A Louvre agent appeared before a judge. The article, published in Le Journal des Arts on May 2, 2026, covers multiple art world stories including the Whitney Biennial's perceived neutrality, the increasing complexity of art taxation in 2025, a resized project for Bourges 2028 by Yann Galut, a new contemporary gallery at Angers Cathedral, the abandonment of the Frigos artist site in Paris, and auctioneer Hubert L'Huillier's emergency sales.
Condamné par le franquisme, un écrivain réhabilité par le Congrès espagnol
The Spanish Congress has officially rehabilitated Cipriano Salvador (1894-1975), a Republican intellectual wrongly accused by the Franco regime of stealing a Renaissance painting he actually saved. During the Spanish Civil War, Salvador hid Fernando Yáñez's "La Santa Generación" (c. 1525-1532) from destruction. After Franco's victory, a priest sold the work to the Prado Museum for 15,000 pesetas, while Salvador was arrested, sentenced to death (later commuted to 30 years), and spent seven years in prison. He died in 1975 without exoneration. The rehabilitation motion passed with 32 votes in favor, 3 against, and 1 abstention, with only far-right party Vox opposing.
This issue of Le Journal des Arts (No. 676, May 2, 2026) covers a range of visual art news: the Whitney Biennial's perceived neutrality, the increasing complexity of art taxation in 2025, an interview with Bourges mayor Yann Galut about scaling back the Bourges 2028 project, the opening of a contemporary gallery at Angers Cathedral, the abandonment of the Frigos artist site in Paris, and a profile of auctioneer Hubert L'Huillier.
Polish painter Zuzanna Szary discusses her artistic journey and the intersection of queer identity, domesticity, and painting in an interview with Wojciech Szymański. Szary recounts discovering her lesbian identity in junior high and turning to painting after a period of clinical depression, eventually studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. Her work, which has evolved from portraits of partners to still lifes centered on food and home, explores themes of softness, sensuality, and the politics of the body, drawing inspiration from figures like Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.
Local man Brian Jacobs attends a friend's high-profile surrealist art show in New York but cannot determine whether the works are genuinely surrealist or simply poorly executed. He describes a painting of a five-eyed fisherman holding a melting bowling ball as looking like it was painted by a first grader. The artist, Gavin McCloud, interprets Jacobs's bewildered reactions as impressed awe and plans to gift him the melting bowling ball painting. Gallery owner Christine Morgan admits she sometimes hosts derivative work from donors' children in exchange for large checks, and advises artists to claim ambiguity as the real art if questioned.
This article is a promotional piece for the DW English program 'Arts Unveiled,' highlighting several upcoming segments. It announces the start of the 61st Venice Biennale, the world's largest art exhibition, and poses questions about its standout features and art's role in times of crisis. Other segments explore the American Dream as a nightmare on the 250th anniversary of US independence, and feature Indigenous artist Britta Marakatt-Labba, who creates embroidered polar landscapes reflecting Sámi culture.
Internationally acclaimed Miami-based artist Edouard Duval-Carrié has been selected to represent Haiti at the 2026 Venice Biennale, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Ahead of the May 9 opening, Duval-Carrié hosted a behind-the-scenes preview event at his Little Haiti studio in Miami on April 24, 2026, where he discussed his conceptual approach. His installation draws on themes of history, politics, and spirituality in Haiti and the Caribbean, reflecting evolving perspectives on the nation's past and present. Duval-Carrié collaborated with Vanessa Selk, founding artistic director of the Tout-Monde Art Foundation, to frame Haiti's presence as both a national showcase and a reflection of diasporic influence and Caribbean identity. The exhibition runs through November 22, 2026.
The Venice Art Biennale's official awards ceremony, scheduled for May 9, has been canceled after the entire five-member jury resigned days before the event. The jury had previously announced they would not consider countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges, directly impacting Russia and Israel. Instead of jury-selected prizes, visitors will vote throughout the Biennale's run, with "Visitor Lions" awarded on November 22. The event, running from May 9 to November 22, features 100 national participations, including seven first-time countries, and a posthumous main exhibition titled "In Minor Keys" curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, the first African woman to lead the show. Iran withdrew on May 4 amid Middle East tensions, while Russia's return to the Biennale in 2026 has sparked EU threats to cut funding.
British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, best known for Chicago's 'Cloud Gate' sculpture (commonly called 'The Bean'), publicly criticized American politics in a recent interview, denouncing what he described as a 'politics of hate' and 'warmongering.' Kapoor, whose monumental public artworks have become global icons, did not specify particular events but spoke broadly about the current political climate in the United States.
Los premios
Artist Gala Berger presents a three-act exhibition titled "Los premios" (The Prizes), which revisits the radical spirit of the 1968 Latin American avant-garde. The show specifically references two historic 1968 exhibitions at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires—the Georges Braque Prize and "Materials, new techniques, new expressions"—where artists staged protests involving egg-throwing, stink bombs, and manifestos against censorship and institutional tutelage.
