Torey Akers

Trump pulls US out of ‘woke’ Unesco

The State Department says that Unesco membership does not square with its “America-first” outlook

Highlights from New York’s Upstate Art Weekend 2025

The sixth edition of the annual art festival kicks off today

Bronx Museum of the Arts appoints Shamim M. Momin as director and chief curator

Momin, who has a long-standing relationship with the Whitney Museum and previously led the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, will start her role in September

Crystal Bridges Museum and Art Bridges receive 90 works of contemporary Indigenous art in landmark acquisition

The gift from the John and Susan Horseman Collection will expand access to Native art across the US

New York City art schools see surge in Gen Z applications

As economic uncertainty looms, young people are bucking former trends and betting on creativity

Trump seeks to defund Institute of American Indian Arts

The only four-year college of its kind is on Trump's chopping block, along with countless other Indigenous causes

Ford Foundation taps dean of Yale Law School as next president

The constitutional law scholar Heather K. Gerken will oversee the Ford Foundation, a $16bn philanthropic entity with an eye towards social justice

MFA Boston returns two works to Kingdom of Benin

The two artefacts are being restituted as part of the museum's closure of its Benin gallery, which had been donated by the billionaire collector Robert Lehman

Trump dances with Jeffrey Epstein in new National Mall sculpture

A new anonymous, satirical art piece aimed at the US President has found its way into the White House's orbit

Manhattan's Elizabeth Street Garden to be preserved after about-face by New York mayor

Mayor Eric Adams has sought to demolish the Soho sculpture park in order to build affordable housing for seniors

Getty launches international art and sustainability fellowship

The new programme, in partnership with 15 institutions on six continents, will support both preservation and the creation of new work in response to the challenges presented by climate change

Exhibitionsinterview

'I'm a container for my own spirit': Nickola Pottinger on her show of sculptures at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The artist's first solo museum exhibition explores her personal and ancestral history through folkloric Jamaican imagery and the material stuff of family memory

Post-Minimalist sculptor Joel Shapiro has died, aged 83

Best known for his looming, stylised figures assembled from wood beams, Shapiro changed the language of Minimalism with a distinctly personal flair

New venue for video, sound and other durational art forms coming to Manhattan

Helmed by the philanthropist Robert Rosenkranz and the founding director of Mass Moca, Joe Thompson, Canyon will open on the Lower East Side in 2026

National Endowment for the Humanities staff dwindles as two-thirds of workforce laid off

Around 100 workers at the US federal agency were let go on Tuesday, following orders from the Trump administration

Peruvian government reverses decision to shrink Nazca Lines site by nearly half

After outcry from civil servants and environmentalists, the Ministry of Culture has walked back a decision that might have left the famed geoglyphs more vulnerable to mining

Crime news

Taylor Swift's former neighbour pleads guilty to selling fake Basquiat, Warhol and Picasso works

The one-time elite admissions counselor has admitted to selling forged works by blue-chip artists to unsuspecting customers

Washington, DC street renamed ‘Alma Thomas Way’ in honour of renowned abstract painter

The street where Thomas—the first Black woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art—lived for most of her life now bears her name

After a close call, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House keeps its Unesco status

Fears have been dispelled that city budget cuts in Los Angeles would impact the architectural landmark's distinction

Interiors of former Whitney Museum building landmarked ahead of Sotheby's move-in

Marcel Breuer's Brutalist gem on the Upper East Side is to undergo a partial renovation as part of its auction house revamp

Three ancient artefacts from Metropolitan Museum returned to Iraq

Collectively valued at $500,000, the Mesopotamian relics are believed to have been looted and at least one was linked to the dealer and suspected trafficker Robin Symes

Humanities organisations sue Department of Government Efficiency to restore NEH grants

Two humanities organisations have filed a lawsuit against Doge and the National Endowment for the Humanities in an attempt to restore slashed funds

Manhattan District Attorney's Office returns eight artefacts to Peru, including golden Moche mask

Many of the antiquities being returned were looted from northern Peru in the 1960s and 70s

Mexican authorities decry ‘distorted information’ in MrBeast video filmed at ancient Mayan sites

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History released a statement praising MrBeast's mission while correcting some moments of "theatricality" in his video

Justin Sun and David Geffen's legal feud over $78m Giacometti sculpture expands

In a countersuit stand-off, the two parties are broadening the scope of their allegations beyond the disputed sculpture

SFMOMAnews

SFMoMA lays off 29 employees amid $5m structural deficit

The Bay Area institution announced another round of surprise layoffs in a public letter from the director

The secrets are out at Nada New York

The fair features many works that either conceal or reveal in sneaky, sensual ways

Future Fair updates portraiture for 2025

The fair's fifth iteration explores figuration and radical femininity

In pictures: Rujeko Hockley’s Frieze favourites

The associate curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art takes us on a tour of her top picks