Venice is shaping up to be interesting this year. Russia returns to the Biennale with its own pavilion — the latest move in its campaign to reclaim cultural legitimacy while the war in Ukraine grinds on (The New York Times). Also attending: the Belarus Free Theatre, in exile since 2020, bringing a show about authoritarianism as a collateral event (ARTnews). The same stage, two very different stories about what art is for.
On the domestic front, DePaul University has announced it’s closing its art museum, and more than 2,000 people have signed an open letter calling the decision “short-sighted, wrong-headed” (Hyperallergic). Meanwhile, the Art Institute of Chicago is considering an expansion that would displace the landmark Adler & Sullivan trading room — rescued from demolition 54 years ago — to make way for new galleries (Chicago Sun-Times).
Scientists studying tree rings in Stradivarius violins have traced the wood to a high-altitude valley in northern Italy — the same one that hosted part of the 2026 Winter Olympics (The New York Times). Terroir, but for instruments.
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