Bose Krishnamachari, co-founder of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India, has stepped down as president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation and as a board trustee after 14 years, citing pressing family reasons. His departure will not affect the ongoing sixth edition, titled "For the Time Being," which opened last month and runs until March 31. Krishnamachari founded the biennial in 2012 in Fort Kochi, Kerala, alongside fellow artist Riyas Komu, who left in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations.
Washington and Lee University's Art Museum and Galleries is hosting five temporary exhibitions through Winter Term 2026, including "Edward Burtynsky: Taking Place" at the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, "Moffat Takadiwa: Recoded Memories" at the Watson Galleries, and "Luminous Layers: Glazed Surfaces and the Art of Reflection" alongside "Points of Exchange: Asian Ceramics in the Reeves Collection" at the Reeves Museum, plus "Expressions of Color: Paintings by Evelyn Dawson" at the McCarthy Gallery. The museum is also offering free public programming such as Artful Yoga sessions and an MLK Week Open House featuring artworks connected to the Civil Rights movement.
A new book by Canadian art historian James King, titled "Our Little Gang," examines the Vorticist movement, highlighting its toxic internal dynamics and the marginalization of its female pioneers. King details how Wyndham Lewis, the movement's self-appointed leader, belittled followers like Jessica Dismorr and Helen Saunders, even painting over one of Saunders' works. The book also explores the movement's artistic tensions, balancing abstraction with representation, and features works by Lewis, David Bomberg, and Saunders.
Southampton Arts Center has opened its "Second Skin" exhibition, curated by Latin American art scholar Estrellita B. Brodsky. The show explores clothing as a medium for identity, gender, cultural expression, and political activism, featuring approximately 30 works by international artists and designers, including prints from Martine Gutierrez's "Indigenous Woman" series and Andy Warhol works on paper from the Jordan D. Schnitzer Foundation. The exhibition runs through December 28.
Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson's video work *Soap Opera*—a recording of his durational performance *Santa Barbara: A Living Sculpture*—is on view for the first time at i8 Grandi in Reykjavík. The original performance, staged at the V-A-C Foundation's GES-2 House of Culture in Moscow from December 2021 to February 2022, featured Russian and Ukrainian actors reenacting episodes of the American soap opera *Santa Barbara*, which had been a cultural phenomenon in post-Soviet Russia. The production was halted at episode 81 on February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
J.C. Hopkins and Linh Luu are opening Rohmer Gallery in Saugerties, New York, this month. The 500-square-foot space on Partition Street is inspired by the cross-disciplinary energy of the New York School of the 1950s and '60s, where poets, painters, and musicians like Frank O'Hara, Jackson Pollock, and John Cage influenced each other. The gallery's debut exhibition, “Look Again,” runs from June 14 to August 13 and features works by Andrea Olivia, Rina Kim, Oneslutriot, Hopkins, and ceramicist Robbie Ginsberg. In addition to visual art, the venue will host weekly acoustic performances, monthly poetry readings, and literary events tied to the couple's imprint, Eponymous Books.
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco has announced a touring exhibition titled "Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon)," inspired by the only screenplay ever written by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Curated by Diego Villalobos and Rodrigo Ortiz Monasterio, the exhibition runs from June 12 to October 11, 2025, before traveling to Centro Federico García Lorca in Granada starting October 30. It features historic and contemporary works that reconstruct Lorca's lost 1932 film, which was halted after his murder and later destroyed in a studio fire, leaving only a script and photographs.
Animierte Körper
Latefa Wiersch presents her exhibition "Atlas Studios" at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome, featuring unsettling, puppet-like sculptures that resemble film sets. The works explore themes of bodily helplessness, imperfection, and geopolitical displacement, drawing on her earlier project "Hannibal" at the Dortmunder Kunstverein, which addressed post-migrant German realities and the demolition of a housing complex. The new installation references the Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate, Morocco, and the history of cinema, with figures made from rags and nylon stockings that appear as actors or set workers.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has signed a temporary lease with seasonal retailer Spirit Halloween to occupy its space, aiming to generate alternative revenue. This move is intended to supplement funding for a $250 million renovation project, as federal funds originally earmarked for the capital project were reportedly reallocated to the Department of War.
Art advisor Ralph DeLuca, in his 'Street Smarts' column for Cultured, observes that amid political turmoil, tariffs, and art market jitters, wealthy collectors are shifting away from blue-chip contemporary art. Instead, they are investing in pop culture icons, historic artifacts, and natural history items like fossils, viewing them as safer bets. DeLuca notes that the May auction season saw high pass rates, failed guarantees, and lower prices, while galleries continue to close this summer.
Il paradosso dell’arte contemporanea: il mondo è violento, ma le opere sono corrette e inoffensive
The article examines a paradox in contemporary art: as the world grows more violent and chaotic, art has become increasingly 'correct,' morally irreproachable, and inoffensive. The author argues that over the past fifteen years, artworks have been judged primarily by their moral and identity credentials, with curators acting as moral gatekeepers and censors. This shift coincides with a period when geopolitics, history, and public behavior have spiraled out of control, creating a strange compensatory dynamic where art is expected to be perfectly controlled and polite while reality grows brutal.
