Norwegian soccer star Erling Haaland, along with his father Alf-Inge Haaland, purchased a rare 1594 manuscript containing Viking sagas for a record 1.3 million Norwegian crowns and donated it to his hometown. The manuscript, a first printed edition of Snorri Sturluson's chronicles translated by Mattis Størssøn, must be permanently displayed and made publicly accessible at the Bryne library in the Time municipality.
The article presents a collection of notable Australian cultural events and announcements from March 2026. It highlights the addition of the viral 'Succulent Chinese Meal' speech to the National Film and Sound Archive, a profile of 'Squid Game' composer Jung Jae-il, pianist Jayson Gillham's announced tour with a Palestinian-Jordanian musician ahead of a court case, and Kylie Minogue's scheduled performance at the AFL Grand Final.
A new £5.2 million cultural centre called Arts Collective is opening in Northampton, UK, on May 1st. The centre, housed in a refurbished 1930s former municipal building, features a gallery, 17 artist studios, workshop spaces, and community facilities. Its opening exhibition, "House Rules," presents a retrospective of British conceptual artist Rose Finn-Kelcey.
A major 25-year conservation project at Haiti's Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is nearing completion. The project, involving the World Monuments Fund, UNESCO, and the Haitian Institute for the Protection of National Heritage, has focused on earthquake reinforcement, waterproofing, and improving visitor access, using traditional 19th-century techniques and local labor.
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.
The 2026 Australian Urban Design Awards have been announced, celebrating projects that prioritize pragmatic, community-focused design over sculptural spectacle. Winners include the Campbelltown station commuter car park in Sydney, praised for its civic dignity and greenery; the St Kilda pier redevelopment in Melbourne, which balances engineering with tourism and penguin habitat protection; and Balam Balam Place in Brunswick, a cultural landscape honoring Indigenous history.
Photographer Easelyn Pineda captured an image of two local men spearfishing in rough weather off Laiya beach in the Philippines. The photo, taken on her phone while wading into the water, was later shortlisted in the motion category of the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards.
Photographer Rich-Joseph Facun documents life in Athens, Ohio, in his project '1804,' focusing on the profound influence of Ohio University on the town. His images and interviews capture the socioeconomic and cultural dynamics, including strained housing markets, a nightlife economy driven by students, and the town's identity as a "company town" shaped by the university's calendar and employment.
Finnish artist Kari Kola has unveiled 'Lighting the Sound,' the world's largest light installation, in Albany, Western Australia. The work, spanning over 10 million square meters across King George Sound, uses massive beams of colored light to transform the night sky over three weekends as part of the city's bicentenary celebrations.
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.
The Bunny Museum in Altadena, California, which was destroyed during the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Wildfires, has received a major donation in the form of a 14-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture titled "Scanner." Created by Chinese artist Jesse Zhao and donated by local resident Wesley Zucco, the 1,100-pound work was unveiled on February 20 as part of the museum's rebuilding efforts. The institution, which previously held over 45,000 rabbit-related items ranging from Egyptian antiquities to pop culture memorabilia, lost its entire physical collection in the blaze, though its live animals were rescued.
sarah alruwayti on riyadhs shift from vision to execution interview
Sarah Alruwayti, director of the Tuwaiq Sculpture Symposium, discusses the evolution of Riyadh Art’s public art initiatives under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. The symposium has grown from a local project into a global open-call forum, commissioning over 120 international sculptors to create permanent works using local materials like Saudi granite and reclaimed metal. The latest edition, themed "Traces of What Will Be," focuses on urban transformation and the historical context of Riyadh’s changing landscape.
You Yang, the director of X Museum, discusses the recent surge in new art museums, particularly those backed by tech companies in China's Greater Bay Area, including Shenzhen and Hong Kong. He attributes this boom to a strategic shift in Shenzhen's cultural policy, the city's established cultural foundations, and the region's historical role in cross-cultural exchange, which has created a demand for contemporary institutions.
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.
Heritage experts, international officials, and Syrian residents gathered in Switzerland for the first comprehensive conference on restoring the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra since the end of Bashar Al Assad's regime. Organized by UNESCO and the Aliph Foundation, the group recommended establishing an international expert task force to remove Palmyra from UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger. Rehabilitation efforts will focus on the Palmyra museum, restoration of artifacts at the Damascus Museum, and repair of the footbridge, with work expected to begin in January 2026.
Protesters stormed the campus of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria, on Sunday, just hours before its first preview events were set to begin. Demonstrators entered through a gate after being denied access, hurling insults at foreign guests and journalists. All preview events have been canceled and the public opening postponed. The museum attributed the unrest to disputes between previous and current state administrations, while local residents claimed anger over the perceived hijacking of a local initiative, with the Oba of Benin reportedly unhappy about the project.
The city of Austin, Texas, is set to remove a 'Black Artists Matter' street mural and a rainbow crosswalk after Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to comply with a federal order from President Donald Trump. The July 1 directive from Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy requires states to eliminate political messages and artwork from roadways, citing driver and pedestrian safety. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has identified about 16 locations that may be affected and warned that non-compliance could jeopardize $175 million in state and federal grant funding. The mural, painted in June 2020 in Austin's historically Black East side neighborhood by local artists with the Austin Justice Coalition and Capitol View Arts, was created in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
A new study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage warns that rising sea levels will impact Chile’s Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, by 2080. Coastal flooding threatens at least 51 culturally significant artifacts, including the iconic Moai statues—nearly 1,000 volcanic tuff figures created by a native Polynesian tribe over 500 years ago, some weighing up to 80 tons. Researchers from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa used advanced computer models to simulate wave patterns and map projected flooding, overlaying this data with the locations of cultural assets provided by local partners.
