Frieze VIP day defined by dealers’ resilience

Frieze New York's VIP opening on Wednesday saw strong attendance despite economic uncertainty following President Donald Trump's April 2 tariff announcement, which caused stock market volatility. Gallerists reported early sales driven by institutional buyers, with works by Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson, Claire Tabouret, and WangShui finding homes at museums including the Moderna Museet, Dallas Museum of Art, and Heredium Museum. Notable sales included Jeff Koons's Hulk (Tubas) for over $3 million at Gagosian and a solo stand sellout for Claire Tabouret at Perrotin.

Frieze New York shows signs of stability in challenging US art market

Frieze New York (7-11 May) opens its 13th edition at The Shed with around 65 galleries, including mega-galleries Gagosian, David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, and White Cube. The fair arrives amid a turbulent art market: global art sales declined 12% in 2024 per Clare McAndrew's Art Market Report, and President Trump's tariff decisions have roiled the stock market. Frieze's owner Endeavor recently sold the fair to a new company founded by former CEO Ari Emanuel. Despite this, US fair director Christine Messineo expresses optimism, citing strong sales at Frieze Los Angeles in February. The Focus section features 12 emerging galleries, seven of which are first-time participants, including King's Leap, Management, Voloshyn Gallery (Kyiv), and Public Gallery (London).

Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu to curate 2027 Istanbul Biennial

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ISKV) has announced that Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu will curate the 2027 Istanbul Biennial. Liu Ding is a Beijing-based artist and curator who has participated in numerous international biennials and taught at NABA Milan, while Carol Yinghua Lu is an art historian and director of the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing, with a background at OCAT Shenzhen, Museion Bolzano, and Asia Art Archive. The pair, who have collaborated since 2007, most recently served as artistic directors of the 2024 Yokohama Triennale. The 19th edition of the Istanbul Biennial is scheduled for 18 September to 14 November 2027.

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan Named Director of Smithsonian American Art Museum

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan has been appointed as the new director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in Washington, DC, effective September 8. She returns to SAAM, where she began her career and later served as chief curator, from her current position as executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. She succeeds acting director Jane Carpenter-Rock, who will remain as deputy director.

‘I can use it, I can abuse it’: Tony Albert spent decades collecting racist ‘Aboriginalia’. Now he wants to turn yours into art

Tony Albert, a 45-year-old artist of Girramay, Yidinji, and Kuku-Yalanji heritage, has spent decades collecting thousands of objects he terms 'Aboriginalia'—kitsch, caricatured, and often racist depictions of Aboriginal people created by non-Indigenous Australians. His solo exhibition 'Not a Souvenir' opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney on 21 May, showcasing over 3,000 items from his collection alongside transformed artworks. The MCA is inviting the public to donate additional Aboriginalia items to Albert's collection, which is housed in his Brisbane studio.

Manitoba Anishinaabe Artist Designs Moon Patch; Uffizi Targeted by Cyberattack

manitoba anishinaabe artists design moon uffizi cyberattack

Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond has designed a mission patch for Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen to wear during the Artemis II lunar mission. The artwork features seven symbolic animals representing the Seven Sacred Laws of Anishinaabe custom, intended as a universal message for humanity that will literally travel beyond Earth's orbit.

art gallery of ontario julian cox departure

Julian Cox, the deputy director and chief curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), will step down from his position this April after an eight-year tenure. While the museum's official statement praised Cox for expanding the collection and establishing the Department of Global Africa & the Diaspora, it offered no specific reason for his departure, and Cox himself was not quoted in the announcement.

rohtko lukasz twarkowski rothko barbican

Theater director Łukasz Twarkowski's new multimedia production, "ROHTKO," is set to open at London's Barbican Centre on October 2. The four-hour performance, which premiered in Riga in 2022, uses onstage action, video screens, and a techno soundtrack to explore the nature of authenticity in art, taking the Knoedler & Co. forgery scandal—which involved fake Rothko, Pollock, and Motherwell paintings—as a central narrative thread.

