princeton university art museum reopening 1234759500

The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) reopened after nearly six years, replacing its 1969 building with a 146,000-square-foot complex designed by Adjaye Associates. The new structure features nine interlocking modernist pavilions, a 40-foot mosaic by Nick Cave, and flexible spaces like a central hall convertible into a lecture hall. The museum's collection of 117,000 objects is installed with ahistorical juxtapositions, pairing works such as Andy Warhol's Blue Marilyn (1962) with a 14th-century Virgin and Child, and Titus Kaphar's To Be Sold (2018) with a George Washington portrait. The reopening follows controversy: David Adjaye stepped back from the project in 2023 after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.

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Eduardo F. Costantini, founder of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba), announced the acquisition of the Daros Latinamerica Collection in Zurich, adding 1,233 works by 117 artists to the museum's holdings. This roughly doubles Malba's collection to 3,000 works, with a major expansion project planned to accommodate the new pieces, set to begin next fall to mark the museum's 25th anniversary. Highlights include works by Doris Salcedo, Ana Mendieta, Julio Le Parc, Alfredo Jaar, Lygia Clark, and Jesús Rafael Soto, with 75 artists new to Malba.

A Launchpad for the Future

"Eine Startrampe für die Zukunft"

The article is a media roundup covering several stories from the art world. It includes an interview with Jeff Koons discussing his artistic process and philosophy, a portrait of artist Jorinde Voigt, a report on the robust Art Düsseldorf fair, a news piece about two valuable Gerhard Richter paintings on loan to a museum, and a review of the new LACMA building's non-linear curatorial approach.

The Dealers: Marta Makes Magic

The article profiles Marta, a prominent art dealer in Los Angeles, highlighting her recent activities and influence within the contemporary art scene. It details her gallery's program, her relationships with artists, and her specific curatorial approach that has garnered significant attention.

Curating Around Social Urgencies: How Artists Refuse Quietism

The article focuses on the curatorial approach and artistic ethos of the 2025 edition of the 'Made in L.A.' biennial, highlighting how artists are actively engaging with pressing social and political issues rather than retreating into quietism or abstraction. It examines specific works and the overall thematic drive of the exhibition, which is organized by the Hammer Museum and the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Paris exhibition provides a new canon-busting vision of Minimalism

The Bourse de Commerce in Paris hosts "Minimal," a groundbreaking exhibition curated by Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation. The show centers on five large-scale natural-material works by 81-year-old US artist Meg Webster, while featuring over 100 works by more than 50 artists to challenge the traditional narrative that 1960s-70s Minimalism was exclusively a white, male, American movement. It includes thematic sections on light, balance, and monochrome, a gallery devoted to Japan's Mono-ha movement, and retrospectives of Agnes Martin and Lygia Pape, drawing largely from the Pinault Collection with international loans.

First Retrospective Exploring Betty Parsons’ Dual Legacy As Artist and Gallerist to Open at CCS Bard June 2026

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard)’s Hessel Museum of Art will present "Betty Parsons: An Expanded World" from June 27 to October 18, 2026. It is the first major retrospective to examine Betty Parsons (1900-1982) as both a pioneering abstract artist and a trailblazing gallerist who launched the careers of Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. Organized by curator Kelly Taxter with artist Amy Sillman, the exhibition features approximately 80 works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper, alongside a new film by G. Anthony Svatek and Kaija Siirala about the Betty Parsons Gallery.

critical reduction the 2014 whitney biennial 5409

The 2014 Whitney Biennial has debuted with a controversial three-curator structure, tasking Michelle Grabner, Stuart Comer, and Anthony Elms with organizing separate floors of the museum. This meta-review aggregates the initial critical reception from major publications, noting that the fragmented format has forced critics to evaluate the exhibition as three distinct shows rather than a unified vision.

