Metropolitan Museum receives 6,500 works from photography collector Artur Walther

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has received a promised gift of more than 6,500 works from German American photography collector Artur Walther and his Walther Family Foundation. The trove spans post-war and contemporary photography from Africa, Japan, Germany, and China, alongside vernacular photos from Europe and the Americas. A special showcase of African photographers' works will debut in the Met's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing when it reopens after renovation later this month. The collection, which has operated exhibition spaces in Neu-Ulm, Germany, and New York's Chelsea district since 2010, includes major names such as Malick Sibidé, Zanele Muholi, Ai Weiwei, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and Thomas Struth.

Rashid Johnson Finds His Promised Land at the Guggenheim (Published 2025)

Rashid Johnson has mounted a major exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, titled "Rashid Johnson: The Promised Land." The show spans the artist's career, featuring his signature works in sculpture, painting, and installation that explore themes of Black identity, history, and the African diaspora. It includes iconic pieces such as his "Anxious Men" series and large-scale works incorporating materials like shea butter, books, and plants.

Madrid: Hypnotic Laugh Track by Manga Ngcobo

Writer Manga Ngcobo reflects on the architectural and cultural landscape of Madrid in early 2025, juxtaposing the city's historic art institutions with its rapid technological and commercial evolution. Drawing on Ben Lerner’s novel 'Leaving the Atocha Station', the piece explores the growing disconnect between the profound emotional experiences promised by masters like Velázquez and Goya and the reality of a city increasingly designed for content creation, retail aesthetics, and digital consumption.

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A major multi-venue exhibition in Tbilisi, titled “Merab Abramishvili – Transparent Memory,” reintroduces the Georgian painter Merab Abramishvili to the wider art world. Organized by ATINATI’s Cultural Center and complemented by Baia Gallery, the show features over fifty works spanning the artist’s career, including pieces like *Kiss of Judas* (1989) and *Sunflower* (1989). Abramishvili’s work blends medieval visual culture with Neo-expressionism, using the traditional levkas technique on plywood to create timeless, mythic compositions that explore religious motifs, landscapes, and figuration.

Comment | Galleries are looking to merch to keep spirits up—it's a joyful move in challenging times

The article discusses how galleries are increasingly turning to merchandise and playful, low-cost art items to maintain public engagement during a downturn in the art market. It cites the example of Lucy Sparrow's hand-stitched felt fish and chip shop at Lyndsey Ingram gallery in London, which drew large crowds and media attention but generated far less revenue than traditional fine art sales. The piece notes that while the global art market fell 12% to $57.5bn in the past year, according to the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, galleries like Unit and Palmer are offering items such as Gavin Turk T-shirts and Andy Holden records to attract visitors.

National Assembly Unanimously Votes on Law for Restitution of Looted Colonial Works, but with Restrictions

L’Assemblée vote à l’unanimité la loi sur la restitution des œuvres pillées pendant la colonisation, mais avec des restrictions

The French National Assembly has unanimously passed a landmark law establishing a permanent legal framework for the restitution of cultural property looted during the colonial era. Moving away from the previous requirement for case-by-case legislation, the new law allows the government to return artifacts via decree following consultations with scientific and parliamentary commissions. This shift fulfills a long-standing promise to simplify the return of African heritage currently held in French public collections.

Under pressure, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale will exclude Russian and Israeli pavilions from the awards

Sous pression, le jury de la 61e Biennale de Venise exclura les pavillons russe et israélien du palmarès

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and running from May 9 to November 22, 2026, has been embroiled in political controversy after organizers decided to reinstate the Russian pavilion, which had been excluded since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under pressure from the European Commission, which threatened to suspend a €2 million grant, the jury announced it will exclude artists from the Russian and Israeli pavilions from winning prizes, citing that leaders Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The Russian pavilion will remain closed to the public but open for VIP press previews, while the Israeli pavilion stays open to the public. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has refused to attend the opening ceremony in protest.

artists new technology new museum

DEMO2025, the annual festival from NEW INC (the New Museum's incubator for cutting-edge culture), is hosting a public event at Water Street Projects in Lower Manhattan featuring on-site augmented reality experiments and new models of collective storytelling. To mark the festival, CULTURED asked several NEW INC alumni—including Idris Brewster, Mindy Seu, Stephanie Dinkins, LaJuné McMillian, and the MSCHF Collective—to share which technological developments they find most concerning as artists and which offer the most potential. Their responses address surveillance, attention economies, extractive systems, and the promise of radical alternatives rooted in collectivity and world-building.

