Taxidermists—prized by Damien Hirst—open museum in Amsterdam

Two artist-taxidermists, Ferry van Tongeren and Jaap Sinke, have opened the Art Zoo Museum in a restored canal house in Amsterdam, in partnership with the Vrije Academie cultural education institute. The museum, opening on 26 June, is described as a "modern wunderkammer"—a contemporary cabinet of curiosities—featuring taxidermied animals that died natural deaths, arranged in surreal poses alongside preserved flowers and ornate interiors. Van Tongeren, a former advertising agency owner who retrained as a taxidermist, gained international fame after he and Sinke sold their first collection to Damien Hirst in 2016. Their collective is named Darwin, Sinke & Van Tongeren, reflecting the influence of Charles Darwin.

risd design aesthetics recession

A writer revisits the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) alumni magazine after being assigned to explore how a group of RISD graduates from the late 2000s helped shape contemporary American material culture. The article focuses on the cohort that studied at RISD during the 2008 financial crisis, a time of institutional dysfunction and curricular drift, and includes figures like fashion brand Eckhaus Latta (co-founded by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta), designer Adam Charlap Hyman, artists Katie Stout, Misha Kahn, F Taylor Colantonio, and Martine Gutierrez. The author reflects on shared memories and the unique conditions that produced this influential group.

Arte contemporanea, fiabe e favole nel racconto di Artbox su Sky Arte

The article previews an upcoming episode of the Italian television program "Artbox" airing on Sky Arte on Tuesday, May 12. The episode visits Castello di Miradolo in Piedmont, where the exhibition "C'è oggi una fiaba" (There Is a Fairy Tale Today) runs until June 21, blending art, literature, and music around childhood themes. Curator Roberto Galimberti and Fondazione Cosso director Paola Eynard discuss the show. The episode also features art historian Maria Vittoria Baravelli's segment "Invito al viaggio," reinterpreting fairy tales as dynamic spaces for growth, referencing artists Luigi Serafini and Luigi Ontani. Additionally, curator Gražina Subelytė discusses the exhibition "Peggy Guggenheim a Londra. Nascita di una collezionista" in Venice, and curators Stefania Bossi, Michele Tavola, and Valentina Cane present the show "Regina. Sperimentatrice geniale" about a prolific sculptor. The program includes a book segment on Orsina Simona Pierini's "I colori delle case. Milan Interiors 1923-1978."

Two Sales at Christie's

Deux ventes chez Christie's

Christie's in Paris is hosting two significant sales featuring masterpieces from the legendary Veil-Picard collection, which had been largely inaccessible to the public and scholars for decades. Highlights include a perfect Watteau drawing unseen on the market since 1900 and two major Hubert Robert paintings commissioned by the famed salonnière Madame Geoffrin, offering a rare glimpse into 18th-century Parisian interiors.

Expansion plans for Rome's Galleria Borghese draw fierce response

Rome's Galleria Borghese, a 17th-century villa museum housing masterpieces by Caravaggio, Bernini, and Canova, is facing controversy over a privately funded feasibility study for a potential expansion. Sponsored by Italian engineering firm Proger, the €900,000 initiative would fund an international architecture competition to explore adding exhibition and visitor space to the Villa Borghese Pinciana grounds. Museum officials cite operational constraints: the historic interiors limit access to 360 visitors per two-hour slot (about 4,000 daily), reservations require weeks of waiting, many works remain in storage, and accessibility is poor. Visitor numbers hit a record 630,760 in 2025, up from 506,000 a decade earlier. Preservation groups including Italia Nostra Roma and Amici di Villa Borghese have objected to any new construction in the sensitive historic landscape. Director Francesca Cappelletti emphasized at a May 18 press conference that no project exists yet and the museum is only beginning a study process, with a winner possible by year's end.

parties cultured at home anthony roth costanza

Cultured magazine hosted a launch party at opera singer Anthony Roth Costanzo's New York apartment to celebrate the debut issue of its interiors magazine, 'CULTURED at Home.' Guests including artists Cassie Griffin and Francesca DiMattio, curator Jarrett Earnest, fashion designers Jackson Wiederhoeft and Tanner Richie, and other creative figures gathered in Costanzo's historic Chelsea home, a former residence of architect David Webster, for cocktails, snacks, and a striking ice sculpture featuring the magazine.

