The Politics of In-action: Review of In-action: Viennese Actionism and the Passivities of Performance Art

Caroline Lillian Schopp's new book *In-action: Viennese Actionism and the Passivities of Performance Art* (2025) offers a revisionist history of Viennese Actionism, a movement retroactively named in 1970 by Peter Weibel and Valie Export. Schopp introduces the term "in-action" to describe a politics of artistic action that emphasizes intimacy, hesitation, and vulnerability rather than the violent or liberatory extremes typically associated with the movement. She expands the canon to include women artists such as Anna Brus, Hanel Koeck, and Ingrid Wiener, and reexamines the work of Rudolf Schwarzkogler, whose death was mythologized as a suicide by self-castration but was actually a fall from a window. Through close readings of photographs, Schopp argues that Schwarzkogler's performances were characterized by passivity and "in-sincerity," challenging the dominant narrative of actionism as aggressive or heroic.

In Minor Keys: The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia Opens Under Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025).

The 61st Biennale di Arte Venezia opens under the posthumous curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the late Cameroonian-born curator who reshaped contemporary African and diasporic art discourse. The central exhibition, spanning the Giardini and Arsenale, features 111 participants including artists, collectives, and artist-led organizations from across the Global South, with works in textiles, film, sculpture, and performance that interrogate colonialism, migration, and ecological repair. The Biennale is also marked by a pronounced presence of African and diasporic narratives across national pavilions, including several first-time pavilions from the African continent.

1,200-Year-Old Limestone Lintel was Inadvertently Repatriated to Mexico Instead of to Guatemala

A 1,200-year-old limestone lintel, carved by the ancient Maya artist Mayuy and depicting a ruler of Yaxchilán, was repatriated from the United States to Mexico in mid-April after an American businessman turned it over to the Mexican consulate in New York. However, Guatemala's cultural minister has begun proceedings to reclaim the artifact, arguing that it was originally removed from the Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River, not Mexico. The lintel was first documented by American explorers Dana and Ginger Lamb in the 1950s in an area called Laxtunich, and its exact provenance has been disputed by scholars.

Israel’s Artist Reportedly Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury’s Resignation

Artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, Israel’s representative at the Venice Biennale, reportedly pressured the exhibition’s organizers before the five-person jury abruptly resigned last week. The jury, tasked with selecting Golden Lion winners, had stated it would not consider nations charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court—applying to Israel and Russia. According to Italian news agency Adnkronos, Fainaru alleged “racial discrimination” and “antisemitism,” threatened to take his claims to the European Court of Human Rights, and the Biennale warned jury members they could be held personally liable for damages. Hyperallergic confirmed the threats of legal action, and a Biennale spokesperson acknowledged the reports were true.

A Grandmother’s Keepsake Turns Out to Be an Imperial Chinese Robe Worth Thousands

A collection of Chinese antiques, including an Imperial robe from the 19th century, was discovered in a chest in London after being kept as family mementos for decades. The items were acquired by Nan Brake, a British translator living in Beijing during the 1950s, who purchased them on excursions around the city. The collection, which features Ming dynasty paintings, Qing dynasty embroidered robes, and jade ornaments, will be auctioned by Roseberys on May 12 with an estimated total value of £40,000 ($54,100). The standout piece is a turquoise silk Imperial robe embroidered with nine five-clawed dragons, likely made for a male member of the emperor's family.

Metal Detectorists Unearth Norway’s Largest-Known Viking Coin Hoard

Two hobbyist metal detectorists, Rune Sætre and Vegard Sørlie, discovered Norway's largest-known Viking Age coin hoard in a field in Østerdalen, east-central Norway. Starting with 19 silver coins on April 10, the find grew to over 3,250 coins dating from the 980s to the 1040s, surpassing the previous record of 1,800 coins found in the 1800s. The hoard includes coins minted under Æthelred the Unready, King Cnut, and Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, as well as early Norwegian coins from after Harald Hardråde's return from Byzantium. The coins have been transferred to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo for expert analysis.