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrived at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago on Tuesday, with at least 15 DHS vehicles occupying the museum's parking lot for nearly two hours. Museum staff reported that an agent entered the building under the pretense of using the bathroom but instead looked around and refused to leave when asked. Museum president Billy Ocasio described the incident as intimidating, comparing it to "Gestapo-style" tactics, and staff expressed fear. DHS later denied targeting the museum, stating the vehicles were staging for a narcotics investigation, but museum officials and local Representative Delia Ramirez criticized the lack of identification and the intimidating show of force.
The entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in Washington, D.C., was placed on administrative leave by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), effective immediately. Between 55 and 70 employees received a letter informing them of the leave with full pay and benefits for 90 days, requiring them to turn in government property and disabling their email accounts. This follows President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the elimination of the IMLS within seven days as part of a broader reduction of federal bureaucracy. The agency, established in 1996, awarded approximately $266.7 million in grants last year to museums and libraries across all 50 states.
A 30-year-old Chinese tourist damaged two ancient terracotta warriors at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Xi’an, China, on Friday. According to local officials, the man climbed over guardrails and a protective net, jumped more than 15 feet into Pit No. 3, and pushed and pulled the clay figures, causing varying degrees of damage before being restrained by security. Authorities suspect the man suffers from mental illness, and the case remains under investigation. The site reopened the following day.
A 1,600-year-old mosaic known as the Be'er Shema Mosaic has been opened to the public for the first time at the Merhavim Regional Council complex in northwestern Negev, Israel. Originally unearthed in 1990 near Kibbutz Urim, the mosaic features 55 medallions depicting hunting scenes, exotic animals, mythological figures, fruit, and daily life, and was created by a master craftsman using small stones, varied colors, glass, and pottery. It was rediscovered, conserved, and relocated from its original site to the council compound as part of the "Antiquities Near Home" project co-organized by the Ministry of Heritage and the Israel Antiquities Authority.
A new mural at Chicago's Rate Field commemorates Pope Leo XIV (formerly Robert Prevost, known as "Father Bob") attending Game 1 of the 2005 World Series as a White Sox fan. The mural, located near Section 140, features the pope in regalia with hands raised, above a screenshot from the Fox broadcast showing him in White Sox gear alongside his friend Ed Schmit. The artwork honors both the papal election and Schmit, a lifelong Sox fan who died in 2020 and had predicted Prevost would become pope.
ICOM Russia president Vasilij Pankratov has denounced calls for Russia's expulsion from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) as "political libel." The controversy follows an open letter published in Le Monde on May 5, in which a group of art experts—including art historian Konstantin Akinsha, Francesca Thyssen Bornemisza, and Vitalit Tytych—accused Russia of systematically erasing Ukraine's cultural identity since the 2022 invasion. The signatories threatened to take ICOM to court in France if it failed to oust Russia for violating the organization's code of ethics. Pankratov dismissed the accusations as unfounded, arguing that Russian museum workers operate within the country's constitution and local ethical criteria, and denied claims that Ukrainian cultural property has been appropriated by Russian museums.
All ten directors overseeing grants across artistic disciplines at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) have departed this week, along with other senior leaders and employees. The mass exodus follows the Trump administration's effective shuttering of the agency, including a proposed budget cancellation for fiscal year 2026 and redistribution of funding. Among those leaving are Michael Orlove, director of state, regional and local partnerships, and Ayanna Hudson, chief strategy, programs and engagement officer. Officials overseeing Native arts and Challenge America grants—the latter canceled in February—are also departing, alongside many grant-review specialists who have retired or resigned. The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 reported that over 50% of open NEA awards are being terminated.
Multiple open calls for artists and grants have been announced for April 2026 deadlines. The 2027 Creative Capital Open Call offers unrestricted project grants up to $50,000 for artists across all 50 states, while also selecting recipients for the new State of the Art Prize, which grants $10,000 to one artist from each state and territory. Delfina Foundation, in partnership with the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, is offering four fully funded residencies for Latin American and Caribbean artists, with two spots available in this round. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is accepting submissions for its Louisiana Contemporary 2026 statewide juried exhibition, and the Handweaver’s Guild of America has issued calls for entries for its Convergence 2026 fiber art exhibitions.
The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) has opened the exhibition 'Clutch City Craft,' which explores the craft traditions and material cultures that define Houston. The show features a diverse range of making practices, from mosaic street signs and cowboy boot making to fiber artists involved in aerospace design, framing the city's creative density as an extension of its industrial identity.
The article profiles acclaimed portraitist Nasir Shehzad, who has spent over four decades preserving and advancing the art of portraiture and cinematic painting in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His artistic journey began in childhood and gained early recognition through scouting competitions in the 1980s, leading him to professional cinematic painting by 1989. Shehzad has since become a central figure in the local art community through mentorship, founding his own creative platform, and participating in numerous exhibitions and residencies across the country, including recent shows at major institutions like the Lahore Museum and Pakistan National Council of the Arts.
A new free exhibition titled "Everyone's Searching for Their Cat" ("Chacun cherche son chat") has opened at Fluctuart, a floating urban art center in Paris, running from May 7 to August 23, 2026. The show features works by about ten street artists—including Madame, Kraken, Ardif, and Wenna—who explore the multifaceted nature of cats through installations, paintings, and interactive pieces. Highlights include Ardif's anamorphic cat installation, Kesadi's narrative works, and Veks Van Hillik's Schrödinger's cat-inspired piece.
Cliff Jewell, a retired artist from Little Current, Ontario, had three paintings accepted into the Paint Ontario juried exhibition in Grand Bend, with one receiving an award and another marked with a red dot indicating a sale. The exhibition, which drew entries from 279 artists across the province, offered a top prize of $3,000 and a total of $14,000 in awards, supported by local businesses and patrons.