Christo and Jeanne-Claude artwork to be presented for the first time ever at Gagosian.

An unrealized work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, recently discovered in Christo's atelier, will be presented for the first time at Gagosian in London. Titled *Air Package on a Ceiling*, the installation features a 52-foot-long, 33-foot-wide inflated form wrapped in rope, softly illuminated from within to resemble half a cloud protruding from the ceiling. The piece is realized from the original 1968 model and preparatory drawings and collages.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

Viral Beeple robot dogs to go on display at Berlin museum.

A set of robotic dog sculptures by digital artist Beeple, which became a viral sensation online, have been acquired by Berlin’s König Galerie for its permanent collection and will go on public display. The four lifelike, animatronic canines, titled "S.2122," are modeled on Boston Dynamics' "Spot" robots but are weathered and decaying, with exposed wires and organic growths. This marks Beeple's first major physical sculpture series to enter a prominent institutional collection, following his landmark $69 million NFT sale in 2021.

A New Exhibition at the British Museum Dismantles the Popular Understanding of Samurai

The British Museum has opened a major exhibition titled 'Samurai,' which challenges the widespread, simplified portrayal of samurai as solely honor-bound, hyper-violent warriors. The show, curated by Rosina Buckland, presents them as a complex social class who were also bureaucrats, administrators, and cultural figures, emphasizing their roles during periods of peace and governance.

sothebys hong kong sells 125 works from japans okada museum for 88 m so founder can settle 50 m legal bill

Sotheby's Hong Kong sold 125 works from Japan's Okada Museum of Art in a white-glove auction on Saturday, netting $88 million (plus fees). The sale set auction records for Japanese artists Kitagawa Utamaro and Hokusai, with Utamaro's *Fukagawa in Snow* fetching $7.1 million and Hokusai's *The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa* selling for $2.8 million. The collection was sold by museum founder Kazuo Okada, an 83-year-old billionaire, to settle a $50 million legal bill stemming from a long-running feud with casino magnate Steve Wynn. Okada's law firm, Bartlit Beck, successfully pursued the fee in binding arbitration after Okada contested the amount.

nagakin capsule tower moma

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has acquired and put on display a capsule from the demolished Nagakin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. The capsule, designated A1305, is the centerpiece of a year-long exhibition titled "The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower," which also includes archival materials such as photographs, models, films, and recordings. The tower, designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, was a landmark of the Metabolism movement, featuring 140 prefabricated modules. After years of decline, it was demolished in 2022, but 23 capsules were salvaged, with 16 finding homes in institutions including MoMA.

hong kong adrian cheng web3 blockchain immersive experiences

Adrian Cheng, the mega-collector and regular on ARTnews' Top 200 Collectors list, has announced his new venture ALMAD Group after resigning as CEO of his family's Hong Kong property firm New World Development Co. (NWD) last year. The company will focus on digital assets, blockchain technologies, and immersive digital experiences across entertainment, sports, and media in mainland China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. ALMAD has absorbed Cheng's art-meets-commerce platform K11 by AC, which includes the K11 Craft and Guild Foundation, the K11 Art Foundation, and the K11 Art Malls that pair luxury retail with exhibitions by artists like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami.

art dominique fung high line commission

Dominique Fung, a 38-year-old artist known for painting and sculpture, created her first site-specific outdoor performance piece, "A Leaf's Pilgrimage," for the High Line in New York in early September 2025. The three-day performance traced the life of a tea leaf through scenes of growth, withering, and packaging, led by a guide from the ancient past and a present-day assistant. Fung, who has previously created large-scale murals for Rockefeller Center and installations for the Armory Show, will debut new paintings at Massimo de Carlo in Paris in January.

‘Vandalised, disembowelled and dismembered’: Artist Jack Milroy gives books a brutal treatment with beautiful results

The artist Jack Milroy has launched a new solo exhibition titled 'Bibliophilia' at Shapero Modern in London, featuring his signature 3D cut-out artworks. The 87-year-old artist transforms books and everyday objects, such as sardine tins, into intricate sculptures where illustrated figures like birds and fish appear to escape their physical confines. The show marks Milroy's first collaboration with the gallery, which is uniquely situated beneath an antiquarian bookshop, providing a thematic contrast between preserved rare volumes and Milroy’s "vandalised" artistic interpretations.

