national museum of asian art returns sculptures to cambodia 1234766709

On December 11, the National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA), part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., announced it is returning three Khmer period sculptures to Cambodia. The works—a 10th-century Uma, a 10th-century Harihara, and a circa-1200 Prajnaparamita—were determined to have been likely looted during Cambodia’s civil war (1967–1975), based on research with Cambodian authorities, lack of export documentation, and links to dealers known for trafficking looted antiquities.

new european union law antiquities trafficking june 28 1234746250

A new European Union law, Regulation 2019/880, aimed at preventing the sale of looted antiquities, is set to go into effect on June 28. The law imposes heightened due diligence requirements on anyone importing cultural goods from outside the EU, including fine arts, antiquities, and decorative arts. It categorizes cultural goods into three groups, with the strictest rules for archaeological items over 250 years old, which require an import license and proof of legal export. Non-compliance could lead to seizures or criminal consequences for art dealers, collectors, and professionals. While there is a partial exemption for temporary exhibitions, it primarily benefits museums outside the EU, leaving private collectors without the same protections.

belgian authorities return gilded sacrophagus to egypt 2724253

Egypt has recovered two ancient artifacts from Belgium after a decade-long effort, announced on December 2 by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The objects—a painted and gilded Ptolemaic sarcophagus (305–30 B.C.E.) and a wooden beard from a Middle Kingdom statue—were seized by Belgian authorities in 2015 following an Interpol alert, as they were displayed in a Brussels antiques gallery without legal documentation. After a drawn-out diplomatic and legal process, the artifacts were returned in a ceremony at the Royal Museums of Art and History in July, attended by senior Egyptian culture ministers.

artist hannelie coetzee eco queer creature series 2647591

Johannesburg-based artist Hannelie Coetzee is the subject of a solo exhibition, “Eco Queer Creature Series,” at Morton Fine Art in Washington, D.C., on view through June 24. The show, an official partner event of WorldPride 2025, features drawings and studies of non-reproductive animal behavior, including a fox series based on a pack near Oxford University. Coetzee, who has a background in documentary photography and community development, returned to drawing in 2020 and uses the medium to explore animal behavior on its own terms, challenging patriarchal and anthropocentric assumptions.

Protect ya neck! Wu-Tang Clan as they’ve never been seen before – in pictures

Photographer Eddie Otchere has released a new photozine, "Wu-Tang 4 + 1 More," featuring a decade's worth of previously unseen portraits of the Wu-Tang Clan and other hip-hop artists. The images, captured between 1994 and 2004, document intimate and candid moments with members like RZA, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah, chronicling the group's early years and Otchere's determined mission to photograph each member.

First-of-its-kind MCA exhibition plays the beat of Caribbean activism

Carla Acevedo-Yates has curated "Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón," a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which will be her final show before departing for a role on the Documenta 16 team in Germany. The exhibition, which occupies the museum's entire fourth floor through September 20, features over 40 artists and explores the social and political histories of Caribbean music genres.

Walferdange exhibition ‘BeComing’ explores identity

Ukrainian visual artist Tetiana Popyk is presenting her first major solo exhibition, titled 'BeComing,' at the Gallery CAW in Walferdange. Running from April 17 to May 3, 2026, the show features a diverse range of photography, mixed media, and conceptual photo collages that explore the intersection of femininity, cultural identity, and belief systems. The exhibition includes works from several of her established series, such as 'Majestic Women of the World' and 'Ukrainian Legends,' alongside a new project focused on androgyny that was originally conceived during the pandemic.

A Guide To April 2026 Photo Awards & Open Calls

A curated selection of international photography awards, scholarships, and open calls has been announced for April 2026. Key opportunities include the PhMuseum Online Masterclasses scholarships, which offer fully-funded spots for artistic development and documentary photography, and the PhMuseum Days Photography Festival open call for exhibitions in Bologna, Italy. Additionally, the Hasselblad Foundation is offering significant grants to support the publication of new photobooks by professionals in the field.

