new arrests drents museum heist romanian gold artifacts 1234739734

Dutch police arrested two more suspects, a 20-year-old and an 18-year-old from Heerhugowaard, in connection with the January 2025 theft of Romanian gold artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. The stolen items include the golden helmet of Coțofenești and three gold bracelets from 450 BCE, valued at over €5.8 million. The suspects were identified via security camera footage from a hardware store where they purchased tools similar to those used in the heist. Police searched properties in Heerhugowaard and Opmeer, seizing digital evidence, but the artifacts remain missing.

Study Shows Engaging with Art as Effective as Exercise in Slowing Aging

A new study by University College London, published in the journal Innovation in Aging, reveals that engaging with arts and culture can slow biological aging at a rate comparable to exercise. Researchers found that attending performances or visiting galleries once a month led to a 3 percent reduction in aging speed, while weekly engagement produced a 4 percent slowdown. Those who participated in the arts at least weekly were biologically at least a year younger than non-participants, outperforming weekly exercisers, who were only six months younger biologically. The study tracked 3,356 adults from 2010 to 2012 using survey data and blood tests, measuring aging via epigenetic clocks that analyze DNA changes.

Azerbaijan Destroys Armenian Holy Mother of God Church in Artsakh

Satellite imagery obtained by Caucasus Heritage Watch (CHW) confirms that the Azerbaijani regime has demolished the Holy Mother of God Church in Stepanakert, the former capital of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The church, consecrated in 2019 after 12 years of construction, was destroyed within the last eight weeks, as evidenced by Sentinel-2 satellite images from March 3 and April 2. The Artsakh Tourism and Cultural Development Agency announced the destruction on April 21, three days before the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. This demolition follows a pattern of damage to Armenian religious and cultural sites since the forced displacement of over 130,000 Armenians in September 2023.

Holbein biography interrogates the artist's life and work from a different angle

Elizabeth Goldring’s new biography of Hans Holbein the Younger takes a documentary-focused approach, prioritizing archival evidence over visual analysis. The book examines Holbein’s life (1497/8–1543) through chronological chapters, using inventories, correspondence, and other records to correct long-held assumptions and propose new theories about his work. Goldring’s detective work includes identifying the green curtain in Holbein’s portrait of Sir Thomas More as a reference to the sitter’s role as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and suggesting that a lost painting of the More family was given to Erasmus as a gift.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art returns three sculptures to Cambodia

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) in Washington, DC, has voluntarily returned three sculptures to the Cambodian government after an internal provenance investigation determined the objects were likely removed from Cambodia during the country’s civil war (1967-75). The returned artifacts include a tenth-century sandstone head of Harihara, a tenth-century sandstone sculpture of the goddess Uma, and a bronze statue of Prajnaparamita from around 1200. The museum’s director, Chase F. Robinson, stated that strong evidence linked the pieces to problematic dealers and a context of war and violence, and that no documentation supported their lawful export. The objects were donated to the NMAA by Arthur M. Sackler and Gilbert and Ann Kinney without proper provenance papers.

How ‘archaeological ceramicist’ Yasmin Smith has forever changed the way I look at flint

Yasmin Smith, an Australian artist described as an 'archaeological ceramicist,' presents her solo exhibition *Elemental Life* at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) in Sydney, running until June 8. The show features sculptural installations that use ceramics and glaze technologies to decode environmental and human histories. Key works include *Seine River Basin (2019)*, commissioned by the Centre Pompidou, which uses ash-glazed stoneware replicas of tree branches to reflect the chemical history of the River Seine, and *Chicxulub (2025)*, which draws on samples from the asteroid impact crater in Mexico to explore mass extinction. Smith’s practice involves extensive field research and collaboration with ecologists, archaeologists, and local communities, creating site-specific glazes that act as chemical records of place and time.

