Modern heroes and a ravaged Earth: reboot of 1950s space comic Dan Dare has liftoff

The legendary British space hero Dan Dare is set for a 21st-century revival with the upcoming graphic novel "Dan Dare: First Contact." Created by writer Alex de Campi and artist Marc Laming under B7 Comics, the project reimagines the 1950s icon for a modern audience while retaining core characters like Digby and Professor Peabody. The reboot follows a successful Kickstarter campaign and aims to provide a fresh alternative to dominant sci-fi franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek.

How Mumok’s New Director Plans to Make Museums Feel Alive Again

Fatima Hellberg, the newly appointed director of Vienna's mumok (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig), has outlined her inaugural exhibition program and curatorial philosophy. Her first season, launching in June, will feature Kate Millett's newly acquired 1972 installation 'Terminal Piece,' an installation by scenographer Anna Viebrock, and a project by artist Tolia Astakhishvili.

toppled monuments reappear

Statues of contested historical figures are being reinstalled across the United States, signaling a reversal of the monument removals sparked by the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. A replica of a Christopher Columbus statue, originally toppled in Baltimore, was recently mounted on the White House grounds near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Other planned returns include a monument to Caesar Rodney, a slave-owning Founding Father, which is set to be displayed in Washington’s Freedom Plaza this summer.

Taína Cruz Interview

taina cruz interview

Taína H. Cruz has emerged as a central figure in the 2024 New York art season, achieving the rare feat of being featured simultaneously in the Whitney Biennial and MoMA PS1’s "Greater New York." A 2023 Yale MFA graduate, Cruz has become the literal face of the Whitney Biennial, with her painting "I Saw the Future and It Smiled Back" displayed on a massive billboard outside the museum. Her work, which often explores Black female identity through a lens of folklore, horror, and celebrity culture, is characterized by a moody and unsettling atmospheric quality.

gaza biennial new york review

The Gaza Biennial, a major exhibition featuring 25 artists from Gaza, concluded its full run at the Brooklyn nonprofit space Recess, with an abbreviated version remaining on view until December 20. The show presents painting, video, drawing, and testimony created under siege, offering a powerful artistic response to the ongoing conflict and displacement.

vatican orders removal meloni fresco

The Vatican ordered the removal of an angel's face resembling Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from a fresco at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome. The fresco, painted by artist Bruno Valentinetti in 2000 and restored in 2023, features two angels praying over Italy's last king, Umberto II. After Italian media noted the likeness, Valentinetti initially denied it but later admitted the angel bore Meloni's features. On Tuesday, he painted over the face, citing Vatican orders. The Diocese of Rome confirmed the original face will be restored, and an investigation has been launched.

Minneapolis Artists Respond to ICE, DHS After Killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti

minneapolis artists against ice dhs renee good alex pretti

Federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, led by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE under Operation Metro Surge, have resulted in the deaths of two American citizens, poet Renee Good and nurse Alex Pretti, near major art institutions. The violence and subsequent shelter-in-place orders have directly impacted the local arts community, forcing school closures, remote learning, and causing widespread fear.

art karlsruhe 2026

Art Karlsruhe returns for its 23rd edition from February 5–8, 2026, at Messe Karlsruhe in Rheinstetten, Germany. The fair brings together roughly 180 galleries from 18 countries, spanning 120 years of art history with dedicated halls for classical Modernism and contemporary art. New participants include Boston's Chase Young Gallery and Tehran's Maryam Fasihi Harandi Gallery, alongside a strong German contingent. Special sculpture areas feature works by Robert Schad, Martin Hollebecq, Koloman Wagner, and Sonja Edle von Hoeßle.

minneapolis museums close ice protest

The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art closed on January 20, 2026, in protest of escalating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the Twin Cities. The closures follow the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, which sparked nationwide outrage. The museums canceled scheduled events, including a performance by Nile Harris, and joined a broader one-day economic blackout called "A Day of Truth and Freedom" organized by Minnesota union leaders and community groups. Other cultural institutions participating include the Bakken Museum, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Weisman Art Center, and the Museum of Russian Art.

inside a new gallery championing postwar abstraction

Shamnoski Gallery, a new brick-and-mortar space focused on postwar abstraction, opened on New York's Upper East Side in November 2025. Founded by Matthew Shamnoski, the gallery evolved from his online platform Projects 28 and champions mid- to late-20th-century artists and estates, particularly those historically overlooked. The gallery's inaugural exhibition, "John Grillo: Collages 1952–1962," reflects its mission to provide sustained presentation and scholarship for artists within this lineage.

trump eyes park near jefferson memorial garden of heroes

The Trump administration is considering West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., as the site for its proposed “National Garden of American Heroes,” a sculpture garden featuring statues of American historical figures. According to anonymous sources cited by the Washington Post, the park—located near the Jefferson Memorial and memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin D. Roosevelt—may require an exemption under the Commemorative Works Act if the southern tip is used. The project, first announced in January 2021, received $40 million in congressional funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, and the National Endowment for the Humanities launched a new grant program for statue design after canceling most of its existing grants.