Historic Monument Honors New York's First Arabic-Speaking Community

New York City unveiled its first commemorative public artwork under Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration on April 30, honoring the historic "Little Syria" neighborhood in Manhattan's Financial District. The monument, titled "Al Qalam (The Pen): Poets in the Park," is a mosaic installation and sculpture by French-Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou, created over the past decade. It celebrates nine members of the enclave's literary community, including Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran, who co-founded the writers' association Pen Bond in 1920. The $1.6 million artwork sits in Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, within the blocks where immigrants from Greater Syria settled in the late 19th century before being displaced by tunnel construction in the 1940s.

Italian Culture Minister Launches Inspection of Venice Biennale’s Russian Pavilion

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has launched an official inspection of the Russian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, just days before the exhibition opens. An inspector has been sent to Venice to review all documentation related to Russia's participation, focusing on potential irregularities such as visa issues for Russian artists and delegation members. The investigation follows the Biennale's international jury decision to exclude Russia and Israel from awards due to accusations of crimes against humanity. The Russian Pavilion will be open only during the pre-opening vernissage, after which it will close, with digital documentation displayed in its windows.

‘It’s a huge, futuristic space with massive skylights’: Ali Zolghadri’s best phone picture

Ali Zolghadri, a Tehran-born fine art photographer, captured a composite image of the central atrium of the Iran Mall in Tehran—the world's largest shopping mall—which was shortlisted in the creative category of the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards. The photograph, taken four months before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, depicts the mall's futuristic architecture with sweeping curved lines, metallic surfaces, and massive skylights, and includes a lone passerby to emphasize scale. Zolghadri emphasizes that his process involves manual editing in Photoshop without AI, blending three frames and removing unnecessary elements to construct meaning.

EU Says It ‘Intends’ to Cut Funding to Venice Biennale Because of Russian Pavilion

The European Union has declared its intention to cut its €2 million funding contribution to the Venice Biennale in response to the exhibition's decision to host a Russian national pavilion for the first time since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated that allowing Russia to exhibit while it "bombs museums, destroys churches and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture" is morally wrong, marking the union's strongest condemnation to date.

Rare Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings Surface for the First Time

Two previously unseen preliminary drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh by illustrator E.H. Shepard have surfaced for the first time on the centenary of the children's classic. Brought forward by Shepard’s family, the pencil sketches depict scenes from A.A. Milne’s original 1926 book that were never fully realized or published. These rare works, along with several other preliminary sketches that did make it into print, are currently on display and for sale at Peter Harrington Rare Books in London before traveling to the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.

Arts Groups Speak Out Against US Trade Representative’s Potential New Tariffs

The U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, has launched a Section 301 investigation into 60 countries to determine if forced labor practices create unfair trade advantages. This move follows President Trump’s continued push for sweeping tariffs after previous attempts were struck down by the Supreme Court. Major art organizations, including the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and Heritage Auctions, are formally petitioning for works of art and antiquities to be exempt from any resulting duties.

A Bodybuilder’s 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Stele Heads to TEFAF

A 3,300-year-old Egyptian stele once owned by bodybuilding pioneer Ben Weider is set to be a highlight at TEFAF New York this May. The limestone carving, which depicts Pharaoh Thutmose IV, was gifted to Weider in 1964 and recently surfaced at a Montreal auction before being acquired by the London-based gallery David Aaron. Alongside the stele, the gallery will present a 2,500-year-old greywacke bust of a goddess, which was recently authenticated after being dismissed as a fake due to its pristine condition and 18th-century restorations.

Archaeologists Uncover a 2,000-Year-Old Hillfort in Estonia

Archaeologists from the University of Tartu have discovered a 2,000-year-old Iron Age hillfort at Köstrimägi in Tartu County, Estonia. Using high-resolution terrain mapping, the team identified a 16,000-square-foot fortification featuring an unusual stepped rampart system that dates back to between 41 BCE and 9 CE. Despite its size, the site yielded few artifacts beyond pottery fragments and charcoal, suggesting a very brief period of occupation before it was destroyed by fire.

Finnish up! Claire Aho’s colour revolution – in pictures

A new exhibition titled 'Colour Me Modern: Claire Aho and the New Woman' is being presented at the Hundred Heroines Museum in Stroud, UK. The show celebrates the pioneering work of Finnish photographer Claire Aho, highlighting her vibrant, cinematic, and witty use of color in postwar fashion, advertising, and portrait photography.

