Arts news

• To understand the essential dramas of social and political life today, look no further than the strange and horny terrain of romantasy

  02-12-2025 23:50 via thedriftmag.com
  To understand the essential dramas of social and political life today, look no further than the strange and horny terrain of romantasy
  
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• To read Czes?aw Mi?osz's World War II era poems is to engage a man thinking about hope — what sustains it, and what happens when you lose it

  02-12-2025 23:50 via hedgehogreview.com
  To read Czes?aw Mi?osz's World War II era poems is to engage a man thinking about hope — what sustains it, and what happens when you lose it
  
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• “Good literature and good gossip have in common that they are both savagely and mortifyingly honest”

  02-12-2025 23:50 via wapo.st
  “Good literature and good gossip have in common that they are both savagely and mortifyingly honest”
  
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• Swiss Voters Reject Inheritance Tax That Billionaires Warned Would Lead to Exodus

  02-12-2025 23:23 via artnews.com
  Voters in Switzerland, the home of art world mainstays Art Basel and Hauser & Wirth, emphatically voted down a new inheritance tax on Sunday, with 78 percent voting no.The proposed tax, which came from the country’s left-wing Social Democrats party, would have taxed all inheritances and gifts of more than 50 million Swiss Francs, or about $62.3 million, at a rate of 50 percent. Ahead of the vote, Swiss billionaire Peter Spuhler told Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger that his family would s
  
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• A Changed Fair Map at Art Basel Miami Beach Reveals Shifts in the Market

  02-12-2025 23:07 via artnews.com
  There are some changes at Art Basel Miami Beach this year.Let’s look at the map. Last year at the fair, there were four shared booths in the Nova section for young galleries; only two shared booths appeared in the main sector, with the New York–based Bortolami gallery splitting one with London’s Thomas Dane, and New York’s Franklin Parrasch splitting his with his Los Angeles project, Parrasch Heijnen.This year, the situation ha
  
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• Looted 14th-Century English Jug May Soon Head to Ghana

  02-12-2025 22:26 via artnews.com
  A 14th-century English-made ewer may soon head to Ghana on long-term loan from the British Museum, according to the Art Newspaper. Known as the Asante Ewer, the lidded bronze jug is a rare example of medieval English bronze casting. At some point in its history, the object found its way to Kumasi, capital of the Ashanti (Asante) Kingdom, now Ghana.It is not known when, why, or by whom the vessel was transported to Africa from England, although it is thought to have been presented to an Ashanti k
  
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• National Portrait Gallery Pays Tribute to Steven Spielberg, Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon, and Others

  02-12-2025 22:22 via artnews.com
  The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., will show newly commissioned and acquired works paying tribute to filmmaker Steven Spielberg, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, scientist Temple Grandin, and poet Joy Harjo in an exhibition titled “Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honorees.”The show, opening December 12 and running into next November, follows last month’s “Portrait of a Nation Gala,” during which the institution—embattled after the politica
  
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• The 25 Defining Art Events of 2025

  02-12-2025 21:09 via artnews.com
  2025 was a rough year any way you slice it: an unstable economy, ravaging climate disasters, the return of President Trump to the Oval Office—and all the chaos that entails—and a viciously divided political climate sporadically punctuated by previously unthinkable violence.Narrow the focus to the art world and none of those pressures disappear. In fact, perhaps more than ever, the art world seemed intertwined with all of them. The Los Angeles fires were most destructive in neighborho
  
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• Alserkal and Design Miami to Launch Collectible Design Platform in Dubai

  02-12-2025 20:52 via artnews.com
  Alserkal, the Dubai-based cultural enterprise, and Design Miami will launch a new regional platform for collectible design in Dubai through a multi-year partnership, the two organizations announced Tuesday. The initiative—built around a flagship fair and year-round programming—will debut in early 2027 and marks Design Miami’s first expansion into the Middle East. The collaboration brings together Alserkal’s 15-year track record in developing Dubai’s contemporar
  
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• French Artist JR to Wrap Pont Neuf in Paris as Christo Tribute

  02-12-2025 20:49 via artnews.com
  Five years after the death of the sculptor Christo, his monumental vision is still re-making iconic landmarks. The French photographer and street artist JR has announced plans to “wrap” the Pont Neuf, a historic standing bridge spanning the Seine in Paris, in a tribute to Christo and his longtime collaborator and wife, Jeanne-Claude. Next June the 761-feet-long bridge will be swathed in fabric, recalling the couple’s signature interventions. These include the ambitious tra
  
