NewsPublic art
Seesaw installation at US-Mexico border wins Design of the Year award
The joyful project became a counterpoint to the division and violence sown by the Trump administration
NewsPublic art
Biden inauguration is largely virtual—but some live art is planned
A public art installation of 200,000 flags opens on the National Mall, as coronavirus and heightened security forces most events online
NewsVancouver
Douglas Coupland brings his prophetic slogans to Vancouver's billboards
Slogans for the 21st Century are on view in the city's new Arbutus Greenway
NewsPublic art
UK government announces new laws to protect controversial historic monuments from 'woke worthies and baying mobs'
Proposed plans have been criticised as distraction tactics from the state's "lethally failed response to the pandemic and the consequences of a disastrous Brexit"
BlogDiary
Awash with art—Cristina Iglesias fills island lighthouse with bronze geological formations
NewsPablo Picasso
Saga of Picasso murals ripped from Oslo building continues as heirs head to court
Family of artist Carl Nesjar—who collaborated on the works with Picasso—say they have a copyright claim and should help decide where the pieces are relocated
NewsBrazil
Brazilian sculptor João Turin memorialised with sculpture park in Paraná
The site will “encourage sustainable development that values the fauna and flora of the Brazilian environment—the themes to which Turin dedicated his life”, says collector and businessman Samuel Lago
NewsDeaccessioning
The fate of the San Francisco Art Institute’s historic Diego Rivera mural hangs in limbo
The proposed sale of the work has raised outcry from artists and city leaders, who have taken action to protect it
NewsGeorge Floyd
Giant painting of George Floyd murder displayed on Los Angeles billboard after being cancelled in Minneapolis
Advertising firms in Minneapolis—where Floyd was killed by police—refused to show the work saying it was too violent, but advocacy group says it will try again
NewsPublic art
Vandals apprehended after covering Richard Serra’s vast desert sculpture in Qatar with graffiti
Government organisation Qatar Museums has launched campaign to encourage locals to respect public works
NewsBob Haozous
Apache artist Bob Haozous explains why he made a shrine to racism
The son of the modernist sculptor Allan Houser describes the impetus behind his piercing monument in Santa Fe
NewsPublic art
Noguchi lobby installation is carted away from its high-rise New York home, across the street from MoMA
Museum sought to keep the site-specific work in place at 666 Fifth Avenue, but developer decided it had to go during renovation
NewsPublic art
Provocative Marilyn Monroe sculpture to return to Palm Springs—and the arts community is not happy about it
A plan to install the kitsch work in front of the city’s art museum has raised complaints from the community, which has called Forever Marilyn “blatantly sexist”
BlogThe Buck stopped here
Mark Titchner's 'carnivalesque' posters deliver optimistic rallying cry to locked down London
NewsPublic art
Anselm Kiefer makes first new works for Paris's Pantheon in almost a century
President Emmanuel Macron chose the German artist for the commission that commemorates the French writer and First World War soldier Maurice Genevoix
NewsMemorials
In honour of Armistice Day, more than 100 English war memorials listed as sites of historical importance
Monuments commemorating the First and Second World Wars—mostly built in small towns and villages—are added to Historic England's list of protected places
ReviewThree to see
Three outdoor exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From empathetic documentary photography in King's Cross to Cauleen Smith's Covid Diary broadcast at Piccadilly Circus Lights
NewsPublic art
Marina Abramovic work to show on 'world's largest digital canvas' in London
Curator Marco Brambilla says public art programme on vast screens off Tottenham Court Road will rival Tate's Turbine Hall commissions in impact
NewsPublic art
The estate of George Rickey, who created balletic kinetic sculptures, now at Kasmin gallery
Monumental moving works by the artist will be shown next fall on the Chelsea space’s rooftop and along Park Avenue uptown
NewsPublic art
#MeToo Medusa sculpture to be installed across from New York courthouse where Harvey Weinstein stood trial
But some have questioned whether the statue truly embodies the feminist movement
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in New York this weekend
From a tribute to Breonna Taylor at Mitchell Innes & Nash to the Public Art Fund's portals placed through Central Park
NewsPublic art
New public art project in London will show works by Ai Weiwei and Eddie Peake on Europe's largest billboard
The digital art platform CIRCA will commission a new artist every month to create a work that reflects on the year 2020
NewsMonuments
Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be memorialised with statue in Brooklyn
Governor Andrew Cuomo has suggested a site for the monument of the Supreme Court justice, overlooking the Statue of Liberty
NewsCanada
Mural memorialises Vancouver’s lost historic Black neighbourhood
Hogan’s Alley was once a thriving hub of Black Canadian culture, before it was demolished like so many communities in the name of urban renewal
NewsPublic art
Central Park gets its first monument honouring women’s rights advocates on 100th anniversary of suffrage
Hillary Clinton attended the unveiling of the statue depicting Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth
BlogPublic art
When a Gorilla sculpture lands in Hudson Yards, does anyone care?
