The Palaces of Memory
The US and Israel target another glorious palace in Iran, Art Basel Qatar's complicity in anti-LGBTQ policies, the problem with art awards, and much more.
Breaks the heart to see those centuries-old palaces in Iran, breathtaking wonders of architecture and craft, being pummelled by the US and Israel. It may not be mere collateral damage, but rather a targeted campaign focused on erasing the country's glorious art history. That was the playbook in Gaza, where cultural heritage was brutally wiped out. For an occupying force, populations are less of a threat if they wander around without cultural identity. When all is reduced to rubble, the only security threat that remains is collective memory. It's the one thing that can't be bombed out of existence.
On the other side of the Persian Gulf, Qatar has become the latest art fair destination with the opening of a new Art Basel offshoot in Doha last month. Meanwhile, queer Qataris like Nasser Mohamed have to flee the country to escape a prison sentence. In a moving opinion piece this week, he tells the art world's jet set class and market publications that their love affair with Gulf autocracies comes at the expense of his freedom.
Much more to read here, including Damien Davis on the problematics of art awards, a profile of Baghdad-born Whitney Biennial artist Ali Eyal, great art books to read this month, a new edition of Beer With a Painter featuring Hilary Harkness, and the small Texas town that became a participatory art project.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Don’t Believe What Art Basel Qatar Is Trying to Sell You
I fled Qatar to live freely as a queer person. A country that criminalizes LGBTQ+ existence should not be celebrated as a global hub of creative freedom. | Nasser Mohamed
Awards Season and the Management of Cultural Power
What is being offered as recognition often operates as a way of organizing power, determining not only what is seen, but who is positioned to benefit from that visibility. | Damien Davis
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.
News
- Israeli and US strikes on the city of Isfahan in Iran reportedly damaged several centuries-old palaces and buildings that functioned as cultural and tourism centers.
- A “Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame” and Titanic-esque sculpture of Trump caressing the sex offender popped up in Washington, DC, this week.
- The Pentagon reportedly banned photography at briefings because Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth complained about “unflattering” photos.
- The University of North Texas’s president and provost discussed removing artworks “of concern” via text message before shuttering Victor Quiñonez’s anti-ICE exhibition, alarming free speech advocates.
- Over 200 artists and cultural groups are urging the British Museum to “stop erasing Palestine” after the institution altered some wall texts in its Middle East Galleries in the wake of pressure from a pro-Israel group.
Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom
The only US presentation of this exhibition by renowned artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme is on view at The Bell Gallery, Brown University.
From Our Critics
Amoako Boafo Takes His Studio on the Road
His new exhibition I Bring Home With Me combines portraits with seating areas and a model of his studio, inviting visitors to stay awhile and get comfortable. | Nereya Otieno
Mid-Century Modernism Goes Rogue in “Chair-ish”
Artists Alex Chitty and Norman Teague give each other the permission needed to do something as heretical as saw an Eames chair into pieces. | Lori Waxman
Petrit Halilaj’s Opera of Kosovan Memory and Myth
Through his fantastical vignettes, Halilaj suggests curiosity about others as a way to neutralize the forces that lead to difference-based violence. | Cat Dawson
The Big Read
Ali Eyal Gives Testimony
“I was nine years old, and I felt like I lost that childhood,” the Whitney Biennial artist told Hyperallergic, reflecting on the US’s war in Iraq, the disappearance of his father, and the art he makes to process. | Renée Reizman
The Political Potential of the Chinatown Storefront
Abrons Arts Center is hosting its annual Lunar New Year mutual aid initiative, where art highlights and supports local businesses. | AX Mina
How a Texas Town Became an Art Project
With fewer than 700 residents, Kingsbury has become a hub for cultural governance and sovereignty, largely thanks to advocacy led by arts organization Habitable Spaces. | Alicia Grullón
Books
7 Art Books for Your March Reading List
Read up on the hidden history of occult influences on modernism, French sign painters, the Finnish painter who bucked convention, incarcerated artists, and more. | Natalie Haddad, Hrag Vartanian, Lakshmi Rivera Amin, and Lisa Yin Zhang
Please, No More Disaffected White Girls
Anika Jade Levy’s “Flat Earth” is navel-gazing, ouroboric, masturbatory — a Dimes Square novel for Dimes Square people. | Lisa Yin Zhang
Community
Beer With a Painter: Hilary Harkness
If paint doesn’t feel good coming off the brush, you pretty much have nothing,” said the artist, whose canvases depict humanity in all its rollicking riot and contradiction. | Jennifer Samet
Art Movements: Look Who’s Headed to Perrotin Gallery
Alma Allen gets mega-gallery representation, Marina Abramović forays into balloon art, and more industry news.
Remembering Pedro Friedeberg, Thaddeus Mosley, and Liliana Angulo Cortés
This week, we honor the inventor of the Hand Chair, a beloved Pittsburgh sculptor, and the director of the Museo Nacional de Colombia.
Required Reading
Women’s strike in Argentina, graffiti dialogues in Brooklyn, UK museums hold human remains from former colonies, mini Tudor paintings, mapping The Met, and more links from around the web.
A View From the Easel
This week, Zoë Elena Moldenhauer invents their own alphabet while LUSMERLIN investigates the collapse of the universe.
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