Guatemala stakes claim to stone lintel by 'the Michelangelo of the pre-Columbian era' that was repatriated to Mexico

A Maya stone lintel, dating from AD600-AD900 and depicting a ritual scene associated with the ruler Cheleew Chan K'inich, was repatriated to Mexico on April 16 after being turned over to the Mexican consulate in New York by an unnamed US businessman. However, hours after the ceremony, experts determined the lintel actually originated from Guatemala's Petén Basin. Guatemala's cultural ministry, led by minister Luis Méndez Salinas, has formally requested the object's return through diplomatic channels, citing technical analysis and consultations with archaeologists.

pompidou secret camera bathroom

A hidden camera was discovered in a women's restroom within the administrative offices of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. A female staff member found the device on January 14, leading to the immediate suspension of a suspected perpetrator and the filing of a legal complaint by the museum. The museum has stated that exhaustive inspections found no other devices and has offered support to staff.

museum of fine arts boston layoffs

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston announced layoffs affecting approximately 30 staff members, a 6.3% reduction of its workforce, effective this Friday. The decision was communicated via an internal email obtained by WBUR, citing an unsustainable deficit and the need for financial restructuring. The MFA, Boston Union, which represents 16 of the affected employees, expressed concern and called for negotiations to avert layoffs and preserve workforce diversity. This follows a previous round of layoffs and early retirements in 2020.

national museum of asian art returns sculptures to cambodia

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.

courtauld gallery and institute in london receives record breaking 30 m donation from reuben foundation

London's Courtauld Gallery and Institute has received a £30 million ($40.06 million) donation from the Reuben Foundation, the largest gift in its 93-year history. The foundation, established by billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben, will also share their extensive art collection to support future exhibitions as part of a long-term partnership. The donation will help fund the refurbishment of the Courtauld's academic wing, which still requires an additional £65 million to complete.

Go big or go home: how The Lost Giants revived the ancient art of goliath-making

The Lost Giants (TLG), an art collective based in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, is reviving the British tradition of making processional giants—large, community-built figures made from wood, cloth, and papier-mâché. Founded three years ago by theatre designer Ruth Webb and her sister-in-law Amy Webb, the group has created giants for events ranging from local lantern parades to a harvest procession at Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset gallery. This New Year’s Eve, environmentalist Lisa Schneidau joined a massive procession of these giants in Lostwithiel, describing it as an extraordinary experience. The collective recently issued a public callout for an environmental group to collaborate on making a new beastie.

Pixels and paintings: video games return to the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum hosted a special Friday Late event in collaboration with the London Games Festival, transforming its historic galleries into a playground for interactive and independent video games. Visitors could play titles like the Bafta-winning 'Thank Goodness You’re Here!' and the comedic 'Sex With Friends' amidst the museum's permanent collection, while live-coding music performances and participatory art projects like 'Robot Karaoke' and 'The Line is the Game' emphasized communal, performative experiences.

Total Museum's 'Somebody Has to Collect It' examines collecting as a responsibility

The Total Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul has opened "Somebody Has to Collect It," an exhibition featuring works from the collection of French art collectors Catherine and Renato Casciani. Running from April 30 to May 31, the show marks the couple's first major presentation in Korea and inaugurates the museum's new "Collector/tion" project, which reframes collectors not as buyers but as actors at the intersection of capital, memory, and value-making. The exhibition includes 22 artists and collectives, with a focus on video art addressing themes such as precarious labor, state violence, colonial inheritance, climate crisis, and queer intimacy. It is also an official program of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France.

