How I Shop with Michelle Ogundehin: ‘We grownups have enough stuff already’

Michelle Ogundehin, the former editor-in-chief of Elle Decoration and current head judge on BBC’s Interior Design Masters, shares her personal shopping philosophy and favorite sources for design and art supplies. The interview highlights her preference for tactile, high-quality essentials over mass consumerism, citing her love for artist-grade watercolor paper from L. Cornelissen & Son, vintage tapestries from Larusi, and curated items from Japan House London.

London’s V&A launches webpage exploring provenance of its objects

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has launched a dedicated digital hub to document the provenance of its collection, specifically addressing objects acquired through violence, coercion, or looting. The initiative includes detailed research on controversial items such as the Maqdala material from Ethiopia, Asante Regalia from Ghana, and imperial Chinese jade. This transparency effort coincides with International Provenance Research Day and aims to provide public accountability regarding the museum's colonial-era acquisitions.

Seoul’s Centre Pompidou, Three Years in the Making, Will Open in June

The Centre Pompidou Hanwha is scheduled to open in Seoul on June 4, coinciding with the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and South Korea. Housed in the iconic Tower 63 and designed by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the new institution is a partnership with the Hanwha Foundation of Culture. The agreement includes a four-year brand licensing deal and a schedule of eight monographic exhibitions drawn from the Pompidou’s permanent collection.

‘It was a way of processing violences I’ve survived’: how iconoclastic musician Arca beat burnout with frenzied painting

The acclaimed Venezuelan electronic musician Arca, born Alejandra Ghersi, is transitioning into the visual arts with her first institutional exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Titled "Angels," the body of work consists of visceral, heavily textured paintings created using a chaotic mix of oils, acrylics, melted plastic, and latex. Ghersi turned to the physical medium as a therapeutic response to professional burnout, using the permanent nature of painting to process personal trauma and reconnect with the raw creative enthusiasm she felt before her music career became a global profession.

whitney biennial 2026 systems infrastructure andrea fraser carmen de monteflores emilie gossiaux david johnson

The 2026 Whitney Biennial, curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, moves beyond the traditional geographic borders of the United States to explore 'the greater United States.' Drawing inspiration from historian Daniel Immerwahr, the exhibition features artists from occupied territories, military outposts, and nations impacted by American intervention, including Okinawa, Chile, and Palestine. The show shifts the focus from identity politics to the material reality of infrastructure, examining how global systems of finance, energy, and empire operate and often fail.

6 Objects That Capture Everything Brilliant and Strange About the Shakers

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia has opened a new exhibition titled "A World in the Making: The Shakers," which places the work of seven contemporary artists alongside over 100 historical Shaker objects. The show, a collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum and the Milwaukee Art Museum, draws heavily from the collection of the Shaker Museum in New York to explore the community's legacy of radical simplicity, order, and purpose.

An Entire Paul Rudolph House Is Up for Sale at an L.A. Design Fair

The Walker Guest House, a 1953 architectural pavilion designed by Paul Rudolph, has been transported from Florida and reassembled inside the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. It is being offered for sale for $2 million as part of the Basic.Space L.A. high-design shopping event, complete with original furnishings and architectural drawings.

'The human-machine creative entanglement': artist Sougwen Chung on her technology-based practice

Artist Sougwen Chung is presenting new work, including the 10-metre scroll 'Recursion 0,' at Art Basel Hong Kong's new Zero 10 sector. The piece, created with brainwave data, will be completed live at the fair, showcasing her ongoing exploration of human-machine collaboration.

Protect ya neck! Wu-Tang Clan as they’ve never been seen before – in pictures

Photographer Eddie Otchere has released a new photozine, "Wu-Tang 4 + 1 More," featuring a decade's worth of previously unseen portraits of the Wu-Tang Clan and other hip-hop artists. The images, captured between 1994 and 2004, document intimate and candid moments with members like RZA, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah, chronicling the group's early years and Otchere's determined mission to photograph each member.

Demise of world's largest mangrove forest inspires Bangladeshi artist Soma Surovi Jannat's new works

Bangladeshi artist Soma Surovi Jannat has opened her first UK exhibition, 'Climate Culture Care,' at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The show features around 20 paintings and drawings created largely during a 2023 residency, drawing inspiration from the endangered Sundarbans mangrove forest and the museum's own collections. Her works fuse human, animal, and mythological imagery to depict the region's ecological and social struggles.