After a £27m makeover, Norwich Castle reopens with a new gallery, royal rooms—and medieval toilets

Norwich Castle has reopened after a five-year, £27.5m renovation that reinstates long-lost royal rooms within its medieval keep. The Royal Palace Reborn project added a bedroom, chapel, kitchen, banqueting hall, and medieval toilets, recreating the spaces as they would have appeared when King Henry I stayed in 1121. Visitors can explore the rooms with period-appropriate furniture, textiles, and painted decorations, plus new animations projected onto the keep's walls. A new Gallery of Medieval Life, developed with the British Museum, displays over 900 medieval objects, including 50 on long-term loan from the British Museum.

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s ‘Yes &…’ favors the process over the pretty

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) has opened a new exhibition titled 'Yes &…', inspired by the improvisational comedy rule of accepting and building on ideas. Guest curators Donald Fodness and Tobias Fike selected 18 artists whose work emphasizes process over polish, featuring visible seams, fingerprints, and evidence of human decision-making across painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. The exhibition includes interactive elements, such as a sculpture with hand-carved 'ice cubes' intended for viewers to take, and runs through May 3.

Christie’s highlights Arab artists in London auction

Christie’s is highlighting several Arab artists in its upcoming Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale, scheduled for November 6 in London with an online preview from October 28 to November 11. Featured works include Paul Guiragossian’s 'Automne,' a masterpiece from the 1980s that previously achieved the second-highest auction price for the artist; Abdulhalim Radwi’s 'Untitled,' a semi-abstract cityscape blending traditional architecture and modernist influences; Samia Halaby’s 'Gardenia' from her 'Diagonal Flight' series; Kamal Boullata’s 'Nocturne I,' exploring geometric abstraction and exile; Mahmoud Said’s 'Mekarzel Hill,' a landscape once owned by a former Egyptian prime minister; and Laila Shawa’s 'City of Peace (Jerusalem),' a socio-political commentary on Palestinian life under occupation.

Folkestone Triennial 2025 review: environmental catastrophe—but also hope, joy and a jolly salamander

The Folkestone Triennial 2025, titled "The Lie of the Land," features 18 artists across the seaside town in southeast England. Works include Sara Trillo's chalk cob sculptures inspired by Iron Age urns, Emilija Skarnulyte's film on nuclear decommissioning at Lithuania's Ignalina plant, Katie Paterson's amulet installation made from planetary crisis materials, and Cooking Sections' activist project on UK sewerage pollution. The triennial runs through the ancient port's historic role as a site of arrival and departure.

Artists travel back in time with work created from ancient wood discovered at site of lost London river

The artist twins Jane and Louise Wilson are presenting a new exhibition, "Performance of Entrapment," at London Mithraeum Bloomberg Space from 17 July 2025 to 1 January 2026. The show features 2,000-year-old oak stakes unearthed during excavations by the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) at Bloomberg's European headquarters between 2012 and 2014. These timbers, dated to AD50-80, were preserved in the waterlogged conditions of the lost Walbrook river valley. The Wilsons also incorporate films and layered works, including images from scanning electron microscopy of the ancient wood.

What if the Polaroid had existed in Biblical times? Photographer Mishka Henner asks this in a show in Modena

E se la Polaroid fosse esistita ai tempi della Bibbia? Se lo chiede il fotografo Mishka Henner in mostra a Modena

Belgian photographer Mishka Henner has opened his first solo exhibition in Italy, titled 'Seeing Is Believing,' at Palazzo Santa Margherita in Modena, presented by the Fondazione Ago. The show features 25 new works that explore the nature of photography in the age of artificial intelligence, including AI-generated images of biblical scenes presented as if they were historical Polaroids.

Evidence of Evolution at QUEUE Gallery, Miami

QUEUE Gallery in Miami is presenting 'Evidence of Evolution,' a two-person exhibition featuring Fharid LaTorre’s hand-carved wood and metal sculptures alongside Jamieson Pearl’s oil-on-linen paintings. LaTorre’s works, such as 'showing slivers & taking off skin for sake of dopamine layer of diophantine equations' (2026), use scavenged metal and burl wood to evoke surgical transformations and bodily stress, while Pearl’s paintings depict glitch-blocked internet microcelebrities and screenshots from LiveLeak pornos, rendered freehand in distorted blocks. The show runs at QUEUE’s new location above Tunnel Projects in Miami.