Is There an Ethical Path for AI Art?

An exhibition at Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts, titled 'Imaging after Photography', presents work by seven contemporary artists who use artificial intelligence in ethically considered ways. The show argues we are in a post-photographic moment where AI disrupts the link between photorealism and reality, and features artists who train their algorithms on their own images or public domain datasets to avoid plagiarism.

bedayat beginnings of saudi art movement

The National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh has launched "Bedayat: Beginnings of Saudi Art Movement," a landmark survey exhibition documenting the evolution of the country’s art scene from the 1960s through the 1980s. Curated by Qaswra Hafez and commissioned by the Visual Arts Commission, the show features a vast array of paintings, sculptures, and never-before-seen archival materials. The exhibition is organized into three sections that explore the foundations of the movement, the influence of modernization on daily life, and the specific contributions of four modernist pioneers: Mohammed Al-Saleem, Safeya Binzagr, Mounirah Mosly, and Abdulhalim Radwi.

cuban cultural leaders international aid open letter

More than 100 Cuban artists, curators, and cultural workers, including the nation's Culture Minister and prominent intellectuals, have issued an open letter titled "Cuba is Not a Threat" appealing for international intervention. They argue the US economic embargo, particularly restrictions on oil and fuel shipments, has crippled the island's infrastructure and exacerbated a severe humanitarian crisis, making stabilization efforts impossible.

Masterworks Cofounders Face Legal Threats and Complaints

cofounders startup masterworks legal threats complaints

Masterworks, a company that sells fractional shares of high-value artworks, is embroiled in a legal dispute with former executive Hai Min Tran. The company has filed a complaint in New York state court, alleging Tran resigned from his role as chief product officer before taking paternity leave and is now attempting to extract a financial settlement. Masterworks calls his subsequent claim of illegal termination "wholly meritless."

mfa boston layoffs curators color response

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston laid off 33 staff members, including several curators of color, prompting accusations that the cuts disproportionately targeted minority employees. Director Pierre Terjanian issued a statement denying the claim, asserting that the percentage of staff identifying as people of color remained unchanged at one-third. Among those let go were Marina Tyquiengco, associate curator of Native American art; Nadirah Mansour, assistant curator of Islamic art; and theo tyson, a curator in fashion arts who was reportedly the only Black curator at the museum. A union representative said workers were notified only five minutes before the public announcement, and no leadership took pay cuts despite the elimination of the COO position.

state department report biden paintings gifts

The U.S. State Department's annual report on gifts to senior officials revealed that former President Joe Biden received a painting valued at $19,000 from Angolan President João Lourenço in 2024. The artwork, titled *Marimba*, was created by self-taught Angolan painter Augusto Guizef Guilherme. Other officials, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, also received various artworks from foreign leaders, all of which were subsequently transferred to the National Archives.

secret mall apartment documentary mall artists netflix

The 2024 documentary film "Secret Mall Apartment," directed by Jeremy Workman, was released on Netflix on Friday. The film recounts the true story of artist Michael Townsend and seven others, many of them former students from the Rhode Island School of Design, who secretly built and lived in a hidden apartment inside the Providence Place mall from 2003 to 2007 as a protest against gentrification and consumer culture. The group was discovered in 2007, and Townsend was charged with trespassing, receiving probation and a lifetime ban from the mall. Originally released in theaters in March 2024, the documentary had been available on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV before its Netflix debut.

gavin newsom no clue california college of the arts close

California College of the Arts (CCA) announced it will close in 2027, shocking students and the art world. Governor Gavin Newsom reportedly had "no clue" and received "no heads up" about the closure, according to text messages reported by the San Francisco Standard. CCA president David Howse disputed this, stating Newsom was notified the Monday before the announcement. A meeting between CCA leadership and the governor's office is scheduled. The school, founded in 1907, is the last nonprofit standalone art school in San Francisco and plans to sell its campus to Vanderbilt University.

