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“Art is tired,” Palestinian-born, Basel-based artist Hamza Badran reflected while standing outside the Israeli pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale. It was the day of ANGA’s strike protesting Israel’s inclusion in the Biennale, which saw Palestinian flags draped over several artworks within the main exhibit and the closure of several pavilions. A month later, Hamza was announced as a winner at the annual Swiss Art Awards in Basel.

In 1992, Mitchell Johnson was first disappointed by a gallerist. A young painter who had recently moved to California from New York for work, Johnson had met the dealer Paula Kirkeby and showed her some of his paintings. “Wow, these are great,” he remembers her saying, “let’s have a show in the fall.” The promise never materialised. When Johnson followed up some months later, Kirkeby’s response had changed. “‘We’re definitely not having a show’,” he recounts more than 30 years on. “It was harsh.

Tschabalala Self, Jozua Gerrard, Chen Tianyi and Zanele Muholi are the recipients of the Aspen Art Fair’s 2026 Art Prize Programme. The organisers of the fair—the third edition of which has been taking place in the Colorado city’s Hotel Jerome this week—expanded the prize scheme for 2026.

A new installation from Philip Colbert, the Scottish artist often called the “godson of Andy Warhol”, has opened in Pompeii, the first contemporary sculpture exhibition in the Italian city for 30 years. Philip Colbert in Pompeii: Pop Mythology will feature more than 30 of the artist’s trademark lobster sculptures and is his biggest takeover to date of a global city. The show also marks the first time a contemporary artist has exhibited in the houses of Pompeii.

Firefighters in south-west France are battling to contain serious wildfires that have been ravaging the countryside between the coastline and Bordeaux since 22 July. More than 220,000 residents have been evacuated, and while no civilian casualties have been reported, at least one firefighter has died with dozens more injured in the line of duty, according to local reports.

Low Kee Hong has been appointed artistic director of the 26th Biennale of Sydney, which will open on 11 March 2028. Low is currently creative director of Factory International in Manchester, where he oversees the organisation’s curatorial team and helps to lead the Manchester International Festival. For Sydney, the Singaporean curator plans to expand the biennial across music, architecture, performance, literature, food and fashion, while retaining contemporary art exhibitions at its centre.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open its doors on 11 December, becoming the fourth gallery to bear the Guggenheim name alongside its museums in New York City, Bilbao and Venice. The museum will feature modern and contemporary art from the 1960s to the present day—spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, the moving image and new media—with a focus on West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and the wider region.

Institutions across Shanghai have established China’s first Museum Healing Alliance, expanding an experimental museum prescription programme into a citywide network of municipal museums, hospitals, universities and cultural institutions dedicated to exploring museum-based mental health support.

It’s the summer box-office phenomenon that launched a thousand think pieces. In recent weeks, two low-to-mid-budget horror films made by Gen-Z YouTubers briefly dominated global cinema ticket sales, with commentators prophesising a more-imminent-than-expected Hollywood takeover by the young and extremely online.

Following a one-year hiatus, the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has announced 63 exhibitors for the newly named ADAA Fair, taking place at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory from 13–16 November 2026, with a preview on 12 November. The event succeeds The Art Show, founded in 1989 and held at the Armory for more than three decades. The 37th edition of The Art Show was cancelled in July 2025.