Arts news

• Ivan the Terrible role model

  03-11-2016 16:41
  
  Russias first monument to Ivan the Terrible, the 16th-century monarch known both for uniting the Russian state and killing family members and subjects, went up in the city of Oryol last month. The artist Vladislav Gultyaev, based in the Siberian city of Kansk, responded with an alternative memorial to the brutal ruler by embedding a stake covered in blood-red paint into the ground. He also wrote in a social media post that a nation that does not draw useful lessons from its history is compelled
  
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• Victoria Helena on Why Artists Need to Take Control of Their Money

  29-01-2026 15:00 via artnews.com
  Victoria Helena has built a career most artists could never imagine for themselves. Before founding Artist Money Matters, a new artist-first financial consultancy launching this month, she spent two decades working in finance and studio administration while maintaining her own sculptural practice. The result is a rare fluency in both balance sheets and the psychic reality of making art. We spoke with Helena about why artists avoid money conversations, what they most often get wrong in contracts,
  
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• Brooklyn Museum Names Robert Wiesenberger Senior Curator of Contemporary Art

  29-01-2026 15:00 via artnews.com
  Robert Wiesenberger will become the Brooklyn Museum’s new senior curator of contemporary art, filling a post that has been vacant since in 2023.“I’m elated,” Wiesenberger said in an email to ARTnews. “I love this museum—I used to go there weekly to sketch in the galleries, in rotation with visits to the botanic garden and the public library next door. To say that Brooklyn is full of incredible artists is an understatement. I’m eager to get to know them b
  
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• Kanal-Centre Pompidou to Open in November, Trump Hotel Plans Nixed After Serbia’s Culture Minister Indicted: Morning Links for January 29, 2026

  29-01-2026 14:59 via artnews.com
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. THE HEADLINES BRUSSELS’ KANAL SPROUTS. The long-anticipated Kanal–Centre Pompidou, Brussels’s new hub for modern and contemporary art, will open on November 28 with an ambitious launch program of 10 exhibitions, positioning it alongside Europe’s leading art institutions, The Star wrote. Housed in a vast former Citroën garage buil
  
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• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to Lay Off Over 30 Staffers

  28-01-2026 23:52 via artnews.com
  The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston sent out an internal email to staffers on Wednesday notifying them of an impending layoff.According to the email, which was obtained by Boston area NPR station WBUR, the museum said it faces “an unsustainable deficit that we have committed to resolve” and that the only move toward “financial sustainability” was to “implement a restructuring.”The museum confirmed the layoffs to WBUR, telling the radio station that it will reduce
  
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• Humans, not Glaciers, Moved Rocks Used in Stonehenge’s Construction, According to New Evidence

  28-01-2026 23:28 via artnews.com
  Researchers at Curtin University in Australia have presented evidence that humans, rather than glaciers, moved the rocks used in Stonehenge’s construction to England. Their findings were published January 21 in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.Located on Salisbury Plain in England, Stonehenge was built in stages by Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples between around 3000 BC and 1500 BC. It consists of an outer circle and inner horseshoe of sandstone trilithons with inner arcs o
  
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• Jack Shainman, Esther Schipper, Victoria Miro, and Olney Gleason All Add to Roster: Industry Moves for January 28, 2026

  28-01-2026 23:23 via artnews.com
  Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.With one week before Art Basel Qatar, there was plenty of news this week. Here’s a round-up of who’s moving and shaking in the art trade:Esther Schipper Now Represents Tuan Andrew Nguyen: The Berlin gallery has added the Ho Chi Minh City–based artist to its roster, in collaboration wit
  
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• Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art Returns Three Looted Sculptures to India

  28-01-2026 22:57 via artnews.com
  The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art announced today that it will return three bronze sculptures to India, continuing a recent series of restitutions that last month included Khmer-period works returned to Cambodia.The three bronze figures —“Shiva Nataraja” (ca. 990), “Somaskanda” (12th century), and “Saint Sundarar with Paravai”—were sacred objects originally carried in temple processions before they were stolen. According to the m
  
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• Scientists Find the Oldest Wooden Tools to Date in Greece, Dated Over 430,000 Years Old

  28-01-2026 22:37 via artnews.com
  Two objects unearthed at an archeological site in southern Greece are the oldest wooden tools yet found, according to a paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The objects came from the site Marathousa 1, once a lakeshore during the Middle Pleistocene. Other discoveries at the site, including stone tools and animal bones, go back 430,000 years, giving a probable date for the new finds.The artifacts include a 2.5-foot-long stick likely employed for
  
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• Scientists Find the Oldest Wooden Tools in Greece, Dated Over 430,000 Years Old

  28-01-2026 22:37 via artnews.com
  Two objects unearthed at an archeological site in southern Greece are the oldest wooden tools yet found, according to a paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The objects came from the site Marathousa 1, once a lakeshore during the Middle Pleistocene. Other discoveries at the site, including stone tools and animal bones, go back 430,000 years, giving a probable date for the new finds.The artifacts include a 2.5-foot-long stick likely employed for
  
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• 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools, the Oldest Yet Found, Are Discovered in Greece

