Articles

A team of specialists and students led by UNC-Chapel Hill professor Jodi Magness has uncovered a spectacular mosaic panel in the late Roman (ca. 400 C.E.) synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in Israel’s Lower Galilee. The panel, which identifies the mosaic donors or artists, decorates the floor just inside the main entrance.

In 2024, the Zurich Art Prize, awarded annually by Museum Haus Konstruktiv and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd, goes to Olaf Holzapfel (b. 1967 in Dresden, lives and works in Berlin and Brandenburg). He is the 17th winner of the renowned award. Endowed with CHF 100,000, the prize consists of an CHF 80,000 budget for the production of a solo exhibition at Museum Haus Konstruktiv and CHF 20,000 in prize money.

An art collective has hacked into the controversial Bührle Collection exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zurich museum. It replaced written information accessible to visitors by QR code with critical comments about the provenance of the works on display.

Frieze has announced the acquisition of The Armory Show in New York and a signed agreement to acquire EXPO CHICAGO.

The Illinois State Museum has returned 37 wooden memorial statues, known as vigango, to the National Museums of Kenya for repatriation to Mijikenda communities. These statues are considered sacred cultural objects and are believed to carry the spirits of male elders who have passed away.

“Venus of the Rags,” one of the most famous works by Italian contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, has been destroyed by an overnight fire in Naples.

Tate Modern launches a major new exhibition celebrating the dynamic landscape of photography across the African continent today. Bringing together 36 artists from different generations and geographies, A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography explores how photography and video has allowed artists to examine legacies of the past while imagining more hopeful futures. Unfolding across three chapters, the exhibition charts the dialogue between photography and contemporary perspectives on cultural heritage, spirituality, urbanisation, and climate change to reveal shared artistic visions that reclaim Africa’s histories and reimagine its place in the world.

The portrait of Captain Frederick Cornewall entered the National Maritime Museum collection in 1960. While the painting had previously been recognised as a work by Gainsborough, when it arrived at the Museum it was re-attributed to an unknown British artist.

Angelina Jolie, an actress and humanitarian, signed a deal for renting a place where Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat worked and lived. This apartment lies on 57 Great Jones Street in New York. John Roesch and Garrett Kelly, directors at the real estate agency Meridian Capital Group, confirmed the deal yesterday. Jolie will use it for her creative studio, Atelier Jolie.

Russian writers are no longer able to publish their work freely in their home country. In collaboration with Russian refugee writer Maxim Osipov, Van Oorschot Publishers is launching Fifth Wave, a magazine that will offer a platform to independent Russian writing.

The Antwerp City Council has approved the architectural assignment for the Antwerp Collection Center, a new building that will house the city's extensive heritage collection. In addition to storage and management, the building will provide public access to art treasures, promote specialized expertise, and implement an active restoration policy. The city is also committed to innovation and sustainability, aiming to create a passive building with a minimal ecological footprint.

Governor Hochul unveiled her vision for a new commuter-first world-class Penn Station and revitalized surrounding neighborhood that reflects the community's needs and focuses on public transit and public realm improvements. The plan prioritizes the reconstruction of the existing station while the station expansion and the Gateway Project initiatives, both of which the Governor strongly supports, continue on their federally-established timelines. Governor Hochul's new plan thus allows the expedited reconstruction of the existing Penn Station, 60% of whose users are subway and LIRR riders.

The Chrysler Museum of Art and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria (NCMM) have collaborated on the restitution of an original Bakor monolith from the village of Njemetop in Cross River State to Nigeria.

Francesco Stocchi, curator of modern and contemporary art at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, is bidding farewell to the museum. He has been appointed artistic director of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, in Rome.

The German National Foundation was established in 1993, shortly after the German reunification. The purpose of the foundation is to promote German culture within the EU through art, science, literature, politics and law. Since 1997, the Foundation has awarded the National Prize (Deutscher Nationalpreis) to people or institutions that contribute to European integration.

When archaeologists from The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research conducted a last-minute excavation in Medieval Trondheim last year due to a broken sewer pipe, a surprise find was made. A soapstone gaming piece bearing a runic inscription.

25 Monumental pits in what has become a nationally important prehistoric site have been found in Linmere, Bedfordshire, they date from the Mesolithic Period (12,000-6,000 years ago), a time with few clues to suggest what life was like in Britain.

At the request of Indonesia and Sri Lanka , the Netherlands will be returning 478 objects of cultural significance to Indonesia and to Sri Lanka. The objects were wrongfully brought to the Netherlands during the colonial period, acquired under duress or by looting . The decision to return them was made by Secretary of State for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu, following the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Return of Cultural Objects from Colonial Context, chaired by Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You. The works are currently in the collections of the National Museum of World Cultures and the Rijksmuseum.

Adam Khan Architects have been selected to lead the refurbishment of the Palais de Danse. This historic building in the heart of St Ives served as Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture studio in the 1960s and will now be reimagined as a space to showcase and build on her artistic legacy. After an extensive search, Khan has been appointed to lead a project team comprising Thread, Price & Myers, and Ritchie+Daffin.

On Thursday, June 29, the National Assembly unanimously passed – as did the Senate on May 23 – the bill on the restitution of cultural property that was the subject of dispossession in the context of the anti-Semitic persecution perpetrated between 1933 and 1945.