site santa fe international

Site Santa Fe has announced its 12th International exhibition, titled "Once Within a Time," opening June 27 and running through January 2026. Curated by Cecilia Alemani, who previously curated the 59th Venice Biennale, the show draws its name and dreamlike logic from a 2022 film by Santa Fe artist Godfrey Reggio. Featuring over 70 artists and more than 300 works—including new commissions, archival interventions, and contemporary selections—the exhibition uses 20 figures with ties to New Mexico as narrative catalysts, among them Navajo code talker Chester Nez, novelist Willa Cather, and the Fire Spirit from local folklore. For the first time, the International will be fully embedded within Santa Fe's urban fabric, activating sites such as a historic foundry, a toy store, and a dispensary alongside traditional cultural partners. Participating artists include Simone Leigh, David Horvitz, and Dominique Knowles, with contributions from writers Tommy Orange, Lucy R. Lippard, and Estevan Rael-Gálvez.

moca gala art performance party

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) held its annual gala, presented by BVLGARI, at the Geffen Contemporary space in Little Tokyo. The evening introduced a new format called MOCA Legends, honoring artist Theaster Gates, architect Frank Gehry, and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt. Guests included actors Jane Fonda, David Alan Grier, Sarah Paulson, director Ava DuVernay, and artists Andrea Bowers, Charles Gaines, Henry Taylor, and Olafur Eliasson, whose exhibition OPEN was on view. After a performance by the TAIKOPROJECT Japanese drum ensemble, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi surprised attendees by introducing Gehry. Rapper Tierra Whack performed during dinner, and the event raised $3.1 million for museum operations.

Parasol Unit returns with a showcase of women from Central Asia and beyond

Parasol Unit, the London non-profit exhibition space that closed in 2020 after 16 years, has relaunched with a new exhibition titled "Turandot: To the Daughters of the East" as an official collateral event of the Venice Biennale. Held at the historic Palazzo Franchetti, the show features 11 female artists from Central Asia and surrounding regions, curated by founder Ziba Ardalan. The exhibition spans video, installation, sculpture, painting, textile, and sound works by artists including Lida Abdul, Huma Bhabha, Mona Hatoum, and Tala Madani, and runs from 9 May to 31 October.

‘We are complicit’: Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger’s immersive Venice Biennale pavilion brings apocalypse to the city

Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger has created 'Seaworld Venice,' an immersive and confrontational installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. The work explores climate change, technology, and a dystopian flooded future, drawing comparisons to the 1995 film 'Waterworld'—though neither Holzinger nor curator Nora-Swantje Almes had seen it. Known for extreme performance art involving nudity, blood, live piercing, and heavy machinery, Holzinger's previous works have caused audience members to faint or require medical treatment. The pavilion marks a significant platform for her radical, hybrid practice that blends theatre, dance, opera, and performance art.

Giorno Poetry Systems Gives Grants to 12 Artists Including Jacolby Satterwhite, Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), and the Late Agosto Machado

Giorno Poetry Systems, the nonprofit founded by artist John Giorno in 1965, has launched a new need-based grant program called the Treat a Stranger Grant. The inaugural round awards $4,545 each to 12 artists, including Jacolby Satterwhite, Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), Samiya Bashir, Malcolm-X Betts, Pe Ferreira, Mercy Kelly, the late Agosto Machado (whose funds go to his estate), Gavilán Rayna Russom, Keioui Keijaun Thomas, Christopher Udemuezue, and two anonymous recipients. The program revives the spirit of Giorno's AIDS Treatment Project from the 1980s and '90s, which provided direct financial support to artists affected by the epidemic.

Collector Julia Stoschek Closes Down Berlin Exhibition Venue After 10 Years In Favor of International Projects

Julia Stoschek, a leading art collector and ARTnews Top 200 figure, is closing her Berlin exhibition venue after a decade of operation. The 3,000-square-meter space in the former Czech Cultural Center, which opened in 2016, will shut at the end of October 2026, having hosted 22 exhibitions and attracted 450,000 visitors. The Stoschek Foundation will maintain its Düsseldorf venue, while Stoschek shifts focus to international projects, such as the recent Los Angeles exhibition “What a Wonderful World: An Audiovisual Poem,” curated by Udo Kittelmann.

