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The Council of the European Union announced on April 23 that it is formally sanctioning Mikhail Piotrovsky, the long-time director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The reasons given are that Piotrovsky is “a close associate of Vladimir Putin” and that “he has actively supported and justified Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” The news was first reported by The Art Newspaper . According to the Hermitage Development Foundation, Piotrovsky succeed his father, Boris, as director of the state-run museum in 1992, which is around the time he met Putin. He has a background in Arabic studies and archaeology, and studied at Leningrad State University and the University of Cairo. When Piotrovsky turned 80 on Dec. 9, 2024, Putin sent him the following message, according to a Kremlin news site : “You have devoted your talents as a scholar, researcher and organiser to the noble mission of preserving humanity’s unique historical, cultural a...

Vui Suli Tuitaupe, founder of Moana Vā and recipient of the Pacific Health Service Award at the 2026 Minister of Health Volunteer Awards. Photo: World Education News The founder of Moana Vā, a collective supporting MVPFAFF+, LGBTQIA+ and Rainbow+ communities in Christchurch and around the country is the recipient of the Pacific Health Service Award for the Minister of Health Volunteer Awards.  Vui Suli Tuitaupe was announced as one of the recipients acknowledged by health minister Simeon Brown and mental health minister Matt Doocey celebrating individuals and groups who make an outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s health system.  Vui is a public health researcher, registered nurse, academic currently studying towards a Doctor of Health Sciences at the University of Canterbury as well as a fitness instructor.  Minister Brown says, “these awards recognise individuals and groups who go above and beyond to support patients, families, and communities. Their work str...

A Spanish judge has ordered the Museo del Prado in Madrid to hold onto a painting attributed to Diego Velázquez at the center of a divorce dispute between steel magnate José María Aristrain and his ex-wife Gema Navarro, according to  El País .  The painting ended up at the Prado through a chain of state intervention. After Navarro filed a complaint alleging the work had been wrongly kept from her, a Madrid judge, acting with the support of prosecutors, ordered Spain’s Ministry of Culture to take custody of it citing its potential importance to the country’s historical heritage. The ministry then designated the Prado as custodian. The work was removed from Aristrain’s Madrid residence and transferred to the museum’s storage on March 17, where it will remain until ownership is resolved.  At the center of the dispute is a portrait of Philip IV linked to Velázquez’s early years in Madrid. A different version of the composition hangs in the Prado, and sc...

“What does Damien Hirst have to do with McDonald’s? Nothing.” So begins a perplexing Instagram video introducing an installation organized by Nicolas Ballario, founder of a Milan-based communications agency, that was on view as part of Milan Design Week. The immersive installation, “POOL. Ti sblocco un ricordo” (“Pool: I’ll Unlock a Memory for You”), is part of a series of offsite exhibitions collectively called Tortona Rocks, in the Tortona neighborhood of Milan. The centerpiece of “POOL” is a large swimming pool-shaped pit full of hundreds of thousands of colorful balls, like a McDonald’s PlayPlace ball pit on steroids. So, what does the provocative British artist have to do with all of this? Ballario’s video is unclear, explaining that Hirst’s relevance to the project, which is intended to celebrate McDonald’s 40th anniversary in Italy, is, in fact, irrelevant. “Art is compelling when it is ambiguous, when it is disorienting and fills you with doubt,” he says. Okay, then! Acco...

Entering the cavernous Magazzini del Sale in Venice, viewers encounter Nalini Malani’s animations, which are projected directly onto the uneven brick walls of the former salt warehouse. Her images flicker, dissolve, and reappear as they are cast across architecture shaped by centuries of trade. The installation feels both contemporary and archaic: moving images that seem less like digital projections than pigment placed on stone, recalling cave paintings set in motion.   This tension between past and present runs throughout Of Woman Born , Malani’s latest project, which was commissioned by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and is being presented during the opening of the Venice Biennale next month. Drawing on tens of thousands of hand-drawn images translated into animation, the installation brings together mythology, literature, and sound in a layered environment that unfolds as the viewer moves through the space. Beyond the exhibition itself, Malani has also extended one of her rec...

Scene at Kilbirnie Park on Saturday in a high scoring match between Tawa and Poneke. Photo: Kinetic Images. We are into the fifth week of the club rugby season and the Swindale Shield and other competitions are just starting to heat up. A look at Premier Swindale Shield fixtures this coming Saturday in Wellington (Premier...