Back in January, we had to wrap our heads around the fact that South Africa, the same country that charged Israel with genocide at The Hague, censored an exhibition about Palestinian grief. The nation’s Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, a supporter of Israel, nixed Gabrielle Goliath’s installation Elegy for its pavilion at the Venice Biennale, using false accusations of foreign intervention that convinced nobody.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. A few organizations stepped up, and Goliath’s show was eventually installed in a Venice church. “The censorship of Goliath’s proposed contribution to the Biennale seems especially perverse when confronted with the actual installation, which is hauntingly beautiful and achingly tender,” writes critic Aruna D’Souza. Read her full review of the exhibition today.
British-Nigerian photographer Misan Harriman would probably identify with Goliath, as he’s being subjected to a smear campaign for his solidarity with Palestinians. Staff reporter Rhea Nayyar has that story. Also, check out our list of art books to read this summer, including new titles by Megan O’Grady and Jennifer Higgie.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Gabrielle Goliath Sounds a Call to Action in Venice
With “Elegy,” the South African artist proposes that grief is a necessary tool for building solidarity.
“Though each work is distinct, in the vaulted space of the church, the voices meld, becoming a choir: All these acts of violence are connected both through geopolitics (the still unfinished work of decolonization) and, here, through sound. We, the viewers, not only hear the music that results, but we also feel it in our bodies thanks to the acoustics of the building. We are implicated, in other words — we are not allowed to simply watch.”
Read the full review by Aruna D’Souza
ArtPhilly Presents “What Now: 2026”
The five-week city-wide festival will feature over 30 newly-commissioned works created by Philadelphia artists to spark important conversations about the future of the United States.
News
- Sarah Lucas’s new public sculpture “VENUS VICTORIA” outside Manhattan’s New Museum subverts the mostly male history of public monuments.
- Staff members across departments at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) have announced their intention to unionize.
- Thousands have submitted complaints decrying the right-wing smear campaign against British-Nigerian photographer and arts trustee Misan Harriman.
More on Hyperallergic
Martin Wong’s Brick Monument to Popeye
He repurposed bygone cartoon characters and gave them new life with a queer, magpie sensibility, which still pops two decades after his death. | Brian Karl
A Contemporary Art Haven Just a PATH Ride Away
More than a third of Mana Contemporary’s artists opened their spaces to the public for its spring open studios event, the largest participation number in years. | Aaron Short
12 Art Books to Kick Off Summer
Beach reads are officially back. In between your escapist fantasy novels and trendy memoirs, our writers recommend a novel lampooning the art world, Megan O’Grady’s meditation on art and living, and Nan Goldin’s tender photo essay just to name a few.
Still in Sound
Sound artists compose sonic and multisensory interpretations of abstract paintings for this new exhibition at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.
Member Comment
Sandy Sanders on Valentina Di Liscia’s “Frieze New York Is an Assembly-Line Salad”
Doesn’t that say just about everything in a nutshell? The isolated enclave that our high income elite have made of what used to be our contemporary art world, now just for themselves, is an empty artifact of their incremental hegemony over American life, since the Gilded Age. The sadness of seeing the contentless-ness, the escape, the aversion to meaningfulness for humanity toward a vibrant Public Commons, the alienation of 90% of society, is a painful realization.
From the Archive
Art History’s Most Controversial Nudes
The nude figure as a subject has been a battleground issue for as long as it’s been a staple of fine art. | Sarah Rose Sharp
Opportunities
Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from the Bennett Prize, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and more in our May list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.
