusk art gallery. The weekend festivities also include a highline act by Belgian collective Lyapunov, a tightrope walk between the Belfry and the Church of Our Lady, and a tape art installation by Numen/For Use inside the gallery. The public can explore the building before its official opening in May 2026.

MFA Boston returns two works to Kingdom of Benin

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston has returned two looted artefacts—a bronze relief plaque and a terracotta and iron head—to the Oba of Benin during a ceremony at Nigeria House in New York City. The works, stolen by British forces during the 1897 punitive expedition against the Kingdom of Benin, were traced to the collection of Augustus Pitt-Rivers and later acquired by investment titan Robert Owen Lehman, who donated them to the MFA in 2013 and 2018. The pieces will be handed over to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments and ultimately to His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba Ewuare II.

New look for Guernsey’s Old Quarter

Art for Guernsey’s Street Art exhibition and summer project ‘Diversion’ is transforming Mill Street in Guernsey’s Old Quarter with vibrant murals and public art. Running from 27 June to 30 August, the project features works by 14 international and 16 local artists, plus contributions from children in the Summer Holiday Art Club. Artists are actively creating the displays, which have already generated positive buzz on social media, with passersby sharing photos and praising the initiative.

Must-Visit: Meow Wolf Grapevine Named 2025 Top Location-Based Experience in the World

Meow Wolf Grapevine's exhibition "The Real Unreal" has been named the 2025 Top Location-Based Experience in the world at the IAAPA Honors, held at Europa-Park in Germany. The award, from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, recognizes creativity and impact across the global attractions industry. Additionally, Meow Wolf Houston won Best Food & Beverage Building Renovation or New Build for its Cowboix Hevvven bar and grill, and took home two Webby Awards for its Radio Tave experience.

Four generations of creativity on display at ‘Belong’ Art Exhibition

The Webster family, spanning four generations from great-grandmother Beverly Neylon to five-year-old Jasper Webster, is exhibiting their artwork together at the 'Belong: 2026 Art Exhibition' hosted by the City of Whittlesea in South Morang, Australia. The show features paintings, mosaics, and porcelain works, including Beverly Neylon's award-winning piece 'Beauty of the Wind,' which earned the Award of Excellence – Use of Materials. The exhibition runs from 2 May to 27 May 2026 at the Plenty Ranges Art and Convention Centre.