NewsMonuments
The complicated history of the first monument to Sacajawea, funded by suffragists and designed by a woman
The Indigenous guide who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition across America’s western territories was later celebrated by the women’s vote movement—but her story was never fully told
NewsPublic art
As public art comes under increased scrutiny, New York's High Line asks the people to help pick its next installation
Around 80 artists—including Nick Cave, Mona Hatoum and Rafa Esparza have submitted proposals for the elevated park on Manhattan's West Side
NewsPublic art
Public art initiative encourages New Yorkers to get outside as museums remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic
The campaign offers a digital map of public art works and exhibitions in the five boroughs
NewsPublic art
While Burning Man is cancelled, festival art finds a home in Las Vegas
Art Island, a new outdoor project, plans to present—and sell—large-scale works more often found at desert events
NewsExhibitions
As protestors call for justice in New York, Mel Edwards to install broken chains in City Hall Park
An outdoor exhibition of the sculptor’s work has been postponed to give space to the Black Lives Matters movement
BlogThe Buck stopped here
New works by Thomas J. Price and Larry Achiampong on The Line extend the debate on public sculpture
NewsMuseums & Heritage
San Francisco university in talks with US government about preserving New Deal-era murals slated for destruction
The General Services Administration considers paintings by Bernard Zakheim federal property on loan to the school, it says
CommentDiary of an art historian
'When the politics change, so must the statues'
History can teach us a lot about how to—and how not to—deal with problematic historic monuments
NewsPublic art
Murals that ‘whitewash’ American history come under fire
Monuments are not the only problematic depictions of the past
NewsPublic art
Minneapolis arts groups tackle inequality in the local scene—and the industry at large
Controversy over a mural homage to George Floyd in the city has prompted conversations about opportunities and resources for Black artists and community organisations
FeatureObituaries
Remembering Christo: a master wrapper whose boundless tenacity and charm redefined how art transforms its surroundings
With his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, the artist was a dreamer who got to realise his monumental, but ephemeral, dreams, all of them self-funded
NewsStatues
UK's first statues of black Brits—sited at Brixton station—to be restored after 34 years
The overlooked works are modelled on local residents
InterviewControversies
With demolition of Oslo's Picasso-Nesjar murals imminent, Norwegian sculptor’s daughter speaks out
Carl Nesjar’s daughter talks about the Norwegian sculptor’s long collaboration with the Modern master and shares exclusive images of the pair
NewsPublic sculpture
Essex’s unlikely sculpture town is set for a renaissance
Built in the wake of the Second World War, Harlow maintains a remarkable collection with pieces by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Rodin
NewsKeith Haring
Once hidden, Keith Haring’s Amsterdam mural is ready for restoration
Conservators will repair paint losses and weatherproof a work that the artist executed “in a sort of frenzy” in 1986
NewsPublic art
Suspected arson damages Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire in San Francisco’s Presidio park
The 100ft-tall sculpture is still standing after a major blaze, but crews will determine if it can remain in place
NewsSculpture
Windrush sculptures honouring UK's Caribbean immigrants to be unveiled in London
Leading black artists Thomas J. Price and Veronica Ryan's works in Hackney are due to be completed in 2021
NewsMonuments
Riga installs six-metre statue to honour medical workers
Sculpture by Latvian artist Aigars Bikse is in a prominent spot in front of the National Museum of Art
NewsPublic art
Hank Willis Thomas covers US Justice Department with thousands of words from inmates
Launched last night, the guerilla intervention is the latest public work in Washington, DC to address structural racism—but can art effect change?
AnalysisSaudi Arabia
Are Saudi Arabia's big culture plans turning to dust?
