Dispatch.
News updates, briefings, calls, events. Journalistic, direct.
Renoir and Love: from crowded dances to quiet conversations
At London’s National Gallery, ‘Renoir and Love’ explores friendship, courtship and family affection in the artist’s paintings, from crowded gatherings to more intimate encounters.
A drawing in an Italian collection is newly attributed to Manet
Stylistic details and a studio stamp support the attribution proposed by Emily Beeny and Francesco Baccanelli. Who the drawing depicts, and what it was made for, remain open questions.
In Calcinera, a cultural project extends into the woods
Prime Luci opened the association’s activities. Calcinera Lab plans workshops, stays and work to bring indoor spaces back into use, with the aim of encouraging more people to spend time in the hamlet.
Funding and skills among concerns raised in World Monuments Watch 2027 nominations
Nominations for the 2027 World Monuments Watch point to funding difficulties, extreme weather and a need for training. They also identify opportunities for conservation to create jobs and support local economies.
Giacomo Balla’s art in the wardrobe and the home
At the Mart in Rovereto, clothes, furnishings and designs on paper trace Giacomo Balla’s exploration of art in everyday life.
DeafCity Hub to test plans for a Deaf-led cultural centre in London
A temporary space in 2027 will allow Amanprit Arnold to test how a cultural centre might be designed around the ways the Deaf community communicates and gathers.
Photographing Italy’s former psychiatric hospitals as they stand today
Across all 20 Italian regions, two photographers have documented what became of former psychiatric hospitals, from abandoned buildings to places given new uses.
A tiger, a magpie and 2,000 years of Korean art at the British Museum
Images familiar from KPop Demon Hunters offer one way into a British Museum exhibition spanning Korean art from the early Iron Age to the present.
Designing Yixing’s UCCA Clay Museum before an operator was in place
With no museum operator yet in place, the architects drew on Yixing’s ceramic traditions, local makers and the former industrial site. What that early absence meant for the finished museum remains unclear.
Women artists and the making of Pre-Raphaelite art
An exhibition in Madrid brings together painting, photography and decorative arts to show how women developed Pre-Raphaelite ideas while working within the constraints of their time.
AI in museums: where it can help and why human oversight matters
A US survey found strong reservations about AI-written exhibition texts. Museum projects in Cleveland, Washington and Arkansas show other uses, and the decisions people still need to make.
Water heritage in Covilhã: industrial history and supply networks
A public meeting in the Portuguese city will consider how water shaped its industrial past and how supply networks are managed today.
Monet at Tate Modern: time becomes the thread of the exhibition
Tate’s first exhibition devoted entirely to Monet brings together speed, repetition and natural cycles to explore how painting gives form to time.
Vancouver: a donated house gives the Cultural Land Trust a concrete starting point
The trust was already in place. In 2026 it received its first property, and a few weeks later the city formally backed a model designed to give cultural spaces greater long-term stability.
The new Thyssen in Madrid: 365 works, divided between donation and long-term loan
The museum’s future venue for contemporary art will house 365 works from the TBA21 Collection. But they will not all enter the public domain in the same way: 186 will be donated, while 179 will remain with the foundation and be placed on long-term loan.
INCLUDE-ID: designing accessibility as part of the museum experience
A European project is exploring how museums can become more accessible to people with intellectual disabilities by involving cultural institutions, families and people directly concerned.
Se apre un’altra storia, va ridotta o eliminata.
Bologna brings museum storage into the story of the collection
JR brings Doré’s Flood to the façade of the Vatican Library
Through Diluvium and Undae, the exhibition AQVA connects water with the fragility of books, the work of conservation and the possibility of turning a threat into knowledge.
How do you move a three-metre painting without gripping its edges?
An external handling system allows large artworks to be moved while keeping hands away from their most vulnerable parts.
A leak at the Uffizi prompts precautionary removal of Bacchus
After more than 45 millimetres of rain fell in Florence in an hour, a small leak beneath a skylight led the Uffizi to remove the painting temporarily. The incident highlights how caring for artworks also means monitoring the buildings that house them.
Torino Esposizioni is becoming a library for the city
From 11 December 2026, Turin’s Central Civic Library will occupy the historic Torino Esposizioni complex, bringing collections, study areas, family spaces and accessibility services into a landmark of twentieth-century architecture.
Voice, image and AI: Spain proposes new rules for artists’ work
A draft organic law would require written consent and separate payment when an artist’s voice, image or performance is used to create new AI-generated content beyond the work originally agreed.
A Porte Aperte asks what it means to take part in culture
A national programme coordinated by FAI brings together cultural, educational and social organisations to make heritage more accessible, from the first visit to active participation.