Museum exhibit on L.V. Hull’s art and life is a visual ‘sensation’

The Mississippi Museum of Art has launched "L.V. Hull: Love Is a Sensation," the first major museum retrospective dedicated to the late self-taught African American artist L.V. Hull. The exhibition showcases Hull’s vibrant, immersive practice of transforming her Kosciusko home and everyday found objects—ranging from sneakers and fan blades to television sets—into a dense, kaleidoscopic art environment. The show is presented in partnership with the L.V. Hull Legacy Center and features individual artworks, archival ephemera, and documentary footage.

Danger and inspiration: Bangladeshi artists divided about country’s future after historic election

The 11th Chobi Mela photography festival in Dhaka has become a vital site for political discourse following Bangladesh's historic election and the 2024 revolution. Through public installations like 'Women in the July Uprising,' artists are documenting the pivotal role of women in toppling the previous regime and addressing the subsequent erasure of their contributions under the new political landscape. The festival also highlights the ongoing struggle for justice regarding the 'disappeared' through the documentary work of photographers like Mosfiqur Rahman Johan.

Conceptual artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s gets expansive tribute in California show

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is presenting *Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings*, the first survey of the late conceptual artist’s work in over two decades. Running from January 24 to April 19, the exhibition draws on BAMPFA’s substantial holdings of Cha’s art and archives, showcasing her multidisciplinary practice—including concrete poetry, mail art, textiles, ceramics, performance, and film. Curator Victoria Sung, alongside curatorial associate Tausif Noor, aims to de-emphasize Cha’s best-known work, *Dictée*, and instead highlight the fluidity of her process, revisiting themes across different media from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. The show features a recreation of her 1980 film *Exilée*, documentation of performances such as *Réveillé dans la Brume* (1977), and early ceramics and textiles never before shown publicly.

Ackland Art Museum to Open Two Major Exhibitions Exploring Identity and Color

The Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill will open two new exhibitions on January 30, 2026. "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men" presents introspective portraits of male students from Durham School of the Arts, exploring masculinity through photography and audio interviews. "Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection" reimagines modernist works from the museum's collection in a dense, single-wall installation inspired by 19th-century Parisian Salons.

Tiffany Shlain uses trees and technology to trace Jewish history in new exhibit

Tiffany Shlain, a multidisciplinary artist and founder of the Webby Awards, has opened a new exhibition titled "Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time, and Technology" at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in San Francisco. The show, which debuted in October 2024 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles as part of a Getty Museum initiative, uses massive tree trunk slices—some weighing 10,000 pounds—to explore Jewish history, feminism, and existential questions. Shlain, known for her work blending feminism, technology, and Judaism, also co-created a video on the teenage brain with Goldie Hawn and recently screened her 2005 documentary short "The Tribe."

Aki Sasamoto invites viewers to her singular ‘life laboratory’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto presents her first mid-career survey, 'Aki Sasamoto’s Life Laboratory,' at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT). The exhibition traces two decades of her unique practice combining absurd sculptural devices—such as haemorrhoid cushions and oversized fishing lures—with improvised performances that blend humorous spoken narratives, physical actions, and mark-making. The show features installations, documentation, and live performances, with each room exploring a different relationship between performance and object or video.

The V&A's David Bowie Centre opens this week—here's what visitors can expect to see

The David Bowie Centre opens on 13 September at the V&A East Storehouse in Stratford, east London, offering free timed-entry access to a 90,000-piece archive acquired from the Bowie estate. Lead curator Madeleine Haddon highlights discoveries like Bowie's paint palette and a framed photo of Little Richard, alongside an interactive installation tracing his influence on pop culture. The centre features nine rotating curated displays, including guest-curated ones by Nile Rodgers and The Last Dinner Party, and connects to the upcoming V&A East Museum exhibition 'The Music Is Black: A British Story'.