A Truck Driver Spent 20 Years Building a Miniature Model of New York City. Then, It Went Viral

A truck driver named Joe Macken spent 21 years building a massive, 50-by-27-foot miniature model of New York City from humble materials like balsa wood and cardboard. His daughter's suggestion to post it on TikTok led to the project going viral, which subsequently caught the attention of the Museum of the City of New York. The museum has now mounted a dedicated exhibition, "He Built This City: Joe Macken's Model," featuring the sprawling 1:2400-scale creation.

tai shani phaidon book deal leon blacks jeffrey epstein

Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani has officially terminated her book contract with Phaidon, the prominent arts publisher owned by billionaire collector Leon Black. Shani cited Black’s extensive financial ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the "horrific allegations" of sexual assault leveled against Black as the primary reasons for her withdrawal. Describing the move as a "feminist practice" of refusal, Shani walked away from a planned monograph despite praising the publisher's editorial team.

tefaf new york names 88 exhibitors for 2026

TEFAF New York has announced the exhibitor list for its 2026 edition, set to take place at the Park Avenue Armory from May 15 to 19. The fair will feature 88 galleries from 14 countries, including nine new participants and 78 returning dealers, with a focus on modern and contemporary art, design, jewelry, and antiquities. Major international galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and David Zwirner will be present.

Dürer Copy Real, National Gallery Metzger

durer copy real national gallery metzger

Art historian Christof Metzger has challenged the long-held view that a portrait of Albrecht Dürer's father in London's National Gallery is a copy, declaring it an authentic work by the Renaissance master. Metzger, chief curator of the Albertina in Vienna, bases his argument on the painting's outstanding artistic quality and masterful technique, detailed in his new book, despite the museum's previous assessment that its unusual, streaky background suggests it is a copy.

schiaparelli paris recreates stolen louvre jewels

Schiaparelli's artistic director Daniel Roseberry debuted dramatic recreations of crown jewels stolen from the Louvre during the brand's Paris Haute Couture Week show. The pieces, worn by actor Teyana Taylor, were inspired by a pearl-and-diamond tiara and bow brooch once owned by Empress Eugénie, which were among an estimated $102 million in gems taken in a heist last October.

adolf hitler artwork auction germany

A group of 14 watercolors and drawings by Adolf Hitler, dated from 1904 to 1922, will be auctioned at the Weidler auction house in Nuremberg, Germany, between June 18 and 20. The works are expected to sell for between €1,000 and €45,000 each, following a previous sale of a Hitler watercolor that fetched €130,000 in November last year.

zahi hawass the man with the hat documentary

Zahi Hawass, the 78-year-old former Egyptian minister for antiquities, is the subject of a new self-mythologizing documentary titled "The Man With the Hat." The film recounts his rise to international fame through countless TV appearances, his role in overseeing major discoveries like the 3,000-year-old "lost golden city" in Luxor, and his leadership in building the $1 billion Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). Hawass is also shown advocating for the repatriation of artifacts such as the Nefertiti bust and the Rosetta Stone, while sidestepping controversies that have marked his career.

anne boleyn portrait elizabeth i

New research by Tudor historian Owen Emmerson suggests that the most famous portrait of Anne Boleyn, displayed at London’s National Portrait Gallery, actually depicts her daughter Queen Elizabeth I. Emmerson argues the late-16th-century painting was deliberately made to resemble Elizabeth I, reinforcing a legitimate Tudor succession. The theory is supported by comparisons with another portrait of Elizabeth at Compton Verney and by Lawrence Hendra of Philip Mould gallery. An upcoming exhibition at Hever Castle, "Capturing a Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn," will present this and other evidence, alongside newly identified contemporaneous images of Boleyn, including a miniature from the British Museum and a drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger.

south africa venice biennale

South Africa has canceled its submission for the 2024 Venice Biennale, a performance piece titled *Elegy* by artist Gabrielle Goliath, because the work planned to commemorate the deaths of women and children in Gaza. Culture minister Gayton McKenzie withdrew financial support and terminated the partnership with the organizing nonprofit Art Periodic, calling the project "highly divisive" and related to a polarizing international conflict. Goliath, curator Ingrid Masondo, and their colleague James Macdonald have condemned the decision as censorship, while the selection committee that unanimously chose Goliath described it as an abuse of executive authority.

ada lovelace daguerreotypes uk national portrait gallery

The National Portrait Gallery in London has acquired the only surviving photographs of 19th-century mathematician Ada Lovelace, a group of three daguerreotypes that were originally offered at Bonhams in June 2025 with an estimate of £80,000 to £120,000. The lot was withdrawn from auction and the museum secured it via a private treaty sale, a confidential negotiation process that allows institutions to purchase significant artworks directly from private owners. Two of the daguerreotypes were taken by French photographer Antoine Claudet around 1843, the year Lovelace published her foundational paper on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, while the third, by an unknown photographer, reproduces an 1852 portrait by Henry Wyndham Phillips showing Lovelace near the end of her life.

las vegas museum of art francis kere designs

The Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) has unveiled architectural designs by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré for its first standalone museum, a 60,000-square-foot building at Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas. The design incorporates local stone, baobab trees, and a canopy for shade, drawing inspiration from the Mojave Desert and the city's culture, with a central staircase evoking a canyon. The museum, supported by a land donation from the city and a partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), has raised over half of its $200 million goal and is slated to open in 2029.