chinese vase sale cancelled french court

A French court ordered Galerie Kraemer in Paris to return €2.8 million ($3.25 million) to collector Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani over a Chinese vase, citing serious doubts about the 18th-century dating of its gilded bronze mounts. The vase, which sold for €815 in Brazil 20 years ago, passed through a Paris flea market and three antique dealers before Laurent Kraemer purchased it for €180,000. Sheikh Hamad bought the vase in 2012 but later had it examined after Galerie Kraemer faced multiple fake furniture cases. Expert Sébastien Evain deemed the dating highly improbable, while gallery-commissioned experts Gilles Perrault and Guy Kalfon, who only saw photographs, defended the 18th-century attribution. The court annulled the sale, and the gallery plans to appeal.

house of griffins ancient rome restoration

The House of Griffins, an ancient Roman residence on Rome's Palatine Hill dating back to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C.E., is opening to the public on March 3 after a major restoration. Discovered by archaeologist Giacomo Boni in the 19th century, the domus features vivid frescoes, mosaic floors, and a stucco lunette with griffins. The Colosseum Archaeological Park led the restoration in 2024, reinforcing structural integrity and conserving wall paintings. Visitors cannot access the underground chambers directly; instead, they will experience a real-time, remote tour via a livestream narrated by a guide with a video camera.

national trust largest donation

The UK's National Trust has received the largest donation in its 131-year history: a £10 million ($13.4 million) no-strings-attached gift from private-equity investor and philanthropist Humphrey Battcock. Unlike most major donations, which come with stipulations on how funds must be used, this gift is unconditional, allowing the Trust to allocate the money as it sees fit. Battcock stated he trusts the organization to know best how to use the funds, inspired by visits to Trust properties including Osterley Park and House and Trust-owned farms in north Devon.

france mexico celebrate 200th anniversary pre hispanic manuscripts

In May 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Mexico City for his first official trip to Mexico, where President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a temporary exchange of two pre-Hispanic codices. The Codex Azcatitlán, held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, will travel to Mexico City, while the Codex Boturini, housed at Mexico's Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, will go to Paris. Both illustrated manuscripts, rarely displayed due to conservation concerns, recount the Aztecs' migration to Tenochtitlan. The exchange comes amid ongoing Mexican efforts to repatriate Mesoamerican codices from European collections, including the Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican and the Codex Borbonicus in France.

erie art museum wont return abandoned painting daughter late artist

The Erie Art Museum has responded to a lawsuit filed by Georgia Heynes, the 82-year-old daughter of late artist George C. Demiel, who is seeking the return of her father's watercolor painting "House Boats." Demiel submitted the work to an annual juried show at what was then the Art Center of Erie in 1966, but the painting was not accepted and Demiel never reclaimed it before his death in 1967. The museum's December 2025 response argues the painting is "abandoned personal property" and was formally accessioned into its permanent collection in 1983. Heynes discovered the painting hanging in a 2019 exhibition at the museum and requested its return, but the museum has not relinquished it.

burmese curator flees bangkok china censors art exhibition

The curator of an exhibition at the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre (BACC) fled Thailand two days after its opening, fearing arrest and deportation. The show, titled “Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machine of Authoritarian Solidarity,” featured exiled artists from China, Russia, Iran, and Myanmar and was curated by an artist from Myanmar known as Sai. After receiving warnings from BACC directors that Thai police were seeking his contact information, Sai learned that the Chinese embassy, Thai Foreign Ministry, and Bangkok city officials had pressured the museum over potential diplomatic tensions. The exhibition was censored: black paint covered artists' names and descriptions of Tibet, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang; a multimedia piece by Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron was nearly entirely removed; and flags representing Tibet and the Uyghur people were taken down. Sai immediately flew to London and plans to restage the exhibition elsewhere without censorship.

sothebys is selling a watch gifted to admiral nelson before his last and defining victory at the battle of trafalgar

Sotheby’s is auctioning a historic watch gifted to Admiral Horatio Nelson by officers of the HMS Victory in 1805, just weeks before his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. The gilt metal, gold, and enamel timepiece, known as the “Victory Watch,” is the top lot in Sotheby’s “Fine Watches” online sale, with a high estimate of £400,000 ($537,000). It is the first time the watch has come to auction in 20 years, and the current bid stands at £65,000 ($87,300).