The Koyo Kouoh Foundation launches in memory of the late 2026 Venice Biennale curator.
A new foundation honoring late curator Koyo Kouoh has been launched to preserve and extend the legacy of the influential Swiss-Cameroonian curator, who died in 2025 shortly after becoming the first African woman appointed to curate the Venice Biennale. The foundation aims to continue Kouoh’s decades-long commitment to Pan-African cultural infrastructure, curatorial research, artist mentorship, and institution-building, reflecting the values she championed through organizations such as RAW Material Company in Dakar and Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. Its launch comes as the 2026 Venice Biennale moves forward with Kouoh’s posthumously realized exhibition, “In Minor Keys.”
Dian Suci is awarded the 2026 Max Mara Art Prize for Women.
Indonesian multimedia artist Dian Suci has won the 10th edition of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, becoming the first winner under the prize’s new global, nomadic format. Suci was chosen by a jury, led by curator Cecilia Alemani, from a shortlist of five finalists for her proposal “Crafting Spirit: Cultural Dialogues in Heritage and Practice,” which examines the relationship between spirituality, religious craftsmanship, labor, and capitalism through a comparative study of Italy and Indonesia. The award includes a six-month residency across Italy—spanning Assisi, Rome, Lecce, and Florence—and will culminate in solo exhibitions at Museum MACAN in Jakarta and Collezione Maramotti in Italy in 2027, with the resulting works entering the Maramotti collection.
Jordan Roth debuted his new performance piece inside Palazzo Di Fiori.
Jordan Roth premiered a performance-based collage as part of Performance Space New York’s thought provoking programming at the 2026 Venice Biennale—shortly after the fashion and theater fixture attended the Met Gala as a “living sculpture” in a custom Robert Wun look. At the Biennale, Roth channeled the Renaissance painter Irene di Spilimbergo through an elaborate, dramatic presentation that merged fashion, performance art, painting, and historical reference.
Contemporary artists are looking to Renaissance works for new artistic tools.
A growing number of contemporary artists are reviving the Renaissance-era techniques of marquetry and intarsia—labor-intensive forms of wood inlay traditionally associated with luxury furniture and decorative arts—as a way to push back against today’s fast, image-saturated digital culture. Artists including Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Bühler-Rose, and Nick Doyle are adapting the centuries-old craft into contemporary artworks that combine woodworking, collage, painting, and narrative imagery, often drawing inspiration from historical spaces such as the famed Gubbio Studiolo while reinterpreting ideas of authorship, craftsmanship, and permanence.
Michael Anastassiades has closed his eponymous lighting brand.
Designer Michael Anastassiades has announced the closure of his eponymous lighting brand, which became internationally recognized for sculptural, minimalist lighting pieces such as the Tube Chandelier, Mobile Chandeliers, and Tip of the Tongue collection. Anastassiades said the brand began twenty years ago as an experimental platform for ideas developed in his London home and evolved into a deeply personal practice shaped by craftsmanship, geometry, and collaborations across the design industry, including a long-running partnership with Italian lighting company Flos. While the lighting label will shut down, Anastassiades’ London-based studio will continue producing limited-edition furniture, lighting, and collaborative projects.
Today’s attractive distractions:
Bjork DJ’d a dance party at the Venice Biennale in a fiberglass Bottega Veneta dress.
Audemars Piguet and Swatch confirmed a forthcoming collab.
Beloved London bookseller Claire de Rouen has opened in Shoreditch.
Telfar introduced a utility bag made of washed canvas.