2026 ruth awards recipients yuji agematsuwill rawls

The Ruth Foundation for the Arts has named five artists as recipients of its 2026 Ruth Awards: Yuji Agematsu, Ranu Mukherjee, Will Rawls, Ellen Sebastian Chang, and Anna Martine Whitehead. Each winner receives an unrestricted $100,000 grant disbursed over two years. The artists work across diverse media—from Agematsu's miniature street-detritus sculptures and Rawls's multidisciplinary choreography to Mukherjee's painting and film installations, Sebastian Chang's decades-spanning theater and film work, and Whitehead's performance art. The awards are open to artists across North America and are now in their third year.

art bites michelangelo military fortifications

Michelangelo, best known for masterpieces like the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Pietà, also served as the governor and procurator general of fortifications for Florence in 1529, tasked with designing military defenses against the Medici family. After the Medici were expelled in 1527, Michelangelo joined the "Nine of the Militia" committee, but his overly complex drawings were so impractical that almost none were built. The Medici, backed by Pope Clement VII, successfully besieged Florence in 1529–30, forcing Michelangelo into hiding in a secret chamber beneath the Medici Chapel, where he drew figurative works rediscovered in 1975. He was eventually pardoned and went on to create major commissions like the tomb of Pope Julius II and The Last Judgement, but left Florence for Rome in 1534.

tate strike

More than 100 staff members at the Tate galleries in England began an indefinite strike on August 18, 2020, protesting the institution's plan to cut over 300 jobs from its commercial arm, Tate Enterprises. The PCS union voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking after Tate confirmed 313 redundancies, citing anticipated revenue loss from a long-term drop in visitor numbers due to the pandemic. Workers are demanding that 10% of government bailout funds be invested in Tate commerce, that no redundancies occur while senior staff earn six-figure salaries, and that Tate push for more government aid. The strike has closed several Tate gift shops, with picketing scheduled through August 22 and an indefinite strike from August 24.

michelangelo drawing sistine chapel christies new york

A five-inch-tall red chalk drawing of a foot, attributed to Michelangelo (1475–1564), is set to be auctioned at Christie’s New York in February with an estimate of $1.5–2 million. The work was discovered when Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie’s, flagged it from a public online submission; after extensive provenance research, technical analysis, and comparison with known sketches, Christie’s has declared it a preparatory study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512). If authenticated, it would be one of only two such Michelangelo drawings remaining in private hands.

layoffs metropolitan museum art

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has laid off 79 employees and furloughed 181 workers, with 93 staff members taking early retirement, citing a $150 million deficit exacerbated by the pandemic. The museum's director Max Hollein and CEO Daniel H. Weiss announced the cuts in an email, noting that salaries comprise 65% of the annual budget. This is the second round of layoffs since April, when 81 employees lost their jobs, and the museum has also implemented pay reductions for top executives and frozen hiring. The workforce has shrunk by about 20%, from 2,000 to 1,600 staff, with 48% of those laid off being people of color. The Met aims to reopen on August 29 with reduced hours, pending government approval.

art robert rauschenberg centennial

Robert Rauschenberg's centenary is being celebrated with a sprawling, interdisciplinary series of events that began this fall and will continue into 2026. At least eight major institutional exhibitions of his work are mounted worldwide, alongside a book of his writings published by Yale University Press and a national tour by the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Trust featuring Rauschenberg's sets and costumes. Cultured magazine invited artists across disciplines to reflect on his legacy, with contributions from Jeff Koons and RJ Messineo, among others.

taylor swift fate of ophelia painting john everett millais

Taylor Swift's new album 'The Life of a Showgirl' includes a song titled 'The Fate of Ophelia,' which references the tragic character from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' The article draws a parallel between Swift's song and John Everett Millais's Pre-Raphaelite painting 'Ophelia' (1851–52), which depicts the character before her death. The Tate, which owns the painting, posted about the work to discuss the death of its model, Elizabeth Siddal, in 1862. Swift's album cover, showing her floating in water, has been compared to the Millais painting, but the song reimagines Ophelia's narrative with a happy ending tied to her relationship with Travis Kelce.

raphael exhibition 2026 metropolitan museum new york

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open a landmark exhibition dedicated to Renaissance master Raphael in 2026. Titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the show runs from March 29 to June 28 and will be the first major Raphael retrospective ever mounted in the United States. Curated by Carmen Bambach, the exhibition brings together 200 works including paintings, drawings, tapestries, and decorative arts, with loans from major museums worldwide such as the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Prado, and the Vatican Museums. Key loans include the Louvre's "Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione" and the Galleria Borghese's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn."

posthumous kaari upson retrospective copehnagen louisiana museum denmark

Kaari Upson's posthumous retrospective "Dollhouse" has opened at the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The exhibition features works such as "Trespass" (2012), a simulated chain-link fence coated in flesh-toned acrylic, and "The Grotto" (2008-09), a faux-rock formation with water features and video projections of sex-doll-like figures. The show explores themes of voyeurism, transgression, and the blurring of public and private boundaries, drawing from Upson's acclaimed "Larry Project" (2005-12), which involved breaking into a neighbor's abandoned home.