At the Venice Biennale, Ukraine’s Pinchuk Art Centre finds fragile moments of joy amid loss

The Pinchuk Art Centre in Kyiv has transformed its Venice Biennale presentation from a glamorous celebration of young artists into a somber exhibition responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This year's show, titled "Still Joy — From Ukraine into the World" (9 May-1 August) at the Palazzo Contarini-Polignac, features works by international artists like Tacita Dean and Julian Charriere alongside Ukrainian artists, as well as testimonials from soldiers collected by former marine Hlib Stryzhko. The exhibition explores how joy can persist amid trauma, with installations including pink scrolls bearing survivors' quotes, light box photographs of bombed interiors with rescued pot plants, and a sculpture of bells with displaced women's fingerprints.

April Book Bag: from a Matthew Wong catalogue to a history of dogs in art

The Art Newspaper’s April book roundup highlights four significant new publications spanning art history and contemporary practice. Featured titles include Thomas Laqueur’s visual history of dogs in art, a study of marble depictions in Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting edited by Karl Kolbitz, a comprehensive overview of Antony Gormley’s drawings, and a new catalogue focusing on Matthew Wong’s interior scenes.

Lenz Geerk’s Theatre of the Mind: painting as regulation of appearance

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin presents "Theatre of the Mind," the first Italian institutional solo exhibition by German-born painter Lenz Geerk. The show features recent works from 2022 to 2024, exploring painting as a perceptual device where figures, objects, and domestic interiors exist in unstable, unresolved configurations. Installation views by Giorgio Perrottino accompany the exhibition, which runs at the foundation's space.

Historic Architecture Emerges from Stone in Matthew Simmonds Ethereal Sculptures

Historic Architecture Emerges from Stone in Matthew Simmonds Ethereal Sculptures

Sculptor Matthew Simmonds meticulously carves miniature, hyper-realistic architectural interiors—including gothic cathedral arches, vaulted ceilings, and stairwells—directly into hunks of Carrara marble and limestone. His recent works, often based on real sites like Bamberg Cathedral or Tuscan cities, reveal ornate, smooth interiors that contrast with the stone's raw exterior, and he is currently using a quieter period to experiment with how light and space within the sculptures can express a sacred quality.

September 2025 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

This article compiles a list of open calls, residencies, and grants for artists and designers with deadlines in September and October 2025. Opportunities include the Innovate Grant offering $1,800 each to one visual artist and one photographer, the PHOTOcentric 2025 exhibition at Garrison Art Center, a call for mini-golf hole designs for The Other Art Fair Chicago, and the Ingram Prize 2025 for recent U.K. art school graduates. Other listings include the Moons, Castles, Trees exhibition for The Wrong Biennale ’26 in Copenhagen, the Denver International Airport Rotating Sculpture Program, the MONSTER Exhibition in Berlin, the Abbey Harris Mural Fund in the U.K., and the Contemporary Reflection Art Exhibition in London.

Inside the new David Geffen Galleries at LA County Museum of Art

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened its new David Geffen Galleries, a $724 million building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The structure features a floating floor, floor-to-ceiling windows, and minimalist concrete interiors that create a calm, light-filled space. The inaugural exhibition presents 26 interconnected galleries with no set path, displaying artworks from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to contemporary installations like Do Ho Suh's "Jagyeong Hall, Gyeongbok Palace" (2026), aiming to eliminate hierarchies of time, place, or genre.

Vancouver Art Gallery gifted more than 800 photographs by Stephen Shore

The Vancouver Art Gallery has received a major gift of over 800 photographs by the acclaimed American photographer Stephen Shore. Donated by the Chan family, the collection primarily features Shore’s seminal series "Uncommon Places" (1973–81), which documented North American landscapes and interiors in vivid color. This acquisition establishes the gallery as one of the world's leading repositories of Shore’s work, with a dedicated exhibition of the series scheduled to open on March 27.

An eerie Renaissance masterpiece, fresh from a four-year restoration process, goes on show in Berlin

Berlin's Gemäldegalerie has unveiled Vittore Carpaccio's "The Preparation of Christ's Tomb" (circa 1505-20) after a four-year restoration that removed decades of dirt and discolored varnish. The cleaned painting reveals new subtleties, including a striking sky of bright blue and stubborn grey clouds, and will be the centerpiece of a small exhibition titled "Tribute to Vittore Carpaccio" running from November 20 to April 6, 2026. The restoration was led by recently retired head conservator Babette Hartwieg, who also reinvestigated a false Mantegna signature that had misled earlier attributions.

A rare jewellery box identified in Vermeer paintings sheds new light on the artist’s connections

New research by curator Alexandra van Dongen of Rotterdam’s Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum reveals that a rare Indo-Portuguese jewellery casket depicted in two Johannes Vermeer paintings—Mistress and Maid and A Lady Writing (both 1664-67)—is a real, surviving object. Van Dongen tracked down the sole known example in the Távora Sequeira Pinto collection in Porto, with help from Amsterdam dealer Dickie Zebregs. Her findings, published in the book De tastbare wereld van Johannes Vermeer, suggest the casket likely belonged to Vermeer’s patron Maria de Knuijt, a wealthy Dutch East India Company shareholder who may have asked the artist to include it in her paintings.