8-Year-Old Painter Opens First Solo Exhibition and Has Already Landed Sales

Eight-year-old Kevin Kovacs has opened his first solo exhibition at the Tacchi-Morris Arts Center in Taunton, England, featuring his watercolor paintings of boats and coastal scenery. His mother recognized his talent at age two, and by five he was sketching seriously; gallery staff discovered his work through social media. The exhibition runs through April 28, 2025, and several pieces have already sold.

Stained Glass Objects by Pia Hinz Reflect the Contrast Between Strength and Fragility

Artist Pia Hinz creates sculptures of tools and objects from construction and farming sites using stained glass, transforming items like hammers, screws, and tractor doors into fragile, light-filled artworks. Her work, developed during a 2024 residency at La Menuiserie 2, subverts the utilitarian nature of these forms, exploring the interplay between strength and vulnerability, and questioning the use value and narrative potential of everyday objects.

art young photographer michael wolever

Cultured magazine profiles Pennsylvania-born photographer Michael Wolever, nominated by David Brandon Geeting as part of its "28—NEW YORK" series. Wolever creates images that evoke surrealist ’90s filmmaking, exploring themes of shame, attraction, and melodrama through soft lighting, monsters, and woodland scenes. His work draws heavily on his own "pretty weird life" and memories, using photography as a "funhouse mirror" and "shame ritual." The article includes several of his titled works—Big Flirt, Evidence, Tove, and Untitled—and quotes Wolever reflecting on the culture of picture-taking, mass self-awareness, and his critical approach to intention in photography.

Wicked Stepmother No Longer, a Female Pharoah Gets a Reputational Makeover

A new analysis of damaged statues from ancient Egypt is reshaping the historical narrative of Queen Hatshepsut. Researchers have re-examined 3,500-year-old statuary, finding evidence that the deliberate defacement of her images occurred decades after her death, challenging the long-held belief that her successor, Thutmose III, orchestrated an immediate campaign of destruction against her legacy out of personal animosity.

Underground Railroad stop in New York threatened by real-estate development

A hidden chute within the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan, identified as a rare surviving stop on the Underground Railroad, is threatened by a planned real-estate development next door. The two-foot-square vertical passage, concealed behind a built-in dresser, was built in 1832 by abolitionists Joseph and Susanna Brewster to shelter Black fugitives escaping slavery. The museum's western wall, which contains the hideaway, adjoins a one-story garage slated for demolition to make way for a commercial building, prompting the museum team to oppose the development due to risk of structural damage.

Was This Anne Boleyn’s Seat? Rare 500-Year-Old Chair Linked to Tudor Queen

A rare, intricately carved wooden chair, potentially used by Anne Boleyn during her time in the French courts between 1510 and 1520, has been acquired and is now on display at Hever Castle. The chair was purchased by antiques dealer Paul Fitzsimmons from an online American auction in 2022, and its carvings—featuring dolphins, a Tudor rose, and the initials "AB" intertwined with a cordelière emblem of Queen Claude—suggest a strong link to the Tudor queen's early life.

Archaeologists Discover 19th-Century Shipwreck in Copenhagen Harbor

Marine archaeologists from Denmark's Viking Ship Museum have discovered the wreck of the 18th-century Danish warship Dannebroge in Copenhagen harbor. The ship was destroyed during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, when the British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked to dismantle the League of Armed Neutrality. Divers have recovered cannons, uniform fragments, bottles, and sailors' remains from the site.

What Did Pompeii Smell Like? A New Study Analyzes Its Ancient Incense

A team of international researchers has published the first scientific analysis of ritual incense residues from Pompeii. By examining ash from two ancient censers—one from an inn and another from a domestic shrine—they identified charred plants like oak and laurel, as well as evidence of imported frankincense from India.