Here's what's happening for First Friday in May

Juneau's First Friday in May 2026 features a diverse array of events, including a storytelling project called "Tambayan at Kwentuhan" that shares oral histories from Filipino elders, an exhibition titled "Dizzy Hooligan" by Kiyana Fonua recalling Kava gatherings in Anchorage, and a retrospective of Indigenous fashion designer Dorothy Grant at the Alaska State Museum. Other offerings include a chamber music concert by Taku Winds, a "Critter Trek" exhibition at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum featuring local wildlife art, planetarium explorations, a book release by author Corinna Cook, and displays of woodworking by Phil Paramore and jewelry by Colleen Goldrich.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Presents “Musical Bodies” Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open a major exhibition titled "Musical Bodies" on June 7, 2026. The free exhibition will feature over 130 objects, including musical instruments, paintings, sculptures, and drawings, to explore the 4,000-year relationship between musical instruments and the human body. It will be organized into six thematic sections and includes items from ancient Egyptian rattles to a guitar owned by Prince.

Early visitors share first impressions of LACMA’s sprawling new building

The David Geffen Galleries, the new $724-million building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), opened to members, drawing thousands of visitors on its first day. The massive concrete structure, which has been a subject of public debate for its cost and design, finally allowed Angelenos and dedicated travelers to experience its spaces and inaugural installations firsthand.

DRIFT celebrates LACMA's gallery opening with a glowing swarm of dancing drones

The artist duo DRIFT launched their 'Franchise Freedom' performance, a swarm of over 1,000 illuminated drones, above the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The event celebrated the public opening of the museum's new Peter Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries, creating a dialogue between the dynamic, airborne artwork and the building's horizontal, sand-toned concrete architecture.

‘A family reunion of artists’: Minnesota Anishinaabe artists showcased in Detroit and beyond

A group exhibition titled 'A Family Reunion of Artists' features works by Minnesota Anishinaabe artists, currently on display in Detroit and traveling to other venues. The show brings together multiple generations of Indigenous artists from the Anishinaabe community, highlighting their diverse practices and shared cultural heritage.

Multicultural Art Exhibit Opens in Metuchen

The "Open Archways: By the Light of the Same Moon" exhibition opened on December 18 at the Bowery Art Collective gallery in Metuchen, New Jersey, featuring new works by 15 Muslim and Jewish artists. Curated by Hannah Finkelshteyn and Aakef Khan, the show explores themes of heritage, faith, identity, and culture through five shared themes: shared moments, diaspora experience, womanhood, family and loved ones, and light and spirituality. The opening included a menorah lighting ceremony during Chanukah, and the artists agreed to exclude nationalist symbols or military references from their works.

Seeing beyond: Issam Kourbaj on mentoring three young artists for Abu Dhabi Art

Artist Issam Kourbaj is curating and mentoring three emerging UAE-based artists—Salmah Almansoori, Maktoum Al Maktoum, and Alla Abdunabi—for the Beyond Emerging Artists programme at Abu Dhabi Art, which runs November 19–23 at Manarat al-Saadiyat. The artists are creating new works for the fair and separate outdoor installations in Al Ain, including at historical sites like Al Ain Oasis and Jebel Hafeet Tombs, with the outdoor pieces on view for six months. Kourbaj, a Syrian-born artist based in Cambridge, selected the trio for their diverse materials and shared focus on place and memory.

The more, the merrier: DPR Gallery newest creative space in area’s thriving art scene

DPR Gallery, a new contemporary art space, opened in downtown Lake Charles, Louisiana, with an inaugural exhibition titled "Rebirth" featuring works by internationally renowned artist Peregrine Honig. The gallery is owned by Paul Picheloup, alongside friends Derrick Guidry and Ryan Jett, and is named after their shared initials. Honig's exhibition explores femininity, identity, and cultural memory through classic fairy tales and folklore.

'Age alone does not guarantee value': Thomas S. Kaplan is showing his Dutch Old Master collection in US for first time

Collector Thomas S. Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati Kaplan are bringing their Leiden Collection, one of the world's largest private holdings of 17th-century Dutch art, to the US for the first time. Around a third of the collection's 220-plus works will be shown in "Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection" at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach from 25 October 2025 to 29 March 2026. Kaplan is also in discussions to fractionalise the collection into shares and float it as an IPO.

