Theo Belci

Paul Pfeiffer: ‘I want to preserve the intensity of the image’

The multi-disciplinary artist reflects on 25 years of transforming mass media in a way that “makes you become aware of the act of looking”

Fowler Museum offers historic and contemporary expressions of Sikh experience

Exhibition brings together works representing the world’s fifth largest religious community

13 shows to see in and around Los Angeles during Frieze

From important shows of Korean and Japanese contemporary art, to major surveys of Paul Pfeiffer and Joan Brown, and more

Second curator of Indigenous art departs the Art Gallery of Ontario amid ongoing scandal

Taqralik Partridge, an associate curator of Indigenous art since 2022, has stepped down while the Toronto institution is still reeling from the sudden ouster of Wanda Nanibush

US museum under fire for cancelling Palestinian artist’s retrospective

The Eskenazi Museum of Art of the Indiana University in Bloomington cited “safety concerns” when it abruptly cancelled Samia Halaby’s show

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to end its degree-granting programmes

The institution, which began offering BFAs and MFAs in 2013, will wind down those programmes next year

Crime news

Final suspect in string of art and memorabilia heists that nabbed works by Pollock and Warhol surrenders

All nine suspects in the string of heists, which spanned 20 years, are now in federal custody

Hacked for the holidays: how a late-December cyberattack has affected US museums’ digital collections and archives

The Gallery Systems software used by many cultural institutions has been breached, limiting online access for both museum employees and the general public

Leaked: the names of more than 16,000 non-consenting artists allegedly used to train Midjourney’s AI

The lists were both partially included in a recent class-action lawsuit and accidentally shared via a public Google spreadsheet

Archaeologists discover ancient Pueblo calendar and other petroglyphs in Colorado

The findings, by a team from Poland working inside Mesa Verde National Park, add to our understanding of the 13th-century Pueblan communities

Minnesota picks 24-year-old artist’s design for new state flag

While some may have preferred an endearing photo of a Minnesotan’s dog for the new flag, Andrew Prekker’s winning design is widely popular

Hidden burial chamber discovered at Tulum Maya site in Mexico

The cavern’s entrance had been concealed by a boulder that appears to have pinned an unfortunate person to the spot when it was installed

US authorities return a $3.7m trove of antiquities to Greece

Many of the 30 objects being repatriated are linked to the disgraced dealers Michael Ward and Robin Symes

The Metropolitan Museum will repatriate 16 Khmer sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand

The museum had been pressured and petitioned for years to return objects tied to smuggler Douglas Latchford

$4 thrift-store vase sells for $107,100 at auction

It turns out the glass vessel is a rare example of a 1940s Venini piece designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa

US National Portrait Gallery unveils painting of Oprah Winfrey

The portrait, showing the influential media personality in a striking purple dress, was painted by Chicago artist Shawn Michael Warren

Kimbell Art Museum acquires important cultural touchstone of Olmec art

The jade statuette of an Olmec ruler holding a baby were-jaguar will be exhibited as the centrepiece of the Texas museum's ancient American collection

Artist Hajime Sorayama claims Beyoncé copied his work in Renaissance tour

The artist, known for his distinctive sexualised androids, took to Instagram to denounce what he claims are unauthorised uses of his work in the concert tour’s imagery

Crime news

Kentucky man who defrauded local art organisations gets prison time

The FBI apprehended the man, who took $340,000 from the ArtWorks Community Arts Education Center and Russell County Arts Council, as he disembarked from a cruise ship in 2022

Marcela Cantuária: ‘I want to make life from the painting’

For her first solo show in North America, the Brazilian artist has created fantastical portraits of heroic women, from the Amazon to Florida

Five curators join Whitney Biennial team for the 2024 edition

The additional staff will programme sound art, film and performance events

US museum repatriates 44 antiquities to Egypt, Italy and Turkey

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts cooperated in an investigation that determined each of the 44 objects had been stolen, looted or trafficked

Charles Gaines at the ICA Miami: algorithms, overlays and the political strength of the walnut tree

A show at the Institute of Contemporary Art explores the former plantations of the artist's South Carolina birthplace

Antiquities worth $1m, including a piece tied to trafficker Subhash Kapoor, returned to Nepal

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office linked one of the works to Kapoor; another had been in the Rubin Museum’s collection

More than 200 works belonging to Lisa Schiff could be sold by Phillips to help repay former adviser's creditors

The auctions, which would happen across 2024 if a court approves the plan, could be followed by sales of around 900 additional works

Twelve must-see exhibitions in South Florida during Miami Art Week

From major solo shows of Sasha Gordon, Nam June Paik and Juan Francisco Elso to exhibitions around themes of food, magic and mystical animals

Philadelphia museum returns 16th-century manuscript to Peru

Federal investigators found that the six-page manuscript at the Rosenbach Museum and Library had been illegally removed from a larger volume

Works from Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s collection will go on view at the Brooklyn Museum

The couple will also donate select (as yet unspecified) pieces from their personal holdings to the museum