eu import regulations

The European Union's Regulation 2019/880, aimed at combating illicit trafficking and terrorism, will take effect on June 28, imposing stricter import controls on antiquities and artworks over 200 years old and valued above €18,000 ($19,500). The regulation requires importers to provide evidence that an object was lawfully exported from its country of origin, even for items exported decades ago when such documentation was not required. This reverses the presumption of innocence, placing the burden of proof on importers. Dealers and experts express concern that the rules are not based on market realities, as importers must be registered within the E.U., forcing non-E.U. dealers to rely on third-party agents or shippers. The regulation also poses challenges for ancient objects, where borders and export controls may be historically ambiguous.

the new rules of subculture

Writer and theorist Nadia Asparouhova has published a new book titled *Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading*, which introduces the concept of "anti-memes"—cultural phenomena whose influence derives from being hard to find or difficult to understand, rather than from popularity and visibility. The book is released by the Dark Forest Collective, a group of artists and thinkers inspired by Yancey Strickler's metaphor of the internet as a "dark forest," where meaningful exchange retreats to private spaces away from commercial and contentious public platforms. Artnet News critic Ben Davis reviews the book, connecting its ideas to contemporary art that deliberately operates below the radar.

asian art market

The Chinese art market experienced a 31% year-on-year decline in sales to $8.4 billion in 2024, its lowest level since 2009, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. The downturn is attributed to slower economic growth, a property market slump, and broader economic uncertainties. However, other Asia Pacific markets showed resilience: Japan saw a 2% increase in sales, Australia's dealer market grew 11%, and China remains the second-largest auction market for postwar and contemporary art. Dealer sentiment is improving, with half expecting stronger sales in 2025.

art market minute may 5

The article reports that at the 100-day mark of Trump's second presidency, his economic policies—particularly tariffs—are disrupting the art world. While artworks remain exempt, antiques and design objects are not, causing concern for dealers, including those preparing for Tefaf New York. Changes to de minimis rules have lowered the customs processing threshold from $2,500 to $800, triggering widespread shipping delays. Additionally, Frieze has been sold to Hollywood powerbroker Ari Emanuel, and auction veteran Alex Rotter has been tapped as Christie's new global president.

What Does the Future Hold for Female Collectors? We Got a Sneak Peek.

CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson hosted a panel discussion at Christie’s Rockefeller Center with collectors Tiffany Zabludowicz, Sophia Cohen, and Victoria Rogers, exploring the evolving role of women in the art market. The event coincided with Christie’s Marquee Week sales, which included a record-breaking $1.1 billion night, and featured works from the collections of legendary female patrons such as Agnes Gund, Marian Goodman, Lorinda de Roulet, and Marilyn Arison. Guests viewed masterpieces on display and received remarks from Christie’s Senior Vice President Isabella Lauria, who is leading the 21st Century Sale on May 20.

The LA Art World’s New Obsession Is a Theater Where Artists Run the Show

Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff, former artistic directors of Berlin's Grüner Salon, launched New Theater Hollywood in 2024 as a nonprofit venue on Santa Monica Boulevard. The 49-seat theater specializes in genre-defying, multidisciplinary collaborations, staging works like Sophie Becker's ventriloquist act *Ronnie's Big Idea* and Diamond Stingily's *The Driver*. Every performance sells out, attracting a cult following of literary, art world, and pop culture figures who often linger to discuss shows.

literature darkology rhae lynn barnes blackface minstrelsy

Rhae Lynn Barnes, a scholar at Princeton, has published a new book titled "Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment," which examines the pervasive history of amateur minstrelsy in American life from the 19th through 20th centuries. Drawing on two decades of archival research, Barnes reveals how blackface performances were not confined to professional theaters but were common in living rooms, schools, USO shows, fraternal lodges, and even Japanese internment camps, involving figures like Shirley Temple, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby.