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• Paula Modersohn-Becker Self-Portrait Once Seized as ‘Degenerate’ Doubles Her Auction Record

  02-12-2025 19:43 via artnews.com
  A small, tightly focused self-portrait by German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker, who was long written out of art history but who has recently come in for renewed attention, made history at Berlin’s Grisebach auction house on Thursday. Selbstbildnis nach halblinks (Self-Portrait Looking Slightly Left), from 1906, measures just 10½ inches high, but fetched €1.3 million ($1.5 million) including fees, more than quintupling its low estimate, to sell to an unnamed private collector in
  
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• How Darren Bader Makes a Show, Including Bidding On Amy Winehouse’s Unwanted Weight Machine

  02-12-2025 19:13 via artnews.com
  To spend a few minutes with the staff at the New York location of Matthew Brown Gallery these days, talking about how the current show, Darren Bader’s “Youth,” came together, is to be regaled with tales that sound too unlikely to be true. That’s the way it often goes with the New York conceptual artist, whose works explore truly absurd territory. They may seem like jokes, but at least to me, they often open up the mind to a sense of wonder that leaves them resonating far
  
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• Archaeologists in Northwest China Discover 573 Stone Forts

  02-12-2025 18:23 via artnews.com
  A team of archaeologists and cultural heritage researchers in northern China have uncovered a network of 573 stone forts, the earliest of which date to approx. 2800 BC. The discovery took place in the mountains near Yulin, in China’s Shaanxi province, after six years of research.Ma Mingzhi, the head of the research team, noted that “the fortified sites likely served as focal points for defense and social organization, protecting the smaller villages around them.” The researcher
  
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• Conservative Legal Group Targets Upstate New York School over ‘Pornographic’ Keith Haring Artworks

  02-12-2025 18:22 via artnews.com
  After a teacher at an Upstate New York middle school asked students to visit the Keith Haring Foundation’s website for an assignment, a prominent conservative legal group got involved, claiming that children were “forced: to look at imagery that the organization termed “pornographic,” without specifying what that imagery was.The American Center for Law and Justice said in late November that 7th graders at Case Middle School in Watertown, New York, were assigned to look at
  
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• Pérez Art Museum Miami Director Franklin Sirmans Says Florida Arts Budget Cuts Are ‘Sad’

  02-12-2025 17:51 via artnews.com
  As Art Basel kicks off this year in Miami Beach, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) director Franklin Sirmans reflected on the last 10 years at the helm of the institution in an interview with the New York Times.Though PAMM has remained steady, with the help of Sirmans’ leadership and the museum’s primary patron Jorge M. Pérez, many institutions have faced tremendous hardship and losses over the last decade. “We have proved to be the people’s museum in Miami
  
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• Art Dealers Association of America Rebrands ‘The Art Show’ as ADAA Fair, Will Stay at Park Avenue Armory

  02-12-2025 15:30 via artnews.com
  The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) will rebrand its long-running fair, The Art Show, as the ADAA Fair, running November 12–16, 2026 at the Park Avenue Armory.“This fair signals a new era for the ADAA—one rooted in our mission and responsive to the cultural needs of our time,” ADAA executive director Kinsey Robb said in a statement. This past July, the ADAA made the surprise announcement that it would not stage the 2025 edition of the Art Show, which had be
  
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• Hauser & Wirth to Mount Show of Masterpieces from Eileen Harris Norton’s Collection

  02-12-2025 14:30 via artnews.com
  In February, Hauser & Wirth’s Downtown Los Angeles gallery will stage a show of masterpieces from the holdings of Eileen Harris Norton, an important collector based in the city. The exhibition will open on February 24, making it one of the key exhibitions taking place in LA during the Frieze Los Angeles art fair.Titled “Destiny Is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection,” the exhibition will feature major works by Kerry James Marshall, Lorraine O’Grady, Alma Thoma
  
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• Hard Choices: Will Signing with a Mega Gallery Make You a Goblin?

  02-12-2025 14:00 via artnews.com
  With a world in crisis and an art market spinning out of control, ace art-world consultants Chen & Lampert deliver a quiz full of hard choices for Art in America readers from far and wide.You’re a painter who blew up after a group show at a blue-chip gallery that is now clamoring to sign you. You’ve been on the roster at a small gallery that has been deeply committed to your career. Now you can jump ship, but will it turn you into a jerk? Take this quiz to fin
  
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• Collector Komal Shah Launches Making Their Mark Foundation and Three-Day Forum in D.C.

