Good morning. In the latest update on the controversy-ridden Documenta — and in line with Germany’s ongoing crackdown on criticism of Israel — the organization’s code of conduct has adopted a widely scrutinized definition of antisemitism that conflates anti-Jewish sentiment with anti-Zionist beliefs.
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February 06, 2025

Good morning. In the latest update on the controversy-ridden Documenta — and in line with Germany’s ongoing crackdown on criticism of Israel — the organization’s code of conduct has adopted a widely scrutinized definition of antisemitism that conflates anti-Jewish sentiment with anti-Zionist beliefs. Staff Writer Maya Pontone has the story.

For some levity, dive into the absurdist world of Swedish punk band Viagra Boys’s latest music video, which pokes fun at art-world idiosyncrasies, from auction shenanigans to the white cube.

More below — from Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian on the paintings of Kate Hargrave to writer and feminist activist Alexis Clements on a small but mighty retrospective of the art of the Guerrilla Girls. Clements’s is the second review of this show we’re publishing this week, offering a historical perspective of the group’s subversive tactics and enduring relevance.

And don’t miss alejandro t. acierto’s investigation into the history of the peacock chair, whose origins he traces to incarcerated labor in the Philippines, as part of our series focusing on underrepresented craft histories in collaboration with the Center for Craft.

— Valentina Di Liscia, News Editor

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Swedish Punk Band Viagra Boys’s Absurdist Send-Up of the Art World

A video for the new single “Man Made of Meat” riffs on the readymade, satirizes zombie formalism, and parodies action painting. | Matt Stromberg

SPONSORED

Artists and Scholars Talk Black Queer Ecstasy at AGBS

Tune into this hybrid symposium with leading artists and scholars in Black queer art to explore visual representations of ecstasy from the last 100 years. Organized by Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS) at the University of Texas at Austin, the Transcendence symposium on February 20–21 will feature keynotes by Lola Flash and Texas Isaiah.

Learn more

Bre’Ann White, “Deity II” (2015), inkjet print, 48 x 36 inches (© Bre’Ann White, courtesy the artist)

IN THE NEWS

LATEST IN ART

After More Than 20 Years, Katie Hargrave Lets Her Paintings Leave the Nest 

The artist's new exhibition, her first since graduating from art school in the early aughts, reveals her deep love of art history. | Hrag Vartanian

SPONSORED

NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery Presents Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial

The show brings together 21 artists and collectives from across the Gulf region to explore themes like ecological change, spatial politics, and urban transformation.

Learn more

Re-evaluating the Guerrilla Girls for Today’s Politics

A mini-retrospective of the feminist collective raises the question: What can be learned from this work that applies to today, and is this an effective method of making change? | Alexis Clements

Tracing the Peacock Chair’s History From Manila to Nashville

A complex web of stories encourages us to reimagine the political weight of an unassuming remnant of craft tradition, born of incarcerated labor in the Philippines. | alejandro t. acierto

IN MEMORIAM

Alonzo Davis (1942–2025)
Champion of Black American art | Hyperallergic

Leonid Bazhanov (1945–2025)
Russian curator, critic, and museum director | Art Newspaper

David Edward Byrd (1941–2025)
Graphic designer and painter who made iconic posters | Playbill

Helga de Alvear (1936–2025)
Spanish Gallerist who helped found ARCO Madrid art fair | Ocula

Michael Flynn (1947–2025)
British figurative ceramicist | Guardian

Richard Kramlich (1935–2025)
Collector of video art | Business Insider

Lim Tze Peng (1921–2025)
Singaporean ink painter and the country’s oldest working artist | Artsy

Mashkoor Raza (1948–2025)
Pakistani abstract painter | Express Tribune

Tony Sheets (1942–2024)
Watercolorist and muralist | East Bay Times

Laurens Tan (1950–2025)
Australian multidisciplinary artist and curator | Arts Media Agency

George Tice (1938–2025)
Photographer whose muse was New Jersey | New York Times

MEMBER COMMENT

John Hall on "Trump Disbands President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities"

The president’s disbanding a functioning PCAH is also a symbolic loss, especially if the move goes unchallenged. It would again mark the country’s accelerating attention on mammon and relentless disdain for the creative and spiritual. Not surprising, I guess, under a leader who is both artless and indifferent to humanity.

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