alison weaver grey art museum nyu director

New York University has appointed Alison Weaver as the next director of its Grey Art Museum, effective May 26. Weaver, who has served as founding executive director of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University since 2015, succeeds Lynn Gumpert, who retired last year after leading the museum since 1997. At Rice, Weaver oversaw the completion of a new building for the Moody Center, launched an artist-in-residence program, curated over 25 exhibitions, and expanded the university's art holdings. She previously taught art history at the City University of New York and served as director of affiliate museums at the Guggenheim Museum, overseeing its outposts in Bilbao, Venice, Berlin, and Las Vegas.

art gallery of ontario nan goldin acquisition gaza comments

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) chose not to acquire Nan Goldin's 2024 video "Stendhal Syndrome" due to the artist's comments on Israel's war in Gaza, according to a report by the Globe and Mail. The work, which shows blurred images of semi-nude figures and sculptures, was instead purchased by the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. An AGO acquisitions committee voted against the acquisition, with internal memos citing Goldin's past statements—including her description of the war as a "genocide" and her criticism of weaponized antisemitism—as the reason. The decision led to the resignation of curator John Zeppetelli and two unnamed committee members, and prompted director Stephan Jost to call for a review of the committee's processes.

maria balshaw departs tate

Maria Balshaw, director of London’s Tate, has announced she will step down in spring 2026 after nearly a decade leading the museum network. She joined in 2017, succeeding Nicholas Serota, and previously directed the Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery. During her tenure, she oversaw major exhibitions including “The EY Exhibition: Van Gogh and Britain” (2019), a Yoko Ono retrospective, and “Sargent and Fashion.” Her final project will be co-curating the largest-ever survey of Tracey Emin at Tate Modern, running from February 27 to August 31, 2026.

portland art museum expansion renovation

The Portland Art Museum has completed a $116 million expansion and renovation, integrating two neighboring buildings and adding nearly 100,000 square feet of public and gallery space. The centerpiece is a 21,000-square-foot glass pavilion named after Mark Rothko, who grew up in Portland and attended the museum's art school. The project, largely privately funded, unites the original 1932 Belluschi building with the 1927 Mark Building (a former Masonic Temple) via a transparent, 24-hour pedestrian tunnel. Director Brian Ferriso led the capital campaign, which also raised $30 million for the endowment, and recruited Hennebery Eddy Architects and Vinci Hamp Architects as designers.

met museum dedicated costume institute gallery

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced plans to convert its centrally located gift shop off the Great Hall into a new gallery space dedicated to its Costume Institute, with a $50 million fundraising goal and an expected opening in 2026. The 11,500-square-foot space will replace the current Anna Wintour Costume Center, offering a more prominent location for the institute's annual blockbuster exhibitions, such as this year's "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty." Anna Wintour, Condé Nast global editorial director and Vogue editor, will lead fundraising for the project, which also includes reconfiguring ground-floor dining and retail spaces and opening a new public entrance at East 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue.

embattled director of wexner center for the arts resigns

Gaëtane Verna, executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, has resigned effective immediately. Her resignation follows a report by the Columbus Dispatch revealing a $1.1 million deficit for fiscal year 2024 and a formal letter of no confidence signed by more than a dozen employees. The letter cited high turnover, organizational dysfunction, financial instability, and reputational harm under Verna's leadership, which began in August 2022. Senior vice provost Trevor Brown will guide the transition until an interim leader is named.

We are in danger of losing our sense of community

"Wir drohen das Gespür für die Gemeinschaft zu verlieren"

Christophe Cherix, the new director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, discusses his first months in the role, emphasizing museums as "safe social places" in an era of anxiety and screen-induced isolation. He advocates for collective vision-building with staff and defends the MoMA's independence against political pressure in Trump-era America. Separately, critic Paco Barragán argues in The Observer that biennials are in a structural crisis of repetition, tracing their history from instruments of national soft power to a "Global Neo-Liberal Biennial" system that co-opts diversity without changing its core logic. He introduces the concept of the "vibe-ennial," where discourse is replaced by atmosphere and critique by affect. Meanwhile, longtime Bonn museum director Stephan Berg critiques the boom in immersive art experiences like "Van Gogh – The Immersive Experience," calling them a "surrogate reality" tailored to the Instagram age that destroys the integrity of original works. Artforum reconstructs late-1960s debates on art criticism, focusing on Barbara Rose's challenge to formalists like Clement Greenberg and Rosalind Krauss, arguing that art must engage with societal conflicts such as Black Power and war resistance.

