Gareth Harris

Steve McQueen’s Grenfell Tower film—dedicated to the victims of the tragic fire in 2017—to debut in London

The Turner prizewinner Steve McQueen will show his long-awaited film about the Grenfell Tower fire at the Serpentine Galleries in London next month (Grenfell, 7 April-10 May). McQueen was able to film the tower from a helicopter in December 2017…

Artist condemns anti-LGBTQ laws passed by Ugandan parliament including death penalty

The Ugandan artist and activist Leilah Babirye has spoken out against the recent anti-homosexuality law passed by the Ugandan parliament, which would make homosexual acts punishable by death. “We human rights activists condemn the Ugandan bill for…

Galleries continue to bank on Asia as Peres Projects expands in Seoul and Hauser & Wirth relocates to new street-level space in Hong Kong

Peres Projects gallery—a participant at the Art Basel in Hong Kong fair this week—is opening a second space in Seoul next month, further cementing the South Korean capital as a key art market hub in the region. The new gallery, due to launch 28…

Hong Kong is back with bang: Art Basel returns and M+ museum makes waves

Plus, art censorship online and Brenda L. Croft's photos of fellow First Nations Australian women Sponsored by Gareth Harris. Produced by David Clack and Julia Michalska The Week in Art From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and…

Art Basel Hong Kong fully reopens after four years—and Asian buyers are out in force

The anticipation in the room was palpable as Noah Horowitz, the new global director of Art Basel Hong Kong, welcomed international journalists and VIPs yesterday to the fair, ushering in the first edition to be held at the Convention Centre since…

Abu Dhabi seeks to make waves with first major art biennial

The first "direct commission" unveiled by Public Art Abu Dhabi is a multimedia crashing wave display by the Seoul-based collective d’strict Abu Dhabi is the latest city aiming to put itself on the contemporary art map with the launch of a new…

First Saudi, now Seoul: Centre Pompidou confirms latest move of global expansion

The Centre Pompidou is expanding again, this time to South Korea. In an announcement today, the Paris-based modern and contemporary art museum confirmed rumours that it would open a branch in Seoul, boosting its burgeoning network of outposts, which…

Hong Kong added to East Asian tour of masterpieces from London’s National Gallery

The National Gallery in London will send some of its best-known works by artists such as Caravaggio, Titian and Raphael to Hong Kong later this year. The exhibition Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery is currently on show…

Bridget Riley is bringing the colours of ancient Egypt to Rome with a major ceiling painting commission

The UK artist Bridget Riley, 91, will unveil her first ceiling painting in Rome this spring. The work, made using the artist’s so-called Egyptian palette, will cover the four barrel vaults of the ceiling at the British School at Rome. Riley gives a…

Stick 'em up! Ai Weiwei invites you to give the middle finger in new online art project

The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is known for raising his middle finger to authority in one of his most famous series Study of Perspective. But now, members of the public can post their own “raised finger” works for a new online digital…

Six key jobs culled at London’s Whitechapel Gallery—including three curatorial posts

Six full-time members of staff—including three curators—have been made redundant at the Whitechapel Gallery in London as part of a restructure. Two people in the gallery’s development department and the most senior role in commercial ventures have…

Centre Pompidou to open contemporary art museum in Saudi Arabia

The Centre Pompidou in Paris is expanding its global empire, signing a deal to develop a museum of contemporary art in the burgeoning AlUla region of Saudi Arabia. The new agreement between the Beaubourg gallery and the Royal Commission for AlUla…

Football's coming...to Manchester International Festival (with a little help from soccer player Juan Mata)

The love affair between art and football is set to deepen this summer with the launch of a project at the Manchester International Festival (MIF, 29 June-16 July) overseen by the Spanish player Juan Mata. The initiative, called The Trequartista-Art…

Phyllida Barlow—British sculptor who found global fame after retiring from teaching—has died, aged 78

The UK sculptor Phyllida Barlow—long respected among British artists having taught at London’s Slade School of Fine Art for more than 20 years—has died, aged 78. Her death was confirmed by her gallery, Hauser & Wirth, which says in a statement that…

Revealed: Rome's new €100m culture masterplan

The National Roman Museum's director Stéphane Verger shares the radical new plans that will revamp four landmark museum and heritage sites in Italy One of the largest museum and heritage projects in Rome, the National Roman Museum initiative, has…

Online storm erupts over AI work in Dutch museum’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ display

The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, is facing criticism for showing an image made using artificial intelligence (AI) which is inspired by Vermeer’s famous Girl with a Pearl Earring. The work by Berlin-based Julian van Dieken, who…

Art history sleuths reunite mother with husband and son in 17th-century Flemish portrait

Two separate parts of a 17th-century family portrait split in half have been reunited by scholars after almost 200 years. Double Portrait of a Father and Son—painted in 1626 by the Antwerp-based portrait painter Cornelis de Vos—depicts a family of…

Climate change, a Gothic cathedral and champagne cellars: Eva Jospin takes on latest Ruinart commission

Promenade[s], an installation made mainly from cardboard and inspired by the landscape around Reims, will be shown at art fairs worldwide over the next year The French artist Eva Jospin says that working with the champagne house Ruinart, part of the…

Magritte painting thought to be an homage to Vermeer heads to auction in Paris

A possible homage to Vermeer by the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte is among the headline lots in Sotheby’s second 23-lot “Surrealism and its Legacy” sale scheduled to take place in Paris on 15 March. Magritte’s La Leçon de Musique (The Music…

March book bag: from portraits of King Charles III to Marinella Senatore’s light installations

Charles III: The Making of a King, National Portrait Gallery, Alison Smith (contributor), 128pp, £14.95 (hb) Ahead of the coronation of the UK’s King Charles III in May, this selection of works drawn from the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London…