Events have moved quickly since Thursday night when Creative Australia sensationally dumped the Sydney-based multimedia artist Khaled Sabsabi as the nation’s representative for the 2026 edition of the Venice Biennale. - The Art Newspaper
The problem is that this was really an ideas competition, with entrants expected to produce not detailed designs but rather a flavour of what visitors might expect, perhaps in a couple of decades’ time. It’s a curious beginning... - Apollo
"A SAMA spokeswoman said it was too early in the master planning process to confirm the overall project cost or describe any plans to raise additional funds. In 2023, the museum reported total net assets of almost $79 million." - San Antonio Report
"Last year was the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto, … so it’s unsurprising that we saw such interest in the movement. But it is striking that the centennial prompted a flurry of interest in the women – who were actually excluded from those groups. Why the sudden broadening of the lens?" - The Guardian
“If you’re spending 10 million on a work of art and you’re paying $1 million or $2 million, or even $2.5 million in tariffs because it was imported, you’d say, ‘No way. Forget it. It’s a write-off of $2.5 million. I can’t do that. I’ll go for real estate, or I’ll go for stocks and shares.’” - ARTnews
Like its 2020 predecessor, the new order has little to do with classical architecture in any meaningful way—which itself has been decontextualized from its ideologies, aesthetics, spatial origins, and material conditions and flattened into a kind of “Deus vult” meme for people overly concerned with their haplogroup type. - The Nation
"A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit over insurance payments for five artworks destroyed in a 2022 house fire in west Michigan, among them three paintings by the French impressionist Claude Monet collectively worth more than $45 million." - MLive (Michigan)
The company is called Full Colour Black and it sells cards emblazoned with images of street art, including works by Banksy. Its owner, Andrew Gallagher, argues that the artist has failed to use his “Banksy” trademark. As a result, he’s calling for it to be cancelled for “non-use.” - Artnet
"A wealth of Neoclassicist art has joined the holdings of the Art Institute of Chicago via collectors Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, who have gifted the museum around 2,250 works of French art made between the 16th and 19th centuries." - ARTnews
"Ashraf Omar Eldarir, 52, … pleaded guilty on Monday to smuggling hundreds of precious artifacts, including ancient Egyptian talismans, gold amulets and a sculpture with the carving of a king from the Ptolemaic dynasty." - The New York Times
"A video capturing the incident shows the individual jumping onto the altar, removing the altar cloth, and kicking six gold candle holders. The candelabras damaged are worth roughly $31,000." The culprit was apprehended and turned over by the Vatican to Italian police. - ARTnews
“For two decades, a crew from Lackawanna County in Pennsylvania traveled to a dozen small museums across the country, where its ringleader smashed through security systems to strip them of art and precious memorabilia.” - The New York Times
Art students at the University of Wolverhampton aren’t happy with the plan. “Yes, it can get a bit cold in the winter and some double glazing would be nice, but any replacement would never match the spirit that this building offers.” - The Guardian (UK)
The Romanian government says the Saint Sebastian is “part of its national art collection was removed from the country in 1947. That year, the country’s last king, Michael I, went into exile after being forced from power by Communist forces.” - The New York Times
Hockney would take friends “on a ‘Wagner Drive,’ something he devised as an opera-loving motorist. He’d drive up through Malibu Canyon to Mulholland Drive and then west to Decker Canyon, where he would time the turns and crests to the crescendos of the classical composition.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