Arts of the Earth

ARTES DE LA TIERRA

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has inaugurated "Artes de la Tierra" (Arts of the Earth), a multidisciplinary exhibition curated by Manuel Cirauqui that examines the relationship between contemporary art and the soil. Spanning from the mid-20th century to the present, the show integrates visual arts, architecture, and ancestral Basque knowledge to explore themes of composting, terraforming, and ecological repair. Featured artists include pioneers of Land Art and Arte Povera such as Ana Mendieta, Fina Miralles, and Meg Webster, whose works are presented alongside archival materials and architectural models.

Artists respond to the continuing toll of colonialism in the Americas

The Chicago art space Wrightwood 659 is hosting a major survey titled "Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present." Featuring over 35 contemporary Latin American artists, including Regina José Galindo and the late Ana Mendieta, the exhibition serves as the culmination of a multi-year research project funded by the Mellon Foundation. The show explores the historical and ongoing impacts of colonial dispossession on Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and LGBTQ+ communities through diverse media ranging from performance art to installation.

Want to check out LACMA’s new building? Here’s how you can get tickets—for free

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is set to open its highly anticipated David Geffen Galleries to the public on May 4, 2026, following a members-only preview starting April 19. Designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, the $724 million, 110,000-square-foot concrete structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and houses the museum's permanent collection in a single-floor layout. The opening will be celebrated with a public block party on June 20, featuring free admission, tours, and live performances.

Kathleen Goncharov, influential curator who helped many artists ‘realise their dreams’, has died aged 73

Kathleen Goncharov, an artist and curator who worked at influential US organizations including Just Above Midtown and Creative Time, died on 31 December at age 73. She most recently served as senior curator at the Boca Raton Museum of Art from 2012 until her retirement in 2024, and previously held positions at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the MIT List Visual Arts Center, and the New School. Goncharov also served as commissioner of the US Pavilion at the 2003 Venice Biennale, curating Fred Wilson's solo project. She had a solo exhibition of her abstract paintings at Olympia gallery in New York in 2022.

herzog & de meuron-designed memphis art museum takes shape ahead of 2026 opening

The Memphis Art Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with archimania and OLIN, is taking shape ahead of its December 2026 opening. The 11,475-square-meter building along the Mississippi River features a glass facade, a public plaza shared with the historic Cossitt Library, a shaded courtyard, flexible gallery spaces, and a rooftop sculpture garden. The museum is among the first major US museums to use laminated timber construction. Updated renderings and construction images by Houston Cofield have been released, along with details of a curatorial shift that will organize the collection into 18 exhibitions focused on lived experience rather than traditional art historical chronologies.

National Museum of African Art Announces “Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art”

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art has announced “Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,” an exhibition opening January 23 through August 23, 2026. Featuring nearly 60 works by LGBTQ+ artists from Africa and its diaspora—including Zanele Muholi, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Leilah Babirye, Jim Chuchu, and Ṣọlá Olúlòde—the show spans painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video, and digital art. Co-curated by Serubiri Moses and Kevin D. Dumouchelle, the exhibition is built on years of dialogue with artists and communities, centering their voices and lived experiences.

6 gripping museum exhibitions to view this winter

Six major museum exhibitions opening across the U.S. this winter are profiled, including 'Austrian Expressionism and Otto Kallir' at LACMA, which features a newly acquired Gustav Klimt painting and works by Egon Schiele; 'Divine Color: Hindu Prints from Modern Bengal' at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the first U.S. exhibition to explore how lithography transformed Hindu devotional art; 'Frida: The Making of an Icon' at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, examining Kahlo's rise from local painter to global brand; 'Conversation Pieces: Stories from the Fashion Archives' at the Denver Art Museum, showcasing garments from its permanent collection; and 'Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work' at the Smithsonian.

Powerhouse Museum builds ‘tower to stars’ for $18 million opening show

The Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta is constructing a six-storey tower inside its largest exhibition hall for an $18 million opening show titled "Task Eternal," set for September 2026. The exhibition explores humanity's fascination with stars, flight, and space, featuring 290 loans from international institutions including the British Museum and NASA, as well as Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg's spacesuit on public display for the first time. Designed by Beijing-based firm OPEN architecture, the show includes a steel tower inspired by Ted Chiang's novella "Tower of Babylon," with installations by Thai artist Torlarp Larpjaroensook and US artist James Turrell.

