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Conductor, a new art fair hosted by Powerhouse Arts opened in Brooklyn on Wednesday night with a crowd size expected from a biennial preview, rather than a typical fair opening. Within hours, more than 800 people had passed through Powerhouse Arts, drifting between booths that offered the unexpected. There were 28 galleries and 20 special projects spread across the building, with installations that often spilled out of traditional stands and into shared space. This is the first full edition of the fair following last year’s teaser, and pulling it together was not far from straightforward. “Some of the gallery’s that wanted to participate had to pull out at the last minute because of the war in Iran, which was very difficult,” said fair director Adrianna Farietta. Still, the result is an inclusive fair with many works worthy of a serious look and a layout that rewarded wandering. You’d turn a corner and find yourself standing gazing into a large installatio...

The Montclair Art Museum has a new chief curator. The New Jersey institution hired Kate Kraczon, who lost her job as director of exhibitions and chief curator at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, late last year amid a wave of layoffs; she had served in that office since 2019. Kraczon takes over the role from Gail Stavitsky, who had held the post since 1994, and takes up her new position June 15. Before the Bell, Kraczon was associate curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from 2008–19. The museum also appointed Todd Caissie, an enrolled member of the Osage Nation and previously director of Canada’s New Brunswick Internment Camp Museum, as director. Before entering museum work, he was an executive search consultant in Tokyo and New York.  “I am honored to join MAM at this pivotal moment, and to work in close partnership with Todd Caissie, whose vision for the museum resonates w...

Celebrating community rugby highlights of the past decade. Intercept and chargedown tries can turn games and take the breath out of opposing players and supporters alike. They are also often exciting and thrilling to watch, the sight of a winger coming up in the line and poaching a pass and doing what he or she...

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...