Italy’s Uffizi Hit by Cyberattack, Says Security Wasn’t Compromised

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence suffered a significant cyberattack in February, with hackers reportedly stealing access codes, internal maps, CCTV camera information, and the institution's entire photographic archive. The attackers issued a ransom demand to director Simone Verde. In response, the museum moved valuable jewels to the Bank of Italy, sealed emergency exits at the Palazzo Pitti with bricks, and closed a section of the palace, though it attributes some actions to planned renovations and fire-safety compliance.

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The Ukrainian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will present a project titled "Security Guarantees," focusing on the failure of international promises to protect Ukraine, specifically referencing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Artist Zhanna Kadyrova will exhibit her concrete sculpture, Origami Deer, which was evacuated from eastern Ukraine as the Russian frontline advanced. The work will be suspended from a crane on a truck along the lagoon, and the pavilion will include archival material and a video installation tracing the sculpture's journey.

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The Lazio Region of Rome and Italy's Ministry of Culture are undertaking a €35 million ($41.1 million) restoration of Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, a historic palazzo overlooking the Colosseum that has long fallen into disrepair. Originally commissioned by Pope Paul III in the 1540s and designed by Sangallo the Younger with gardens by Giacomo Del Duca, the villa has housed cardinals, served as a convent, textile factory, welfare institution, and school, and was even used by squatters and hostage-takers in the 1970s. Early restoration work since 2024 has focused on stabilizing the structure and cleaning its frescoes with laser technology, with full-scale restorations set to begin in 2026.

Grimes joining LinkedIn is artwashing at its most brazen. I should know – I released my new film on there

Artist Alan Warburton critiques the migration of creative professionals to LinkedIn, sparked by musician Grimes' recent pivot to the platform to promote her appearance at an Nvidia tech conference. Warburton, who recently released his AI-focused film 'Image Empire' on the site, describes the move as a desperate response to the 'enshittification' of traditional creative platforms like Twitter and Vimeo, which have been overrun by bots and AI-generated content.

Passion and promise at this year’s Art & Design MFA Exhibit

The 2025 School of Art & Design Master of Fine Arts Exhibition at Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, Illinois, showcases the work of 12 graduating artists from the University of Illinois. The exhibition features a range of installations, including Harsh Milind Waichal's Halcyon Orthopedic Arm Cast, which uses sashiko embroidery patterns to reimagine medical casts, and Quinn Koeneman's comic-based exploration of neurodivergent aesthetics. The show runs through April 26, 2025, and includes works by Vicky Ma, Joseph Obanubi, and Anieya Cauthen.

Guangzhou Image Triennial 2025 Review: The Case for Sensitivity

The Guangzhou Image Triennial 2025, titled 'The Case for Sensitivity,' has opened at the Guangdong Art Museum. The exhibition, featuring over 50 artists and artist groups, directly addresses a perceived crisis of technological mediation, arguing that digital existence deprives us of direct contact with the natural world. It aims to foster new forms of attention by emphasizing the materiality of images—what they are made of—over what they represent.

Germany Creates New Council to Oversee Returns of Looted Art

The German government has established a new council, the Coordination Council for Returns of Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts, to oversee the restitution of artifacts acquired during the colonial era. The council will include representatives from federal, state, and municipal authorities and is intended to provide a structured, national approach to handling these complex returns.

2 Cincinnati museums to feature Charley and Edie Harper's works this fall

Two Cincinnati museums will present simultaneous exhibitions dedicated to artists Charley and Edie Harper this fall. The Taft Museum of Art will host the first solo museum exhibition of Edie Harper's work, featuring over 100 pieces spanning her entire career. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Art Museum will mount the first full-scale retrospective of Charley Harper's paintings, with about 150 works on display, covering his career from early pieces to near his death. Both exhibitions open in October 2026, with the Taft's running through January and the Cincinnati Art Museum's through March.