Powerhouse Museum builds ‘tower to stars’ for $18 million opening show

The Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta is constructing a six-storey steel tower inside its largest exhibition hall for an $18 million opening show titled "Task Eternal," scheduled for September 2026. The exhibition explores humanity's fascination with stars, flight, and space, featuring 290 loans from international institutions including the British Museum and NASA, astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg's spacesuit, and commissions by artists Torlarp Larpjaroensook and James Turrell. The show is designed by Beijing-based firm OPEN architecture and will occupy 35% of the museum's $50 million opening program budget.

Princeton University Art Museum graduates to expansive new home

The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is opening a new 146,000-square-foot facility on October 31, doubling its previous exhibition and education spaces. The original 1880s building, which underwent multiple additions before being demolished in 2021, could only display about 2% of Princeton's 117,000-object collection. Designed by Adjaye Associates with executive architect Cooper Robertson, the new three-story museum features nine interlocking pavilions, 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, classrooms, and a grand hall. Curators have rethought the installation to move away from rigid geographic and chronological categories, instead emphasizing cross-cultural and cross-media pairings, such as placing Andy Warhol's Blue Marilyn (1962) alongside a 14th-century Italian Virgin and Child.

CARTIER FOUNDATION. A THIN LINE BETWEEN EXTRACTIVISM AND CULTURAL RECLAMATION

FUNDACIÓN CARTIER. UNA DELGADA LÍNEA ENTRE EXTRACTIVISMO Y REIVINDICACIÓN CULTURAL

The Cartier Foundation inaugurated its new Paris headquarters on October 25 with the exhibition "Exposition Générale." The curatorial approach and, most notably, the labyrinthine architectural design by Jean Nouvel have drawn criticism from the specialized press, described as disappointing and patchwork. The new space, a dense black cube in central Paris, represents a radical departure from the foundation's previous luminous, glass-walled hall, forcing a complete rethinking of how to present its 40-year collection.

The international gallery bridging contemporary artists and art history masters reopens in Milan: The Interview

Riapre a Milano la galleria internazionale che mette in dialogo artisti contemporanei e maestri della storia dell’arte. L’intervista

The artist-run space Octagon is set to establish a permanent home in Milan at Via Maroncelli 12, officially opening on April 15, 2026, during the city's Art Week. Founded by artist Jacopo Mazzetti in 2018, the gallery is transitioning from a nomadic model that saw recent collaborations in Paris and Athens to a fixed physical presence. The inaugural exhibition will feature works by the French Symbolist master Odilon Redon, maintaining the space's signature curatorial approach of bridging historical art with contemporary perspectives.

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Bucharest-based gallery Arsmonitor is presenting the second installment of a four-part curatorial program dedicated to Romanian artist Florin Mitroi (1938–2002). Titled "Florin Mitroi: Ch.II: Autumn," the exhibition is curated by Erwin Kessler and is anchored by the recent rediscovery of over 600 previously unseen works—files, notebooks, drawings, and pieces on wood and metal—that had been forgotten in storage for nearly two decades. The show frames these recovered materials as foundational, expanding the known oeuvre of an artist who exhibited only a small fraction of his production and later regretted even those works. The program, structured around the four seasons, includes chapters titled "Winter," "Autumn," "Summer" (planned for 2027), and "Spring," aligning with the season of Mitroi's death.

Maria Kreyn “Continuum” at Robilant+Voena, Milan

American artist Maria Kreyn opened her first solo exhibition in Milan, titled "Continuum," at the gallery Robilant+Voena. The show presents a selection of her new paintings, which are characterized by atmospheric renderings that blend figuration with abstract geometry.

Boston had Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Fitchburg had Eleanor Norcross

The Fitchburg Art Museum is celebrating its 100th anniversary with the exhibition “Kaleidoscope: 100 Years of Collecting for our Community.” The show honors the legacy of founder Eleanor Norcross, a Victorian-era artist and collector who studied under William Merritt Chase and exhibited in Parisian salons. Although Norcross died in 1923 before the museum opened, her estate and personal collection of paintings and decorative arts provided the foundation for the institution, which officially opened in 1929.

