Venice Revolts, Art World Loses a Kingmaker
Today's Stories
- Bruno Bischofberger, Art Dealer of Stars Like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dies at 86 — ARTnews.com
- Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Withdraw From Awards En Masse — Hyperallergic
- Venice Diary Day 3: Offsite Highlights Include Fleshy Films and Vegetarian Videos — ARTnews.com
- Venice Biennale Artists Decline Consideration for Golden Lions Chosen by Public Vote — ARTnews.com
- Mom, I'm Gonna Be an Artist! — Hyperallergic
Full Transcript
It is Saturday, May tenth, two thousand twenty-six. Let’s dive in.
The art world lost a major figure: Bruno Bischofberger has died at 86, his Zurich-based gallery announced on Saturday. Through Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, founded in 1963, he helped bring American artists to Europe and became closely tied to Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Bischofberger and Warhol first met in New York in 1966, and in 1968 he bought 11 of Warhol’s early paintings for what he called “a very high price,” securing a right of first refusal that Warhol honored until 1987. Bischofberger also acquired a 25 percent stake in Interview in 1969, produced Warhol’s film L’amour in 1970, and proposed the Warhol-Basquiat collaborations in 1984.
Staying in Venice, a major rupture is unfolding at the 61st Venice Biennale. As the Biennale opens to the public on May 9, 54 artists in the international exhibition “In Minor Keys” and 16 national pavilion teams announced they are withdrawing from awards consideration, in solidarity with the jury’s resignation. The jury resigned on April 30, after previously saying it would not consider for awards “countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC),” effectively disqualifying Israel and Russia. Hyperallergic reports the Biennale Foundation confirmed that Israel Pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru filed legal warnings alleging antisemitism and nationality-based discrimination, and the Foundation then replaced Golden Lions with public-voted “Visitor Lions” to be announced November 22.
ARTnews is tracking a closely related development from the same controversy: nearly half of the artists in “In Minor Keys,” curated by Koyo Kouoh, declined consideration for the Biennale’s top honors this year. ARTnews reports that 52 artists signed an e-flux statement published on Saturday “in solidarity with the resignation of the jury selected by Koyo Kouoh.” The statement was also signed by national pavilion artists representing 16 countries, including France’s Yto Barrada, Lithuania’s Egle Budvytyte, and the Netherlands’s Dries Verhoeven. With the traditional Golden Lions scrapped, the Biennale has planned “Visitor Lions” decided by public vote, to be awarded on the closing day, November 22. Meanwhile, ARTnews notes reports, including from Adnkronos, about pressure from Belu-Simion Fainaru alleging discrimination and antisemitism.
If you’re looking for a break from the official routes, one Venice diary dispatch spotlights offsite shows that feel like their own ecosystem. It raves about Li Yi-Fan’s animated video Screen Melancholy (2026) at the offsite Taiwan Pavilion, described as chaotic, absurdist, and uncanny—right down to a painted CGI figure chatting with ChatGPT and needling visitors about phone charging. The piece also highlights video installations: Janis Rafa’s Baby I’m Yours, Forever (2026) at Fondazione In Between Art Film, set against an industrial meat refrigeration plant, and Lu Yang’s immersive presentation at Espace Louis Vuitton, mixing Buddhist meditations with anime-like visuals and anatomy. The diary closes by praising Dominican painter Iván Tovar as a true revelation among the offsite offerings.
Finally, one more Venice-linked roundup from Hyperallergic ties the week’s protests and reporting to Mother’s Day weekend. “Mom, I’m Gonna Be an Artist!” frames the moment as an art-world week “humming with protests and resistance,” and notes coverage from Venice, including editor-in-chief Hakim Bishara on a “historic strike for Palestine and workers’ rights” and Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian on “In Minor Keys.” It also points readers to Damien Davis on artists and consignment agreements, and to Staff Writer Isa Farfan’s prompt to 15 artists about the best advice they got from their moms or maternal figures—like Pat Oleszko recalling her mother’s reassurance that she’d be appreciated in college. The edition is signed off by senior editor Valentina Di Liscia with her own mami’s advice: get off your phone, smell the flowers, and steal one or two from your neighbor.
That’s today’s download—links to all five stories are in the show notes. Come back tomorrow for another brisk hit of art-world reality.