Gareth Harris

Gareth Harris is the Chief Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper

‘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

Book Clubinterview

The worst of us: a philosopher’s guide to the world’s most depraved art

The academic Daisy Dixon discusses her new book investigating the art that has provoked outrage over the centuries

Interest in art’s benefit to health grows as Wales and Greece take major steps

Government awareness is increasing globally as the emphasis shifts from treatment towards prevention

National Gallery in London adds to its collection of women artists with Angelica Kauffman donation

A painting by the 18th-century artist was given to the museum by Dallas-based collectors Richard and Luba Barrett, alongside two other works

British Museum to turn red for second fundraising ball

Tickets for this year's event will cost £3,500 a head to raise funds towards the museum's billion-pound transformation

Bayeux Tapestry exhibition brings in £2.5m for the British Museum on first day of ticket sales

Tickets to view the fragile medieval tapestry, which is on rare loan from France, are now sold out through the end of 2026, with further releases to come

National Museum Cardiff may temporarily close for renovation work, officials say

Any closure of the museum's building “will be subject to a full review and consultation”, according to Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales)

UK charity Hospital Rooms to distribute artist posters to more than 1,000 mental health facilities for tenth anniversary

Designs by Grayson Perry and Yinka Shonibare will go on show across England and also be for sale to raise funds to support more artist commissions in psychiatric wards

UK government leaving museums vulnerable with ‘hands-off approach’, parliamentary report says

The Public Accounts Committee scrutinises the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in its report, accusing the government department of a ‘lack of leadership’

Art marketanalysis

What sold at Christie's London auction of controversial Zabludowicz collection?

Consigned from the holdings of Anita and Poju Zabludowicz, the £15.4m sale fell within estimate

The Box in Plymouth, ‘a welcoming space’ which ‘reaches beyond its walls’, wins UK Art Fund’s Museum of the Year prize

The museum has been praised for the ambitious way it has shared its collections and for its social outreach

Women auto workers who helped inspire UK's Equal Pay Act honoured in east London public sculpture

Made in collaboration with local students, Ruth Ewan's sculpture will mark the beginning of a heritage trail at the redeveloped Dagenham Green site

Helen Cammock removes film criticising Winston Churchill from London's National Portrait Gallery following complaint

‘Persistence’ implies that the former prime minister is to blame for the 1943 Bengal famine, which historian Andrew Roberts says is inaccurate

London Museum announces opening date for new Smithfield location

The revamped museum, which focuses on the history of the UK capital, will open to the public on 28 November 2026

Paula Cooper Gallery wins first Art Basel Gallery Legacy Award

The prizewinner nominated Chapter NY to receive funding towards participation at next year's fair

Art Basel Qatar to move to Herzog & de Meuron-designed venue

The emir's Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani revealed details of the purpose-built location, on which construction is expected to begin in 2028