With the help of exhibitions, Jeanne Lanvin's eponymous fashion house is keeping her legacy alive

Jeanne Lanvin, a trailblazer in 20th-century French fashion and interiors, is being honored through exhibitions that explore her legacy. The article features a conversation between Peter Copping, Lanvin's current artistic director, and Olivier Gabet, director of the Department of Objets d'Art at the Musée du Louvre. Gabet curated the exhibition "Louvre Couture" featuring 99 looks from 45 fashion houses, while Copping has drawn inspiration from the Lanvin archive and the preserved rooms of Jeanne Lanvin's apartment now on permanent display at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Tour the Museum-Quality Art Exhibition Inside the Megayacht Carinthia VII

The luxury megayacht Carinthia VII, owned by the Austrian billionaire Heidi Goëss-Horten and designed by Tim Heywood, has been transformed into a floating museum this summer. Curated by Florencia Cherñajovsky, the yacht features approximately forty museum-quality works from her family's collection of around 500 artworks, including pieces by Tracey Emin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Lutz Bacher, Petrit Halilaj, Louise Nevelson, Carol Rama, Sarah Lucas, and Brazilian women artists like Ana Maria Maiolino. The exhibition spans photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture, arranged to create dialogues between artists and the yacht's interiors, which include reclaimed 17th-century parquet floors and custom rugs from Cherñajovsky's brand Lalana Rugs.

Small Format Painting at 56 Henry Gallery

56 Henry Gallery has partnered with artist Josh Smith and art dealer Leo Fitzpatrick to curate an exhibition focused on small format paintings, all measuring 8 x 10 inches. The show brings together established artists and skaters, featuring works by Nicole Eisenman, Rita Ackermann, Wade Guyton, and Fred Tomaselli, among others. Smith contributed a painting of the film credits rather than his signature motifs, and the exhibition's spray-painted sign signals a deliberate departure from conventional gallery presentation.

Comment | Muted grey, bloody red, or dark blue—here’s why the colour of museum walls matters more than you might think

The article explores the often-overlooked significance of color in museum spaces, prompted by a conversation with architect Annabelle Selldorf about her $220 million renovation of New York's Frick Collection. Selldorf describes the new auditorium's muted grey as creating a calm, meditative environment, contrasting sharply with Tate Modern's Starr Cinema, which architect Jacques Herzog painted shocking red to symbolize the space as the museum's "brain." The piece traces historical approaches to gallery wall colors, from Charles Eastlake's advocacy at the National Gallery in London—informed by Goethe's color theory—to the enduring orthodoxy of reds and greens, and a notable departure with deep Prussian blue for a Gainsborough exhibition at Tate Britain. It also recounts Henri Matisse's 1946 project in Paris, where he covered his room's grimy beige walls with cut-paper forms, creating the screens "Océanie, Le Ciel" and "Océanie, La Mer."

Gotta Have Art: Scottsdale galleries have evolved over decades

The article explores the evolution of art galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, over the past several decades. It traces how the local gallery scene has transformed from a small, desert-focused art community into a diverse and sophisticated hub for contemporary, Native American, and Western art, attracting both local collectors and international visitors.

Farah Al Qasimi: Psychic Repair

Emirati photographer and musician Farah Al Qasimi presents her solo exhibition "Psychic Repair" at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, running from January to June 7, 2026. Curated by SCAD Museum Associate Curator Brittany Richmond, the show explores self-presentation and consumerism through staged domestic interiors, vinyl works, framed photographs, and music videos. Key pieces include "Beauty Salon" (2024), "Aquarium" (2024), "Clothing Store" (2023), and "Painting and Astroturf" (2023), which appropriate signifiers of the attention economy. The exhibition is strategically positioned to respond to Savannah's history as a port city built on trade in cotton, indigo, rice, and enslaved people, with the museum itself occupying a former railway depot made of Savannah Gray brick produced by enslaved laborers.

11 Must-See Art & Cultural Exhibitions in India This Season

This article highlights 11 must-see art and cultural exhibitions across India during the autumn season, spanning cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Featured shows include the Bvlgari Serpenti Exhibition at NMACC Mumbai, a retrospective of women artists titled "Woman Song | Looking Back" at Vadehra Art Gallery, experimental works by modernist FN Souza at Emami Art Kolkata, and solo shows by artists such as Pema 'Tintin' Tshering, Madhvi Parekh, and Nikhil Chaganlal. The lineup also includes group shows like "Mishran: A Medley of Mediums" at India Habitat Centre, offering a diverse range of mediums from sculpture to digital art.