london bomb factory show vandalized

An exhibition titled “Window Wonderland 2025,” mounted by the Bomb Factory Art Foundation in London, was shut down early after three consecutive nights of vandal attacks at its Marylebone and Holborn locations. Vandals used hammers and an ice axe to smash windows, defaced displays with stickers of the Union Jack and St. George’s cross, and scrawled “Free U.K.” in lipstick, causing an estimated £15,000 ($20,000) in damage. The show, which explored themes of anti-war activism, immigration, and queer and trans identity, closed on January 9, 2025, instead of its scheduled January 18 closing date. Police are investigating the attacks, which organizers say were intended to silence the exhibition’s message of inclusivity.

imperial war museum criticized for lgbtq tour

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London has permanently closed its long-running Victoria Cross gallery, which housed over 200 medals loaned by Lord Ashcroft since 2010. The closure, which occurred in June 2025, coincided with the launch of a new virtual tour titled "Refracted Histories: Exploring LGBTQ+ Stories in Times of Conflict." Lord Ashcroft, a Conservative peer and donor who contributed £5 million to establish the original gallery, criticized the museum for sidelining military gallantry in favor of contemporary themes, claiming he was not informed in advance of the decision.

sylvester stallone rocky balboa sculpture philadelphia

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.

new york historical society new wing name

The New-York Historical Society has announced a major gift from H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar L. Tang to fund its new Tang Wing for American Democracy, a $175 million expansion set to open in 2026. The 80,000-square-foot wing, designed by Robert A.M. Stern, will add exhibition and classroom space, and will house the American LGBTQ+ Museum on its top floor. Alongside the announcement, the institution is rebranding as the New York Historical, dropping both the hyphen and the word 'Society' to signal a more inclusive identity.

gail morris bonner david galleries

Artist Gail Morris presents "Blue Note," a solo exhibition at Bonner David Galleries in New York, featuring bold abstract paintings that explore the emotional and psychological experience of light, space, and music. The show's title references the musical concept of a "blue note," which Morris reinterprets as a compositional strategy to create tension and balance in her works. While starting from physical landscapes—such as natural sites, urban parks, or islands—Morris obscures specific details, using titles like "Down By the River" (2025) and "Bird of Paradise" (2025) to evoke universal moods rather than literal scenes. The exhibition runs through November 29, 2025.

palace of westminster dig 6000 years history

Archaeological excavations at the Palace of Westminster in London have uncovered Neolithic flint tools and flakes dating back over 6,000 years, predating the earliest mounds at Stonehenge. The digs, led by the Museum of London Archaeology and overseen by the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority (R&R), also revealed the remains of Lesser Hall, a 12th-century royal dining space, along with Roman altar fragments, medieval tiles, and 19th-century artifacts. The excavations, running through 2026, are part of a £13 billion restoration project addressing the Palace's deteriorating condition.

chanel power station of art contemporary art public library

Chanel has opened Espace Gabrielle Chanel, mainland China's first public library dedicated to contemporary art, at Shanghai's Power Station of Art (PSA). The 18,000-square-foot library, designed by Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto, holds over 50,000 books and audiobooks and includes an upgraded exhibition hall, a terrace overlooking the Huangpu River, and a 300-seat public theater. It will host the Archive of Chinese Contemporary Art. The library is part of Chanel's Next Cultural Producer program, launched at PSA in 2021 under the Chanel Culture Fund, which supports emerging practices in Chinese craft, architecture, and theater.

harlesden high street mayfair

Jonny Tanna, founder of the London gallery Harlesden High Street, has launched a pop-up project in Mayfair during Frieze Week, in collaboration with Düsseldorf- and Berlin-based gallery Setareh. The inaugural exhibition, “Forces of Nature,” features London-based artists Abbas Zahedi and Jamiu Agboke, presenting conceptual installation and atmospheric painting. Tanna emphasizes that this is not a permanent relocation but an itinerant extension of his gallery, which exclusively shows artists of color and is known for its community-focused, unvarnished approach.

perrotin relocating hong kong gallery

Emmanuel Perrotin announced that his gallery is relocating from K11 Atelier Victoria Dockside back to Central, Hong Kong’s business district, where it first opened in Asia in 2012. The gallery vacated Dockside on October 1 after six years, citing the need to better serve its community, enhance accessibility, and reduce operational costs. The move follows Pace Gallery’s announcement that it will close its H Queen’s location by the end of October, and comes amid a broader shake-up in Hong Kong’s gallery scene, with other blue-chip dealers like Lévy Gorvy Dayan also shuttering spaces.

sothebys sells york avenue hq weill cornell breuer move

Sotheby's has sold its longtime New York headquarters at 1334 York Avenue to Weill Cornell Medicine, marking the final step in a major real estate transformation. The auction house will lease back floors 7–10 under a long-term lease while relocating its global headquarters to the Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue, which opens November 8 with a blockbuster exhibition. Sotheby's also acquired Gantry Point, a 240,000-square-foot complex in Long Island City, in 2023. CEO Charles Stewart stated the sale proceeds will reduce debt and invest in core business.