Waiting to Be Discovered? Curators Reveal How Emerging Artists Can Get Noticed

Top curators share advice on how emerging artists can get noticed in a tough art world. Key tips include being proactive in building networks, approaching curators directly, and presenting organized online portfolios. Curators like Hitomi Iwasaki (Queens Museum), Marie-Anne McQuay (Liverpool Biennial), and Lisa Long (formerly Julia Stoschek Foundation) emphasize that artists should not wait to be discovered but instead engage with peers, attend shows, and reach out to curators, even those early in their careers.

King Charles Shares Art from His Personal Collection for an Inside Look at Royal Tours

King Charles and Queen Camilla held a reception on July 9, 2025, to celebrate a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace featuring 72 artworks from the monarch's personal collection. The works, created by artists who accompanied Charles on foreign tours over the past 40 years, include paintings, sketches, and even an iPad image. The exhibition, titled "The King’s Tour Artists," opens to the public from July 10 to September 28 and marks the summer opening of the palace. Charles began inviting artists on tours in 1985, and since then, 43 artists have joined him on 70 tours to 95 countries, with the King acquiring at least one piece from each artist.

When Art Meets Nature

The Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery Singapore have jointly organized "When Art Meets Nature," a children's art exhibition running from July 2 to November 9, 2025, at the Taoyuan Children's Art Center. Featuring five artists from Taiwan and Singapore, the show presents interactive installations, audiovisual works, and immersive environments centered on ecology, sustainability, and the human-nature relationship. Artists include Zul Mahmod, Chen Po-I, Hsu Yenting, Tan Zi Xi, and Soh Ee Shaun, with works inspired by local waterways, forests, and indigenous ecological wisdom.

Pompidou moves in as Grand Palais reopens after £395m revamp

The Grand Palais in Paris reopens after a €466m (£395m) four-year restoration led by Chatillon Architectes, the most significant transformation since its 1900 inauguration. The building will serve as a temporary venue for the Centre Pompidou while the museum undergoes its own renovation until 2030. The project restored original sightlines, added over 40 lifts and 30 staircases, and created modular exhibition spaces to meet contemporary curatorial demands.

Māori art returns to New York’s Met museum in reimagined exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has reopened its Oceania galleries after an extensive renovation and reimagining from an Indigenous perspective. The new Arts of Oceania installation features over 650 works representing 140 cultures from across the region, including Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand. Curated by Maia Nuku, the exhibition took eight years to plan and showcases artworks created in the last 500 years, emphasizing the ocean as a connective highway rather than a barrier. The reopening continues the legacy of the landmark 1984 exhibition Te Māori: Māori Art from New Zealand Collections, which set a benchmark for shared decision-making between museums and Indigenous communities.

Greek PM Mitsotakis at the ‘Thalatta’ Art Exhibition Opening at UN

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis attended the opening of the art exhibition 'Thalatta' at the United Nations in New York on May 20, coinciding with Greece's Presidency of the UN Security Council. The exhibition features 11 contemporary paintings by Greek artists from the National Gallery in Athens, curated around the theme of the sea. Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris delivered welcoming remarks, and Syrago Tsiara, Director of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, spoke about the sea's role in cultural diplomacy and international cooperation.

Latter-day Saint artists ‘Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down’ in new exhibit

The Church History Museum in Salt Lake City has unveiled 150 artworks selected for the 13th International Art Competition of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, themed "Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down" after Doctrine and Covenants 81:5. The exhibition opened on April 24, 2025, featuring works by 584 artists from 26 countries, including pieces like "Deposition" by Sarah Hawkes and "The Parable of the Gardner: The Garden of the Lord" by Pamela Salinas Bernal. Curator Laura Paulsen Howe and BYU art history professor James Swensen, a juror, highlighted how artists visualized themes of succoring the weak and strengthening others through diverse media and personal testimony.