fashion dior debut collection jonathan anderson

Jonathan Anderson made his debut as the new men's artistic director of Dior with the Men's Spring/Summer 2026 collection, presented in June. The collection riffs on French history while incorporating Anderson's signature gestures: painstaking handiwork, reverence for craft, and touches of the absurd. Highlights include a collaboration with textile artist Sheila Hicks on the Lady Dior bag, literary tributes on the Book Tote (featuring works by Bram Stoker, James Joyce, and Charles Baudelaire), and intricate embroidery requiring up to 3,271 hours per coat. The collection also features Brandebourg detailing, sculptural silhouettes, and reimagined heritage pieces like a 1960s-inspired cape.

parties art artwalk sheree hovsepian auction gala

The Artwalk NY gala and auction raised over $8 million on Tuesday, November 19, 2025, to support the Coalition for the Homeless. Presented by Max Mara, the event at the Grill and the Pool in the Seagram Building featured a live auction of artist-designed plates from the Artist Plate Project, along with works by Sheree Hovsepian and Ed Ruscha. Honorees included artist Sheree Hovsepian and Artist Plate Project Founder Michelle Hellman, with remarks from Coalition Executive Director Dave Giffen and a DJ set by AKU. The evening drew a crowd of artists, collectors, and philanthropists, including Rashid Johnson, Joel Mesler, Thelma Golden, and Don Lemon.

anna weyant tiffany and co hardwear

Tiffany & Co. celebrated its Hardwear Collection with an event at its Landmark flagship on Fifth Avenue, featuring painter Anna Weyant as the new face of the campaign alongside actors Greta Lee and Mikey Madison. The gathering included guests such as Phoebe Gates, Laura Harrier, Chase Sui Wonders, artists Chase Hall and Sasha Gordon, and chef Daniel Boulud, with music by Ruby Aldridge and Ruinart champagne.

GRACIELA ITURBIDE: EYES TO FLY

GRACIELA ITURBIDE: OJOS PARA VOLAR

The C/O Berlin gallery is presenting "Eyes to Fly With (Ojos para volar)," the first major retrospective in Germany of renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. The exhibition, curated by Sophia Greiff and Melissa Harris in close collaboration with Iturbide, runs from February 7 to June 10 and features her iconic works like "Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas" alongside lesser-known series on fashion, the cholo community in Los Angeles, and her travels in India and Bangladesh.

New contemporary art gallery connects Austin to unexpected ski town

A new contemporary art gallery called Connelly Martin is opening with two locations: one in Austin, Texas, and another in Ketchum, Idaho, near the Sun Valley ski resort. Founded by Bailey Connelly and Lily Martin, the gallery will feature emerging and mid-career artists, with each location hosting five exhibitions annually. The Austin space opens February 13, followed by the Sun Valley location on July 11, and the gallery plans two pop-ups each year in different towns. The inaugural show in both spaces will be a group exhibition, including work by Austin textile artist Elizabeth Hohimer.

The 10 Best Venice Films

Die 10 besten Venedig-Filme

Monopol magazine has published a ranking of the ten best films set in Venice, timed to coincide with the opening of the Venice Art Biennale. The list includes titles such as Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "The Honey Pot" (1967), and Kenneth Branagh's "A Haunting in Venice" (2023), highlighting how the lagoon city serves as a central character in action films, comedies, and love dramas.

A Struggle Between Artist and Machine

Ein Ringen zwischen Künstler und Maschine

Mario Klingemann, a pioneer of AI art, presents "Conflict of Interest," a pop-up exhibition at Sleek Art Space in Berlin during Gallery Weekend. Curated by Anika Meier and produced in collaboration with Art on Tezos, the show features works that challenge the flood of AI-generated imagery. Klingemann displays mundane landscape photographs from private slides, a series called "Weapons of Mass Distraction" where he disrupts an AI algorithm's image generation, and a haunting 2020 video in which AI-generated faces morph to music. The exhibition makes visible the struggle between human control and machine logic.

Nicole Hollander, Acerbic Feminist Cartoonist, Dies at 86

Nicole Hollander, the creator of the long-running comic strip "Sylvia," has died at the age of 86. For over three decades, she wrote and illustrated the strip, which centered on a tart-tongued, witty woman who freely expressed her many opinions, becoming a staple of feminist humor in American newspapers.