La delicatezza come resistenza. Intervista alla curatrice del Padiglione Turchia alla Biennale di Venezia
For the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Turkey Pavilion, commissioned by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will present "A Kiss on the Eyes" by artist Nilbar Güreş, curated by Başak Doğa Temür. The exhibition takes its title from a Turkish expression conveying affectionate closeness without intrusion, and features a mix of new productions and earlier works spanning sculpture, installation, painting, and works on paper and fabric. In an interview, curator Temür explains that the project avoids a retrospective or didactic approach, instead creating a spatial rhythm of approach, pause, and slight withdrawal, where intimacy, politics, irony, and fragility press against one another.
Due anni fa la Russia cedette il suo padiglione in Biennale alla Bolivia. Una testimonianza da dentro
Two years ago, Russia ceded its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale to Bolivia, a move that artist Inés Fontenla experienced firsthand when she was invited by Bolivia to participate in the 2024 edition. Fontenla recounts how the pavilion's organization shifted after Bolivia's 2025 elections, with the curator replaced by the new Minister of Culture just one month before the opening. She realized Russia was using Bolivia as a front to re-enter the Biennale after closing its own pavilion in 2022 in protest of the Ukraine invasion, and she ultimately withdrew from the project to avoid being instrumentalized by a military power.
Anche per questo 2026 il Fuorisalone è pieno di moda. Ecco gli eventi a metà strada tra fashion e design
The 2026 Fuorisalone in Milan continues to be a major platform for the convergence of fashion and design. Numerous fashion brands are presenting immersive installations, special collections, and cultural formats across the city, transforming urban spaces into narrative environments. Key presentations include YOOX's digital installation with Keta Bart, Gucci's archival project by Demna, Prada's symposium curated by Formafantasma, and new collections from Armani, Fendi, Dior Maison, and Louis Vuitton.
Vedere con il calore: a Pavia 5 opere contro lo sguardo della termocamera
The University of Pavia is hosting a specialized study day and exhibition on April 30, 2026, titled "Thermal Imaging and Visual Culture." The event explores how artists are reclaiming thermal imaging—a technology originally developed for military surveillance and pandemic control—to transform it into a medium for creative expression. By showcasing five specific works, the program examines the tension between the camera's role as a tool for dehumanized monitoring and its potential as a vehicle for artistic resistance.
Sachsen-Anhalt has enshrined support for art and culture as a state objective in a new law, passed by the state parliament in Magdeburg with the exception of the AfD faction, which abstained. Culture Minister Rainer Robra (CDU) framed the law as fulfilling a promise from 1989, defining what constitutes art and culture in the state, including their roles in education and as an economic factor, and aiming to make cultural structures resilient against future attacks on artistic freedom.
Pavillons der Venedig-Biennale werden bestreikt
Cultural workers and participants of the Venice Biennale went on strike on Friday, protesting Israel's participation in the art exhibition. Organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) alongside several cultural groups and Italian grassroots unions, the 24-hour walkout led to the closure of several national pavilions on the final preview day. A rally was planned near the Arsenale grounds. The strike aims to oppose the "normalization of genocide in culture" and poor working conditions at the Biennale, following an earlier open letter signed by over 230 artists and curators demanding the exclusion of the Israeli pavilion. Israel is represented by sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, who opposes cultural boycotts and advocates for dialogue. The Biennale's leadership has distanced itself from the strike, emphasizing adherence to regulations and support for freedom of speech and pluralism.
Venedig-Biennale-Chef unter Druck
Just before the opening of the Venice Art Biennale, its president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco is facing mounting criticism after the entire jury resigned. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli accused Buttafuoco of pursuing a form of "parallel foreign policy" by readmitting Russia to the six-month exhibition, calling him a "victim of a pacifist fantasy." The opening ceremony and the traditional Golden Lion awards have been canceled; prizes will now be decided by visitor vote at the end of the Biennale in November.
Jury der Venedig-Biennale tritt zurück
The entire jury of the Venice Biennale, appointed by artistic director Koyo Kouoh, has resigned with immediate effect. In a statement released on Thursday, the jury members—including chair Solange Oliveira Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi—cited a prior declaration from April 22 in which they announced they would not award Golden or Silver Lions to artists from countries whose political leadership is currently indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. Although no specific countries were named, the move implicitly targets Russia (President Vladimir Putin) and Israel (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), both subject to ICC arrest warrants. The resignation comes amid escalating tensions over Russia's participation in the Biennale despite EU sanctions, which had already led to a freeze of EU funding and widespread protests.
"Unter Wasser sind wir Gehörlosen freier"
Artists Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski have been selected to represent Poland at the upcoming Venice Biennale with their collaborative project, "Liquid Tongues." The exhibition features elaborate video works that draw parallels between the ancient, complex vocalizations of whales and the visual communication of sign language. By filming underwater, the duo explores an environment where the traditional sensory advantages of hearing people are neutralized, and the gestural fluency of the Deaf community becomes a primary mode of connection.