Benjamin Sutton

Benjamin Sutton is the Editor, Americas of The Art Newspaper.

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The 2022 Whitney Biennial in five key themes

The latest iteration of the Whitney Museum's closely-watched exhibition is structured around a contrast between light and dark, but a few motifs provide alternate ways of navigating the massive show

New York University provost Katherine Fleming will be the Getty Trust’s next leader

Fleming succeeds the Getty’s longtime leader James Cuno, who is retiring this summer

Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend

From Robert Irwin at Pace to Barkley L. Hendricks at Jack Shainman

Romenews

The American Academy in Rome picks new director, the first woman of colour to lead the institution in its 128-year history

Aliza Wong, a professor and scholar who has written extensively about modern Italian history and culture, will take the reins in July

Italian court calls for restitution of ancient marble statue from Minneapolis Institute of Art

The two-metre-tall statue, which the museum acquired for $2.5m in 1986, was allegedly excavated illegally in the 1970s

Seven artists’ studios and environments added to ​​US National Trust for Historic Preservation programme

The new additions to the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios reflect an effort to add greater diversity to the network of sites

Sackler name will be removed from British Museum galleries, rooms and endowments

The removals are the result of a mutual agreement between the museum and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation

From Christie’s to the United Arab Emi-Rex: record-smashing Tyrannosaurus fossil to be star of new Abu Dhabi museum

The massive ‘Stan’ skeleton is one of two major scientific discoveries destined for the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island

Archaeologist calls for repatriation of Roman fresco in Getty collection that came from known antiquities traffickers

Research published by forensic archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis suggests the brilliant fresco fragment may have been illegally excavated near Pompeii

Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend

From Hollis Sigler at Andrew Kreps to James Turrell’s ode to Ad Reinhardt at Pace

Laurie Cumbo, city council member who founded a museum in Brooklyn, tapped to lead New York’s cultural affairs department

New York mayor Eric Adams has allegedly selected Cumbo, founder of Brooklyn’s Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, to lead the largest municipal arts department in the US

Los Angeles’s Underground Museum abruptly closes as directors depart

The museum, founded by the late Noah Davis and his wife, the artist Karon Davis, announced the sudden closure in a statement that offered few specifics but alluded to inner turmoil

Joe Biden taps major supporters of the Guggenheim, Menil Collection and Dia Art Foundation for advisory committee on the arts

The committee, established in 1958, advises the president on pressing issues in the arts and how federal policies can help shape them

Loansnews

European institutions pull loans from Moscow exhibition about the history of duels

Museums in the UK, France, Austria and Spain recalled their works, effectively postponing the Moscow Kremlin Museums exhibition indefinitely

Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend

From Michael Heizer at Gagosian to Frédéric Bruly Bouabré at the Museum of Modern Art

As Omicron wave recedes, US museums drop vaccine and mask requirements

With Covid-19 cases down sharply from January’s peak, art institutions from the Smithsonian to the Seattle Art Museum are no longer requiring visitors to mask up

Pussy Riot member curates US billboard art exhibition to raise awareness of gender pay gap

On the occasion of Women’s History Month, a show of large-scale public art curated by Nadya Tolokonnikova is taking over advertising spaces across the US

Why endow a museum wing when you can fund archives? Hauser & Wirth Institute gives $700,000 in grants to preserving historical records

Newly announced funding for the Studio Museum in Harlem and Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute follow 2021 grants to small nonprofits in Chicago, British Columbia and Hong Kong

Appeals court sides with Phillips in dispute with Chinese collector over auction of Gerhard Richter fighter jet painting

The decision, the latest (and possibly last) in a legal saga that stretches back to 2015, upholds a 2021 decision in the auction house’s favour

Ukrainian institutions in North America ramp up programming and field donations as Russian invasion intensifies

Museums and institutes devoted to Ukraine and its diaspora are experiencing a surge of support and interest brought on by war in the homeland

Artworks from Ukrainian museum appear as monumental projections in California

The partnership between a Bay Area nonprofit and a museum in Kyiv began shortly before the Russian invasion has taken on new urgency in the days since

Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend

From Danica Lundy's disquieting tableaux of teenage angst to Claudette Schreuders's introspective doubles

US artist Nick Cave to project his dancing ‘Soundsuits’ onto massive building in central Chicago

The large-scale video projection coincides with the opening of Cave’s major solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, which will then travel to the Guggenheim in New York

Moonnews

Artist Sacha Jafri plans to place the ‘first official artwork on the moon’

The aerospace-grade aluminium plate will be sent to space later this year, but earthbound collectors can partake of the journey thanks to line of exclusive NFTs

Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s studio building donated to Whitney Museum

The building, just a few blocks from the museum, will be renovated and used as a permanent home for the Whitney’s Independent Study Program

New takes on Old Masters in a landmark of Old Hollywood

New York-based Half Gallery has taken over the home of Dorothy Arzner, one of the most successful lesbians in Hollywood in the first half of the 20th century

In pictures: our pick of Frieze Los Angeles

From large-scale sculptures to hanging installations, this year's fair is living large

In Josh Kline's new film, cataclysm has become quotidian

The artist discusses his new film, which uses analogue special effects to depict a flooded New York City

In a Los Angeles backyard, a collector's gallery project expands

Collector Danny First is extending his homegrown programme beyond the walls of a replica of the Unabomber's nerve centre

NFTnews

New NFT platform with art world bona fides launches marketplace with Fang Lijun digital editions

The renowned Chinese painter’s first NFTs, commissioned by Outland, will be followed by US artist Rachel Rose’s latest works in the format