Landscape ReEnvisioned Exhibition At the Monterey Museum of Art

The Monterey Museum of Art is hosting "Landscape ReEnvisioned," a group exhibition featuring six contemporary photographers who move beyond traditional West Coast landscape traditions. Curated by Helaine Glick, the show presents works by Debra Achen, Tony Bellaver, Adrienne Defendi, Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Brian Taylor, and Vincent James Waring. These artists utilize diverse mediums—including cyanotypes, gum bichromate prints, tapestries, and sculptures—to address the urgent realities of climate change, wildfires, and environmental degradation.

FAD News: Gozo Yoshimasu awarded inaugural Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize

Gozo Yoshimasu has been awarded the inaugural Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize, a new biennial award providing £200,000 per recipient over ten years, totaling £1 million in artist support. The jury included Michelle Kuo, Venus Lau, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jonathan Rider, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. Yoshimasu, born in Tokyo in 1939, is known for his interdisciplinary practice spanning poetry, performance, photography, and experimental moving image. As part of the prize, he will stage a solo exhibition at Serpentine North in autumn 2027, traveling to The FLAG Art Foundation in New York in spring 2028—his first major solo institutional presentations in Europe and the United States.

us supreme court strikes down trumps tariffs art market

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a series of sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, ruling in a 6-3 decision that the executive branch exceeded its authority. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, stated that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not grant the president the power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited scope and duration. While tariffs on steel and aluminum remain, the ruling removes the 10 percent global blanket tariff and the 25 percent reciprocal tariffs previously levied against Canada, China, and Mexico.

Peter Blake’s studio brought to life at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in West London has announced a major retrospective of Sir Peter Blake, scheduled to open in November 2026. The exhibition, titled 'Peter Blake: In the Studio,' features a full-scale reconstruction of the artist's Hammersmith workspace, providing an immersive look at the environment where his seven-decade career unfolded. The show will display a wide range of media, including his iconic Pop Art paintings, sculptures, and recent collages that respond to the works of William Hogarth.

Narsiso Martinez at Catalina Museum for Art & History

The Catalina Museum for Art & History has announced a solo exhibition by artist Narsiso Martinez titled "Witnesses of Labor — Portraits of Essential Workers," running from April 11 through October 11, 2026. The show features approximately 15 works, including large-scale installations and mixed-media portraits painted directly onto discarded produce boxes. Martinez, a former farmworker himself, utilizes these found materials to elevate the visibility of migrant laborers and agricultural workers who sustain the American food system.

EU imposes sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of Russia's State Hermitage Museum

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of Russia's State Hermitage Museum, as part of its 20th sanctions package adopted on 23 April. Piotrovsky, a vocal supporter of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is cited for being a close associate of Vladimir Putin and for actively supporting the war, including justifying Russian cultural policies that incorporate Ukrainian museum items into Russia's State Museum Fund and enabling unauthorized archaeological excavations in occupied Crimea. The sanctions also target three other cultural officials involved in the Crimean digs. Meanwhile, Hermitage archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, arrested in Poland in December 2025 at Ukraine's request, was released in a prisoner exchange on 28 April.

Arts funding gap in the north must be closed | Letters

Two letter writers to The Guardian criticize the UK government's arts funding imbalance, highlighting that London receives disproportionate investment compared to northern England. Christine Baranski points out that £135m was spent on the V&A East in London while the Tate in Liverpool has been closed for over two years and the Albert Docks cultural area appears neglected. Sharon Maher notes that Arts Council spending is roughly £57 per Londoner versus £28 per person in the north, and argues that future national museum outposts should be located in the north.

government shutdown does not include smithsonian

A partial U.S. government shutdown occurred after the Senate passed a funding package but temporarily blocked additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Unlike the previous shutdown, this one does not affect major cultural institutions; the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) remain open because their funding was approved on time.