  28-01-2026 22:37 via artnews.com
  Two objects unearthed at an archeological site in southern Greece are the oldest wooden tools yet found, according to a paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The objects came from the site Marathousa 1, once a lakeshore during the Middle Pleistocene. Other discoveries at the site, including stone tools and animal bones, go back 430,000 years, giving a probable date for the new finds.The artifacts include a 2.5-foot-long stick likely employed for
  
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• Sotheby’s Achieves Highest Sale Total for Modern and Contemporary Art in Singapore Since 2023

  28-01-2026 21:33 via artnews.com
  On Sunday, with ART SG and Singapore Art Week wrapping up, Sotheby’s held its annual modern and contemporary art sale in the city. The results, the house reported on Tuesday, were the highest total for the sale since 2023, achieving $13.1 million across 62 lots.The sale had a 94 percent sell-through rate, with bidders Southeast Asia, the US, the UAE, Europe, South Korea, Japan, India, and China.In a sale filled out with a mix of established Western and Asian artists, the top result went to
  
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• Italian Photographer Gabriele Galimberti Drops Copyright Lawsuit Against Drake

  28-01-2026 21:16 via artnews.com
  A copyright lawsuit that briefly put Drake and an Italian photographer on a collision course is now over, and decisively so.Gabriele Galimberti, a National Geographic photographer, has dropped his copyright infringement suit against the rapper over visuals used in the music video for “What Did I Miss?”, according to recent court filings reviewed by Billboard.The case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.Galimberti sued Drake in November of last year, allegi
  
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• Anish Kapoor Will Show Architectural Models and Sculptures at Venetian Palazzo During Upcoming Venice Biennale

  28-01-2026 21:12 via artnews.com
  The 16th-century Palazzo Manfrin in Venice, which was purchased by the British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor in 2018 to house his foundation, will open to the public for only the second time this spring. (The first was in 2022, when the palazzo co-hosted, with the Gallerie dell’Accademia, a show of new works Kapoor made using nanotechnology.)The upcoming exhibition, according to The Art Newspaper, will open on May 5, a few days before the 61st Venice Biennale. The show will feature some 100 a
  
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• Shahzia Sikander’s Animated Film Selected for M+ Facade Commission in Hong Kong

  28-01-2026 21:10 via artnews.com
  Hong Kong’s M+ museum has selected Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander’s hand-painted animated film 3 to 12 Nautical Miles (2026) for its latest commission for M+ Facade, an enormous LED-embedded media screen measuring approximately several hundred feet across. Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel, the work will screen from March 23 through June 21.3 to 12 Nautical Miles (2026) continues Sikander’s interpretation of the entangled histories of empire and com
  
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• At ART SG, Top Sale Hits $650,000 Amid Deepening Focus on Southeast Asia

  28-01-2026 19:00 via artnews.com
  Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.ART SG, Southeast Asia’s largest international art fair, closed its 2026 edition on Sunday at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Resort and Convention Center, with plenty of reported sales—but nothing approaching last year’s sale of a $1.2 million Pablo Picasso work.Still, blue-chip ga
  
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• US Holocaust Museum Denounces Tim Walz for Comparison Between Minnesota’s Children and Anne Frank

  28-01-2026 18:03 via artnews.com
  The US Holocaust Memorial Museum pushed back against Minnesota Governor Tim Walz this week after he compared victims of ICE raids in his state to Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was killed in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.Following the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by Border Patrol agents over the weekend, Walz held a press conference in which he said, “We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of
  
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• Pennsylvania Governor Files Brief in Support of Suit Against Trump Administration’s Removal of Slavery Exhibit

  28-01-2026 17:45 via artnews.com
  Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro filed an amicus brief on Tuesday in support of the City of Philadelphia’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s removal of an exhibit about slavery at the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.That exhibit, entitled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation,” served as a memorial to the nine enslaved people who worked at the President’s House Site, where George Washington lived for the majority of his
  
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• ‘Do you want to say I’m dated?’ Artist Anne Imhof on her S&M Venice shocker – and the show that earned a mauling

  28-01-2026 17:36
  She was the art world’s hottest ticket after her confrontational goths-and-dobermans show at the Venice Biennale. But did she get too cosy with the worlds of fashion and advertising?‘I don’t know what you want to know,” says Anne Imhof, three-quarters of the way into our interview. Her cautious smile, between curtains of jet black hair, changes into a sceptical pout. I have just quoted a headline at Imhof, one of Germany’s most important contemporary artists, that d
  
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• Jeffrey Deitch Apologizes to Artist After Rapper Stages ‘Unauthorized Derivative’ of His Work

  28-01-2026 17:28 via artnews.com
  New York’s Jeffrey Deitch apologized to artist Miles Greenberg after an ascendant rapper staged an event at the gallery that appeared to draw upon a performance done in the same location in 2021.The musician, Lexa Gates, promoted her new album by walking for hours inside a giant wheel at Jeffrey Deitch on January 14. Titled The Wheel, Gates’s performance was meant to “reinforce the message of persistence, emotional resilience and forward motion that acts as the central theme of
  
