#art-and-politics

#art-and-politics

A dispiriting selection process for the United States Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale has reached its appropriately dispiriting conclusion: Alma Allen, a sculptor known for his sleek, abstract sculptures, will represent America on the country's 250th anniversary, as previously reported by ARTnews and confirmed today. This is disappointing, not because Allen's work is bad (there are plenty of worse choices), but because the work has nothing to say about the state of our country at the moment .

In 2002, Thelma Golden curated a show at the Studio Museum in Harlem titled "Black Romantic: The Figurative Impulse in Contemporary African-American Art." It was a survey of Black artists who were interested in representing the Black figure in a way that refuted narratives that made exotic caricatures of Black people. These were artists whose work was popular among Black audiences but largely shut out of white, mainstream art circles.

Hitler did indeed attach great importance to art. You can see this even well into the ravages of war, when he was still personally selecting the color of mosaic tiles for large construction sites.

The 13th Berlin Biennale's curators workshop, themed 'Fugitive Acts: Art and Politics,' will take place from September 1st to September 7th, 2025, focusing on the role of politics in contemporary exhibition making.

Opposing the Israeli government is viewed by some as a stance against a major source of antisemitism worldwide, merging politics with deep-seated cultural narratives.