The institution, which houses 14 of Mark Rothko’s Seagram Mural paintings in Houston, Texas, found itself in the Category 1 (down from Category 5) storm’s warpath. Three of the murals were damaged, along with parts of the chapel’s ceiling and several of its walls.

Beryl killed 64 people in late June and early July. The Houston area accounted for almost half of the death toll.

“The chapel’s continued stewardship of this beloved cultural and sacred site, renowned for its Mark Rothko panels, remains our highest priority, and the closure will ensure the necessary repairs and restoration can be made as effectively and completely as required,” the chapel’s chief executive director, David Leslie, said in a statement. “Our focus now is on the restoration of the building and panels, and on continuing our mission of both contemplation and action at the intersection of art, spirituality, and human rights.”

It’s not yet known how much the repairs will cost the Rothko Chapel, nor when it will reopen.

The Art Newspaper reported that Beryl is estimated to have caused “between $28 billion and $32 billion in damage in the United States alone, with insurers in the Houston area expected to pay out between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion in claims because of the storm.”

Houston collectors Dominique and John de Menil built the chapel as a space for contemplation. It opened in 1971 and operates as a non-profit entity.

The crowds claimed that the dismissals are a political purge by Robert Fico’s populist left-wing Smer-SSD party, which won parliamentary elections in Slovakia in October and formed a coalition government with the center-left Hlas and nationalist SNS parties.

Alexandra Kusá, who was sacked from her job as general director of the SNG last Wednesday, told ARTnews that the Slovak culture minister, Martina Šimkovičová, “fabricated” the reasons for her departure. Matej Drlička was fired as the head of Slovakia’s National Theater last Tuesday. He said Šimkovičová used an old accusation he had “already paid” to get rid of him.

Drlička told ARTnews that as soon as Šimkovičová was appointed in October, “we realized we were entering a new culture war.” 

Šimkovičová, a former TV presenter, has mocked refugees on social media and publicly criticized homosexuals. Many people say she is not qualified for the job of culture minister.

Kusá said 9,000 people demonstrated in front of the National Theater and culture ministry in Bratislava’s city center on Monday. She addressed the crowds on stage alongside Drlička. “I’m usually an introvert but I felt I needed to tell the people what happened,” she told ARTnews. “It was emotional.”

Many of the protesters held banners. One read in English, “GO FUCK YOURSELF,” which was likely aimed at Šimkovičová or Fico – or both politicians. Another read, “FREEDOM AND NOTHING ELSE” in Slovakian.

Open Culture! Platform, an independent civic group that was formed in January to “protect culture in Slovakia from the destructive actions of politicians,” it says, organized the march on Monday. In a statement, it said more than 120 cultural institutions joined the protest from all over Slovakia. “The cultural community and the general public are responding to the devastating actions of the ministry of culture,” Open Culture! Platform said. “The ministry, led by Martina Šimkovičová, first adopted harmful legislative changes that undermined the years-built supporting pillars of Slovak independent culture, public media, and the management of museums and galleries.”

Kusá and Drlička were joined on stage by Slovak writer Michal Hvorecký, actress Jana Oľhová, and several other prominent figures from the country’s cultural scene.

Katarína Mišíková from Open Culture! Platform told ARTnews that the group was set up after a petition was signed by 180,000 people demanding Šimkovičová steps down. She described it as the “biggest petition campaign in the history of Slovakia.”

“Drlička and Kusá were dismissed because they are not people connected to the people from the culture ministry or from the Slovak national party,” Mišíková said. “We are currently dealing with such an arrogance of power, it is surprising, even to the people who have been struggling for democracy for the last 30 years. In normal circumstances, such an incompetent and aggressive minister of culture, who is turning the ministry against the cultural community, would be forced to step down immediately. Šimkovičová is spreading hate speech and neo-fascist opinions but she’s still in her position. So, it’s hard to be optimistic.”

Open Culture! Platform is demanding that Šimkovičová and the general secretary of the culture minstry’s service office, Lukáš Machala, quit their positions. It warns that it “will escalate its civil resistance within legal possibilities” if this does not happen.

On Tuesday, 18,000 people reportedly protested in Bratislava against the culture ministry and the release of Slovak lawyer and former military prosecutor Dušan Kováčik from prison. He was found guilty of corruption in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years in jail. The demonstration was organized by the liberal opposition party Progressive Slovakia.

