The Week in Art

New Museum extension opens, NextGen collectors, a Wardian Case in Oxford

The New Museum in New York opens its new extension, designed by Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas of the architectural practice OMA, this week. Ben Luke talks to Massimiliano Gioni, the New Museum’s artistic director, and the co-curator of the inaugural exhibition in the new building, called New Humans: Memories of the Future. We then speak to one of The Art Newspaper’s editors-at-large, Georgina Adam, who has just published a new book NextGen Collectors and the Art Market. And this episode’s Work of the Week is an example of a Wardian Case, a wooden box with a glass cover developed by the physician Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in the early 1830s. This example is part of the exhibition In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Ben speaks to Shailendra Bhandare, co-curator of the exhibition. The New Museum and New Humans: Memories of the Future open on 21 March. NextGen Collectors and the Art Market, by Georgina Adam, Lund Humphries, £19.99 In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 19 March-16 August ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Iran war: art communities and heritage in Iran, moderate recovery in the art market, Cannupa Hanska Luger at the Sydney Biennale

As the war in the Middle East continues to rage, Ben Luke speaks to The Art Newspaper’s reporter on Iran and other countries in the region, Sarvy Geranpayeh, about the response of cultural communities in Iran and Lebanon, and the damage to heritage in both countries. The latest edition of the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report has been published and shows that the market has returned to growth. But the details show a more complicated story, which Ben explores with the writer of the report, Clare McAndrew. And this episode’s Work of the Week is VOLUME (III – White Bay Power Station, Australia) a new work by the Indigenous American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. This sculpture and sound installation featuring seven ceramic dingo skulls is part of the latest edition of the Sydney Biennale in Australia, and has gained an unintended topicality due to a recent tragedy involving the death of a backpacker in Queensland. Ben speaks to our reporter in Australia, Elizabeth Fortescue, about the work and the wider context. Rememory: the 25th Biennale of Sydney, 14 March-14 June Save up to 50% on The Art Newspaper’s annual print and digital package with a new limited-time offer. Subscribe by 19 March to receive the April edition including our annual Visitor Figures guide and a special report on EXPO Chicago. In May, don’t miss our Venice Biennale Guide and map to must-see exhibitions and pavilions. www.theartnewspaper.com/subscriptions-MARCH50?promocode=MARCH50&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=MARCH50 [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/subscriptions-MARCH50?promocode=MARCH50&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=MARCH50] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Iran war and culture in the Gulf, the Whitney Biennial, Rembrandt discovery

As the war against Iran instigated last week by Israel and the United States continues to spread through the Middle East, we explore how it affects tourism in the Arabian Gulf, of which art and culture more generally have been a cornerstone. One of The Art Newspaper’s Middle East correspondents, Melissa Gronlund, joins Ben Luke to discuss the latest news. The 82nd biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York opens this weekend and our editor-in-chief in the Americas, Ben Sutton, and Elena Goukassian, our senior editor of museums and heritage, tell us what they thought of it. And this episode’s Work of the Week is the Vision of Zacharias in the Temple (1633) by Rembrandt. Researchers at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have demonstrated that the painting, which had previously been documented as a copy of a lost original, is in fact an authentic work by the Dutch master. We speak to Jonathan Bikker, curator of 17th-century Dutch paintings, who was part of the team that secured the attribution to Rembrandt. The picture is now on view to the public at the Rijksmuseum. Whitney Biennial 2026, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 8 March-23 August Rembrandt’s The Vision of Zacharias in the Temple is now on view at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Save up to 50% on The Art Newspaper’s annual print and digital package with a new limited-time offer. Subscribe by 19 March to receive the April edition including our annual Visitor Figures guide and a special report on EXPO Chicago. In May, don’t miss our Venice Biennale Guide and map to must-see exhibitions and pavilions. www.theartnewspaper.com/subscriptions-MARCH50?promocode=MARCH50&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=MARCH50 [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/subscriptions-MARCH50?promocode=MARCH50&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=MARCH50] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Venice Biennale details revealed, Beatriz González, Tracey Emin

Following the tragic death of Koyo Kouoh last May, the details of her final project—In Minor Keys, the international exhibition of the 2026 Venice Biennale—were unveiled this week by the collaborative team that will carry through her vision for the show. Ben Luke speaks to The Art Newspaper’s editor-at-large Jane Morris, about the show’s themes and strands and the artist list. The Barbican Art Gallery in London has opened a new exhibition of the work of the Colombian artist Beatriz González, who died in January, aged 93. Ben takes a tour of the show with its curator, Lotte Johnson. And this episode’s Work of the Week features in another major new London show: Tracey Emin: A Second Life, at Tate Modern. Our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, speaks to the outgoing director of Tate, Maria Balshaw, who has curated the Emin exhibition, about The Last of the Gold (2002), an embroidered blanket that has never been shown publicly until now. The Venice Biennale, 9 May-22 November. Beatriz González, Barbican Art Gallery, until 10 May. You can hear our interview with Doris Salcedo in which we discuss González’s influence on A brush with… Doris Salcedo, wherever you get your podcasts. Tracey Emin: A Second Life, Tate Modern, London, 27 February-31 August. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

National Gallery’s deficit bombshell, Simon Schama on birds and art, Vilhelm Hammershøi

After opening a major building project in May last year and announcing the details of another in September, which is due to open in the early 2030s, the National Gallery in London has revealed, quite unexpectedly, that it has to make serious cuts, including to its staff, in the face of a deficit that could rise to £8.2m in the coming year. Martin Bailey, The Art Newspaper’s special correspondent in London, tells us more. In The Hague in the Netherlands, the Mauritshuis has just opened a new exhibition called BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schama. Since The Goldfinch, the 17th-century painting by Carel Fabritius, is not able to speak, Schama tells Ben Luke about the show, including Fabritius’ remarkable picture. And this episode’s Work of the Week is Sunbeams or Sunlight. Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams, Strandgade 30 (1900) by the Danisj painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. The picture is one of the many highlights of a new exhibition, Hammershøi: The Eye that Listens, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. The curator of the exhibition, Clara Marcellán, joins Ben to discuss the painting. BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schama, Mauritshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands, until 7 June. Hammershøi: The Eye that Listens, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, until 31 May 2026; Kunsthaus Zürich, 3 July-25 October. Visit the Vilhelm Hammershøi Digital Archive, hammershoi.smk.dk [http://hammershoi.smk.dk]. Buy The Art Newspaper's book The Year Ahead 2026 at theartnewspapershop.com [http://theartnewspapershop.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.