Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Collector Amanda Precourt Skipped the Vanity Museum to Give Denver a Community Art Space by Elisa Carollo for the Observer. Collector Amanda Precourt transformed an abandoned industrial building into Cookie Factory - a free, community-focused Denver art space that prioritizes public accessibility, site-specific artist commissions, and social impact over private legacy or market value.
The Art Newspaper
Gareth Harris, Ruth Mackenzie to reportedly oversee museums, libraries and relationship with Arts Council England for UK culture ministry
Wendyrosie Scott, Art centre launches in Durham, UK with light-themed works by Tracey Emin, Dan Flavin
From the Editors, Somebody to Love at the V&A as Freddie Mercury's costumes going on view
Sophia Kishkovsky, Former Pussy Riot member says she was recruited by Russian security service to spy on dissident artists
Artforum
Alex Bennett, Dream Apartment: Nancy Lupo’s Real Estate Fantasies
From the Editors, Details Of Allegations Against Suspended MuCEM President Revealed
From the Editors, Europol Warns of Increasingly Violent Museum Thefts
From the Editors, FBI Returns 48 Ancient Objects to Egypt in Repatriation Ceremony
From the Editors, Smithsonian’s Prospective Plans for American Latino Museum Could Circumvent Congressional Approval
From the Editors, Kvareli Foundation for Contemporary Art to Open in Georgia
From the Editors, Wolf Kahn Foundation Has A New Space In Manhattan
Artnet
John Chiaverina, Feats of Strength! At MoMA, Brooklyn’s Pageant Space Hosts Performance Marathon
Cristina Ruiz, ‘We’ve Reached a Tipping Point’: Inside the Labor Unrest Gripping U.K. Museums
ARTnews
Ho Won Kim, Claudia Pagès Rabal Plays in the Ruins of Settler Colonial Time
Devorah Lauter, Estonian Artists Donate Artworks for Auction Following $800,000 Bank Scam
Brian Boucher, FBI Hands Over 48 Illegally Trafficked Artifacts to Egypt After Art Crimes Team Investigation
Francesca Aton, Eight Years After Its Theft, Picasso Etching Discovered Hanging in Milwaukee Apartment
Emily Watlington, Move Over Midcentury Modern: We Want the Wiener Werkstätte
Hikmat Mohammed, Russian Strike Causes Fire at Ukraine’s Kherson Regional Art Museum
Hikmat Mohammed, US Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Ballroom to Move Forward
Francesca Aton, Two Years After Internal Audit, 111 Artworks Remain Missing from Canada’s Indigenous Art Centre Collection
George Nelson, Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ Soccer Ball Sells for $3.3 M., Well Below $10 M. Estimate
ArtReview
From the Editors, Helsinki Biennial 2027 announces theme and artists
From the Editors, Ryan Presley wins 2026 Telstra NATSIAA
Emily May, Lina Lapelytė: Time for Jenga
Financial Times
Nick Foulkes, Hanneli Rupert, the Richemont scion building a Davos for craft
Frieze
Beniamino Foschini, Must-See: Dana Schutz Turns Celebration into a Warning
Galerie
Nadja Sayej, 5 Essential Facts About Louise Bourgeois
Rena Gross, SFMOMA Ready for First Fashion Exhibit in Over 40 Years with Louise Bourgeois, Dior Encounter
The Guardian
Danny Vincent, Artist known for sculptures of Mao Zedong jailed for slandering ‘heroes and martyrs’
Catherine Slessor, Climate-saving wonder – or €240m vanity bauble that ages like milk? The rocks set to hit Rotterdam docks
Nadia Khomami, Freddie Mercury’s ‘splendid things’ to go on display at V&A
Charlotte Higgins, The ear witness: Turner-winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan and his ‘sound evidence’ exposés of human rights abuses
Hyperallergic
Anna Lee, Sliman Mansour, Painter of Palestinian Hope and Humanity, Dies at 79
Lauren Moya Ford, Maria Martins Was More Than Just Duchamp’s Lover
Amy Levine-Kennedy, How AIDS Activists Turned Graphic Design Into a Weapon
Anna Lee, NYC Arts Nonprofits Benefit from Mamdani’s $8.4 Million in Grants
The New York Times
Zachary Small, Trump Officials Propose Sale of ‘Woke’ Painting by Kehinde Wiley
Observer
Nick Hilden, From the Old West to the Alien: Where to See the Best Art in Denver
Xinyi Ye, Photographer Steven Seidenberg On Capturing Temporality and Decay
Daniel Grant, New Collectors Seeking Old Stories About America Are Reshaping the Market for Western Art
Elisa Carollo, For 10 Years, Desert X Has Let the Rift Valley Landscape Do the Curating
EDITOR’S PICK - Elisa Carollo, Collector Amanda Precourt Skipped the Vanity Museum to Give Denver a Community Art Space: "I feel like so many people in the art world talk about the financial value of the art, and I’m like, no. What about the emotional value? What about the social value? What about the cultural value?"
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Chinese artist Gao Zhen sentenced to 3 years over works depicting Mao
Adam Schrader, Art Institute of Chicago custodians lose museum jobs as outsourcing takes effect
The Wall Street Journal
Willard Spiegelman, ‘Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings From John Ashbery’s Collection’ Review: Picturing a Poet’s Circle
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