The Musée d’Ixelles at the Crossroads of Different Perspectives

Le Musée d’Ixelles à la croisée de différents regards

The Musée d’Ixelles in Brussels, closed for eight years for expansion and renovation, is nearing completion of its architectural transformation with a reopening scheduled for spring 2027 (March 19). Founded in 1892 in a former slaughterhouse, the museum has grown through successive donations and a continuous acquisition policy, now holding over 15,000 works spanning Belgian art from the 19th century to the contemporary period. Director and curator Claire Leblanc, who has led the institution since 2006, emphasizes a participatory approach that integrates diverse public perspectives, including a project called "Musée comme chez soi" during the closure where locals hosted artworks in their homes.

“In corpo presente” at IED, Florence

On Tuesday, April 28, at IED Firenze (former Teatro dell'Oriuolo), the collective performance "In corpo presente" took place as the final act of a research project exploring contemporary meanings of freedom, presence, belonging, and collective action. Since December 2025, 50 students from various disciplines at IED Firenze have been involved in the project, guided by artist Jacopo Benassi.

Sanna Helena Berger “Difference” at Matteo Cantarella, Copenhagen

Berlin-based Swedish artist Sanna Helena Berger makes her Danish debut with "Difference" at Matteo Cantarella in Copenhagen. The exhibition explores the concept of the remainder—the mathematical and physical space left behind when one value is subtracted from another—through a series of sculptural and spatial interventions.

Pat Oleszko “Fool Disclosure” at SculptureCenter, New York

Pat Oleszko has opened a major solo exhibition, "Fool Disclosure," at SculptureCenter in New York. The show features her signature sculptures and costumes, which are designed to be activated through performance, and includes new works created specifically for the presentation.

Leading Art Gallery Opening in Landmarked Aspen Block Building

M.S. Rau, the 113-year-old New Orleans-based gallery specializing in fine art, antiques, and jewelry, has signed a long-term lease to open a permanent second location in Aspen’s historic Aspen Block Building at 307 S. Galena Street. The new two-level, 2,200-square-foot space is set to debut in January 2026, featuring works by Renoir, Picasso, and Magritte, alongside pieces from luxury houses such as Tiffany & Co., Van Cleef & Arpels, Fabergé, and Cartier. The expansion follows a successful seasonal pop-up in Aspen last year and marks the gallery’s first year-round secondary location since its founding in 1912.

Summer Guide 2025: Gallery Openings

The Summer Guide 2025 highlights a diverse array of gallery openings in Santa Fe, New Mexico, focusing on both established and emerging art spaces. Notable exhibitions include Gerald Peters Contemporary's "Material Girl: Pop Culture and the Female Gaze" (June 13), featuring six female artists examining gender and commodification through Pop Art; Daniel Cooney Fine Art's "George Dureau, Photographs" (May 31), showcasing intimate portraits of New Orleans' counterculture; and Station 5 Micro-Gallery's two shows—"ACCUMULATION" (June 7) by Michael Sumner and Melody Sumner Carnahan, and "THE NARROW LINE TO THE INTERIOR" (August 2) inspired by poet Bashō. Other highlights include ELECTR∆ Gallery's queer mysticism group show "The Third Way" (July 11), new works by Tim Jag (June 12), and Pie Projects' "MOMENTUM" (June 14) featuring Florence Miller Pierce's rediscovered resin reliefs.

Gallery of Art 850 hosts ‘The Color Blue’ art exhibit

The Gallery of Art 850 in Panama City, Florida, hosted an opening reception for 'The Color Blue' art exhibit on Thursday evening. This is the second in a series of themed exhibitions, following last year's 'The Color Red' held in conjunction with the RedFish Film Festival. The show features 75 works in all media, from paintings to sculptures, all incorporating shades of blue, up from 63 entries last year.

Chico Art Center exhibit combines landscape paintings with clay sculptures

The Chico Art Center is presenting a dual exhibition featuring landscape paintings by Dayton Claudio and ceramic sculptures by the late Nora Pineda. Claudio, known for his public murals including a 3D mural on a parking garage in downtown Chico, draws inspiration from nature and urban landscapes. Pineda, who passed away in April, created clay works influenced by her Mexican heritage and studied art at Chico State. The exhibition runs until July 18, with an opening reception on June 21.