As oil prices slump and the pandemic continues to spread, the kingdom's ambitious initiatives are being scaled back
BlogDiary
A patchwork of personal messages responding to Covid-19 could be displayed across the National Mall in Washington, DC
The crowd-sourced project by Patrick Shearn and his collective Poetic Kinetics will gather thousands of messages for an aerial project
NewsPublic art
'Victimised and rejected': new work explores the history of artists working in New York and the need for public art
Julia Weist's project embedded in the New York public records reveals the uneven relationship between the city and its creatives
NewsPublic art
Sculpture confronting Germany's colonial past installed at Berlin’s long-awaited Humboldt Forum
Kang Sunkoo’s bronze Statue of Limitations shows a black flag at half-mast
BlogDiary
It's lit: Tavares Strachan delivers a mountain message of social activism amid social distancing
NewsControversies
'Intrusive addition': Antony Gormley’s memorial to mathematician Alan Turing draws fire
Some critics support the proposed sculpture for Cambridge University while others question the competition process
NewsPublic art
Art world figures protest plan to dismantle sculptural installation in Washington, DC
Arrangement of boulders around reflecting pool on National Geographic Society campus is cited as a landscape art masterpiece
CommentMuseums & Heritage
Tristram Hunt: 'When the lights come back on, our museums will need support'
What coronavirus is really forcing us to address is the societal function and justification for public culture in the 21st century, says the Victoria and Albert Museum's director
NewsFourth Plinth
Latest Fourth Plinth sculpture—a giant swirl of whipped cream topped with a drone and fly—delayed by coronavirus
Heather Phillipson’s subversive work was to replace Michael Rakowitz’s recreation of a protective deity destroyed by Islamic State
PreviewBiennials & festivals
Sydney Biennale puts climate emergency and Indigenous struggle front and centre
Show’s 22nd edition aims to be as much a conversation as an exhibition, with hundreds of public events including bushwalks with aboriginal elders and campfire talks
PreviewPublic art
Maya Lin will plant a ‘ghost forest’ in New York
A series of spectral trees will populate Madison Square Park this summer in the artist's latest project addressing climate change
NewsPublic art
Carousel in Frankfurt to recall the Kindertransport that saved thousands of children from the Nazis
Yael Bartana's public sculpture commemorates those who were shipped out before the Second World War
NewsPublic art
As debate rages around controversial US monuments, New York park invites artists to make their own
The year-long programme Monuments Now at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens aims to evaluate ideas around public art
NewsPublic art
'We must stop memorialising such a dark part of our history': official stance on Confederate monuments is shifting
Memorials honouring controversial generals continue to stir debate in many Southern states, but lawmakers are finding creative ways to deal with them
NewsAntony Gormley
Antony Gormley's monumental work in New York looks for human connection during 'an absolute fucking disaster'
The project in Brooklyn Bridge Park is a commission of BTS Connect, an international public arts initiative funded by the Korean boyband
NewsPublic art
Living refugees of civil war honoured in New York public art project by Krzysztof Wodiczko
The artist hopes to transform an existing monument with contemporary experiences so there will be “no more need for new war memorials”
NewsContemporary art
Rodney Graham’s Spinning Chandelier creates a ‘class-warfare’ debate in Vancouver
Installation in gentrified area is criticised as artists are priced out of the city's housing market
NewsPublic art
Image mocking Australian Prime Minister's Hawaiian holiday raises A$50,000 for fire service
Scott Marsh’s mural on a wall in Sydney was painted over
NewsPublic art
William Kentridge’s existential imagery takes over Times Square
The artist sees his midnight billboard installation as “a bit of brain surgery” in “the deep soul of late capitalism”
ReviewPublic art
Andy Goldsworthy’s Walking Wall unites and delights in Kansas City
The artist’s fragmented installation for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has completed its trek through time and space
NewsPoland
Lublin governor files defamation suit against art historian sparking free speech fears in Poland
Case against Tomasz Kitliński follows row over installation that marked pogrom sites in the city
NewsArt Basel in Miami Beach 2019
First section of Miami’s $100m Underline public art park to open in summer 2020
The ten-mile project will transform a track of land under the Miami Metrorail into a public recreation area
NewsPublic Art Fund
Public Art Fund adds four new members to its board, including Ai Weiwei
Ellen Celli, Andrea Krantz, and Ruthard C. Murphy also join the nonprofit to help bring more free arts programming to New York City
NewsPublic art
A stampede of one: plans to move lower Manhattan’s Charging Bull sculpture raises furore
The artist and city officials are at odds over the famous work’s removal from the heavily trafficked site it has occupied for 30 years
NewsSculpture
Antony Gormley in talks with French government over sculpture project in Brittany
Brexit is a disaster for the UK, says the sculptor as he unveils his Field for the British Isles installation at Firstsite gallery in Colchester
NewsPublic art
Maya Lin’s Eclipsed Time clock removed from New York transit hub after 25 years
