NYC’s New Culture Commissioner
Diya Vij appointed DCLA commissioner, dispatches from Frieze LA, finding god at the Brooklyn Museum, and the jazz photos the FBI censored.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his pick for culture commissioner this weekend. He chose well: Diya Vij, a veteran curator with a strong record of community-forward work, has her heart in the right place. Best of luck to her.
Also, please join me today at 3pm (ET) for a virtual conversation with artist-writer Damien Davis. Since he started writing for us in 2024, Damien has emerged as one of the strongest voices in the field. We’ll discuss his recent essays, studio practice, and how the two converge. The event is for Hyperallergic Members only. It's not too late to sign up.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Curator Diya Vij Named NYC Culture Commissioner
Diya Vij, who was a member of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, will succeed Laurie Cumbo just four months after joining the Brooklyn nonprofit Powerhouse Arts as vice president of curatorial and arts programs.
Join us today, March 2, for an exclusive, virtual talk with artist and Hyperallergic contributor Damien Davis, whose distinctive voice challenges the power structures and inequities of the contemporary art world.
Affordable Art Fair New York Spring 2026
Affordable Art Fair returns to the Starrett-Lehigh building for an incredible showcase of 90 galleries presenting thousands of one-of-a-kind artworks, all priced from $100 to $12,000. From March 18–22, interact with brilliantly curated installations, enjoy food and drinks, immerse yourself in artworks from all over the world, and fall in love with collecting art.
Opinion
The Case for Palestine at the Venice Biennale
Does the exhibition prefer to destroy its long-standing significance for artists, curators, and art workers than to hold the moral clarity that this moment is asking from us? | Art Not Genocide Alliance
Dispatch From Frieze
Frieze LA Meets the Real World
Cognitive dissonance can be hard to shake at any art fair, let alone Frieze Los Angeles. This year, though, Matt Stromberg reports on several moments of quiet resistance that made the way artists engage with contemporary issues impossible to ignore. These range from artworks themselves — including Y. Malik Jalal's embedded car-mat pieces and Christina Fernandez's photographs — to a conflict between the fair and a nonprofit that works with migrant communities along the US-Mexico border.
From Our Critics
The Jazz Pictures the FBI Silenced
Fearing for her safety, Lisette Model buried her photos of artists like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, but a new book reveals them to the world. | Julia Curl
IDSVA Extends PhD Program to BA and BFA Applicants
Earn your PhD in Art Theory, Aesthetics, and Philosophy with the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA).
Political Amnesia
The Uncertain Future of Colombia’s Museum of Memory
It's been 15 years since the government greenlit the creation of the Museo de Memoria de Colombia in Bogotá, a space to collectively remember, grieve, and learn. But as Kurt Hollander reports, the Brutalist fortress of a building now sits abandoned after mismanagement and interference from the political right, who prefer to leave the Colombian government's role in the 70-year armed conflict out of the history books (and the museums).
A Book of the Dead in Brooklyn
Finding God at the Brooklyn Museum
Greta Rainbow spoke to superstar conservator Ahmed Tarek, from the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, about what it was like to restore the more than 2,000-year-old Egyptian Books of the Dead, now on view at the Brooklyn Museum. “You just have to cut your breath and be very, very patient,” he told her. “Every day for 18 months, we went to work and peeled acidic paper from just this one object.” The end result is breathtaking, inducing a real sense of reverence for our species, the past, and the people who preserve it.
From the Archive
Creative Time’s Diya Vij Helps Launch an Art World Think Tank
The unorthodox program will gather together a group of thought leaders for 10 months to reflect and advise on happenings in the art community. | Hrag Vartanian