A review within a play. Play by Josiane M.H. Pozi and Emily Pozi  by Nasra Abdullahi

Josiane M.H. Pozi's exhibition "PORTRAIT O.A.Y.G." at Carlos/Ishikawa in London is reviewed through an unconventional, fragmented narrative that blends a play script with critical observation. The review describes Pozi's video works, including "Rhythmic Stimming" (2025) and "Restaurants" (2023), which capture mundane domestic scenes and personal artifacts. The text shifts between a first-person account of meeting the artist and a scripted dialogue between characters J and E, reflecting the exhibition's themes of identity, selfhood, and the poetic potential of everyday objects.

Rashomon

The article shares excerpts from Akira Kurosawa's memoir detailing the production of his 1950 film 'Rashomon.' It focuses on the director's meticulous location scouting in Kyoto and Nara, his struggle with studio executives who found the project difficult, and the evolving, grandiose mental image he developed for the film's central gate, based on his research into historical architecture and city plans.

Is It Simple to Be a Communist in Philosophy? Review of Alberto Toscano, Communism in Philosophy

Is It Simple to Be a Communist in Philosophy? Review of Alberto Toscano, Communism in Philosophy

The article reviews Alberto Toscano's book 'Communism in Philosophy', which examines the intellectual convergence of philosophers Alain Badiou and Antonio Negri. Both thinkers, whose major works gained prominence in the early 2000s, are analyzed for their shared commitment to rethinking communism as a philosophical concept beyond its historical political failures.

How Much Did It Cost to Paint a Pompeii Room Egyptian Blue?

How Much Did It Cost to Paint a Pompeii Room Egyptian Blue?

A new study has calculated the staggering cost of painting a room in Pompeii with Egyptian blue pigment. Researchers determined that covering the walls of a recently discovered "Blue Room," a sacred shrine, would have required between 2.7 and 4.9 kilograms of the prized synthetic pigment. Based on prices recorded by Pliny the Elder, this quantity of high-grade pigment would have cost between 50% and 90% of a Roman legionary's annual salary, highlighting it as an extreme luxury.

Meet The Canadian Artist Behind The Mirrored Mannequins That Transformed The 2026 Met Gala

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, titled "Costume Art," will feature special mannequins with mirrored steel heads created by Toronto-born, Dubai-based artist Samar Hejazi. The mannequins, designed in collaboration with Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton, represent differently sized and abled bodies and replace traditional faces with reflective surfaces to disrupt the conventional presentation of fashion. Hejazi attended the Met Gala wearing a gown by Palestinian designer Zaid Farouki and described the project as a meaningful collaboration aimed at fostering empathy and self-reflection.

Banksy’s Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape Sells for $18 Million

Banksy's painting *Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape* sold for $18 million (£13.3 million) at a Fair Warning auction held at Tiffany & Co.'s Landmark store in New York. The 2012 work, which reimagines a traditional pastoral landscape with the artist's iconic balloon motif, was purchased by an anonymous US bidder after a phone battle. The result places it among the three highest auction prices ever achieved for a Banksy artwork, surpassing *Sunflowers From Petrol Station* and trailing only *Game Changer* and *Love Is in the Bin*.

‘A nuclear explosion of happiness’: Graphic artist Jim Phillips opens first solo gallery in Santa Cruz

Graphic artist Jim Phillips, the 81-year-old creator of the iconic "Screaming Hand" logo for Santa Cruz Skateboards, has opened his first solo gallery in his hometown of Santa Cruz, California. The exhibition, titled "Jim Phillips: New Fine Art Prints and Classic ’70s and ’80s Pen and Ink Drawings," runs at the R. Blitzer Gallery and features 15 new large-scale art prints and 30 hand-drawn pen-and-ink works from 1971 to 2026. The show includes his famous "Screaming Hand" and "Hand Wave" pieces, alongside surf, skate, and rock poster art from his career, which includes work for The Doors, James Brown, and Neil Young.