To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnewsnewsletter.
The Headlines
MAMBO SACKING. Italian curator Eugenio Viola has been fired from his position as artistic director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogota (MAMBO), which he held since 2019, reports The Art Newspaper. In a statement, Viola said he was abruptly dismissed following his “decision to raise concerns with the board in September 2025 regarding the progressive deterioration of working conditions—concerns shared by several team members.” He added: “I leave with my integrity intact, having acted in good faith, supported my team and consistently maintained ethical standards.” Meanwhile, the Colombian museum said the move was part of a “comprehensive review,” and the search was already underway for a replacement.
IN MEMORIAM. Henrike Naumann, a sculptor who was preparing to represent Germany at the forthcoming Venice Biennale alongside Sung Tieu, died on Saturday at 41, reports ARTnews. The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa), which facilitates the German Pavilion, said she died of a “short, serious illness.” Naumann made installations with furniture and design objects associated with East Germany’s troubled past, “by turns disturbing, intriguing, and heartfelt,” wrote Alex Greenberger. “We have lost not only a significant figure in contemporary German art, but also a warm-hearted, insightful, and highly committed individual,” stated the ifa.
The Digest
The British Museum removed the word “Palestinian” from some displays about ancient Egypt and the Phoenicians. The changes were made amid complaints from a prominent pro-Israel group, which argued the presentation incorrectly used the term to describe ancient places and civilizations that had a number of names, and which existed before the term was coined. [ARTnews]
On Friday, the National Capital Planning Commission briefly posted detailed renderings showing President Donald Trump’s controversial, 89,000-square-foot White House ballroom project, which could span about one block. Construction is moving forward on the renovations, despite a legal injunction to stop it, filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. [CNN]
Under a 2024 contract, a section of the Centre Pompidou will acknowledge Saudi Arabia’s €50 million contribution to its renovation and support for a contemporary art museum in Al-Ula. However, the kingdom has since withdrawn a promised €700 million-€1 billion for French heritage projects, and other bilateral cultural initiatives have also been canceled. [Le Monde]
A new curatorial platform called Knotting Space (KNOT) will launch on March 23 at H Queen’s in Hong Kong, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong. Independent curator and artist Jims Lam is directing the hybrid space. [ArtAsiaPacific]
The Kicker
STRIKING GOLD, FINALLY. It wasn’t always “cool”for established art-world types to like the land artist Andy Goldsworthy. (Just ask Louisa Buck.) But that seems to be finally changing as the artist approaches 70. His “rapturous” exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland last year, as described by the New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead, enjoyed widespread acclaim, and the writer’s latest in-depth profile of the artist stands to enlighten remaining skeptics of Goldsworthy’s practice, misunderstood as “easy,” or God forbid, too pleasurable. To Goldsworthy, after all, creating with and in nature is not merely about translating an imagined “pastoral idyll.” “There are times when it’s so beautiful and tranquil and calm, and others when it’s rough as hell, and brutal and difficult and cold,” he said of a landscape where his work is situated.
