Crystal Bridges to open a Tiffany & Co. exhibition this October.
Tiffany & Co. is bringing nearly 190 years of history to Arkansas, including a diamond mined in its backyard. The jeweler and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville are partnering on “Nature Adorned: The Artistry of Tiffany & Co. and the American Imagination,” opening Oct. 9 and running through March 29, 2027. Rather than a conventional house retrospective, the exhibition places jewelry and gemstones from the Tiffany Archives, spanning 1885 to 1987, in dialogue with works from Crystal Bridges’ collection, using nature as both muse and material. A highlight is the 27.21-carat Arkansas Diamond, discovered in 1926 and acquired by Tiffany in 1946. The show pairs George Paulding Farnham’s enameled orchid brooches with botanical paintings by Martin Johnson Heade, and Jean Schlumberger’s Bird on a Rock brooch alongside contemporary and abstract works exploring crystalline form.
China boycotts Gwangju Biennale over Taiwan pavilion dispute.
Politics has overtaken one of Asia’s most prominent art events. China announced Thursday it was boycotting the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea after organizers allowed a Taiwanese entry to appear under the name “Taiwan Pavilion,” a designation Beijing calls an inaccurate suggestion of Taiwanese independence. The dispute centers on the biennale’s Pavilion Project, a section curated separately from the main exhibition. A Chinese curator representing the “China Pavilion” said the naming allowed “political factors to interfere with art,” announcing the Chinese team’s unanimous withdrawal. China’s embassy in Seoul went further, warning the incident was damaging the political foundation of China-South Korea relations. The naming fight has simmered for months: organizers renamed the pavilion “NTMoFA Pavilion” in June under apparent pressure, then reversed course last month following backlash from participating artists and Taiwan’s culture ministry. By Thursday, Chinese participants had removed their works entirely. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said its “one China” policy remains unchanged, calling the dispute a private-sector matter. The biennale, founded in 1994 to commemorate Gwangju’s 1980 pro-democracy uprising, runs through mid-November under the title “You Must Change Your Life.”
German painter Kerstin Brätsch wins the Zurich Art Prize.
German painter Kerstin Brätsch has won the twentieth Zurich Art Prize, taking home CHF130,000 in prize money, with the remaining CHF100,000 funding a solo exhibition at Zurich’s Museum Haus Konstruktiv, opening June 2027. Born in Hamburg in 1979 and trained in Berlin and New York, Brätsch works across painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and craft, known for large-scale works with marbled or stucco-covered surfaces. Her recent solo exhibitions include stops at Casa São Roque in Porto, Kunstmuseum Bonn, and the Munch Museum in Oslo, all in 2025. Brätsch has also built a career around collaboration, co-founding the platform DAS INSTITUT with Adele Röder in 2007 and partnering with sculptor Debo Eilers under the name KAYA since 2010. Founded in 2007 by Museum Haus Konstruktiv and Zurich Insurance Company, the prize honors artists bridging constructivist-concrete and conceptual traditions.
Aman Group to debut in South Korea with its first property in Seoul.
Aman Group is entering South Korea for the first time. Aman Seoul will rise in the Cheongdam district of Gangnam overlooking the Han River, combining a hotel, a limited set of branded residences, and a global Aman Club. The project is being developed with Shinsegae Property, the development arm of Shinsegae Group, following a broader partnership between Shinsegae and OKO Group, the U.S. developer founded by Aman chairman and CEO Vlad Doronin. Architecture and interiors will draw on Korean spatial traditions and materials, developed with local partners and craftspeople, while Aman Interiors will furnish the residences. Shinsegae Group chairman Chung Yong-jin called the project a new benchmark for luxury living in Seoul.
Bang & Olufsen names ex-Alexander McQueen CEO as new chief.
Gianfilippo Testa, the former president and CEO of Alexander McQueen, who exited the London house last June, has been named chief executive of Bang & Olufsen as part of a broader leadership overhaul at the Danish luxury audio maker. An Italian national, Testa built his career across Europe’s top luxury conglomerates, starting at Tag Heuer in 2002, moving through LVMH’s Fendi in Italy, Japan, and Hong Kong, then joining Kering in 2016 as Gucci’s president in Greater China before rising to president of EMEA and vice president of global retail at Gucci. He spent four years at McQueen before departing. Bang & Olufsen chairman Juha Christensen praised Testa’s “compelling combination of international leadership experience, deep luxury-sector expertise and a proven track record of driving growth and transformation.”
Attractive Distractions:
Jacob Hashimoto unveils his largest work yet at SFMOMA.
In Sutton Place, interior designer Muriel Brandolini reimagines a design legend’s home.
“Between Worlds” at Kodl Contemporary in Prague explores clay’s power of destruction and renewal.
Kodak’s Super 8 fuels a worldwide ode to nature.