Desmond Morris, zoologist, presenter and surrealist painter, 1928–2026

Desmond Morris, the zoologist, author, television presenter, and surrealist painter, has died at the age of 98. He was best known for his 1967 book *The Naked Ape* and the television program *Zoo Time*, but maintained a parallel, influential career in the visual arts as a painter and curator.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Director Susan Fisher Sterling to Retire

Susan Fisher Sterling, director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., will retire at the end of 2024 after 18 years in the role and nearly four decades at the institution. Sterling joined NMWA as an associate curator in 1988, rose through the ranks to become director in 2008, and oversaw a $67.5 million renovation completed in 2023, expansion of the collection to over 6,000 works, and partnerships with the Louvre, the State Hermitage Museum, and Tate Modern. The board of trustees has begun a search for her successor with executive search firm Howe-Lewis International.

Embattled Louvre Director Laurence des Cars Resigns

embattled louvre director laurence des cars resigns

Laurence des Cars has resigned as director of the Louvre Museum following months of intense scrutiny and institutional turmoil. Her departure, accepted by French President Emmanuel Macron, comes in the wake of a massive $102 million jewelry heist in October 2025 that exposed severe security lapses, outdated infrastructure, and systemic management failures. Despite proposing a major security overhaul and a massive modernization project, Des Cars faced mounting pressure from government audits, staff walkouts, and investigations into ticket fraud.

martin scorsese lucas museum panel at new york comic con

Martin Scorsese will moderate a panel at New York Comic Con on Sunday, organized by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The panel features street artist JR and fantasy painters Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, offering a preview of the museum's renderings, artworks, and a prerecorded interview with founders George Lucas and Mellody Hobson. The museum, originally slated to open in 2023, has faced delays and is now expected to open in 2026, following a tumultuous year that included the departure of director Sandra Jackson-Dumont and staff layoffs.

Edgar Calel wins 2026 Sam Gilliam Award

Edgar Calel, a Maya Kaqchikel artist from Chi Xot, Guatemala, has been awarded the 2026 Sam Gilliam Award, as announced by the Dia Art Foundation and the Sam Gilliam Foundation. The prize includes $75,000 and a public programme at a Dia Foundation location this autumn. Calel’s multidisciplinary practice—spanning drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance—centers on ancestral knowledge, Indigenous experience, and the legacies of colonialism. He was selected by a jury of curators and foundation leaders, including Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation.

16th Gwangju Biennale announces theme

The 16th Gwangju Biennale has revealed its theme, 'You must change your life,' a line from Rainer Maria Rilke's poem 'Archaic Torso of Apollo.' Artistic director Ho Tzu Nyen and curators Che Kyongfa, Park Gahee, and Brian Kuan Wood will lead an edition focused on art's transformative power during a time of multiple crises. The exhibition, running from September 5 to November 15, will feature the smallest number of artists in the biennale's history, emphasizing intensity over accumulation and tracking the evolution of individual artistic practices.

Jeamin Cha wins Hermès Foundation Missulsang

Jeamin Cha wins Hermès Foundation Missulsang

Korean media artist Jeamin Cha has been awarded the 21st Missulsang prize by the Hermès Foundation. She will receive KRW 30 million and production support for a solo exhibition at Atelier Hermès in Seoul, opening in May 2027.

At the Tate Modern, the Moving Renaissance of Tracey Emin

À la Tate Modern, la bouleversante renaissance de Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin has returned to the Tate Modern for a major retrospective titled "A Second Life," marking a poignant milestone in her career. The exhibition features over a hundred works, including the iconic and once-scandalous "My Bed," which first catapulted her to international fame during the 1999 Turner Prize. This survey explores her evolution from the "enfant terrible" of the Young British Artists to a Dame of the British Empire, showcasing her multidisciplinary practice across painting, sculpture, and installation.

