Art Movements delivers a concise overview of essential news, appointments, awards, and events within the bustling art sphere every Thursday afternoon.
Next Stop: London to New Mexico. British curator and author Ekow Eshun is set to lead the curation of the 13th SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, scheduled for the summer of 2027. Eshun, who became the first Black director of a leading British arts institution when appointed at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, shared his enthusiasm with Hyperallergic. He remarked on the distinctiveness of New Mexico’s art, which he views as “inseparable from a long history of imaginative reaching toward different possible futures.”
Eshun elaborated on the state’s rich tapestry of visionary artists and alternative communities, alongside its profound Indigenous histories and complex migration legacies. “Art is a means not of smoothing over those contradictions, but of widening our sense of what is possible within them,” he said, emphasizing the potential for new connections in a region that embraces diverse perspectives.
In other news, New York’s Mnuchin Gallery will close its doors this month after the passing of its founder, Robert Mnuchin, last year. Despite controversial associations with Robert’s son, Steven Mnuchin, the gallery hosted remarkable exhibitions, including a notable Willem de Kooning retrospective in 2019. Its final exhibit featured Julian Schnabel’s plate paintings, concluding the gallery’s legacy on a somewhat subdued note.
Additional developments include Chelsea Bighorn receiving the Walker Youngbird Foundation’s 2026 Emerging Native Arts Grant, and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship announcing its 2026–2028 cohort. The Asian American Arts Alliance awarded its 2026 What Can We Do? grants, and Japanese sculptor Yuko Mohri won the $50,000 Calder Prize. Meanwhile, Conny Maier joins Société gallery in partnership with Hauser & Wirth, and Ulrike Al-Khamis plans to retire from the Aga Khan Museum. The Warhol Foundation is expanding its grants for smaller visual arts organizations in response to shifting funding landscapes.
In an auction twist, Michelangelo’s study for the Sistine Chapel frescoes, a modest five-by-five-inch drawing of a foot, sold for $27 million at Christie’s. Despite a 45-minute bidding war, the purchase set a record for the Renaissance master, proving art’s enduring appeal and value.