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The global art market returned to growth in 2025, reaching $59.6 billion in sales according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. This 4 percent increase ended a two-year decline, driven primarily by a 9 percent surge in public auction sales and a significant revival in high-value transactions for works priced over $10 million. While the United States maintained its dominant 44 percent market share, the recovery was uneven, with the Impressionist and Old Masters sectors seeing major gains while Postwar and Contemporary art continued to cool.

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The Pritzker Architecture Prize has issued a formal statement defending its selection process following the release of legal documents detailing past ties between foundation director Tom Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein. The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prestigious award, emphasized that its jury operates with complete independence and remains focused on architectural excellence despite the controversy surrounding Pritzker’s previous association with the disgraced financier.

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Seven years after an undercover sting in Nice, France, recovered a cache of stolen artworks including several by Pablo Picasso, ten defendants are now on trial. The 2017 police operation, triggered by a tip from Belgium, involved officers posing as Swiss buyers who met a seller at a Nice hotel and were led to a house in Peillon filled with stolen pieces. Among the recovered works were Picasso's *Le vieux roi* and *Le clown*, along with other items traced to a burglary in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and an armed robbery in Èze. The trial consolidates earlier investigations into a suspected art theft and fencing network, with prosecutors alleging the Peillon property served as a storage and sales hub.

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In 1995, artist Red Grooms created the Tennessee Foxtrot Carousel, a working carousel featuring 36 figures from Tennessee history, installed at the base of Nashville's Broadway. After financial troubles forced its closure in 2003, the Tennessee State Museum acquired and dismantled it in 2004, storing it for years. Though the museum moved to a new $160 million building in 2018, the carousel remained in storage. Now, the museum has issued a request for information seeking partners to restore and operate the carousel, as reported by the New York Times.

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A conservative legal group, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), has intervened after a teacher at Case Middle School in Watertown, New York, assigned 7th graders to visit the Keith Haring Foundation's website for an art project. The ACLJ claims students were exposed to "pornographic" imagery, though it did not specify which artworks. The school placed the art teacher on administrative leave and launched an investigation following parental complaints. The controversy has been amplified by conservative outlets like Libs of TikTok, with the ACLJ arguing that the school violated parents' constitutional rights.

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Chiwoniso Kaitano, executive director of MacDowell since 2023, discusses the oldest continuously operating artist residency in the United States in an ARTnews interview. She highlights MacDowell's 118-year history, its seven artistic disciplines, and its mission to provide a sanctuary for artists. Kaitano, who previously led arts education nonprofits Girl Be Heard and Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy, is working to raise MacDowell's profile and bring artist residencies back to the center of art world discourse.

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The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York has transferred ownership from the Rhodes family, which owned it for nearly 80 years, to the SVA Alumni Society, a nonprofit that has funded student scholarships since 1972. The transfer took effect on September 1, with longtime president David Rhodes stating that day-to-day operations would not change. The move comes amid financial difficulties, a recent faculty unionization effort by SVA Faculty United (affiliated with United Auto Workers), and reported layoffs of around 30 workers.

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Greenpeace activists scaled a Shell-operated gas rig in the North Sea and unfurled a 315-square-foot canvas titled "Butchered," designed by artist Anish Kapoor. The activists sprayed crimson paint made from beetroot powder and pond dye across the canvas, creating a blood-like stain intended to symbolize environmental destruction. The work, described as the first fine art exhibited from a working gas rig, was erected during the UK's fourth heat wave of the summer to protest fossil fuel companies' role in climate change.

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The former San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) campus has been transformed into a privately funded nonprofit arts center called the California Academy of Studio Arts (CASA). Backed by philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, who purchased the Chester Street campus for $30 million last year, CASA will host 30 emerging artists annually in an unaccredited studio program. Artists will have access to private studios, shared workspaces, and professional mentors, with no tuition fees. The center is led by director Abbye Churchill and plans seminars for participants. SFAI, one of the oldest art schools in the U.S., suspended operations in 2022 and filed for bankruptcy after a failed merger with the University of San Francisco.