christies sothebys auction houses luxury fashion art

Auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips are increasingly relying on luxury goods—such as handbags, jewelry, wine, and whiskey—to offset a sharp decline in fine art sales. Fine art sales at these houses fell 44% in the first half of 2025 compared to 2022, creating a roughly $3 billion gap. Luxury sales have surged to a 20.2% market share by value in 2025, with Christie's reporting a 30% rise in luxury sales to $468 million in the first half of 2025, and Sotheby's luxury sales topping $2 billion for three consecutive years. Notable sales include a record $10 million Hermès Birkin bag and a $72 million jewelry auction in Geneva.

claudia gould shaker museum director

Claudia Gould, who left the Jewish Museum in New York in 2023 after a twelve-year tenure, has been appointed director of the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York. The museum, which holds one of the world's most significant collections of Shaker material culture, is building a new $30 million flagship space designed by Selldorf Architects, known for recent work on the Frick Collection. Gould expressed excitement about building a museum from the ground up, a challenge she described as different from restructuring an existing organization.

whitney museum person jumps staff email

An unidentified 34-year-old man died after jumping from the Whitney Museum in New York on Wednesday evening, shortly before the museum closed. Whitney director Scott Rothkopf informed staff via email, stating that authorities confirmed the individual jumped from Whitney property onto the plaza below. The New York Police Department responded to a 911 call at 5:26 p.m. and found the man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicative of a fall; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The museum delayed its opening to noon on Thursday to allow staff time to process the incident, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is investigating.

uhaul gallery and art fair new york

James Sundquist and Jack Chase founded U-Haul Gallery in May 2024, a commercial art space operating out of rented U-Haul trucks to bypass New York's high real estate costs. The gallery mounts pop-up exhibitions in unconventional locations, such as public parks and sporting events, and recently staged a performance titled "Show of Stolen Goods" by artist Victoria Gill. This September, the duo will launch the U-Haul Art Fair, running concurrently with the Armory Show in West Chelsea, featuring 10 exhibitors each stationed in their own U-Haul truck.

taipei dangdai cancels 2026 edition art assembly

Taipei Dangdai, the art fair in Taiwan, has canceled its 2026 edition as organizers undertake a "strategic re-evaluation" of the fair's model, timing, scale, and format. The fair, which held its sixth edition in May 2025, is part of The Art Assembly, a conglomerate overseeing three regional Asian fairs including Art SG and Tokyo Gendai. The number of participating galleries dropped from over 90 in its 2019 inaugural edition to 54 in 2025, with no mega-galleries participating this year. The announcement follows a similar "strategic pause" by the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) for its flagship fair, The Art Show, and comes amid broader challenges for the fair's organizer, Angus Montgomery Arts, which also canceled recent editions of Photofairs in Hong Kong and New York.

medina triennial western new york

A new contemporary art triennial is set to launch in 2026 in Medina, a small village in Western New York with a population of about 6,000. The Medina Triennial will feature approximately 50 site-responsive works created by invited artists across indoor and outdoor locations, including former industrial buildings and spaces along the Erie Canal. The exhibition is co-directed by Kari Conte and Karin Laansoo, with associate curator Ekrem Serdar, and is conceived by the New York Power Authority and the New York State Canal Corporation to revitalize the canal and highlight its significance. A steering committee includes major regional institutions such as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the University at Buffalo, the Memorial Art Gallery, and the Corning Museum of Glass. The inaugural edition runs from June 6 to September 7, 2026, with a hub opening in September 2025 for public programs.

uovo seeking to build second large scale brooklyn facility

UOVO, a collector-founded art storage company, is seeking approval to build a second large-scale facility in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood. The proposed seven-story, 240,000-square-foot building at 74 Bogart Street would expand the company's footprint near its existing 150,000-square-foot Bushwick facility opened in 2020. Founded in 2013 by real estate developer Steven Guttman, UOVO operates 30 locations across the U.S. and stores collections for museums, galleries, and high-net-worth individuals, including artworks, wine collections, and fashion archives. Architecture firm S9 will oversee the design if the plan is approved by the city.

louvre paris closed monday due to strike working conditions

The Louvre in Paris was forced to close on Monday after museum docents, ticket sellers, and security workers staged a spontaneous strike to protest overcrowding and understaffing during the city's busiest tourist season. The walkout, announced during a routine internal meeting, left visitors frustrated and confused. Union representative Sarah Sefian of CGT-Culture said most staff planned to strike for the full day, though some might return to open a limited "masterpiece route" for ticket holders to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. The museum typically closes on Tuesdays, and workers may return Wednesday.

secret mall apartment documentary michael townsend

A new documentary titled *Secret Mall Apartment*, directed by Jeremy Workman and produced by Jesse Eisenberg, tells the true story of eight artists who secretly built and lived in a hidden apartment inside the Providence Place mall in Providence, Rhode Island, for four years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Led by Michael Townsend, the group—including Adriana Valdez Young, Andrew Oesch, Jay Zehngebot, Colin Bliss, James Mercer, Greta Scheing, and Emily Ustach—transformed a forgotten dead zone of the corporate complex into a living space and art collective headquarters, calling the project "Malllife." The film features never-before-identified participants and footage of their discovery by mall authorities.