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place

Making the Art Institute of Chicago a more inclusive place is about more than just architecture

The museum’s director James Rondeau on why the institution is bringing Barcelona architects Barozzi Veiga on board to rethink the whole campus

Chicago Architecture Biennial reckons with displacement, privation and segregation

Artists’ works address a history of colonialisation and marginalisation and its impact on contemporary urban realities

Free arts education programme started in Harlem expands to major US cities

ProjectArt fills a void in the American public school system, adding initiatives in New Orleans and San Francisco this autumn

USAnews

Sackler family agrees to give up 'entire value' of Purdue Pharma in bid to settle opioid cases

But state attorneys general predict an imminent bankruptcy filing as settlement talks break down

USAarchive

US government intervenes as Israel bombing victims issue lawsuit asking for Iranian antiquities from museums

Iran argues that artefacts housed abroad should have immunity since they originate from a foreign sovereign state

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

Winslow Homer beach paintings—cut in half after a bad review—reunited for Cape Ann Museum show

Exhibition of marine paintings will be joined later this month by a survey of the artist's Civil War illustrations at Harvard Art Museums

Dutch government gives money for new centre on Netherlandish art at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts

Prime minister takes the unusual step of pledging $200,000 to the US museum

Whitney Museum vice chairman Warren Kanders steps down after months of protests

His company Safariland has been criticised for manufacturing tear gas canisters that have been used on asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border

New US visa policy could stifle outspoken artists on social media

Several high-profile artists including Ai Weiwei have spoken out against the policy

Berlin museums appeal to US Supreme Court in dispute over €200m Guelph Treasure

The case 'shouldn't be heard in a US court', argues the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

Amy Sherald, Michelle Obama's portraitist, unveils massive mural in Philadelphia

The six-storey 2,400 sq ft painting depicts an empowered black teenager

Ugo Rondinone’s day-glo desert installation Seven Magic Mountains gets a fresh coat of paint

The popular public art work has been restored with the aim of keeping it Instagram-ready through 2021 or longer

Whitney Biennial aims to focus on artists but—as protests mount—it cannot escape politics

The Whitney Museum has turned to two in-house curators to put together a show that celebrates diversity in American art—but as in 2017, the biennial is already mired in controversy

Lawnews

Art vs porn: Iowa prisoners mount legal challenge to nude image ban

A new statute means inmates cannot access art, literature and even medical journals that contain nudity

Does a Minnesota college own a portrait by Edvard Munch?

Scientific evidence points to St Olaf College’s Portrait of Eva Mudocci being the real deal, but scholars of the artist’s work are reserving judgement

Touch the sky: Doug Aitken’s hot air balloon work to lift off in Massachusetts

The multi-media artist is taking to the clouds with a new roaming project starting in Martha’s Vineyard

US-China tension creates buyer’s market in Hong Kong

Despite a burgeoning arts scene in the city, worries persist that the trade war and economic uncertainty could affect business at Art Basel in Hong Kong

Terra Foundation’s transformational leader Elizabeth Glassman to step down

During her two-decade tenure, the Terra closed its Chicago museum and turned its attention to grant-making and collaborations

Loansnews

Hermitage and MoMA heads seek end to US-Russian loans freeze

Diplomats hint at future cooperation between the countries at Texas conference

Martha Lufkin. with additional reporting by Alison Cole

Is an art Cold War thaw coming? US and Russian museum leaders and diplomats to discuss loan freeze

Public conversation to be held in February will address long impasse on museum loans

A global network for Indigenous performers launches in New York

Partner organisations will be “indigenised” by presenting a certain number of works by First Nations artists per year and build connections with local communities

Fundingcomment

The recent protests at the Whitney show museum trustees’ dealings cannot be ignored

The same old arguments in favour of ignoring the business dealings of trustees, of pretending museum programming can function independently of those funding it, cannot stand for long

Aruna D'Souza
USAnews

Reviving the "small town USA"

Artist aims to rebuild community in Nebraska town

USAnews

The new director of America’s oldest university museum has big plans for its future

Stephanie Wiles, who took up the reins at the Yale University Art Gallery six months ago, wants to expand the institution's engagement with New Haven and the international art world

We are all America: first Faena Festival aims to unify, not divide

There is continuity across the two continents, says curator of Miami Beach event

Ivorynews

$1.3m worth of ivory seized in California—the largest haul since a ban was adopted in the state

The Carlton Gallery of San Diego and a nearby warehouse had hundreds of pieces