The 2026 MacArthur Fellows include four visual artists and poet Layli Long Soldier.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named its 2026 class of fellows, and four visual artists are among the 20 recipients. Berlin-based Christine Sun Kim uses drawing, performance, and installation to explore sound, hearing, and ableism from a Deaf perspective. She recently had a survey at the Whitney and signed the national anthem at the 2020 Super Bowl. She told the New York Times that the award would let her turn down more projects and give her more time with her two children. Los Angeles artist Rodney McMillian examines how history and public policy shape life for Black Americans in the South, in work ranging from vast abstract paintings to installations. Painter Vincent Valdez, who divides his time between Houston and San Antonio, confronts racism and the Latinx experience, most recently in the touring survey “Just a Dream…” Rounding out the artists is Chip Thomas, a physician who spent 36 years on the Navajo Nation, where he installed large-scale photo murals and founded the Painted Desert Project. The broader class also includes Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier.
Chanel unveils new trophies for the Oxford–Cambridge boat race.
The Boat Race has been contested on the Thames since 1829, and next spring its winners will lift trophies created by Chanel. The house, the event’s title sponsor and official timekeeper, revealed the designs Wednesday at Somerset House in London. The occasion was the Presidents’ Challenge, a tradition more than 200 years old that formally launches each season. Arnaud Chastaingt, who directs Chanel’s watchmaking creation studio, reworked the traditional cup into a sleeker, more sculptural form in polished silver. Each trophy is set within a rectangular frame in Chanel’s monochrome codes, white for the women and black for the men, and anchored by a gold-plated seal. The two are the same size, a nod to parity, and built to be raised easily at the finish line. Thomas Lyte, which holds a Royal Warrant, spent almost two years on development, and each trophy took 320 hours to complete.
The Gilcrease Museum will reopen in a new building in 2027.
After a multiyear closure, Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum will reopen in March 2027 in a purpose-built home designed by architecture firm SmithGroup and designers G&A. The new building adds more adaptable space for exhibitions, research, and public programs. It also ties the museum more closely to two of its components, the Helmerich Center for American Research and the historic Thomas Gilcrease House. Clad in local sandstone and copper-toned metals, the building frames views across the museum’s 460-acre campus in the Osage Hills, which includes 14 miles of trails. Today it is owned by the City of Tulsa and run by the University of Tulsa. Its holdings include what the museum calls the largest collection of Western American art ever assembled, more than 12,000 artworks, and around 100,000 archival items. Executive director Brian Lee Whisenhunt says the new building finally matches Gilcrease’s founding vision of Indigenous and settler cultures in conversation.
Frieze Abu Dhabi announces over 80 exhibitors for its debut edition.
Frieze and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism have outlined the program for the first Frieze Abu Dhabi, running November 19–22 at Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island, the emirate’s fast-growing cultural district. More than 80 exhibitors from 36 countries will take part. Regional galleries including The Third Line, Carbon 12, and Lawrie Shabibi from the UAE; ATHR and Hafez from Saudi Arabia; Tehran’s Dastan; Tunisia’s Selma Feriani and Elmarsa; and India’s Jhaveri Contemporary, Nature Morte, and Project 88 are some of the most prominent. Beyond the fair, Frieze Sculpture will fill Mamsha Beach with works by Zeinab Alhashemi, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Imran Qureshi, and Kamran Samimi, and a talk program will run throughout the week. Director Dyala Nusseibeh says the lineup is rooted in the region’s evolving cultural landscape.
Julien’s to auction Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman memorabilia.
More than 400 items from the estate of Paul Reubens will be auctioned by Julien’s Auctions on October 28. The live sale takes place online and at the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles, the improv stage where Reubens first introduced Pee-wee Herman. Leading the sale is the gray glen plaid suit from 2016’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, complete with red bow tie and white loafers, estimated at $8,000 to $10,000. Close behind is a full-scale replica of the red Schwinn from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, sold together with Reubens’ 2011 Spike TV Scream Award, at $5,000 to $7,000. Devoted fans will find plenty of Pee-wee’s Playhouse ephemera: an original stop-motion dinosaur puppet, a set of claymation foods from the Playhouse fridge, all 13 first-season scripts, and a Big Adventure draft that includes a cut magic-shop scene. More affordable lots include a limited-edition 1989 JCPenney doll and a production parking sign bearing Reubens’ name.
Attractive Distractions:
Ottolenghi opens its first Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh.
The Barbie x Gomi Collection gives old dolls a second life as tech.
Contemporary visual artist Wangari Mathenge explores hybrid identity at Lévy Gorvy Dayan.
Saint Laurent stages an all-gold show beneath the Eiffel Tower.
