Gareth Harris

Gareth Harris is the Chief Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper

The best art books for summer 2022—as recommended by artists, curators, museum directors and dealers

From artist biographies and essay collections to a dystopian novel, surf culture and a rock’n’roll autobiography

Compiled by José da Silva and Gareth Harris

Oxford and Cambridge universities approve returning 213 looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria

Charity Commission could veto the decision to repatriate objects from Ashmolean Museum and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Controversial 'Black Boy' signs on British pubs explored in exhibition at Turner Contemporary

Turner prize nominee Ingrid Pollard seeks out depictions of African figure that "haunt every English town and village"

Welcome home, Cerith Wyn Evans: Welsh artist gets major show in Llandudno

Neon and moving image works will fill five galleries at the arts centre Mostyn in north Wales

Climate activists glue themselves to Botticelli masterpiece in Italy

Officials at the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence say that the 15th-century painting was not damaged thanks to protective glass cover

New art from the ruins of Pompeii: archaeological site launches digital fellowships

Contemporary initiative also includes new book with contributions from more than 60 artists such as Adrian Villar Rojas, Lara Favaretto and Michael Rakowitz

London foundry redevelopment still ringing alarm bells for heritage campaigners

Question mark over historic Whitechapel site a year after boutique hotel plan approved

London museums close galleries as temperatures reach record high

Staff union claims it pressured the V&A and British Museum to take special measures

Christie’s launches venture capital fund for art tech startups with a focus on NFTs

Move follows concerted drive by the auction house to gain ground in the blockchain and fintech domains

Russian embassy takes offence at Vladimir Putin clown and rainbow picture

Russian officials in Switzerland say they are “outraged” by LGBTQ connection and “war criminal” label

South India's first private art museum to open in December

The Museum of Art and Photography in Bengaluru hopes to “push the needle” in a country where state funding for culture is being cut

Sri Lankan activist art by Chandraguptha Thenuwara to be shown at Frieze London

Works on paper reflect deepening political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka

New Stedelijk institution to be ‘self-critical thorn in the eye of the museum’

The Amsterdam museum will launch the experimental project space next year, which will tap into socially engaged themes

Copies of the Parthenon Marbles—carved by a robot—to go on show in London

Project by Oxford’s Institute for Digital Archaeology fuels debate about restitution of controversial sculptures

Artist can take Maurizio Cattelan to court over banana work, says Florida judge

Joe Morford claims that the viral Comedian piece infringes copyright on his own duct tape work Banana & Orange

NFTnews

Italian government plans to halt digital sales of masterpieces from its major museums

Move follows €240,000 sale of NFT of Michelangelo work, with Uffizi taking a share of the profits

UK prime minister Boris Johnson resigns—here are the art world's reactions

From Cold War Steve and David Shrigley's creative responses to Bob and Roberta Smith's warning that bigger issues are at play

Constable painting rehung at National Gallery after protestors glue themselves to frame

The campaign group, Just Stop Oil, has targeted famous works at Kelvingrove, Courtauld and Manchester Art Gallery

Victoria & Albert Museum director says it is time to change UK law that stops museums from ‘disposing’ of works

Tristram Hunt aims to start a “conversation” about the act next year, arguing that some items should be allowed to be restituted or deaccessioned

‘The Benin Bronzes are returning home’: Germany and Nigeria sign historic restitution agreement

More than 1,100 looted items will be transferred though some artefacts will remain on loan to German museums

New research reveals that just 2% of named public statues in Britain commemorate people of colour

Major project by Art UK involving 500 volunteers sees 13,500 sculptures from across the UK posted online

Explicit drawings by Bloomsbury Group artist Duncan Grant to go on show at Charleston

Works depicting gay sex—thought to have been lost—were kept secret for decades

Activists glue themselves to painting in Glasgow museum to protest art world's fossil fuel use

Two demonstrators are in police custody after they attached themselves to a 19th-century landscape by Horatio McCulloch at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery

Berlin announces several restitution agreements with Namibia, Cameroon and Nigeria

Berlin Biennale conference will focus on "decolonising" arts and culture

Duncan Ballantyne-Way. With additional reporting by Gareth Harris

Tate announces 2023 programme including exhibition pairing Hilma af Klint with Piet Mondrian

Solo shows dedicated to Isaac Julien and Sarah Lucas, a survey of contemporary African photography and the controversial "Philip Guston Now" are also on the slate