Vasarely’s Hometown Honors Renowned Artist with Newly Restored Museum

The city of Pécs, Hungary, has reopened the Victor Vasarely Museum following a comprehensive renovation to mark the 120th anniversary of the artist's birth. The updated institution features a modernized building and a redesigned curatorial approach that showcases approximately 400 works, including monumental screen prints from the "VI-VA Album" that have been in storage for over 50 years. New interactive spaces and a focus on international dialogue place Vasarely’s Op Art legacy within the broader context of 20th-century geometric abstraction.

‘A Room for Animal Intelligence’: There’s never been a SAM exhibition like it

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has unveiled "A Room for Animal Intelligence," a landmark exhibition curated by Pam McClusky that draws almost exclusively from the institution's permanent collection. The show features a diverse array of works—some of which had never been previously unboxed or displayed—ranging from ancient artifacts to contemporary sculptures. A unique narrative device is employed throughout the gallery, where the animal subjects "speak" for themselves on wall labels to foster a direct connection with visitors.

Biennale Arte 2026: the invited artists

The Venice Biennale has officially announced the list of invited artists for its 61st edition in 2026. The selection features a diverse global cohort including established figures like Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, and Carsten Höller, alongside influential collectives such as fierce pussy and blaxTARLINES KUMASI. The list also includes significant posthumous inclusions like Marcel Duchamp and Beverly Buchanan, signaling a curatorial approach that bridges contemporary practice with historical legacies.

LEONORA CARRINGTON THE VITRUVIAN WOMAN IN LUXEMBOURG

The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris has opened the first major exhibition in France dedicated solely to the work of surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Titled 'The Vitruvian Woman,' the show presents 126 works and frames Carrington as a model of innovation and harmony, a deliberate counterpoint to Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man.' It explores her artistic journey from her Celtic origins and discovery of Italian Renaissance art to her pivotal involvement with Surrealism in France and her final years in Mexico.

Inside Clarissa, the Hottest Art Show of Frieze Week

Clarissa, a new curatorial platform from Émergent Magazine, launched its first group exhibition during Frieze Week in London. Staged across three levels of a former club and sex shop in King’s Cross, the show features a mix of established and emerging artists—including Michael Dean, Hilary Lloyd, Tobias Spichtig, Joel Wycherley, Remi Ajani, and Tiago Francez—alongside works by Patricia L Boyd, Oscar Enberg, Hamish Pearch, and others. Curated by Reuben Beren James and Albert Riera Galceran in collaboration with the nomadic collective Soft Commodity, the exhibition aims to ignore art-world hierarchies and focus on intuitive dialogues between artists across generations and geographies.

The Big Review | 36th Bienal de São Paulo ★★★★

The 36th Bienal de São Paulo has opened with a site-specific installation by Nigerian-American artist Precious Okoyomon, titled "Sun of Consciousness. God Blow Thru Me – Love Break Me" (2025), which features a spiraling path of moss-covered earth and waterfalls evoking Brazil's deforested Cerrado region. The biennial, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung with an international team, includes 125 artists—97 international and 28 Brazilian—with more than half of the works commissioned for the exhibition. Notable presentations include a career-spanning display of over 20 paintings by British artist Frank Bowling, alongside works by Brazilian artist Gervane de Paula, who has the largest presence in the show.

Patchwork Lost – A Critique of the Princeton University Art Museum’s American Art Wing

The article critiques the newly opened American art wing at the Princeton University Art Museum, arguing that its curatorial approach prioritizes contemporary social justice narratives over historical accuracy and national pride. The author contends that the exhibition presents a fragmented, politicized view of American history, highlighting slavery and racial injustice while omitting or minimizing the contributions of Princeton alumni to the nation's founding, such as James Madison and John Witherspoon. Specific examples include the inclusion of a 2022 revisionist painting of the Signing of the Constitution and selective signage that emphasizes marginalized figures while ignoring male patriots.