The Week in Art

This week: excavations have revealed new archaeological finds at Stonehenge but the UK government has approved a road tunnel through this iconic World Heritage Site—will it ruin it? We talk to Mike Pitts, an archaeologist, about the debate over the tunnel and its effect on the ancient stones and their surrounding landscape. Plus: museums in France are urging their government to let them reope...

On this week's podcast: the artist-activists at the heart of Russia’s biggest protests in a decade and how the Indian government is using heritage and museums to re-write the history of the country. We talk to Lölja Nordic, an artist, DJ and activist in Saint Petersburg, who appeared in a video released this week by Pussy Riot, Russia’s most famous cultural activists, in support of "political pris...

This week, the Old Masters in the digital age. We look at the $92m live-streamed auction sale (with fees) of a major Botticelli in New York and new research, including a study using artificial intelligence, into Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi. While a prize Botticelli sold for a record price for the early Renaissance master at Sotheby's, a Rembrandt, expected to fetch $20m-$30m, was withdrawn from the...

This week: as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as the president and vice president of the United States, what might their administration do for the visual arts? We talk to Jori Finkel, a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper and The New York Times from Los Angeles. We explore an extraordinary story linking QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory and hate group, and how its origins may li...

This week, we look at white supremacist art in the Capitol in Washington and discuss the legacy of Hannah Arendt. Plus, we look at a record-breaking auction sale of a Batman comic.  Sarah Beetham, chair of liberal arts and assistant professor of art history at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, discusses the statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee that was removed from the Cap...

It’s the final episode of 2020 and so, as we always do as the year comes to an end, we’re reviewing the last 12 months in the art world. And what a year it’s been. Host Ben Luke was joined by three of The Art Newspaper’s correspondents on the frontline reporting the huge events of the year and their effects on the art world. Anna Brady is our art market editor, Louisa Buck is our contemporary art...

The Brexit deadline is imminent and the UK and the European Union are desperately seeking an agreement. But what are the implications either way for the art trade? We asked the writer and art market specialist Ivan Macquisten and former Conservative MEP and current chief executive of the British Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, Daniel Dalton. And for this episode’s Work of the Week, the curat...

This week, we look at contemporary public art, as debate has raged about various works in recent weeks. Who is public art for and why does it continue to provoke such strong reactions? Host Ben Luke talks to Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper ’s contemporary art correspondent, and James Lingwood from the visionary producers of public works, Artangel, about art by Christoph Büchel, Jeremy Deller, Maggi...

This week we look at museums and Africa: we explore the future of museums and African institutions’ central role in it and we look at the 19th-century looting of the Benin Bronzes and what it tells us about museums and colonialism, then and now. We talk to Sonia Lawson, the founding director of the Palais de Lomé in Togo, and András Szántó, the writer of the new book The Future of the Museum: 28 D...

It’s Thanksgiving on 26 November, so this week, we look at the myths behind this American holiday, and particularly the story of the Mayflower, the ship that landed in Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, 400 years ago. We talk to Jo Loosemore, the curator of the exhibition Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy at The Box in Plymouth, about the voyage, the settlement and decolonising the story. And then we get...

This week: we speak to our China correspondent Lisa Movius in Shanghai about the fairs and other events opening in the city this week. And we look at a rare museum event opening in Europe: Tate Britain’s Winter Commission, which—because it’s on the facade of the building—opens to the public this week; Louisa Buck meets the latest artist to take on the commission, Chila Kumari Singh Burman. And for...

As the ramifications of the US election are set to continue for weeks, where do we stand in the art world? We look at the economics and the response of artists and art communities over the last four years and into the future. We talk to Felix Salmon, the chief financial correspondent at Axios, about the economic situation and its potential effects; Carolina Miranda of the Los Angeles Times reflect...

This week: like the rest of the art world, the market has been upended by the pandemic. But has the turmoil forced it to be any more transparent? Do we know any more about the actual price of art? Ben Luke is joined by Georgina Adam, an editor-at-large at The Art Newspaper and art market specialist, to discuss transparency and the market. Also this week, we talk to David Blayney Brown, the curator...