“Today 18,000 protestors, the General Union Organization supports us,” Drlička, the recently sacked director of the Slovak National Theater, told ARTnews on WhatsApp, alongside a video of a huge chanting crowd. “Over 100 insitutions signed the manifest. Several universities joined the fight. It’s going well so far.”

The Slovak culture ministry did not reply to ARTnews’s request for comment.

On Tuesday, more than 150 cultural figures from across Europe signed an open letter opposing the dismissals of Kusá and Drlička. “This decision has undermined the independence of the cultural field in your country and damaged the trust in and reputation of Slovak culture internationally,” it reads. Its supporters include Adam Budak, director of Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover, Sebastian Cichocki, chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, and Vesna Mestric, director of Zagreb’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Šimkovičová, the Slovak culture minister, posted a video on YouTube on Tuesday. She did not directly mention the protests but reiterated her reasons for firing the two directors, saying, “no one’s job is set in stone.”

Given the lack of any philosophical message behind the artworks, you’d be forgiven for thinking the conjecture might stop. However, the thousands of comments (5,645 and counting) on Banksy’s Instagram page interrogating his most recent animal work – a rhino amorously mounting a car in southeast London that was found on Monday – suggest otherwise.

“Nature is about to fck the industry like the industries fckd nature,” one person wrote. “This has to be a metaphor for technology replacing nature – maybe a commentary on AI and job security,” posted another.

The comments go on and on.

Two of the eight works have already been removed. Three hooded men stole the wolf, which was painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, on Thursday, while a contractor took down the big cat painted on a bare billboard on Saturday to stop it being stolen.

The fish – a school of piranhas painted on a police box in the City of London on Sunday – was described by “criminal damage” by the authorities. It was later cordoned off by workers in hi-vis jackets.

Any organizations that do not maintain these standards are at risk of seeing their collection transferred elsewhere or handed over to the National Archives. However, someone from the British Museum reportedly said there was no suggestion the museum will suffer this fate, despite its admitted wrongdoing.

The former chancellor and chairman of trustees at the museum, George Osborne, and Nicholas Cullinan, the British Museum’s director, wrote in its 2024 report that “a number of actions are currently being considered by management, who are continuing to work with the National Archives towards compliance.”

As many as 1,500 items are feared to have been stolen as of 2023, while around 350 objects had parts removed, like gems or gold. So far, more than 600 objects have been returned with the help of the FBI. Osborne said this is “far more than many predicted we could recover.”

Peter Higgs, a senior curator at the museum, was fired in July 2023 after the museum accused him of stealing 1,800 items, estimated to be worth $130,000, over a decade. While Higgs denies the allegations and has yet to be charged with any offense, the museum announced that it was suing him earlier this year.

Conjecture has been rife on social media about the meaning behind the street artist’s recent series of animals plastered around London over the last week. They include a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf, two pelicans, a big cat, and now the fish.

The Guardian wrote yesterday, however, that Banksy’s support organization, Pest Control Office, said that “recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved.” The paper said it “understands” that “the artist’s vision is simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public during a period when the new headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.”

PA Media reported that the fish mural, which makes the police box look like a fish tank, was picked up on CCTV cameras before being examined by police officers, who are awaiting orders about what to do with it. “We are aware of criminal damage to a City of London Police box in Ludgate Hill,” detective chief inspector Andy Spooner reportedly said. “We are liaising with the City of London Corporation who own the police box.”

So far, two of Banksy’s seven murals have been removed just hours after being spotted. A wolf painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, was stolen by a trio of hooded men in broad daylight on Thursday, while a big cat sprayed on a bare billboard in northeast London was removed by a contractor to prevent it being stolen.

The contractor, who gave his name as Marc to PA Media, said the billboard was earmarked to be torn down on August 12 so he was removing it in case someone “rips it down and leaves it unsafe.”

“We’ll store that bit [the artwork] in our yard to see if anyone collects it but if not it’ll go in a skip. I’ve been told to keep it careful in case he wants it,” he reportedly said.

The cat is the anonymous British street artist’s sixth animal mural to spring up in London over the last few days. It follows a mountain goat, a pair of elephants, three monkeys, a wolf, and two pelicans which have been sprayed in various locations across the capital.

The wolf, painted on a white satellite dish in Peckham, south London, was pilfered  by a hooded trio in broad daylight on Thursday.

