Politics
What restitution experts have to say about President Macron’s pledge to return African artefacts
The French leader’s announcement in Burkina Faso is hailed as historic—but gets a mixed response
How Trump’s new tax plan could affect the art world
GOP proposal could result in fewer gifts to museums and less art on the market
EU Parliament pulls plug on UK’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2023
Move raises fears that Brexit will leave Britain 'culturally isolated'
Putin backed culture forum in St Petersburg sparks debate over artistic freedoms in Russia
The liberal intelligentsia say the culture sphere is under attack, while officials argue that it is flourishing
Conservative leaders oppose court order to remove cross from Pope John Paul II sculpture in France
Poland’s prime minister has offered to save the work from censorship and the “dictates of political correctness”
Agnes Gund’s Art for Justice Fund awards $22m in grants to activist groups and social programmes
As well as backing arts-focused initiatives, the money will help support organisations working to change government policy
Swiss journalists reporting on opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi detained for two days
The pair were blindfolded then interrogated for up to 10 hours by authorities over their coverage of migrant workers
Letter from Yemen: artist speaks out about his country’s 'forgotten war'
Ahmed Jahaf describes what it is like to live through catastrophic conflict
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode two: How Saudi artists are driving political change
As Abu Dhabi Art fair opens, we speak to the Saudi artists Manal Al Dowayan and Ahmed Mater. Plus: Iraq's Dia Azzawi on creating the Arab world's Guernica
Russia and Israel sign historic deal to share digitised Gunzburg Collection
Ownership of vast library of Hebrew manuscripts and books has long been contested
‘The newly empty plinths are all potential Fourth Plinths’
The artist Hew Locke says a creative response to memorials dedicated to slave owners and empire builders can reveal hidden histories
Activists deface American Museum of Natural History’s Theodore Roosevelt monument
The group says it splashed red paint on the statue as “an act of applied art criticism”
Erdogan responds to detention of leading cultural activist Osman Kavala
Chairman of the Anadolu Kültür centre, who is outspoken critic of Turkish president, was detained at Istanbul airport
Artists in Qatar take stand against blockade with super-sized graffiti
Qatar Museums has called for more anti-embargo art on “bridges, tunnels and walls” across the country
Brazilian arts group calls out censorship by 'arrogant fundamentalists' in open letter
More than 1,000 artists, curators and professionals have signed the protest document published by the pro-democracy collective Pela Democracia
Imperial War Museum explores artists’ responses to war and terror after 9/11
Show of more than 40 artists includes Jenny Holzer, Grayson Perry and Gerhard Richter
Ai Weiwei stopped from boarding flight from New York to São Paulo
Chinese artist was en route to premiere of his documentary Human Flow when staff wrongly claimed his visa was invalid
LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner’s anti-Trump work adopted in Nantes
The protest work He Will Not Divide US has been moved four times after attacks by far-right extremists and vandals in the US and UK
Performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky sets fire to a bank in Paris
Russian artist famous for nailing scrotum to Moscow’s Red Square invokes the “great French Revolution”
Ai Weiwei calls out Trump’s divisiveness and ‘super rich people’ at Cooper Union talk
The artist discussed the impetus behind his New York City-wide public art project Good Fences Makes Good Neighbors
Audrey Azoulay, former French culture minister, to be Unesco’s next director-general
In a surprise election, the dark-horse candidate won the vote of the culture agency’s executive board
Ai Weiwei’s documentary debut Human Flow is more of a journey than a j’accuse
The feature-length film is now open in New York and Los Angeles
US to pull out of Unesco by 2018
The State Department says the decision was based on concerns over funding and anti-Israel bias in the cultural organisation
Alfredo Jaar condemns 'brutal' CIA torture chambers
Artist unveils his “black site” installation in Yorkshire as Guardian article reveals the suffering of prisoners shackled in dungeons in Afghanistan and Thailand
Show by late curator Martin Roth goes ahead in Qatar despite Gulf blockade
German design survey has opened alongside Deutsche Bank collection exhibition in beleaguered state
UK could completely ban ivory trade by 2018
The government has launched an immediate consultation period with the aim of protecting African elephants
The sculptures that unite America
As the debate rages about divisive Confederate monuments, five leading US scholars and curators pick the nation’s greatest memorial sculptures