Documenta unveils first all-woman curatorial team for 2027

Documenta has announced the first all-woman curatorial team for its 16th edition, set to take place in Kassel, Germany, from June 12 to September 19, 2027. Artistic director Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selected four curators—Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng—to develop the exhibition, publications, and programming. Each curator brings distinct expertise: Acevedo-Yates focuses on diaspora and cultural production; Crawford on race and American visual culture; Rodríguez Castro on writing and editing; and Weng on globalization, feminism, and decolonization.

Sicily's new anti-mafia museum honours ‘strength of the vulnerable over fear’

Sicily has inaugurated the Museum of the Present (Museo del Presente) inside Palermo's historic Palazzo Jung on 23 May, marking 33 years since the assassination of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone. The museum commemorates Mafia victims and confronts the ongoing threat of Cosa Nostra through personal artifacts, multimedia installations, and historical documentation, including items from Falcone and his colleague Paolo Borsellino. The opening was attended by Italy's interior, justice, and culture ministers, and entry remains free until 19 July.

An expert's guide to artists' books: four must-read publications on the genre

The Warburg Institute in London is opening an exhibition titled "Art & the Book" (16 May–2 August) and organizing the Biblioteka Art Book Fair (20–21 June) to explore the medium of artists' books. Curated by Arnaud Desjardin and Hlib Velyhorskyi, the show spans examples from the 1960s to today. To help readers understand the genre, Desjardin—author of the reference work *The Book on Books on Artists Books* (2013)—recommends four key publications: Lucy Lippard's *Six Years* (1973), the exhibition catalogue *Looking Telling Thinking Collecting* (2004) edited by Anne Moeglin-Delcroix and others, Clive Phillpot's essay collection *Booktrek* (2013), and Michael Lailach's *Printed Matter: Die Sammlung Marzona/The Marzona Collection* (2005).

Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens

The Brooklyn Museum is presenting "Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens," an exhibition dedicated to the renowned Malian photographer Seydou Keïta. The show highlights his iconic studio portraits from the 1940s through the 1960s, emphasizing the tactile and material qualities of his photographic prints.

Ravi Jackson at PAGE (NYC) and Dracula's Revenge, New York

Artist Ravi Jackson opened a solo exhibition titled "Handholders" at two New York galleries, PAGE (NYC) and Dracula's Revenge. The show ran from March 6 to April 11, 2026, and was documented with 27 images on the Contemporary Art Daily platform.

WHO ARE THE CURATORS THAT WILL LEAD THE NEXT BIENAL DE SAO PAULO

The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo has appointed Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca as chief curators for the 37th Bienal de São Paulo, scheduled for 2027 at the Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo in Ibirapuera Park. Carneiro, a curator at MASP since 2018 and an artistic organizer for the 2024 Venice Biennale, and Fonseca, a visual arts curator at Culturgest and curator-at-large at the Denver Art Museum, will lead the largest visual arts event in Latin America.

The artist who blocked an Ice projectile with her drawing board during protests

Artist Isabelle “Izzy” Brourman narrowly escaped serious injury while documenting protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. While sketching the scene for her project Starring America News, a masked federal agent fired pepper balls at her at point-blank range; Brourman managed to block the projectile with her wooden drawing board, which was left with a jagged hole. The incident, captured on video by her collaborators Peter Hambrecht and Jeannette Berlin, occurred on the same day a nurse was killed by federal agents during the unrest.

総合開館30周年記念「ルイジ・ギッリ 終わらない風景」@ 東京都写真美術館

The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is hosting "Luigi Ghirri: Endless Landscapes," the first Asian museum solo exhibition dedicated to the Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri (1943–1992), running from July 3 to September 28, 2025. The exhibition presents a wide range of Ghirri's work, from his early masterpieces to his late pieces, including his famous series on Giorgio Morandi's studio. It also features works and materials by his wife, graphic designer Paola Borgonzoni (1954–2011), highlighting her crucial role in his career. Related events include a symposium with Ghirri's daughter Adele Ghirri and curator Ilaria Campioli, gallery talks, and the Japanese premiere of the documentary film "Infinito."