  02-12-2025 14:00 via artnews.com
  Komal Shah, one of the world’s top collectors, has announced that she will rename her Shah Garg Foundation to the Making Their Mark Foundation as part of a new chapter for the nonprofit, which will include a three-day forum in Washington, D.C. next year.Making Their Mark Foundation takes its name from “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection,” a traveling exhibition curated by Cecilia Alemani that focuses on women artists in the collection that Shah has built wit
  
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• Cape Town’s Southern Guild Plans Tribeca Opening as it Debuts at Art Basel Miami Beach

  02-12-2025 14:00 via artnews.com
  Trevyn McGowan is in love with the ceiling: sixteen feet of air and light and exposed brick walls supported by thick cast-iron over a century old. The co-founder of Southern Guild, the well-regarded Cape Town gallery, was showing me their newest outpost, a lovingly restored 19th century Tribeca townhouse on Leonard Street. She moved through the raw, empty space slowly. Spools of electrical cable and construction lights hung from white Corinthian columns and the exposed air ducts and piping.&ldqu
  
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• Russia’s Justice Ministry Moves to Designate Pussy Riot ‘Extremist Organization’ During Founder’s Live Performance

  02-12-2025 12:09 via artnews.com
  Russia’s justice ministry is trying to get Pussy Riot, the feminist punk rock art collective, designated as an extremist organization. A hearing is set for December 15 at Moscow’s Tverskoy Court after prosecutor general Alexander Gutsan filed a lawsuit with the intention of banning the group’s activities in Russia. The move came during the durational performance of Pussy Riot’s creator, Nadya Tolokonnikova, called Police State at MCA Chicago.Members of the Russian art gro
  
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• Russia’s Justice Ministry Moves to Designate Pussy Riot ‘Extremist Organization’

  02-12-2025 12:09 via artnews.com
  Russia’s justice ministry is seeking to have Pussy Riot, the feminist punk rock art collective, designated as an extremist organization. A hearing is set for December 15 at Moscow’s Tverskoy Court after prosecutor general Alexander Gutsan filed a lawsuit with the intention of banning the group’s activities in Russia. The move came during a performance of Police State, by Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.Members of the Russian art
  
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• Three Blue-Chip Dealers Join Forces for Pace Di Donna Schrader, Opening in June

  02-12-2025 01:26 via artnews.com
  Pace Gallery, Emmanuel Di Donna, and David Schrader are forming a new joint gallery devoted to secondary-market sales, a boutique operation with global reach and the pedigreed muscle of three heavyweights behind it. Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries, or PDS, begins operations January 1, 2026, with a formal space opening on New York’s Upper East Side in the summer and a major historical exhibition slated for the autumn. The move is striking not for its scale but for its philos
  
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• Three Blue-Chip Dealers Join Forces for Pace Di Donna Schrader, Opening in 2026

  02-12-2025 01:26 via artnews.com
  Pace Gallery, Emmanuel Di Donna, and David Schrader are forming a new joint gallery devoted to secondary-market sales, a boutique operation with global reach and the pedigreed muscle of three heavyweights behind it. Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries, or PDS, begins operations in spring 2026, with a formal space opening on New York’s Upper East Side in the summer and a major historical exhibition slated for the autumn. The move is striking not for its scale but for its philoso
  
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• Tom Stoppard, the great modern dramatist of history, science, politics, art, and love, is dead. He was 88

  02-12-2025 00:10 via commonreader.co.uk
  Tom Stoppard, the great modern dramatist of history, science, politics, art, and love, is dead. He was 88
  
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• “I consider it most difficult to live with you.” Obsessed with suffering, teenage Arthur Schopenhauer alienated even his own mother

  02-12-2025 00:10 via theamericanscholar.org
  “I consider it most difficult to live with you.” Obsessed with suffering, teenage Arthur Schopenhauer alienated even his own mother
  
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• "Do not create a playpen on your campus for conservatives," says Robert P. George. "That’s not doing much for your students or for the cause of education"

  02-12-2025 00:10 via chronicle.com
  "Do not create a playpen on your campus for conservatives," says Robert P. George. "That’s not doing much for your students or for the cause of education"
  
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