The Headlines
EU TO PULL VENICE FUNDING? The European Commission has recommended the withdrawal of €2 million from the Venice Biennale as a dispute over Russia’s participation in the exhibition continues, the Art Journal reports. The move follows months of tension over the reopening of the Russian Pavilion, which returned this year after closing in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. EU executive vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the recommendation followed an assessment of the Biennale’s justification for allowing Russia’s participation, arguing that publicly funded culture should uphold democratic values. The Biennale previously defended its decision, saying it followed international rules and that the pavilion was never opened to the public. Moreover, the Biennale claimed, excluding countries from the show would amount to censorship. The European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) will make the final call.
FLORENCE’S CUBIST CRISIS. UNESCO is reviewing a dark, nearly 100-foot-tall redevelopment behind the façade of Florence’s former Teatro Comunale after fierce backlash over its impact on the city’s Renaissance skyline, the Art Newspaper reports. The luxury apartment project has sparked protests, public outrage and a criminal investigation into 15 people involved in its approval and construction. Eike Schmidt, a former director of the Uffizi Galleries, is reportedly among those who have complained to UNESCO, which is now assessing whether the development is compatible with Florence’s World Heritage status. Losing the designation would be an extreme last resort.
The Digest
A Nazi-looted art hunt is underway in France, with the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans searching for hundreds of missing works—including pieces by Chardin, van Dyck, and Holbein—believed to be worth more than €100 million. [The Times]
Around 100 early works by Claude Monet have been brought together in Le Havre for a rare exhibition exploring the artist before he became the defining figure of Impressionism. [The Guardian]
Australia’s Museum of Old and New Art is going global, with plans for a major new Bangkok outpost that will become the Tasmanian institution’s first international branch and launch David Walsh’s unconventional museum model in Thailand. [The Art Newspaper]
A new Venice exhibition is bringing together more than 150 artists from over 30 countries across the Palazzo Mora, the Palazzo Bembo, and the MarinaressaGardens, exploring migration, movement and belonging. [Wallpaper]
The Kicker
STILL GOING BANANAS. Italian artist-cum-pranker Maurizio Cattelan has revisited the artwork that turned a banana and some duct tape into one of contemporary art’s biggest and most polarizing talking points. Comedian triggered a debate over value, authorship and what defines an artwork when it was first unveiled at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. More fuel was thrown onto the debate’s fire when the work sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s New York in 2024. Cattelan spoke to the Financial Times about the strange afterlife of the work, which has become both a symbol of the art market’s excesses and a reminder of his talent for turning absurd ideas into global spectacles.
