Gareth Harris

Gareth Harris is the Chief Contributing Editor of The Art Newspaper

Prison inmates and artist Marinella Senatore create light installation for Vatican Jubilee Year

The Holy See will launch a series of contemporary art projects at prisons next year

MFA Boston acquires 38 photographs by Robert Frank capturing life in 1940s Paris

The experimental images feature in a new exhibition centred on a personal family scrapbook

The art of the algorithm—new magazine launches dedicated to Artificial Intelligence works

Biannual publication spotlights 'visual experiments and conceptually refined pieces'

Unesco beefs up protection for cultural heritage in Ukraine

UN heritage body grants 'provisional enhanced protection' to the Odessa Literary Museum and the National Historical and Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar

Ancient Torlonia treasures head for the US and Canada

Discussions continue about reopening the Torlonia Museum in Rome, says foundation director

Uffizi’s secret Vasari Corridor reopens over Florence’s Ponte Vecchio

The private passageway built by the Medici dynasty cost €11m to restore

Santa Fe, Bukhara and Liverpool: the most interesting biennials to visit in 2025

Plus, full listings of the biennials, triennials and festivals taking place throughout the year

London-based Studio Weave wins competition to revamp British Museum entrance

New welcome pavilions and a landscaped forecourt are scheduled for completion early 2026

Naomi Beckwith named artistic director of Documenta in 2027

The deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum says she is "humbled by the breadth of this responsibility"

Arts Council England to face scrutiny as government announces new review

Former minister of state for culture, creative Industries and tourism Margaret Hodge will lead the process

Saudi Arabia launches digital art institute as part of $62.2bn Diriyah complex

A vast new digital art institute, Diriyah Art Futures in Riyadh, opened earlier this month with "cutting-edge labs and immersive exhibition spaces"

Louise Bourgeois’s mammoth spider will return to Tate Modern for the gallery's 25th anniversary

A new “capsule collection” trail will also feature works by Mark Rothko and Dorothea Tanning

On the record: UK artist Peter Doig to mix music and art in new London show

From October 2025, Serpentine Galleries will host "House of Music"— a “multi-sensory environment” pairing the artist's paintings with music and film

UK strikes culture partnership deal with Saudi Arabia

The new bilateral agreement is intended to help Saudi Arabia “fulfil its ambition to become a global visitor destination”

‘As long as we can work, we will’: Lebanon galleries re-open following Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

Since the agreement came into force on 27 November, spaces have been trying to return to some semblance of normality

Saudi Arabia to give €50m towards Centre Pompidou refurbishment

France will also help develop a raft of new museums in the kingdom, including a photography institution

‘One of a kind’: Barbican and Fondation Giacometti to collaborate on 2025 exhibition series

Historic pieces by the acclaimed Swiss sculptor Giacometti will be brought together with works by three leading contemporary artists at the Brutalist London venue

Some of our favourite books of 2024—picked by The Art Newspaper’s books team

Our literary editors share what has delighted them this year, from art-themed novels to edifying histories

France returns ancient artefacts to Ethiopia in diplomatic ‘handover’

The French culture minister insists the move is “a handover, not a restitution, in that these objects have never been part of French public collections”

Seven years on from Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to return Africa’s heritage, frustration grows about the lack of progress

An Ivorian drum will be returned—though only under a special “deposit agreement”—while a crucial colonial bill has stalled

Hew Locke to ‘disrupt’ statue of Belgium monarch who oversaw brutal Congo regime

The British-Guyanese artist will place five masts in front of the depiction of Leopold II, whose administration was characterised by “systematic brutality and atrocities”

Welsh government hopes to boost tourism and heritage with proposed ‘tourist tax’

Wales may follow cities such as Venice in introducing the controversial levy

Venice Biennale reveals 2024 visitor figures

Overall visits were down on 2022, but organisers report an uptick in attendees from underrepresented groups

UK artists earning an average of just £12,500 per year, says new report

The document warns that visual arts is now a 'privileged profession', where 'only those with certain economic advantages can afford to pursue and sustain a career'

Controversial Science Museum sponsor charged in US over alleged bribery scheme

Gautam Adani—who lends his name to the museum's Adani Green Energy Gallery—was indicted in New York on charges including securities fraud

Tracey Emin helps win fight to protect famous Margate tower block

Council rejects proposal to replace windows in Arlington House, a Brutalist seafront building

Looted Etruscan treasures seized after ‘tomb raiders’ post works online

Italian police used wire taps and drone surveillance to intercept the thieves