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• Jeffrey Deitch Apologizes to Artist After Pop Star Stages ‘Unauthorized Derivative’ of His Work

  28-01-2026 17:28 via artnews.com
  New York’s Jeffrey Deitch apologized to artist Miles Greenberg after an ascendant pop star staged an event at the gallery that appeared to draw upon a performance done in the same location in 2021.The musician, Lexa Gates, promoted her new album by walking for hours inside a giant wheel at Jeffrey Deitch on January 14. Titled The Wheel, Gates’s performance was meant to “reinforce the message of persistence, emotional resilience and forward motion that acts as the central theme
  
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• VeneKlasen’s Post-Werner Plans, Sotheby’s Saudi Arabia Sale: Morning Links for January 28, 2026

  28-01-2026 16:43 via artnews.com
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.The HeadlinesPASTURES NEW. Following his split from Michael Werner Gallery, dealer Gordon VeneKlasen has revealed plans to relaunch under his own name while reshaping the gallery’s structure, ARTnews reported. After more than three decades running Werner’s New York space, VeneKlasen will take over that location along with the London gallery, both
  
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• Veneklasen Gallery Appoints New Partners, Werner Los Angeles Space Shutters

  28-01-2026 14:00 via artnews.com
  Dealer Gordon VeneKlasen has released new details about his plans after separating from Michael Werner Gallery. After running Werner’s New York space for more than 30 years, VeneKlasen will take over that location, as well as Werner’s London space, under his own eponymous gallery, and promote two longtime employees to partners. As part of the agreement, the short-lived Los Angeles branch of Michael Werner Gallery will close.Justine Birbil, who oversaw global operations at Werner, and
  
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• From the archive: The King of Kowloon: my search for the cult graffiti prophet of Hong Kong – podcast

  28-01-2026 06:00
  We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2022: For years Tsang Tsou-choi daubed his eccentric demands around Hong Kong, and the authorities raced to cover them up. But as the city’s protest movements bloomed, his words mysteriously reappearedWritten and read by Louisa Lim Continue reading...
  
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• Andrew Norman Wilson, Artist and Writer of Viral Baffler Essay, Directed Naomi Scott’s New Music Video

  27-01-2026 22:41 via artnews.com
  File this one under “not on my 2026 bingo card”: Andrew Norman Wilson, the video artist who penned a viral essay in 2024 for The Baffler, is the director behind British actress and singer Naomi Scott’s new music video for the song “Losing You.”Scott is best known for portraying Princess Jasmine in Disney’s 2019 live-action Aladdin—yes, the one where Will Smith played the Genie—but she has also appeared in Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal (2022)
  
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• Sound Artist Tarek Atoui Selected for Next Turbine Hall Commission at Tate Modern

  27-01-2026 22:23 via artnews.com
  Artist Tarek Atoui has been selected as the next artist to take on the Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. His exhibition at the London museum will open on October 13 and run into April 2027. Tate Modern international art curators Nabila Abdel Nabi and Dina Akhmadeeva will curate the commission.The Beirut-born, Paris-based artist is known for creating complex installations featuring specially designed instruments that are often made in collaboration with other artists, compos
  
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• Studio Museum in Harlem to Close for More Than a Week After ‘Sprinkler Emergency’

  27-01-2026 21:41 via artnews.com
  The Studio Museum in Harlem will remain closed through February 7 to work on repairs related to a “sprinkler emergency” that forced visitors to evacuate on Friday.As first reported by Hyperallergic, visitors were instructed to leave after water began pouring from a ceiling near the gift shop. “We saw a large pool of water on the floor near the entrance, and saw the water flowing down in the store,” a witness told the publication. The museum initially announced a week
  
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• Ai Weiwei Returns to China for the First Time Since 2015

  27-01-2026 20:59 via artnews.com
  Chinese artist Ai Weiwei returned to China last month after a decade-long exile in Europe. The three-week trip to Beijing marked his first visit since authorities returned his confiscated passport in 2015, ending years of travel restrictions tied to his political dissent. Ai is internationally famous for his criticism of authoritarianism and its cultural consequences—censorship, police brutality, extrajudicial incarceration—making him a longtime target of the Chinese government.
  
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• Renowned Composer Philip Glass Withdraws Symphony from the Kennedy Center

  27-01-2026 19:39 via artnews.com
  Celebrated composer Philip Glass has withdrawn a symphony he composed on commission honoring Abraham Lincoln for the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he said in a statement today. The work, Symphony No. 15, was scheduled for its first-ever performance by the National Symphony Orchestra this June.Glass informed the center of his decision in a letter on Tuesday that he later shared on social media. “Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and
  
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• Alison Weaver Named Next Director of NYU’s Grey Art Museum

  27-01-2026 19:29 via artnews.com
  New York University announced Tuesday that Alison Weaver will serve as the next director of its Grey Art Museum. She will begin in the role on May 26, after the conclusion of the current academic year. Weaver succeeds Lynn Gumpert, who retired last year and had been in the role since 1997.Weaver comes to NYU from another university museum, theMoody Center for the Arts at Rice University in Houston, where she served as founding executive director since 2015. Her last day at Rice will be on May 1.
  
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