The New York Times profiled Jenni Parido, the 37-year-old commissioner of the upcoming US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, who has no professional arts background and previously ran a luxury pet food store in Florida. She selected Jeffrey Uslip as curator, and artist Alma Allen will represent the US after other artists reportedly declined.
Separately, a 17th-century memento mori pendant depicted in John Souch's 1635 painting 'Sir Thomas Aston at the Deathbed of His Wife' has been discovered and authenticated, valued at £650,000. The article also includes brief news items: Finland's political leaders will boycott the Venice Biennale if the Russian Pavilion opens; Hamburg gallery owner Jenny Falckenberg died at 45; prehistoric petroglyphs were found in Mexico; a wave of Arab women street artists is profiled; a major retrospective for South Korean sculptor Kim Yun Shin opened; Swiss curator Maria Schnyder was appointed director of the De Pont Museum; and an article examines the potential artistic thaw in Hungary following a political shift.