Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Comment | Why museums should tread carefully with audio and video in exhibition spaces by John-Paul Stonard for The Art Newspaper. Stonard argues that intrusive audio and video can distract from art and turn museums into entertainment-driven visitor attractions.
The Art Newspaper
Carlie Porterfield, Contemporary Istanbul expands international reach with 17 newcomers
Gareth Harris, UK government places export bar on ‘rare’ Renaissance sculpture worth £4.6m
Emma Cieslik, Hundreds gather at Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s attacks
Lisa Movius, Late greats David Hockney and Wu Guanzhong shown together at Christie’s Hong Kong
EDITOR’S PICK - John-Paul Stonard, Comment | Why museums should tread carefully with audio and video in exhibition spaces: Cultural institutions must avoid falling into the trap of treating art as a visitor attraction
Emi Eleode, Perfect posture? MoMA exhibition explores perspectives on body politics in public spaces
Artforum
Alex Jovanovich, From A to T & Back Again: Openings, Part One
Theo Belci, From A to T & Back Again: Openings, Part Two
Matthew McLean, “What Does It Mean to Be Animate?”: The Films of Diego Marcon
Katy Barkan, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
Artnet
Katya Kazakina, Will Gagosian’s Brice Marden Blockbuster Send His Market Soaring Again?
Adam Lindemann, Lunch With Adam: Convicted Fraudster Inigo Philbrick on Prison Life, Regrets, and Why He Did It
Richard Whiddington, Gertrude Abercrombie Painting Bought at Estate Sale for $30 Could Fetch $250k
Ben Davis, Highs and Lows of Just-Opened Gallery Shows in NYC
Min Chen, How John Wilson Found Beauty—and Impermanence—in Concrete
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Profits Quadruple for Art Basel’s Parent Company—and More Industry Intel
Sonia Manalili and Margaret Carrigan, Is Vintage Couture the Next Collecting Frontier?
ARTnews
Maximilíano Durón, Dallas Invitational to Expand to London for Frieze Week
Lavender Au, Liu Wei’s Cut-Up and Reassembled Sculptures Take Over the Met Museum’s Facade
Maximilíano Durón, Visitors Arrested at Louvre After Posting Their Artworks Near Mona Lisa
Alex Greenberger, Documenta 16 Curator Naomi Beckwith Says Some Artists Declined to Participate Due to Germany’s Stance on Gaza
Brian Boucher, Rep. Joyce Beatty Asks Judge to Make ‘Crystal Clear’ Trump Cannot Demolish Kennedy Center in Wake of Viral Photo
Anne Doran, New Discoveries at Ancient Egyptian Fort Include Ceremonial Burial of a Horse
Brian Boucher, Tomokazu Matsuyama and Tom Wesselmann Estate Team Up on a Show at the Pop Artist’s New York Studio
Andy Battaglia, Stockholm’s Moderna Museet Appoints Cédric Fauq as Curator of Contemporary International Art
Alex Greenberger, At the Guggenheim, Taryn Simon Mounts a Rare America 250th Anniversary Show Worth Celebrating
Devorah Lauter, Head of Brussels Government Seeks to Oust Kanal-Centre Pompidou Director Ahead of November Opening
Brian Boucher, Despite ‘Significant Impact’ of Middle East Wars, Art Basel Parent Group’s First Half 2026 Revenue Climbed 12 Percent
Francesca Aton, Record Rainfall Causes Damage at the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti in Florence
Brian Boucher, Johnny Depp’s Far-Out Art Makes Its China Debut. Will the Show Aid the Controversial Actor’s Comeback?
ArtReview
Max Crosbie Jones, Lin Htet Aung: Art After the Myanmar Coup d’Etat
Desirae Embree, The George Lucas Museum: It’s a Trap!
From the Editors, Rodrigo Cass, artist whose minimal work was rooted in faith, 1983–2026
Financial Times
Simon Morley, Entente cordiale: how French living has influenced British artists
Tim Hayward, A love letter to the luncheonette
Charlotte Burns, The legacy of Emmett Till
Frieze
Laura Smith, Olivia Colling, and Chloe Stead, The Hepworth Wakefield Co-directors on the Power of Local Pride
Agnish Ray, Simón Vega Recasts Ancient Power for the Digital Age
Alison Hugill, Marie Schubert Turns Gender and Luxury Inside Out
Juliet Jacques, Maren Karlson Paints the Shadows of Germany’s Radical Past
The Guardian
Alice Fisher, ‘Our culture is rich and we need our own space’: the fight to build a permanent centre for Deaf people
Quinn Moreland, Taryn Simon on her most ambitious exhibition yet: ‘It’s built almost like a novel’
Anna Ivanenko, Meditating by the Dnipro: I’m an artist in Ukraine, searching for peace and a life between the missiles
Hyperallergic
From the Editors, Taryn Simon’s Evidence as Spectacle
Hakim Bishara, The Cathedral of Joy
Aruna D’Souza, No One Is Accountable in Taryn Simon’s Detective Story
Anna Lee, Buffalo Puppet Procession Traces Native History Through NYC’s Streets
Anna Lee, NYC’s Shelter Population Speaks Out in Public Art Project
Hrag Vartanian, The Titillating Tale of Damien Hirst’s Gay Hole
Noah Fischer, What “The Book of Genocides” Teaches Us
Rhea Nayyar, Liu Wei’s Met Facade Comission Reflects Our Moment
Anna Lee, Leon Black Plans to Turn Woolworth Mansion Into His Own Museum, Book Reveals
Lakshmi Rivera Amin, A View From the Easel
The Los Angeles Times
Tara Anne Dalbow, The wild, wonderful life and art of Huguette Caland at the Hammer Museum
The New York Times
Colin Moynihan, A Collector’s Art, on Loan to the Met, Will Be Owned by Nigeria
Nina Siegal, New Bid to Claim Cranach Paintings Held by Norton Simon Museum
Jennifer Schuessler, Two Centuries On, Smithsonian Connects Jefferson’s Hair to Hemings’s Children
M.H. Miller, He Grew Up Without Electricity. Then He Became Obsessed With Neon Lights.
Observer
Mary Gregory, The Women of the Legendary 1913 Armory Show
Elisa Carollo, Mila Askarova Adds Chelsea to Gazelli Art House’s International Footprint
Dan Duray, One Fine Show: “I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders” at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art
T Magazine
Justin Simon, ‘When I Miss My Walk, My Body and Mind Feel Clogged Up’
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, What We Skipped: A naked performance, the ‘mafia’ and a smattering of Trump stories
Adam Schrader, Artists to roll anti-ICE art and voting calls through New York on LED trucks
Adam Schrader, NSA museum unveils exhibit on its hunt for Osama bin Laden
Adam Schrader, House holds art collector Leon Black in contempt over Epstein subpoenas
Adam Schrader, Milwaukee museum recreates ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ as an 11-head bobblehead
The Wall Street Journal
Laura Jacobs, ‘Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses’ Review: Fashioning a Singular World
The Washington Post
Philip Kennicott, Is George Lucas’s colossal pet project the end of the art museum as we know it?
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