Banksy has posted each animal painting on his Instagram, confirming that they are genuine. Their significance has sparked a flurry of speculation on social media.

The artist’s agent told the BBC that there was “no comment on the theme” of the series, adding that there “may or may not” be more murals to follow.  

The Observer, however, says it has learned from a Banksy spokesperson that a seventh painting “may shortly materialize in a surprising location … London residents should then keep their eyes peeled.”

The Guardian reports that it “understands” that “the artist’s vision is simple: the latest street art has been designed to cheer up the public during a period when the new headlines have been bleak, and light has often been harder to spot than shade.”

The paper adds that “recent theorising about the deeper significance of each new image has been way too involved, Banksy’s support organisation, Pest Control Office, has indicated.”

It will feature works spanning the last 25 years, including Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity (2015), a huge sculpture never before seen in the UK. One of Kapoor’s kinetic wax sculptures will also be on display.

“To show works in Liverpool Cathedral is complex,” Kapoor said in a statement. “It is a space that is alive both with the physical and spiritual. As such it is resonant with a powerful sense of body and the disembodied. The works that I have chosen to show in the cathedral are situated similarly between body and materiality and geometric immaterial which I refer to as the non-object. It is my hope that this conjunction of object and non-object here in this immense and potent space will be cause for reflection on the nature of religious experience and the human condition.”

The Very Reverend Dr Sue Jones, Dean of Liverpool, said it is a “privilege” for the cathedral to host Kapoor. “Our Cathedral stands as a place of Encounter, and we invite everyone to experience Kapoor’s extraordinary art within our historic walls,” she said. “This exhibition promises to be a profound meeting of creativity and spirituality, and we hope it inspires all who visit.”

The exhibition is in partnership with Culture Liverpool, private, not-for-profit organisation Liverpool BID Company, Lisson Gallery, and Liverpool jewelers Boodles.

“Staged in the spiritual context of the cathedral, where significant moments in life such as birth and death are celebrated and ritualised, Kapoor’s artworks provide connection and inspire awe,” a representative from Liverpool Cathedral said.

“[The fact she is related to Martin Kusý] was already known before Alexandra Kusá was appointed director of the SNG [in 2010],” the ministry said in a statement. “The current management is of the opinion that, due to family connections, Alexandra Kusá should not have been appointed to this post.”

Kusá’s dismissal follows the sacking of Matej Drlička, who was the head of Slovakia’s National Theater, on Tuesday.

Kusá, however, told ARTnews that the culture ministry’s reasons for axing her are “fabricated.”

“There are some very vague reasons [for my sacking], most of them are fabricated, I don’t even bother to read them… it makes me sick,” she said. “We are newly reconstructed, newly open, [we have the] biggest budget, we’ve never had so many visitors… we are a very vivid institution. Maybe that’s the problem!”

Kusá added, “I was not surprised at all that I was sacked because I knew that the culture ministry’s work and our work is very different, so it was only a matter of time. This kind of thing is not only happening in Slovakia. It’s about non-compatibility between the new culture ministry and how we work and feel.”

In October of last year, Robert Fico’s populist left-wing Smer-SSD party won parliamentary elections in Slovakia and formed a coalition government with the center-left Hlas and nationalist SNS parties. Fico has since halted Slovakian aid to Ukraine but denies being pro-Russia.

Martina Šimkovičová, a former TV presenter who has mocked refugees on social media and openly criticized homosexuals, was appointed culture minister.

Drlička said he learned of his dismissal at home on Tuesday.

“I was in my bathtub early in the morning, the doorbell rang, and there was an officer from the HR department with two big guys, I thought they were security guards, but I later learned they were from the legal department,” Drlička told ARTnews. “They delivered my dismissal but I told them I wasn’t going to take it, this is not how it should happen, but they told me I was dismissed – I said ‘thank you’ – and they wished me a nice day.”

He said that he hasn’t been given a reason for his sacking, neither has he been contacted by Šimkovičová “The culture ministry said in press releases that the culture minister doesn’t agree with what the theater did… and is very nervous about how I am managing in this area, etc, etc,” he explained.

When asked if he might have done something to upset the culture ministry, Drlička said that in 2022 at a conference in Budapest he made an “inappropriate comment that was trying to be funny, but wasn’t funny.” He said it was taken out of context and “sounded like I wished [certain] politicians were dead.”

