Good Morning!
- Iran denies ever withdrawing from the Venice Biennale, and the Somalia Pavilion sparks controversy.
- A new report led by France‘s parliament has revealed wide-ranging flaws in the country’s museum security management.
- US Interior Department staff are concerned that Trump‘s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repairs are behind schedule and of poor quality.
The Headlines
VEXED IN VENICE. News from this year’s politically mired Venice Biennale keeps coming. For starters, the Art Newspaper reports that Iran is still negotiating its participation in the Biennale. The general director of visual arts at Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance—Mahdizadeh Tehrani— denied that the state ever withdrew from the exhibition this year, and said the country still hopes to take part in some capacity. Last week, Biennale organizers announced Iran would not be represented at its pavilion. Elsewhere, according to ArtReview, Somali artists and cultural workers have expressed “deep disappointment and concern” about the Somalia Pavilion. In one open letter, the Somali Arts Foundation(SAF) alleged the exhibition was “led and organized by Somali diaspora figures in collaboration with their European colleagues … while artists and arts organizations based in Somalia were neither meaningfully consulted nor included.” On social media, the Somali queer collective Warbixinta Cidda also demanded the removal of an Italian co-curator because of Italy’s colonial history in Somalia.
MUSEUM BLIND SPOT. A parliamentary inquiry has exposed major, system-wide flaws in France‘s museum security model, in findings revealed today, reports Le Monde. The report, commissioned by bipartisan members of the National Assembly following the theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre in October, calls for bolstering museum security resources and reforming the country’s executive-branch-led museum leadership appointment process. In the report, MP Alexis Corbière said that a museum leader picked by France’s president can feel “beholden to that president and tends to prioritize events-driven programming—that glitters—over deeper, more austere, long-term initiatives.” That sentiment echoed common criticism of Laurence des Cars, who was fired from her post as Louvre president following the crown jewel burglary. Like previous Louvre audits, the report states the October theft was the foreseeable outcome of a known, outdated museum management system that was not taken seriously enough. It also claims the problems go far beyond the Louvre. Interviews with hundreds of professionals found that museum security across France remains an impensé, or “blind spot of the cultural world.” In 2024, only 23 percent of French museums had emergency and risk-prevention plans; 25 percent had completed programs for cultural property protection; and 54 percent of public museums are fully equipped with video surveillance technology. Cybersecurity threats to websites and ticketing are another area of concern, as museum buildings are increasingly worn by time and use, and the number of security workers is dwindling.
The Digest
Documents show Interior Department staff are concerned about Trump’s rushed, no-bid contract for repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which is leaving an uneven blue-paint application, bubbles, and holes where it was meant to waterproof, all of which raise the possibility it will not be ready by a May 22 deadline. [The New York Times]
Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art has reopened amid the current ceasefire, with an exhibition including works by American artists Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, and James Rosenquist, selected for their anti-war themes. [Times of Israel]
South Korean ceramic artist Jongjin Park won the 2026 Loewe Craft Prize on Tuesday for his Strata of Illusionsculpture, scooping up the prize out of 30 shortlisted contenders whose pieces are on display until June 14 at the National Gallery Singapore. [WWD]
Ahead of the Bayeux Tapestry loan to the British Museum, the London institution is building a “Tapestry of Trees” entrance canopy installation of 37 silver birch trees with planters of woodland grasses to welcome visitors. [Artnet News]
The Kicker
NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Opera, Timothée Chalamet notwithstanding, remains a beloved medium of expression for many visual artists. The Financial Times takes us on a recent tour of a few examples. William Kentridge, who has long worked on operas, is at it again at the UK’s Glyndebourne opera festival, opening May 21. He is directing Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and created his signature drawn animations for the set, as well as program covers. There’s also British artist Sara Berman, who has made 30 works inspired by the opera Billy Budd, on view at the festival’s auditorium. This fall, London’s Design Museumwill also exhibit opera set designs by artist Es Devlin, who notes operas are “a total work.” A view reflected by Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, Barbara Hepworth, and David Hockney, who all created work inspired by opera’s reach beyond any single artistic form. Now, how to get the Chalamets of the world to give it a second chance is a whole other question the Glyndebourne festival is mulling over.