LACMA, Lucas Museum, Dataland… Los Angeles engaged in a crazy race for culture

LACMA, Lucas Museum, Dataland… Los Angeles engagée dans une folle course à la culture

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened its new David Geffen Galleries building, a massive, controversial structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor. The $835 million project, funded in part by philanthropist David Geffen, spans Wilshire Boulevard and replaces four older modernist pavilions, sparking a decade-long debate over its design, cost, and the loss of the previous buildings.

Never-Before-Seen Stanley Kubrick Photos Debut in New York

A collection of 18 previously unseen photographs by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick will make its public debut at the Photography Show in New York. Discovered by the Duncan Miller Gallery within a larger archive purchase, these images date back to 1945 when a teenage Kubrick worked as a staff photographer for Look magazine. The series captures candid, late-night scenes within the New York City subway system, utilizing a concealed shutter release to document commuters in their most natural states.

five more suspects arrested over louvre jewel heist

French authorities arrested five additional suspects in connection with the historic theft of Napoleonic jewelry from the Louvre Museum, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced on Thursday. The coordinated raids took place in Paris and its northern suburbs, with one suspect identified through DNA evidence. The investigation has advanced by studying encrypted communications from seized phones. The heist occurred on October 19, when four masked thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery during opening hours, stealing nine artifacts worth approximately $102 million, though one crown was dropped during the escape. Two suspects were previously arrested on October 25, one at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The stolen jewels remain unrecovered, and authorities are searching the black market for them.

Paloma Elsesser, Joan Jonas, and Isha Ambani Descended Upon Beacon for a Day at Dia

On a warm spring Saturday, the Dia Art Foundation hosted its annual Spring Benefit at Dia Beacon, drawing a cross-disciplinary crowd of artists, curators, museum leaders, and fashion figures. The event celebrated the opening of seven major exhibitions across the Beacon campus, featuring works by John Chamberlain, Lee Ufan, Kishio Suga, and Jack Whitten, and marked the rollout of a new partnership with Chanel. Guests explored over 20 galleries, enjoyed a seasonal lunch amid Chamberlain's sculptures, and participated in a special children's program, all set within the former Nabisco box-printing factory along the Hudson River.

parties printed matter 50th anniversary

Printed Matter, the nonprofit artists' bookstore and publisher, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala at the High Line Hotel in New York. The event featured speeches honoring co-founder Pat Steir and artist Ed Ruscha, performances from the opera *Einstein on the Beach*, and a crowd of notable artists, museum directors, and gallerists including Joan Jonas, Glenn Ligon, MoMA Director Christophe Cherix, and Larry Gagosian. Founded in 1976 by Sol LeWitt, Pat Steir, and Lucy Lippard, Printed Matter has become a vital platform for artist books, operating a bookstore, exhibition space, and one of the world's largest book fairs.

art michael govan lacma renovations

Michael Govan, director of LACMA, discusses the opening of the new $720 million David Geffen Galleries on April 19, designed by architect Peter Zumthor. The 110,000-square-foot space features concrete walls, natural light, and spans Wilshire Boulevard, replacing traditional white-cube galleries with a fluid, non-chronological layout organized around bodies of water. Govan, who has led the museum for two decades, describes the project as a once-in-a-century opportunity to rethink the encyclopedic museum model.

rashid johnson guggenheim summer cocktail hamptons

Artists Rashid Johnson and Sheree Hovsepian hosted the Guggenheim Museum's annual summer cocktail party at their East Hampton home, celebrating the launch of the Guggenheim Constellation Council, a new philanthropic group offering global access across the museum's institutions. The evening also honored Johnson's mid-career survey "A Poem for Deep Thinkers," on view at the Guggenheim through January 2026, with guests including gallerist David Kordansky, Hauser & Wirth President Marc Payot, collectors Alan and Alessandra Mnuchin, and Guggenheim Director Dr. Mariët Westermann.