Gareth Harris

Gareth Harris is the Chief Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper

Collector couple to fund art history and AI fellowship at London’s Birkbeck

The fellowship, supported by the founders of the Klesch Collection, is looking for an early-career researcher ‘redefining how art history is studied in the age of artificial intelligence and digital technologies’

Competition invites children across the UK to reimagine Bayeux Tapestry's lost panel

Winning primary school classes will receive a free trip to the British Museum in London to see the Bayeux Tapestry, as well as a funded visit to the Battle of Hastings site

Four works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina stolen from Sicily museum

The heist, which included several San Gregorio altarpiece panels, occurred on Saturday while the town was celebrating Assumption Day

Italynews

Stolen Cezanne, Matisse and Renoir paintings recovered in Italy

The works had been taken from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation near the city of Parma in March

Camden Art Centre director Martin Clark to step down and lead Towner Eastbourne

The museum director will move from London to the East Sussex institution ahead of the development of its new outpost in the South Downs National Park

Sienanews

Teodora Axente unveils trophy banner for Palio di Siena horse race

Each year, Siena commissions an artist to hand paint the silk ‘drappellone’, awarded to the museum associated with the race winner

Elvira Dyangani Ose appointed artistic director of Cape Town's Zeitz MoCAA

The former director of the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona will follow in the footsteps of the late Koyo Kouoh when she takes up her new role in October

Book Clubfeature

What’s it like organising the Venice Biennale? Former curators dish the dirt

Robert Storr speaks about his tenure in this exclusive extract from Massimiliano Gioni’s new book of interviews with biennale artistic directors

Hurvin Anderson commission to feature in ‘Beyond Bayeux’ exhibition spotlighting contemporary British tapestries

The work, made for the sexcentenary of Oxford's Lincoln College, will be shown alongside other artist-designed tapestries woven at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh

Book Clubinterview

The author of a new book on Lavinia Fontana’s erotic art reveals all

The Italian scholar Enrico Maria dal Pozzolo tells us about new discoveries and why the Bolognese painter was an innovator in her field

Banksynews

UK Ministry of Justice spent more than £85,000 removing Banksy mural from the Royal Courts of Justice

According to the BBC, Westminster council has also spent around £60,000 on security measures for a statue the street artist installed in central London in April

V&A deputy director Tim Reeve appointed to lead English Heritage

Reeve will become chief executive officer of the organisation at which he started his career

Valerie Hillings appointed inaugural director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

Currently the director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Hillings worked on the Abu Dhabi project from 2009 to 2018

London mayor Sadiq Khan calls for city's public museums to remain free to enter

‘Free museums and galleries are a fundamental part of London life’, says the long-serving Labour mayor in a new op-ed

Royal Museums Greenwich workers vote to strike over pay and working conditions

The strike across the east London museums will occur on 11 and 12 August as Prospect union pledges to step up industrial action across the heritage sector this summer

UK artist Conrad Shawcross sounds alarm on Jodrell Bank Observatory funding cuts

The Unesco World Heritage site, located in northwest England, is home to the UK's largest telescope

‘Amazon-style’ conditions: Prospect union members overwhelmingly vote to strike at London's V&A museums

V&A staff represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union are also considering industrial action

English Heritage debuts daily prize draw for ‘private time’ at Stonehenge this August

Winners and their booking group will receive ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand within the ancient stones with no one else around’ before opening hours

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi announces opening date

The latest museum in the Guggenheim network will open on 11 December 2026, twenty years after its original 2006 announcement

Royal College of Art and Norwich University of the Arts announce jointly awarded undergraduate degrees

Undergraduate art students will be able to study for the jointly awarded degree based at the Norwich University of the Arts from September 2027

The Artists Information Company, the UK's largest artists’ membership organisation, relaunches as Artists Now

Founded in 1980, the organisation has also developed a Green Manifesto to guide artist members toward a more environmentally responsible practice

Filmnews

Viking centre that loaned ship for ‘The Odyssey’ says that it has not been compensated by Universal for repairs

The Värmlands Vikingacenter in Sweden has reportedly not been able to sail its replica ship this summer due to $6000 worth of damages; Universal disputes the non-payment claims

Glasgow School of Art says £265m needed to restore destroyed Mackintosh building is ‘unaffordable’

The future of the iconic Art Nouveau building may be in jeopardy following fires in 2014 and 2018, as the Scottish art school looks for external funding

Jessica Morgan named new Tate director

Currently the director of Dia Art Foundation in New York, Morgan will succeed Maria Balshaw as director of the UK museum network from January 2027

Cuban artist-activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara travels to Miami following end of prison sentence

The artist was held in government custody before being expelled from Cuba while a human rights organisation filed a legal petition for his release

V&A reveals 2027 exhibitions, ranging from South Asian contemporary art and textiles to punk music and fashion

Exhibitions on chintz, ceramics, and pop culture will headline in South Kensington, while South Asian contemporary art and Vivienne Westwood will feature at the museum's east London and Dundee locations, respectively

Robert Rauschenberg foundation donates three sculptures to shared Tate and National Galleries of Scotland collection

Now part of the joint Artist Rooms collection, the 1980s works will go on show at Tate Modern in September as part of a free Robert Rauschenberg display

Bayeux Tapestry arrives at the British Museum in London after secret English Channel crossing

The medieval embroidery was delivered to the museum from France in the early hours of the morning ahead of the September exhibition opening

Icom adopts new code of ethics for museums in bid to address a ‘rapidly changing world’

The new code provides revised principles on how institutions should handle issues ranging from education to their relationship to society