Arts news

• Katy Fischer at Four A.M., New York

  20-06-2016 21:29 via artnews.com
  Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday Read More
  
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• Metropolitan Museum of Art Breaks Ground on $670 M. Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art

  16-09-2026 22:34 via artnews.com
  
  On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York broke ground on its new modern and contemporary art wing, named for emeritus trustee Oscar L. Tang and his wife H. M. Agnes Hsu-Tang. The project had been in the works since 2014, but plans accelerated in 2021 when Tang and Hsu-Tang, two of the world‘s top collectors, gifted the museum $125 million toward renovating the its modern art wing. At the time, it was the largest capital gift the museum had ever received.In 2022, the Met annou
  
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• A New Digital Platform, Documenting the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi and Its Masterpieces by Giotto and Cimabue, Has Launched

  16-09-2026 22:32 via artnews.com
  
  Today, in honor of the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis of Assisi’s death, a new digital platform dedicated to the eponymous basilica was launched by Haltadefinizione, part of the Gruppo Panini Cultura, in collaboration with the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis.The platform, called Preserving Assisi, is free to access and digitally preserves the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi’s architecture, as well as its masterpieces by Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini,
  
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• The Village Bistros Of Rural France Are Disappearing

  16-09-2026 21:02 via theguardian.com
  “In 1900 there were an estimated 500,000 such establishments; by the 1960s more than half had closed. Today, only about 30,000-40,000 remain and even they are reportedly shutting at a rate of two a day. … The reasons for the closures … are economic and sociological.” – The Guardian
  
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• Doomsday Days: The Growing Awareness Of AI Dangers

  16-09-2026 20:31 via newyorker.com
  
  Jacob Coxon, the engineer who recently resigned from Anthropic to protest its safety policies, says A.I. could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” But if A.I. is so outrageously dangerous, why should we accept modest proposals to “pace” its development? Why not call in the Turing cops, and pull the plug? – The New Yorker
  
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• Liang Shaoji, Chinese Artist Who ‘Collaborated’ with Silkworms, Has Died at 81

  16-09-2026 20:30 via artnews.com
  
  Chinese artist Liang Shaoji, known for his multidisciplinary silkworm installations, died at age 81 in Shanghai following an illness, announced ShanghART Gallery, his longtime dealer.“It is with profound sadness that ShanghART Gallery announces the passing of Liang Shaoji,” reads the gallery’s social media post. In 1989, Liang began his lifelong project known as the “Nature Series,” defined by his research and art practice involving silkworms and silk farming as a &
  
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• Ruben Santiago-Hudson On His Long, Lively Relationship With August Wilson

  16-09-2026 20:04 via nytimes.com
  “August Wilson and I were very close, but also we fell out a lot. Every time he and I had a debate, the word from the cast was always ‘They’re going to fire you.’ And instead of firing me, he would write another role for me.” – The New York Times
  
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• Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to Expand to a Second Location in Madrid

  16-09-2026 19:45 via artnews.com
  
  The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid is expanding to a second location just a few blocks from its current site due to overcrowding in its galleries, El Pais reported. The project is slated to be complete in 2032. The museum, known as the Thyssen, was founded in 1992 by Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza to house his private collection.The 107,639-square-foot building is known as the Ice and Automobile Palace and is located in Madrid’s Literary Quarter. The city-owned space has been
  
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• How Threats Of A Dismal Future Are Shaping Gen Z

  16-09-2026 19:44 via 3quarksdaily.com
  
  Their perception is that jobs that feel meaningful are being slashed by government or stolen by AI. As a result, she reported, members of Gen Z may just need to find meaning in their hobbies and interests outside of work and pursue jobs that allow them to fully check out at the end of the day. – 3 Quarks Daily
  
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• A Phenomenon: The Microdrama Might Be The New Artform Of Our Time

  16-09-2026 19:31 via newleftreview.org
  
  Few cultural forms have commanded such a vast audience. As of February 2026, over 700 million viewers were registered across the micro-drama platforms’ monthly user bases, with daily screentime averaging two hours per person. – New Left Review
  
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• The Problem With Museum Wall Texts – And How To Fix Them

  16-09-2026 19:15 via news.artnet.com
  Good texts take time. The field of visitor studies even recommends workshopping texts with an audience. Curators working on relentless deadlines don’t have that kind of luxury. Yet the particular genre of bad text I am thinking of, paradoxically, seems worst at the most elite levels of the industry. – Artnet
  
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• Pope Leo XIV Celebrates His 71st Birthday with JR Installation at the Vatican Apostolic Library

  16-09-2026 19:15 via artnews.com
  
  Pope Leo XIV had quite the birthday celebration on Monday at the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City, as he opened the exhibition “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder.” The show’s inner section was taken over by French artist JR’s massive black-and-white installation Diluvium.Diluvium stretches nearly 230 feet and depicts an illustration of a biblical flood from 1886 by Gustave Doré. “Creating things for real, you actually connect with people and that’s
  
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• New York’s Museum Of Modern Art Has Just Made Itself A Hotbed Of Dance

  16-09-2026 19:03 via nytimes.com
  For four weeks, MoMA is turning its large second-floor atrium over to choreographer Sarah Michelson, who has made a piece titled “nowhere.” “At the forefront of ‘nowhere’”, writes Gia Kourlas, “is a question that only seems simple: What is a dance?” – The New York Times
  
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• Toronto Theatre Soulpepper To Part Ways With Its Executive Director

  16-09-2026 18:44 via thestar.com
  Arthurs’s departure is the latest in a series of big shakeups in recent months at the upper echelons of Toronto’s major arts institutions, including Hot Docs, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Factory Theatre. – Toronto Star
  
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• Canadian Jazz Icon Oliver Jones, 91