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Mari-Claudia Jiménez, a prominent figure in the international art market and former chairman and president of the Americas at Sotheby's, has joined global law firm Withers to launch Withers Art and Advisory, a hybrid legal-art advisory practice based in New York. The new venture will provide collectors, estates, and institutions with integrated market advice and legal counsel on acquiring and holding art, combining real-time market insight with transactional legal expertise. Jiménez, a barred attorney, has overseen landmark deals including the restitution and sale of five Kazimir Malevich paintings, the $106.5 million sale of Picasso's *Nude, Green Leaves and Bust*, and the record-breaking $922 million Macklowe collection auction.

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British artist Stuart Semple has lost a trademark infringement lawsuit in a French court filed by the estate of Yves Klein. The court ruled that Semple's product “Easy Klein Incredibly Kleinish Blue” violated the Yves Klein trademark, ordering him to pay €16,000 ($18,200) in damages and legal fees. Semple, who claims he was unaware of the lawsuit until it was reported, has two months to appeal. The lawsuit was brought by Yves Amu Klein, the artist's son and operator of Pia Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, along with Blue Bay Limited, which holds the international trademark for “Yves Klein.” Semple released the paint in 2021 after a decade of development.

Political Fallout Rocks Venice Biennale Prize System

Dozens of artists participating in the 2026 Venice Biennale have withdrawn from consideration for the newly created Visitor Lion awards, replacing the traditional Gold and Silver Lion prizes. A total of 57 artists from the main exhibition and 22 national pavilions signed a statement published on e-flux on May 9, acting in solidarity with the five-person prize jury that resigned on April 30 over the continued participation of Russia and Israel. The jury had objected to awarding prizes to artists from countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In response, the Biennale organizers postponed the awards ceremony to November 22 and introduced visitor voting, a move they described as consistent with openness and dialogue. Meanwhile, the Russian Pavilion, which returned after lending its space to Bolivia in 2024, faced protests, closure after previews, and a €2 million funding pull by the European Union for the 2028 Biennale.

How Art Firms Are—or Should Be—Using A.I. Right Now

Art firms are increasingly experimenting with artificial intelligence, but concrete use cases remain limited and industry-specific tools are still in their infancy. A new partnership between Bonhams and tech company ARTDAI aims to apply AI to market analytics, valuation, and specialist research, while companies like Artsy and Artnet are integrating AI capabilities into their platforms. Industry experts, including former Art Basel chief Marc Spiegler, note that the art market's small size has historically discouraged tech development, but AI now makes high-performance tools accessible to smaller businesses.

The Art Consultancy Firm Saying No to the Attention Economy

Approximately Blue (AB), a contemporary art consultancy and brokerage, is deliberately operating without a public-facing brand, social media presence, or physical address. Founded by François-Luc Giraldeau and Emily Johnson, the firm focuses exclusively on primary market fine art prints and multiples, prioritizing deep research and direct, substantive relationships with collectors over visibility and hype.

Michelangelo's Pietà Altarpiece for His Own Tomb Restored and Returned to Public View

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The Opera del Duomo Museum in Florence has unveiled the newly restored Bandini Pietà, a monumental sculpture Michelangelo carved for his own tomb between 1547 and 1555. The two-year conservation project, funded by the Friends of Florence Foundation, removed centuries of accumulated dust, wax, and plaster residue from the 5,900-pound marble block, which the artist famously left unfinished after discovering flaws in the stone.

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged veteran New York antiquities dealer Michael Ward with criminal facilitation following an investigation into the illicit trade of cultural property. Ward, who operated his Upper East Side gallery for nearly forty years, was convicted in September for his role in facilitating the sale of stolen artifacts, including a 1st-century gilded bronze plaque. Court documents reveal a broader pattern of misconduct involving 40 objects stolen from Italy, Greece, and Turkey, with a total value reaching into the millions.

