Biennial Meltdown, Market Myths, and Museum Scandals

Big institutional news out of Colombia: the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá—Mambo—now has two key leadership roles in flux after director Martha Ortiz resigned earlier this month amid accusations that she harassed staff and fostered a toxic work environment. Her departure follows the museum’s unexpected dismissal of artistic director Eugenio Viola in February, after seven years in the role. The board says it will search for a new director “with the utmost rigour that this process deserves.” Ortiz had taken the job in March 2024, coming from journalism and media management, with no prior museum leadership experience. For now, board chair Ángela Royo will oversee strategic decisions, while Francy Hernández will handle administrative processes.

Staying in the UK, a major Nancy Holt moment is landing at the Goodwood Art Foundation, just outside Chichester, West Sussex. Holt (1938–2014) is the subject of her first major UK show, and it’s the first here to include her outdoor works. Among them is the first posthumous installation of Hydra’s Head, an earthwork of six pools of water positioned according to the Hydra constellation—last installed on the Niagara River in 1974, and now set within Goodwood’s chalk quarry following Holt’s instructions, according to curator Ann Gallagher. Ventilation System (1985–92) also appears, with ventilation tubing beginning in the gallery and extending into the landscape. The exhibition runs 2 May through 1 November.

Zooming out to the biennial circuit, Artnet News lays out what it sees as the defining themes and styles across the last four years of international biennials, based on an analysis of 130 shows. The article lists artists who appeared in nine or more editions, including Ali Eyal, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Carolina Caycedo, Kader Attia, Kapwani Kiwanga, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Monira Al Qadiri, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Sky Hopinka, Tabita Rezaire, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and others. It argues that a prominent current mode is what it calls “post-colonial post-conceptualism,” often using charged documents or symbols with a reflective, museum-display feel. Another recurring focus is family history and networks—works linking political histories directly to parents and relatives.

In the US and elsewhere, the art trade is trying to steady itself after the Supreme Court’s 20 February decision striking down President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law as unconstitutional. Six justices found the power to set and change tariffs belongs to Congress, not the president. But any relief was short-lived: Trump imposed new tariffs that same day—up to 15%—under a different emergency powers law, with levies lasting 150 days unless Congress extends them. Lawsuits quickly followed from attorneys general in 22 states, plus the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania. A federal judge in New York ruled on 4 March that companies that paid tariffs later struck down are due refunds. Dealers describe stalled imports, shipping chaos, and pricing uncertainty, even as some say a flat 15% at least gives a number to plan around.

Another big US institutional headline: the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, received a one hundred sixteen dollarsm gift from the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation to endow its Across the Nation lending programme in perpetuity—the largest gift to endow programming in the museum’s history. The initiative launched in spring 2025, and works from the NGA’s collection have since been seen by around nine hundred thousand visitors at ten partner institutions, from the Anchorage Museum in Alaska to the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Partner museums can select long-term loans at no cost, with the NGA covering transport, installation, insurance, and regional marketing campaigns. The next cycle runs from autumn 2027 to 2029, with new partner institutions to be announced. Director Kaywin Feldman said the gift makes the programme a “core pillar” of the NGA’s work.

And since Venice is pulling everyone’s attention right now, Artnet News argues that the Biennale’s polite fiction of being “above the market” is getting harder to maintain as commercial activity grows more visible around it. The article notes it’s increasingly common for galleries to foot the bill for artists’ Venice projects as production and shipping costs rise while budgets don’t, and dealers arrive hoping for returns. It also points to client-facing events and sponsorships, from fashion houses like Bottega Veneta and Chanel to Frieze helping bankroll the British Pavilion again—this year supporting a showcase of Turner Prize-winning painter Lubaina Himid. Christie’s isn’t backing a pavilion, but it is hosting an invite-only private selling exhibition, “Ghost Pavilion: A Venice Revealed,” at the 15th-century Ca’ Dario Palazzo on the Grand Canal, with works priced from five hundred thousand dollars to over thirty five dollars million.

Now to the Venice drama: Hyperallergic reports the 61st Venice Biennale’s international jury has resigned en masse. The jury didn’t give a reason, but the move comes a week after it announced an intent to omit countries accused of committing crimes against humanity from awards consideration—specifically naming Russia and Israel in that context. The resignation instantly throws the prize structure into question and adds to the already tense atmosphere around the opening. The same roundup also flags other major cultural headlines: a new Banksy work described as a “full-blown anti-imperialist statue” in central London, and an interview with Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera ahead of the restaging of her performance “Tatlin’s Whisper #6” in Times Square, focused on free speech amid rising authoritarianism.

That turmoil immediately escalated. Hyperallergic reports the Biennale has shelved the Golden Lion awards entirely this year and will instead let the public vote on new “Visitor Lions” for best national pavilion and best artist in the main exhibition. The Biennale Foundation announced the change shortly after the jury’s collective resignation on April 30. Importantly, the Foundation stated that all official national pavilions can compete “following the principle of inclusion and equal treatment among all participants,” meaning Israel and Russia will be eligible under the new system. The awards ceremony has also been moved from May 9 to Sunday, November 22—the Biennale’s last day—so voting can stay open for the full run. Ticket holders who visited both pavilion and main-exhibition venues will be prompted to vote.

Across the London-New York market axis, a gallery insolvency is revealing a long list of unpaid bills. Official documents show the London-based gallery Stephen Friedman is in debt by around ten dollars million to dozens of creditors, including artists. A proposal dealing with the fallout from the gallery’s closure in February was submitted by FRP Advisory on 30 March and approved on 22 April. The biggest debts include £3.2 million owed to Coutts & Co. and £1.4 million due to Pentland Group Ltd.; Alison Mosheim, a Pentland director, owns 50 percent of the gallery, according to the filing. The gallery also owes the UK tax authority about £five hundred fifty thousand, the Pollen Estate £five hundred five thousand one hundred fourteen, and Crozier £two hundred fifty six thousand seven hundred forty. Artists listed as creditors include Alexander Diop, Deborah Roberts, and Kehinde Wiley.

Finally, a painful heritage story from Arizona: Hyperallergic reports that construction crews building President Trump’s border wall damaged a Native American archaeological site estimated to be at least one thousand years old. Heavy machinery damaged about 60 to 70 feet of the 272-foot-long Las Playas Intaglio in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The intaglio—an etched ground design resembling a fish—likely served as a sacred site for ancestors of the Tohono O’odham Nation. A CBP spokesperson confirmed a contractor “inadvertently disturbed” the site last Thursday, April 23, and said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott is engaged directly with tribal leadership on next steps. The remaining portion has been secured and will be protected in place. Preservation archaeologist Aaron Wright called intaglios sacred sites and warned that border infrastructure continues to threaten nearby cultural places.

That’s today’s Daily Art Download—links are in the show notes. Come back tomorrow for more of the art world’s headlines, scandals, and surprises—Chinga la migra.

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