Who Created the Book of Kells? A Master Craftsman Takes on the Mystery

A new project led by master craftsman Thomas Keyes aims to recreate medieval vellum-making techniques to test theories about the origin of the Book of Kells. Keyes will build a replica of a washing tank found at the Scottish monastery of Portmahomack and use historically accurate methods, including potentially using seaweed-based lye, to produce vellum. This experimental archaeology seeks to determine if the manuscript's unique physical characteristics match the production methods used at Portmahomack.

Hardwiring Change Survey 2026

hardwiring change survey 2026 2749648

Artnet and the Association for Women in the Arts (AWITA) have launched the second edition of their global research initiative, the Hardwiring Change survey. This project aims to collect comprehensive data from thousands of arts professionals regarding pay gaps, leadership representation, career mobility, and workplace conditions. The 2026 iteration introduces a new focus on how emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, are impacting gender equity and professional advancement within the industry.

abortion nonprofit claims artwork in malta biennale was censored 1234777129

The second edition of the Malta Biennale is facing accusations of censorship from the abortion rights nonprofit Women on Waves. The organization claims that organizers first demanded the removal of the word "pills" from a banner reading "Need Abortion Pills?" before ultimately attempting to dismantle the installation entirely, citing a failure to meet "aesthetic quality standards." While the Biennale's communications director maintains the work remains in place and frames the dispute as a matter of "curatorial direction," activists provided video evidence of an attempted removal and argue the intervention is a suppression of critical health information.

Auctioneer Surprisingly Released from Jail

auctioneer surprisingly released from jail 67895

Herbert Schauer, the director of the Munich-based auction house Zisska & Schauer, has been released from custody in Naples following a judicial review. Schauer had recently been sentenced to five years in prison for his alleged role in a conspiracy to sell stolen antique books, including a rare first edition by Galileo Galilei, which were embezzled from the Biblioteca dei Girolamini in Italy.

experts believe hidden tunnel in new york museum was used as safe house by slaves during civil war 1234773196

Archaeologists and historians have discovered a hidden tunnel and concealed space within the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan. The small opening, found beneath a built-in dresser on the second floor, leads to a 2x2-foot area with a ladder, suggesting the 1832 home was used as a safe house on the Underground Railroad, aiding people escaping slavery before and during the Civil War.

object museum oldest egyptian drilling tool found 1234772829

A small copper-alloy object, excavated nearly a century ago from a predynastic cemetery at Badari in Upper Egypt, has been re-identified as the world's oldest known Egyptian bow drill. Dating to the late 4th millennium BCE, the tool pushes back the earliest evidence for this technology in Egypt by about 2,000 years, revealing that Egyptian craftspeople mastered efficient rotary drilling much earlier than previously thought.

humans not glaciers moved stonehenge rocks geological study 1234771264

Researchers at Curtin University in Australia have published a study in Communications Earth and Environment providing geological evidence that humans, not glaciers, transported the massive stones used to build Stonehenge. The team tested sediments from streams near the monument and found no signs of glacial activity during the Pleistocene, ruling out the theory that ice sheets carried the megaliths. The stones, including sandstone boulders from the Marlborough Downs and bluestones from Wales, weigh up to 40 tons, but exactly how ancient peoples moved them remains unknown.

roman mosaic trojan war alternate scene 2726514

In the summer of 2020, a British family discovered a Roman mosaic on their farmland in Rutland, England, depicting scenes from the Trojan War. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester later uncovered three panels showing the battle between Achilles and Hector, dating to the 4th century C.E. The mosaic, named the Ketton Mosaic, is the first known depiction of the Trojan War in a British mosaic and was originally part of a Roman villa's dining room floor.

nazi bullet holes marseille madonna 1234765138

A restoration of the Madonna and Child statue atop Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille has revealed seven bullet holes from Nazi gunfire during World War II. The 37-foot-tall copper and iron statue, known as the Bonne Mère, was shot after the city's liberation in 1944, when German artillery units fired on the church, piercing the bell tower, breaking stained-glass windows, and destroying the ceiling mosaic. The bullet holes were discovered near the end of a five-year restoration that included re-gilding and the installation of a new crown via helicopter.