La Seconda guerra mondiale con gli occhi dei grandi fotografi in una mostra a Gorizia

Palazzo Attems-Petzenstein in Gorizia hosts the exhibition "Back to Peace? La guerra vista dai grandi fotografi Magnum," which presents the Second World War and its aftermath through two hundred photographs, video installations, and soundscapes by legendary Magnum photographers. The show features iconic works by Robert Capa, Eve Arnold, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour, Eric Hartmann, René Burri, Thomas Hoepker, George Rodger, Wayne Miller, and Werner Bischof, covering the Normandy landings, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the atomic devastation of Hiroshima, and the return of French prisoners. Curated by Andrea Holzherr and Marco Minuz, the exhibition is divided into two sections: one focusing on wartime imagery and the other on the immediate consequences of the conflict, including the suffering of civilians and the fragile hope of reconstruction.

Saving the Street Art of the Bombs: A True Story from Ukraine

Salvare la street art delle bombe: una storia vera dall’Ucraina

A documentary titled "Arte vs Guerra – Banksy e C215 a Borodyanka, Ucraina" will air on Sky Arte on April 26, recounting how street artists Banksy and C215 created murals in Borodyanka, Ukraine, shortly after the Russian invasion began in February 2022. The works include Banksy's "La Ginnasta" and "Davide e Golia," as well as C215's portraits of war victims like Dmytro Kotsiubaylo. The film also follows three Italian restorers—Paola Ciaccia, Alessandro Cini, and Maria Colonna—who risked their safety to preserve these murals from war damage and landmines.

Through Reverie: Love and Memory | A Duo-solo Exhibition by Clasutta and C.K.Koh

Whitestone Gallery Singapore will present a duo-solo exhibition titled "Through Reverie: Love and Memory" opening on 9 May 2026. The show features Indonesian artist Clasutta and Malaysian artist C.K. Koh, each presenting a solo component: Clasutta's "Roommates?" explores the emotional stages of a relationship through fragmented, intimate gestures, while Koh's "Folded Glimpses" draws from his personal photographic archive to evoke memory as impression rather than documentary record.

Kid Cudi Debuts ‘Echoes of the Past’ Documentary Spotlighting His Visual Art Journey

Kid Cudi announced the debut of his documentary 'Echoes of the Past' on Instagram, revealing his transition into visual art under the painting persona Scotty Ramon. The film, directed by Joshua Charow and produced by MADSOLAR, explores Cudi's fine art journey and features an original score by the artist. A corresponding exhibition, also titled 'Echoes of the Past,' will open at Ruttkowski;68 in Paris on January 30, running through early March.

tribeca film festival mierle laderman ukeles

Filmmaker Toby Perl Freilich has created a documentary titled "Maintenance Artist" about the pioneering artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, known for her 1969 "Manifesto for Maintenance Art" and her decades-long role as the unsalaried artist-in-resident at the New York City Department of Sanitation. The film, which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival, features archival footage, interviews with art historians and family, and documents Ukeles's process of curating her archives for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, highlighting her iconic projects like "Touch Sanitation" (1979-80) and her ongoing work on Freshkills Park.

Italian Culture Minister Launches Inspection of Venice Biennale’s Russian Pavilion

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has launched an official inspection of the Russian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, just days before the exhibition opens. An inspector has been sent to Venice to review all documentation related to Russia's participation, focusing on potential irregularities such as visa issues for Russian artists and delegation members. The investigation follows the Biennale's international jury decision to exclude Russia and Israel from awards due to accusations of crimes against humanity. The Russian Pavilion will be open only during the pre-opening vernissage, after which it will close, with digital documentation displayed in its windows.

scholars and mps slam uk museums as unethical and sacrilegious for holding vast collections of human remains 1234777195

A major investigation has revealed that UK museums and universities hold more than 263,000 human remains, including at least 37,000 sourced from overseas and former British colonies. The findings indicate that many institutions lack proper documentation, with thousands of items stored anonymously in cardboard boxes or mixed together, often in violation of government guidelines regarding respectful handling and transparency.