Dive into Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea: Amorepacific Museum of Art Showcases Global and Korean Masters

The Amorepacific Museum of Art (APMA) in Seoul has established itself as a premier destination for contemporary art, featuring a diverse collection that bridges global masterpieces with traditional Korean aesthetics. The museum's current programming highlights its commitment to international dialogue, showcasing works by world-renowned artists alongside significant Korean historical artifacts and modern pieces.

New Exhibition at Mexico City’s Jumex Museum Draws Parallels Between Soccer and Art

The Jumex Museum in Mexico City has launched a major exhibition titled "Football & Art: A Shared Emotion," timed to coincide with the city's role as a host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Curated by Guillermo Santamarina, the show features a diverse array of media including sculpture, photography, and commissioned installations from renowned artists such as Jeff Koons, Graciela Iturbide, and Marta Minujín. Notable works include a sculptural installation by the collective Tercerunquinto using salvaged seats from the Azteca Stadium and an embroidered piece by Sofía Echeverri honoring the 1971 Mexico Women’s National Team.

India Phillips Appointed Managing Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, Europe at Phillips

Phillips has appointed India Phillips as Managing Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, Europe, effective February 2026. Based in London and reporting directly to the CEO, she will focus on expanding the auction house's presence across Europe. Phillips joins after a decade at Bonhams, where she most recently served as Managing Director, EMEA. The announcement also includes promotions for Marianne Hoet to Chairman, Modern and Contemporary Art Europe, Olivia Thornton to Deputy Chairwoman, and Matt Langton to Deputy Chairman, Modern and Contemporary Art, Europe.

Top auction houses draw Southeast Asia’s elite art buyers

Auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams are seeing a surge in participation from wealthy Southeast Asian collectors, particularly Millennials and Gen Z. Elaine Holt of Sotheby's Asia reports significant growth in collector activity from the region, with strong bidding at recent Hong Kong sales. Christie's Asia-Pacific president Francis Belin notes Southeast Asia is now the firm's third-largest buying market in Asia-Pacific, led by Singapore and Indonesia, with notable increases from Vietnam. Bonhams' managing director for Asia, Julia Hu, reports a 67% year-on-year rise in Southeast Asian auction spending. Younger buyers are driving demand, with Millennials and Gen Z accounting for 37% of Bonhams' Hong Kong buyers and 40% of Sotheby's Hong Kong marquee sales. A Renoir painting sold for $23.56 million to a collector in their 30s, highlighting youthful buying power.

Video interview with Cecilia Canziani and Chiara Camoni, curator and artist of the Italy Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Video intervista a Cecilia Canziani e Chiara Camoni curatrice e artista del Padiglione Italia alla Biennale di Venezia

The article is a video interview with curator Cecilia Canziani and artist Chiara Camoni about the Italy Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Camoni's installation, titled "Con te e con tutto," features large, monumental figures called "Sisters" that evoke ancient yet contemporary presences, created through a slow, collective, and materially responsive process. The pavilion is divided into two spaces: a vertical, sacred-like area and a horizontal, convivial one that includes a sub-exhibition called "Dialoghi." The project builds on years of friendship and collaboration between Canziani and Camoni, and involves a fluid community of international students, weavers, midwives, and artists working at Camoni's studio in Fabbiano, on the Apuan Alps.

In Romagna, debate over the artistic legacy of the Fascist era

In Romagna c’è discussione attorno all’eredità artistica del Ventennio fascista

Recent developments in Romagna, Italy, have sparked debate over the artistic legacy of the Fascist era. The 102-meter-long Flight Mosaics at the former Aeronautical College in Forlì are now open to the public, and the Conad-Città di Forlì Auditorium, converted from a former GIL cinema, will inaugurate on May 13, 2026. Regional President De Pascale has announced initial funding to secure the Colonia Varese in Cervia, a Rationalist masterpiece, while long-awaited consolidation work has begun on the Casa del Fascio in Predappio, Benito Mussolini's birthplace. A 2010 plan to turn the Casa del Fascio into a cultural center documenting Fascism has stalled due to political changes and bureaucratic hurdles.