The artist’s long-neglected sculpture has been removed as Penn Station undergoes renovations
NewsPublic art
Boston’s Brutalist government center building scheduled for destruction—without a plan to save its treasured mural
Preservationists are mourning the imminent loss as art historians plea for the safety of an important Constantino Nivola painting
NewsClimate Change
Street artist paints ginormous portrait of eco warrior Greta Thunberg in San Francisco
Cobre defends use of spray paint in creating eight-storey mural, saying his materials are environmentally friendly
InterviewExhibitions
‘Public art is propaganda, frankly’: Hank Willis Thomas discusses gun violence and the urgent need for alternative memorials
A host of the artist’s exhibitions and public projects open in various locations across the US open this year
NewsPublic art
New York will soon get its own shiny Anish Kapoor sculpture
The artist’s first permanent work of public art in the city will be installed at a Herzog & de Meuron-designed high-rise in Tribeca
NewsCultural policy
New York City’s cultural affairs commissioner, Tom Finkelpearl, resigns
A specific reason was not given for his unexpected exit after five years in the post
PreviewSan Francisco
Postcommodity plays the soundtrack of destruction in San Francisco
The city’s Millennium Tower is sinking, so the arts collective created an ASMR record from data recording the skyscraper’s plunge to be played until the building is fixed or torn down
NewsPublic art
New York opens applications for two new monuments honouring black history
The city forges ahead with its campaign to build new memorials, as public officials face pressure to reform selections process
NewsBernar Venet
In Pictures: the making of Europe’s largest public sculpture
Bernar Venet’s vast steel arc has been installed on a Belgian motorway
NewsPublic art
Street artists create memorial mural in Argentina for victim of New York terror attack
The architect Hernán Ferruchi was visiting the city with friends when he was hit by a truck while cycling on 31 October 2017
NewsPublic art
San Francisco selected an artist to create a monument to Maya Angelou—then rejected her
Two weeks after winning a competition from more than 100 submissions, Lava Thomas’s commission offer was rescinded and the city said they would restart the process anew
NewsMuseums & Heritage
ICA Boston’s Watershed to reopen in May with massive ‘underwater’ installation by Firelai Báez
The Dominican-born New York-based artist will create her largest project yet at the seasonal space on Boston Harbor
NewsLGBTQ
Designs for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum are unveiled amid debate
While early reactions have been mostly positive, a group of activists and victims’ families would rather see a support centre on the site
NewsCultural policy
World Cities Culture Forum and Bloomberg Philanthropies announce the second Leadership Exchange Programme
International leaders are invited to apply to the initiative which aims to advance cultural projects and explore the ways art can improve the quality of life for urban residents
NewsConservation
Josef Albers's Manhattan returns to its rightful place in the MetLife building
The colossal mural, recently recreated, has returned to its home near Grand Central Station
BlogThe Buck stopped here
Rozzers and Rastas: Denzil Forrester unveils Brixton underground station commission
NewsAustrian politics
Austrian election campaign turns forest art stadium into political battleground
Unveiled earlier this month, Klaus Littmann's tree installation is Austria's biggest ever public work of art
NewsDavid Hammons
Whitney Museum breaks ground on public installation by David Hammons
The museum celebrated the project, due to be completed in 2020, with a NYPD fireboat performance and specially commissioned jazz composition
NewsPublic art
Officials reject reports of permanent Prince Philip statue for London's Fourth Plinth
Mayor of London’s office says contemporary art series will continue with Heather Phillipson sculpture planned for 2020
NewsGermany
Berlin celebrates fall of the wall with art installations, projections and an app
A week-long festival for the 30th anniversary includes a banner of messages floating near the Brandenburg Gate
NewsUK politics
Boris Johnson’s Olympic mega-sculpture is £13m in debt
Visitors decline steeply at ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor in east London
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Survivors and victims’ families oppose plans for a $40m museum at site of Pulse shooting
The group says fundraising efforts to turn the Orlando nightclub into a tourist destination would be better spent on survivors’ care
NewsConservation & Preservation
New York Public Library shores up its marble lions
Two-month conservation effort for the sculptures follows a public appeal to donors
NewsPublic art
Vancouver mural memorialises First Nations’ aide to stranded Indian immigrants
The work was unveiled as the name of a Conservative politician behind the Komagata Maru incident was removed from the federal building on which it is painted
News US politics
African American leaders object to erasure of controversial school mural in San Francisco
Local figures defend portrayal of the nation’s blemished early history
CommentMonuments
Tearing down troubling statues is not lying about our history—it is removing impediments to truth
The UK communities secretary Robert Jenrick's plans to prevent the removal of controversial monuments reveals his inability to view the past as shifting and complex
Ben Luke