uk announces 1 5 b arts funding package to expand access beyond london

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced a £1.5 billion arts funding package on Wednesday, urging London-based national institutions like the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery to extend their reach across the country. The package includes £600 million for national institutions, £425 million for a Creative Foundations Fund supporting capital projects at arts venues nationwide, £160 million for local and regional museums, £230 million for the heritage sector, £27.5 million for public libraries, and an additional £80 million for national portfolio organizations. Nandy praised the Royal Shakespeare Company’s outreach as a model and framed the investment as the largest reset in the arts for a generation, comparable to post-World War Two cultural rebuilding.

congress funding bill nea neh

Congress has unveiled a bipartisan partial funding package that would keep the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) budgets steady at $207 million each, despite President Donald Trump's proposal to eliminate both agencies. The three-bill "minibus" package faces a House vote and then Senate consideration, as the government seeks to avoid another shutdown after last year's record 43-day closure.

numismatic society toledo museum

The American Numismatic Society (ANS), a 166-year-old organization dedicated to coin collecting and research, is relocating from Lower Manhattan to the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. The move, set for 2028, will see the ANS occupy a four-story Art Deco building on the museum's campus, where it will establish a new home featuring a library, auditorium, and education center. The partnership will integrate the ANS's collection of 800,000 coins, medals, and monetary objects into the museum's reinstallation of its collection galleries in 2027, with the ANS mounting its own exhibitions starting the following year.

ancient ceramics found preserved in shipwreck turkey

Hundreds of ancient ceramics from the Late Hellenistic-Early Roman Period have been discovered perfectly preserved in a shipwreck off the coast of Adrasan, Turkey. The cargo ship, dating back approximately two thousand years, contained plates, trays, and bowls stacked inside one another with raw clay, which protected their original colors and patterns. Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy visited the site and announced the finds as part of the ministry's 'Heritage of the Future' project, which aims to accelerate archaeological excavations.

sfmoma cuts nearly 40 staffers amid labor talks

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has cut 29 positions, nearly 8 percent of its workforce, with 26 of those affected being members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 29. The layoffs, which include 20 full-time and 9 part-time roles, were announced abruptly with less than a day's warning, drawing criticism from union officials who say they were not given a chance to discuss alternatives or negotiate severance. Museum director Christopher Bedford stated the cuts were necessary due to financial challenges, and that enhanced severance packages were provided to union members. The affected staff reportedly hold public-facing or visitor service roles, and it remains unclear if curatorial or senior-level positions were included.

dustin yellin pioneer works birthday party

Pioneer Works founder Dustin Yellin celebrated his 50th birthday with a fundraiser called Village Fête, raising $1.4 million for the nonprofit arts and sciences center he founded 13 years ago. The event featured a cocktail hour, seated dinner, performances by Annie & the Caldwells and David Byrne, and an afterparty co-hosted by CULTURED, with attendees including Claire Danes, Moses Sumney, Maggie Rogers, and Darren Aronofsky. Speakers included lead sponsor Gabriela Hearst, artist Nate Lewis, artist Azikiwe Mohammed, and founding team members Gabriel Florenz and Janna Levin, who highlighted the institution's impact on over 450 artists.

Artist Bouke de Vries creates sculptural porcelain bottles for Dries Van Noten perfume

Artist Bouke de Vries has created five unique sculptural porcelain bottles for Dries Van Noten's unisex perfume Soie Malaquais, which launched in 2022. The bottles, priced at £6,000 each, are sold at the designer's London and New York stores, with a limited-edition series also available online. De Vries, known for reassembling broken china fragments into dynamic objects, designed the bottles to reflect the fragrance's warm notes of chestnut, rose, blackcurrant, and cardamom, developed by perfumer Marie Salamagne.