Photo London, the UK’s leading photography fair, is relocating

Photo London, the UK's leading photography fair, is relocating from Somerset House to the newly renovated Olympia in west London starting with its 11th edition in May 2026. The move follows a decade at Somerset House and coincides with Olympia's £1.3bn redevelopment co-designed by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC. Director Sophie Parker cited feedback from galleries and collectors requesting a more flexible, cohesive space, while co-founder Michael Benson called the relocation a 'thrillingly adventurous reimagining' of the fair's future.

LACMA’s US$720m David Geffen Galleries expansion to open in 2026

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced that its long-awaited David Geffen Galleries expansion will open in April 2026, over two decades after the project was first announced in 2001. Designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, the $720 million serpentine structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and replaces several older buildings, increasing gallery space from 130,000 to 220,000 square feet. The project faced numerous setbacks, including public criticism of the design, concerns over the nearby La Brea Tar Pits, the discovery of sabre-toothed tiger skulls during construction, pandemic delays, the departure of longtime donor The Ahmanson Foundation, and Zumthor's distancing from the project in 2023 due to cost compromises. A series of soft openings are planned for summer 2025 before the full public debut.

A first look inside LACMA’s Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries as museum hosts preview opening

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has released new photographs of its David Geffen Galleries, designed by architect Peter Zumthor with SOM as collaborating architect. The building, a long horizontal glass and concrete structure curving along Hancock Park and Wilshire Boulevard, opened temporarily for a three-day preview last week and is scheduled to open to the public in April 2026. The 347,500-square-foot wing includes 110,000 square feet of gallery space, along with street-level pavilions housing a theater, store, bar, and education center. To mark the preview, LACMA hosted three "sonic previews" featuring composer Kamasi Washington leading over 100 musicians in a performance of his work Harmony of Difference. Architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne described the wing as "bold and compromised in nearly equal measure," while Zumthor noted that curators initially critical of the spatial layout have begun to appreciate the space and the beauty of the handmade concrete structure.

A Journey to Distant Memories, a solo-exhibition of works by Pennsylvania- based painter O’Neil Scott.

The Zillman Art Museum at the University of Maine in Bangor announces a new solo exhibition, "A Journey to Distant Memories," featuring works by Pennsylvania-based painter O'Neil Scott. Running from May 16 to September 6, 2025, the show includes never-before-seen paintings and some of the artist's largest compositions. Scott, born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, draws inspiration from memories of his youth, exploring themes of community, migration, and the passage of time through works such as "In Case of Emergency" and "Fading Promises." Admission to the museum is free in 2025 thanks to sponsor Birchbrook.

Paris is getting a huge new art museum this year

The Fondation Cartier, a contemporary art gallery in Paris for the past 30 years, is opening a new flagship location at 2, place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre and near the Ministry of Culture. Occupying an 8,500-square-meter space in a building dating to 1852, the interior has been redesigned by architect Jean Nouvel. The new venue, set to open on October 25, 2025, will be the largest private art center in Paris, with half its space dedicated to exhibitions and the other half housing a restaurant, bookshop, auditorium, and offices. The inaugural exhibition, 'Exposition Générale,' will feature nearly 600 works from the foundation's collection of over 2,500 pieces.

Una delle opere più importante esposte alla Galleria Nazionale di Roma sta ammuffendo

An article by Laura Carlotta Cortoni on Artribune reports that Pino Pascali's iconic 1967 work "32 mq di mare circa" ("32 square meters of sea approximately"), on display at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAMC) in Rome, is covered in mold, dust, and insects due to a total lack of maintenance. The author describes the installation as resembling a neglected warehouse and notes that visitors unfamiliar with the piece mistake the decay for an intentional environmental statement, creating a critical paradox given Pascali's own series of works titled "Muffe" (Molds).

