All eyes are on the French capital this week as Art Basel Paris closes early in anticipation of mass demonstrations across the city
Courtesy of Art Basel
From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world’s big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke.
As protests engulf Paris, the Art Basel fair opened this week in the French capital and then it was announced that the fair would conclude on Friday, and not open as scheduled this weekend. The Art Newspaper’s global editor-in-chief, Ben Sutton, and our chief contributing editor, Gareth Harris, visited the fair before the announcement of the weekend closure and we hear what they made of it and the various satellite events and exhibitions around it.
Art Basel Paris in the Grand Palais this year
Courtesy of Art Basel
In Latin America, Brazil goes to the polls this weekend amid a so-called “blue wave” in which rightwing governments have come to power, often with the support of the US president, Donald Trump. Culture—and culture wars—have been central to their message and Ben Luke talks to our correspondent based in Buenos Aires, Mercedes Ezquiaga, about the weaponisation of the arts and heritage across the continent.
Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella ordered that dozens of objects related to LGBTQ+ rights and feminism be taken down from displays at the Museo Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, sparking protests
Courtesy Fundación LGBTI
And this episode’s Work of the Week is the “Blue China” Celestial Map by Yunyou Sanren, made in 1822. It is part of Night Maps, an exhibition at the Warburg Institute in London. Our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, spoke to John Tresch, one of the curators of the exhibition, about the work.
Yunyou Sanren's Celestial Map “Blue China” (1822)
©The Sunderland Collection
In this week's episode, Ben Luke talks to the curator of a landmark new Matisse exhibition in Paris, discusses the art market in Hong Kong with our chief contributing editor Gareth Harris, and takes a closer look at a Dali painting that inspired Elsa Schiaparelli, as a show devoted to the designer opens at London's V&A
What might the fallout be after Creative Australia’s unpopular decision to cancel Khaled Sabsabi’s project? Plus, AI art beyond this week’s open letter and a chat about Catlett’s terracotta sculpture ‘Tired’
How have recent US executive orders affected the mood on the ground at the leading Mexican fair? Plus a report from India Art Fair as it opens amid state elections, plus a chat about one of the earliest portrait photographs
Plus, EMST, the all-women museum in Athens, and Pesellino’s David panels at the National Gallery in London