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Northern California's di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art has listed its 217-acre Napa campus for sale at $10.9 million after years of financial struggles. The museum, which houses a renowned collection of Postwar Northern California art, plans to use the proceeds to stabilize its finances and ensure the long-term care of its collection. Executive director Kate Eilertsen, who took over in 2020, has introduced alternative revenue streams like event rentals and a summer camp, and opened outposts in downtown Napa and San Francisco. The museum will remain open during the sale, and talks are underway with the Napa Land Trust and Open Space District to sell only part of the property for a public hiking trail, while keeping the sculpture park intact.

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California College of the Arts (CCA), the Bay Area's last private art and design school, will close after the 2026–27 academic year, ending 116 years of operation. Vanderbilt University will acquire CCA's San Francisco campus and open a West Coast outpost in 2027, continuing some art and design programs. The closure follows years of financial struggles, including a $20 million deficit, declining enrollment from 1,800 to 1,295 students, and emergency fundraising that raised nearly $45 million—including a $22.5 million matching gift from the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation and a $20 million state grant—but proved insufficient to ensure long-term independence.

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Artist Joshua Abelow is selling the 100-year-old former Methodist church in Harris, New York, that housed his unconventional gallery Freddy from 2016 until last year. Listed at $649,000, the 3,500-square-foot building served as both Abelow's home and studio, hosting over three dozen exhibitions featuring artists such as Rafael Ferrer, Cheryl Donegan, Jörg Immendorff, and emerging talents. Abelow, who moved to Santa Fe with his family, hopes a creative buyer will continue using the space for cultural endeavors. He has since launched a new collaborative venue called Gene & Fred in Santa Fe with Keith J. Varadi's Gene's Dispensery.

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Marina Abramović has announced production dates for her upcoming performance piece "Seven Deaths," a seven-part film incorporating death scenes from influential operas such as "Madam Butterfly" and "Carmen." The 68-year-old artist has invited controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski, along with directors Alejandro González Iñárritu, Marco Brambilla, Giada Colagrande, Yorgos Lanthimos, and screenwriter Petter Skavlan, to contribute segments. Abramović will portray singer Maria Callas, whom she describes as a muse, and plans to produce a making-of documentary and a biography on Callas's life. Lars von Trier was invited but declined due to scheduling conflicts.

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Miami is expanding its free water taxi service and shuttle routes for Art Week 2024, which coincides with Art Basel Miami Beach. The city will increase the number of water taxis from four to seven, operating between Maurice Gibb Memorial Park and the Venetian Marina, with service running from December 1 to December 7. Shuttles will connect the convention center to the Design District, mid-beach, and South Beach, where fairs like SCOPE, Untitled Art, SATELLITE, and Aqua Art Miami are held. The Transit mobile app will track all services in real time.

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Across New York City, a growing number of artists and curators are turning their apartments into informal exhibition spaces, including Iowa in Crown Heights, Interrobang in Sunset Park, Drama in Bushwick, and Club Rhubarb near the Bowery. These home galleries, born from necessity and a rejection of the traditional art market, host shows in living rooms, kitchens, and stairwells, prioritizing intimacy and creative freedom over commercial viability. Antonia Oliver, founder of Iowa, describes her space as an "apartment gallery" that allows her to program without market pressures, exemplified by a recent performance piece by Anna Thérèse Witenberg.

risque pompeii mosaic looted german restituted 2668012

A Roman erotic mosaic looted from Pompeii by a German Wehrmacht captain during World War II has been returned to Italy and is now on display at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. The heirs of the last owner contacted the Carabinieri in Rome, leading to a diplomatic repatriation via the Italian Consulate General in Stuttgart, Germany, in September 2023. The mosaic, dating to around 79 C.E., depicts a pair of lovers and is thought to have decorated a bedroom floor in a Roman villa.

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Hollyhock House, Frank Lloyd Wright's Los Angeles masterpiece, faced potential closure after Mayor Karen Bass proposed a budget on April 21 that cut $283,000 in city funding and eliminated three of four staff positions, threatening its operations and UNESCO status. The Department of Cultural Affairs warned the cuts would make the property inoperable, but after advocacy from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and others, Bass fully restored funding, allowing the house to retain its two full-time staff and UNESCO designation.