  16-09-2026 18:31 via montrealgazette.com
  
  The Little Burgundy legend received numerous honours in his illustrious career. Among his accolades are numerous Juno and Félix awards. Jones was also appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1993 and awarded the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2005. – Montreal Gazette
  
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• The Problem Behind The Opera Problem

  16-09-2026 18:15 via sfclassicalvoice.substack.com
  
   If we cannot even agree that classical music is indeed obscure to most people, how can we understand the current state of affairs so that we might do something about it? – San Francisco Classical Voice
  
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• Russia’s Most Famous Medieval Icon Has Suffered Exactly The Damage Conservators Warned About

  16-09-2026 18:01 via meduza.io
  
  In 2023, on Putin’s personal orders, the 15th-century icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, Russia’s most revered icon painter, was moved from Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery and is now at the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Conservators said that, without museum-quality climate controls, the piece could be severely damaged. Well, guess what’s happened. – Meduza (Moscow/Riga)
  
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• Nilo Cruz Shares Five Recent Obsessions

  16-09-2026 17:56 via artnews.com
  
  The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright behind El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego at the Metropolitan Opera in New York highlights empowering and meditative works of art.
  
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• Why Italianness Is A State Of Mind

  16-09-2026 17:44 via aeon.co
  Descendants of Italian migrants generally express an intense pride in their heritage, and many continue to live by its sociocultural tenets in spite of decades, or more, of absence. It is as if time away from Italy, and geographical distance, only amplify a yearning for it. – Aeon
  
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• Study: Why Our Brains Mix Up Memories

  16-09-2026 17:31 via theconversation.com
  
  Scientists already know that confusing memories happens more often than forgetting them altogether. What’s less clear is how the brain gets confused. – The Conversation
  
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• Is It Time To Privatize The Smithsonian?

  16-09-2026 17:15 via wsj.com
  The surest way for the Smithsonian to free itself from the unwanted attentions of the current administration or any future one would be to adopt a business model that doesn’t involve government funding. – The Wall Street Journal
  
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• Science Videos Have Become Big Hits On YouTube

  16-09-2026 17:02 via msn.com
  “YouTube … has evolved into a home for sophisticated STEM programming that can attract audiences in the tens of millions. They’re the type of programs traditional media companies used to produce, but now individual creators have taken the baton.” – TheWrap (MSN)
  
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• Budapest’s House of Terror Museum Temporarily Shuttered, Pending Review of Controversial Political Exhibitions

  16-09-2026 17:00 via artnews.com
  
  The House of Terror Museum in Budapest has been closed temporarily by Hungary’s culture minister, Zoltán Tarr, who has also fired the museum’s director, Mária Schmidt. In a Facebook post, Tarr said that the museum would reopen later this year “pending a review of the exhibition’s content.”The museum closure is part of new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s attempts to rectify his predecessor, Viktor Orbán’s, control of st
  
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• Author Annie Dillard Is Dead At 81

  16-09-2026 16:36 via nytimes.com
  “With the publication of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in 1974, Ms. Dillard, just 28, was recognized as a major new voice in American letters. … In the years to come, she would publish essays, meditations on religion, poems, a theory of literature, two novels, journalism, (and) a best-selling autobiography.” – The New York Times
  
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• San Francisco Opera Cancels More Performances As Orchestra Strike Continues

  16-09-2026 16:04 via msn.com
  “San Francisco Opera has canceled all performances through Sunday, Sept. 20, as its orchestra musicians remain on strike, putting the opening stretch of the company’s 2026-27 season on hold.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
  
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• Former Assistant Conductor Sues Rochester Philharmonic And Eastman School

  16-09-2026 15:30 via rochesterfirst.com
  Jherrard Hardeman says he got two years of high praise from management; then, last September, he was abruptly told by the CEO to resign and Eastman barred him from its premises. Only later, he says, did he hear “rumors” accusing him of inappropriate conduct with minors, a charge he strongly denies. – WROC (Rochester)
  
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• Father of Late Artist Lucien Smith Asks Public to Share Memories of Estranged Son, Chinese Artist Liang Shaoji Dies, and More: Morning Links for September 16, 2026

  16-09-2026 15:19 via artnews.com
  
  To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter.Good Morning!
  Father of the late artist Lucien Smith discusses estrangement from his son and appeals to the public to send their memories.Chinese artist Liang Shaoji died following an illness on September 13 at age 81.President Trump threatened to block a $257 million renovation of the Kennedy Center, and then the center abruptly closed.The Headlines A FATHER’S REGRETS. Terrence Sanders-
  
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• Louvre Looks To Asia For Donors To Help Fund Its Very Expensive Renovation

  16-09-2026 15:03 via scmp.com
  The overhaul, badly needed to ease overcrowding, remedy deferred maintenance, and improve security, is expected to cost well over €1 billion (US$1.2 billion). Christophe Leribault, who became the museum’s director in February, went to Tokyo and Hong Kong to talk about the necessity of the project. – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
  
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• Barnes & Noble Buys Another Distressed Indie Bookseller

  16-09-2026 14:35 via publishersweekly.com
  Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has two locations in metro Cincinnati, is the third independent retail business that B&N has acquired in three years. The chain bought Denver’s Tattered Cover in 2024 and the Bay Area’s Books Inc. last year; both companies had filed for bankruptcy. – Publishers Weekly
  
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• Unions At The Whitney, Brooklyn Museum, And American Folk Art Museum Vote To Strike

  16-09-2026 14:01 via artnews.com
  
  “In a statement on behalf of the unionized staff, Local 2110 UAW said all three museums must raise their minimum pay rates, noting that average wages for their staff fall below … the minimum required for a single adult to afford to live in New York City.” – ARTnews
  
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