New Exhibition Offers Portals Into the Past, Present, and Future of Blackness

Artist Todd Gray’s solo exhibition, "Portals," at Perrotin Los Angeles features a series of complex photographic assemblages that challenge the historical relationship between Blackness and European colonialism. By stacking framed images of West African landscapes, slave forts, and Renaissance interiors, Gray creates textured collages that collapse geographic and temporal boundaries. Notable works like "Paradox of Liberty" confront the hypocrisy of Enlightenment figures like Thomas Jefferson by physically obscuring his image with the architecture of the slave trade.

Billionaire Collector Ken Griffin Buys Second Rare Constitution Printing

Billionaire collector Ken Griffin has quietly acquired a second rare first printing of the US Constitution, known as the Van Sinderen copy, through a private deal after it was pulled from a planned Sotheby’s auction in 2022. Griffin, who previously paid $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in 2021 for another copy, now holds the only two copies of the 1787 document still in private hands. The newly acquired document will go on public display starting May 27 at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, headlining an exhibition titled “The Promise of Liberty” that includes other foundational texts.

Suspect Charged in $45,000 Fraud Incident Involving Floridian Museum

A 31-year-old woman from Boca Raton, Alexandra C. Kaiser, has been charged with grand theft and related felonies for allegedly depositing a forged $45,000 check drawn on the Flagler Museum's bank account. Police affidavits state she admitted to knowingly depositing the counterfeit check at a JPMorgan Chase branch, acting on behalf of an acquaintance who promised her a cut of the funds.

‘The extremely happy part of the crowd’: Hungarian arts figures hope for change after 16 years of Orbán rule

The 16-year tenure of Viktor Orbán has come to an end following a landslide victory for Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party in the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election. The shift in power has sparked widespread celebration among Hungary’s progressive art community, which has long felt stifled by Orbán’s nationalist and socially conservative agenda. Figures from major Budapest galleries and the contemporary art scene report a profound sense of relief, signaling a potential departure from the "illiberal democracy" that dominated the country for nearly two decades.

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Sylvester Stallone is reclaiming one of his two Rocky statues from Philadelphia after a city commission vote. A second bronze sculpture by Auldwin Thomas Schomberg, which Stallone bought at auction in 2017 and loaned to the city in December 2024 for RockyFest, will be returned to the actor in 2026. Meanwhile, the original 1980 statue—currently at the foot of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps—will be moved inside the museum for the exhibition “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments” celebrating the franchise’s 50th anniversary, then relocated to the top of the steps where it originally stood in the 1980s. A third Schomberg Rocky statue was recently unveiled at Philadelphia International Airport.

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A statue of President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, titled *The Secret Handshake*, was removed from a public park in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday morning after going viral online. The anonymous artists claim they had a legal permit for the 12-foot-tall sculpture, which depicted the two men smiling and dancing together, but that National Parks Service officials toppled and destroyed it without the 24-hour notice they were promised. The Department of the Interior said the removal was due to the statue exceeding the permit's six-foot height limit.

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A New York court has summoned art dealers Count Edmondo di Robilant and Marco Voena to answer a civil complaint filed by former employee and curator Virginia Brilliant. The lawsuit, filed in New York, alleges repeated verbal harassment, misogynistic, antisemitic, racist, and homophobic comments, and other inappropriate behavior at their gallery Robilant and Voena, which has locations in New York, London, Milan, Paris, and St. Moritz. Brilliant, who holds a Ph.D. from the Courtauld Institute of Art, began working as an independent contractor in 2019. She claims the dealers created a toxic workplace, failed to pay promised medical expenses during her chemotherapy for breast cancer, and owes her commissions, back pay, and damages totaling at least $3.13 million. Robilant was served papers at the TEFAF New York art fair on May 13.

art diane severin nguyen protest music

Artist-filmmaker Diane Severin Nguyen is preparing for her live-performance directorial debut, "WAR SONGS," premiering at the Performa Biennial in November 2025 at BRIC in Brooklyn. The piece features a cast of musicians performing a wide-ranging program of protest music, from Woody Guthrie to Black Sabbath, led by musical director Laszlo Horvath. Nguyen, known for her films exploring performance and identity, is working with a group that practices being a band rather than an actual band, creating a raw, protean work that blends music, theater, and filmic sensibilities.