‘Even more beautiful than I imagined’: the nifty Japanese printing gadget uniting artists worldwide

Designer Gabriella Marcella has curated a new exhibition at Glasgow’s Glue Factory Galleries celebrating the global community of risograph printing. The show highlights work from her 'Riso Club' initiative, a non-profit program that distributes monthly sets of artist-designed postcards from cities ranging from Kyiv to Damascus. Originally developed in Japan in the 1980s as an affordable office tool, the risograph has been reclaimed by independent creatives for its unique soy-ink aesthetic and tactile, screenprint-like quality.

One of John Lennon’s Final Autographs Hits the Auction Block

A promotional poster for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album 'Double Fantasy,' signed by Lennon on the morning of his murder on December 8, 1980, is being auctioned by Propstore in London. The lot, estimated between £60,000 and £120,000, includes the RKO Radio archives from Lennon's final interview.

Artist list for Counterpublic 2026 announced

The St. Louis-based triennial Counterpublic has unveiled its full artist list for the 2026 edition, titled 'Coyote Time.' Running from September 12 to December 12, the exhibition features 47 artists, duos, and collectives, including prominent names like Glenn Ligon, Nicholas Galanin, and Rirkrit Tirivanija. Curated by a diverse team including Stefanie Hessler and Wanda Nanibush, the triennial will utilize site-responsive practices and emergent technologies to explore themes of climate, immigration, and education.

Looking for art, culture? See the latest Central Illinois exhibits

A roundup article highlights current and upcoming art and cultural exhibitions across Central Illinois, featuring venues such as the McLean County Museum of History, Krannert Art Museum, Prairie Aviation Museum, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Eaton Studio Gallery, Illinois Art Station, Illinois State Museum, McLean County Arts Center, Main Gallery 404, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Dickson Mounds Museum, and David Davis Mansion State Historic Site. Specific shows mentioned include "Material Memory" fiber arts show at Brandt Gallery, "Goya's Ghosts" at Armstrong Gallery, "Arts Alive!" auction at Dolan Gallery, "Lincoln: Sight, Sound & Touch" at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, "Ken Kashian Botanical Photography Exhibit" at IAA Credit Union, and "Kelly Pile Pyrography Pop-up Sale" at Main Gallery 404.

Five can’t-miss fall art shows in Whatcom and Skagit counties

The article highlights five must-see fall art exhibitions in Whatcom and Skagit counties in Washington state. Featured shows include Mary Ann Peters' solo exhibition "myself inside your story" at the Whatcom Museum, Barbara Sternberger's abstract painting survey "At the Core" at Western Gallery, Joy Olney's "Pure Joy" at Cordata Gallery, and Voxel Gallery's first anniversary celebration with its "World Famous" exhibition. The piece also notes a photo exhibition on broadcasting pioneer Elaine Horn curated by archivist Jeff Jewell at the Whatcom Museum's Old City Hall.

New for 2026: Philly's Newest Museums, Galleries & Attractions

Philadelphia is celebrating America's 250th anniversary (the Semiquincentennial) in 2026 with the opening of several new museums, galleries, and attractions. These include Calder Gardens, a dedicated space for Alexander Calder's work on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway; Ministry of Awe, an immersive six-story art experience by Meg Saligman in a former bank; a new permanent Indigenous gallery at the Penn Museum; and a Netflix House experience at King of Prussia mall. The article also mentions the First Bank of the United States museum, the Philly Pride Visitor Center, and the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum as part of the city's anniversary additions.

Montclair Art Museum Announces Retirement of Longtime Chief Curator Dr. Gail Stavitsky

The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) has announced that Dr. Gail Stavitsky, its Chief Curator, will retire on July 1, 2026, after a tenure of more than 30 years. Stavitsky joined MAM in 1994 as Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, was promoted to Chief Curator in 1998, and curated over 200 exhibitions, including landmark shows such as "Cézanne and American Modernism" (2009) and "Matisse and American Art" (2017). Her recent exhibitions include solo shows for vanessa german and Tom Nussbaum, and she co-curated "Shifting Terrain: Perspectives on Land in North America." She also oversaw major acquisitions and the care of the museum's collections of George Inness and Morgan Russell.