Following a historic relaxation of deaccessioning laws in the US, we probe the moral quandaries faced by museums forced to sell-off parts of their collections to stay afloat. We speak to Christopher Bedford, the director of the Baltimore Museum of Art in Maryland, which has announced it is to sell three works; to Georgina Adam about what this all means for the art market, and to James H. Duff, a f...

This week, we talk to the critics and curators Barry Schwabsky and Aindrea Emelife about the four-year delay to the show Philip Guston Now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the museums of fine arts in Houston and Boston and Tate Modern in London. What does the postponement of a big show of the American artist’s work tell us about museums’ response to art and race in the wake of Bl...

It’s Frieze Week in London, yet there’s no big art fair at its heart. Can galleries create the usual excitement—and is anyone still buying? There’s no Frieze London or Frieze Masters but there are plenty of exhibitions and events being staged across the city, the now customary online viewing rooms and digital sales platforms and a big New York auction. We talk to The Art Newspaper's contemporary a...

This week, we look at two great women artists: at last, we visit the postponed Artemisia exhibition at the National Gallery in London, taking a tour with its curator Letizia Treves, and picking out some of the extraordinary highlights of the show. And we also explore a new biography of Frida Kahlo with its author, Hettie Judah. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With UK museums and galleries in crisis, might the Royal Academy of Arts be forced to sell its Michelangelo? We look at the story that has emerged in recent days that some Royal Academicians—the artists and architects that run the RA—are suggesting selling the Taddei Tondo to prevent huge job losses and keep the Academy afloat. Also this week: Margaret Carrigan speaks to Legacy Russell, the a...

This week: the artist Grayson Perry has a new exhibition and documentary series about the United States. What can a British artist and broadcaster tell us about the faultlines in American culture? Louisa Buck talks to him in his show at Victoria Miro in London. Ben Luke talks to the curator and art historian Robert Storr, the author of a huge new book about the painter Philip Guston. And in this e...

It’s Berlin Art Week, and unusually for 2020, art fairs, a biennale, and a range of exhibitions are all opening at once in the German capital. But is Berlin still the thriving art centre it’s been over the last two decades? We talk to the Canadian artist and adoptive Berliner AA Bronson about participating in one of the big shows opening this week, at the legendary Berghain nightclub, and about hi...

In this first episode of the new season, we talk to Erich Hatala Matthes, associate professor of philosophy at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, US—who’s writing a book on immoral artists—about how useful the notion of “cancelling” may be. With The Art Newspaper’s correspondent Tom Seymour and the photographer and lecturer Lewis Bush we explore the cases of Martin Parr and...

The Week in Art, sponsored by Christie’s, is The Art Newspaper ’s topical news podcast, released every Friday.   Each week, we look at the big stories in the art world, from museums and the major exhibitions to heritage and the art market. We talk to the top artists and museum directors; we take tours of the essential shows; and our experts analyse the latest events and trends across the art...

A new series of The Week in Art podcast will begin on 4 September; expect all the latest art world news, exclusive interviews, exhibition tours and much more. In the meantime, why not subscribe to A brush with... , the brand new podcast from The Art Newspaper, which we launched this week. You can hear the trailer in this podcast. The first episode, A brush with... Michael Armitage , is out now, an...

This week, in our last episode of this series, we look at the top exhibitions you can see this summer in the UK, Europe and the US, with Anna Brady and Gareth Harris joining Ben Luke in London, and Helen Stoilas, Nancy Kenney and Jillian Steinhauer in New York. We also reflect on the anxieties and ethics of visiting galleries as Covid-19 remains widespread. And we have our usual Work of the Week,...

We explore the Serpentine Galleries’ new report into Future Art Ecosystems: with existing art industry models under threat, can new ones emerge in the post-coronavirus era? We talk to Ben Vickers , the Serpentine Galleries’ chief technology officer, about art and advanced technologies. As his BBC radio series Great Gallery Tours continues, we hear from a Simon Schama , who is marooned in Trump’s A...