Art exhibitions to explore in the UAE this September

This September, the UAE is hosting a diverse array of art exhibitions across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, ranging from group shows to solo presentations and digital art showcases. Highlights include 'Summer Collective: Wavering Hope' at Ayyam Gallery, featuring 12 Syrian artists; Colombian artist Ana Escobar Saavedra's first solo show at 421 Arts Campus; 'To Know Malaysia Is To Love Malaysia' at the Cultural Foundation, presenting works by NYU Abu Dhabi MFA graduates; 'History Encoded' at kanvas, tracing digital art from algorithmic works to AI and blockchain; and Marwan Bassiouni's 'New Western Views' at Lawrie Shabibi, exploring mosque interiors in Western landscapes.

In pictures: flora and fauna at Design Miami

Design Miami celebrates its 20th anniversary with the theme "Make. Believe.," curated by Glenn Adamson, emphasizing the evolving possibilities of collectible design. The fair features the 10th anniversary of the Curatorial Lab Annual Design Commission, including a mirrored carousel by ceramicist Katie Stout, alongside works by artists such as Bea Pernia, Pia-Maria Raeder, Joyce Billet, Teemu Salonen, Jennifer Trask, Roham Shamekh, and Clotilde Ancarani. Pieces range from a chrome-and-stone chair inspired by marine life to benches that double as planters, reflecting a pervasive focus on flora and fauna.

Sex, desire and intimacy explored in Singapore art exhibition for over-18s

National Gallery Singapore (NGS) is presenting "Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art," an exhibition for over-18s that explores eroticism and desire through more than 70 works spanning 800 years. The show is structured into three chapters—"Asian Mythos and Rituals," "Conventions of the Erotic," and "Public Arenas/Private Interiors"—and includes pieces such as a 14th-15th century Tantric Buddhist sculpture and Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's video work "I’m Living" (2002). Senior curator Adele Tan, a co-curator, says she wanted to use the lens of eroticism to uncover overlooked narratives in the museum's collection.

Art: Passion is Volcanic – Desire in Southeast Asian Art at National Gallery Singapore

National Gallery Singapore has opened a major exhibition titled 'Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art.' The show, which carries an unprecedented R18 rating and prohibits photography, presents a comprehensive exploration of eroticism, pleasure, and the body through a wide range of artworks from the region's collection and loans. It is curated by Dr. Patrick Flores, Dr. Adele Tan, and Dr. Kathleen Ditzig, who frame desire as a culturally specific yet universal force shaped by history and power.

Paul’s Gallery of the Month: Arcadia Missa

Paul Carey-Kent selects Arcadia Missa as his 'Gallery of the Month'. The gallery, founded by Rózsa Farkas in 2011, has evolved from a non-profit project space in Peckham to a commercial gallery in central London, now representing 18 artists including recent Turner Prize winners and finalists. Its current exhibitions feature work by Morag Keil and Nnena Kalu.

How the Gertrude Abercrombie Renaissance Is Reaching a New Apex at the Milwaukee Art Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum is hosting a major traveling retrospective of Gertrude Abercrombie, the Chicago-based painter known as the "jazz witch" of Hyde Park. Titled "Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World is a Mystery," the exhibition features nearly eighty paintings sourced from major museums and private collections, marking the largest survey of her work to date. The show highlights her unique brand of Surrealism, characterized by dreamlike interiors, stark landscapes, and enigmatic self-portraits.

London National Gallery’s deficit bombshell, Simon Schama on birds and art, Vilhelm Hammershøi—podcast

The National Gallery in London has announced unexpected and significant budget cuts, including potential staff reductions, due to a projected deficit of £8.2 million for the upcoming year. This financial crisis comes as a surprise following the recent completion of a major building project and the announcement of another ambitious expansion planned for the 2030s.

The Met’s Renovated Galleries for British Decorative Arts and Design to Open on March 2, 2020

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open its newly renovated British Galleries on March 2, 2020, as a highlight of the museum's 150th-anniversary year. The suite of 10 galleries, spanning 11,000 square feet, features nearly 700 works of British decorative arts, design, and sculpture created between 1500 and 1900, including new acquisitions and three meticulously conserved 18th-century interiors. The galleries have been completely renovated for the first time since their establishment in the late 1980s, with a new entrance and a re-erected 17th-century staircase from Cassiobury House.