Someone reported him and he subsequently handed in his resignation as the director of the National Theater, but he was soon reappointed. “Šimkovičová is again using this case as a reason for my dismissal but I’ve already paid my penalty for it.”

Drlička said that as soon as Šimkovičová was appointed “we realized we were entering a new culture war.” He said her first statement was that “from now on, the culture will be Slovak and Slovak only, no mixing.”

“It was like a fascist declaration,” Drlička told ARTnews. “We had very bold and brave programing in the drama department, but after every premier, we received a lot of hatred. It was obvious that I would go down.” He said he has been targeted by online trolls.

Drlička and Kusá have been defiant in their dismissals, addressing the media together outside the SNG on Wednesday.

Employees from their respective institutions have joined the two former directors in criticizing Slovakia’s nationalistic coalition government for stifling institutional independence.

The SNG released a statement on Wednesday. It said, “The staff… stands firmly behind Alexandra Kusá, recognizing the immense effort, time, expertise, humanity, innovative vision, and at times, superhuman dedication she has invested in building a national cultural institution that truly understands the real meaning and value of the words ‘national,’ ‘culture,’ and ‘institution.’”

Kusá told ARTnews that Branislav Panis, the director of the Slovak National Museum, was likely next on the chopping board. “He’s on holiday in Croatia at the moment, but Slovak law dictates that you can’t be sacked while on vacation.”

For those who watch auctions for sport, guarantees tend to take the fun out of things: There’s nothing less exciting than knowing an artwork has sold before the gavel comes down. But those with skin in the game bask in the security of irrevocable bids. Like them or loathe them—and despite the recent decline in guaranteed lots—they remain widespread at the top end of the market.

In a report last October, ArtTactic found that guaranteed lots were down 22 percent year-on-year for evening sales of postwar and contemporary art in the first half of 2023. However, they accounted for over 54 percent of evening sales of the same segment in the first half of last year (by hammer value).

Given their elite nature, it should be no surprise that auction guarantees are the latest part of the art world that a tech startup is trying to “democratize” and make more transparent. Last week, the White Glove, which advertises itself as “the first online marketplace connecting sellers with guarantors,” launched a pilot project at London’s Forum Auctions, which was acquired by global art advisory Gurr Johns in 2021.

For that project, the UK-based company partnered with Artclear, a blockchain company for recording indelible digital certificates of authenticity for physical artworks, to put a Bridget Riley print, titled Leap (edition of 75), under the hammer. Artclear scanned the work using its portable scanner to create a digital certificate of authenticity stored on the blockchain. The White Glove described the artwork as having “dual backing,” referring to both a guarantee and a blockchain certificate. Estimated at $6,500 to $9,000, the print was then sold during a live-streamed auction last Wednesday, where it went for $9,500.

“Guarantees have long been associated with exclusively seven-figure artworks, yet the market liquidity benefits of the product are equally relevant at lower price points,” Stefan Ludwig, the CEO of Forum, told ARTnews.

For the uninitiated, there are, broadly speaking, two ways in which auction houses can offer guarantees. One is direct: the house itself is on the hook to buy the piece, having negotiated a minimum price with the consignor. The other type is a third-party guarantee, where the house brings in another potential buyer to share the guarantee or take it over entirely. There are collectors and dealers who are known to be frequent third-party guarantors, whether they actually want the artwork or are using the arrangement as a financial vehicle. Recently, even a museum got in on the action. 

Either way, the seller is guaranteed a certain price, whatever the outcome of the auction. Depending on the arrangement, if the lot sells for more, the third-party guarantor might receive a percentage of the final price.

The White Glove says its “financial product” can be adopted by any physical or online auction house and “gives the power back to sellers” by allowing them to negotiate a minimum guaranteed sale price ahead of the auction. “If bids exceed that price, the seller and guarantor share the upside profits, meaning less risk and more benefit for everyone,” the company explains on its website.

The company’s business model has two sources of income. The former works as a commission fee, where the auction house pays the White Glove in return for placing an irrevocable bid. “This is typically a mid-to-high single digit percentage of the final hammer price,” Charles Bent, the company’s cofounder and COO, told ARTnews. That form of income is certain. The other, which is less certain, is “an upside share split between the guaranteed price and the final hammer price. The percentage that the White Glove receives is subject to negotiation.” 

Bent explained that the company’s goal was to demonstrate the potential for innovation in the guarantee space while also making guarantees more transparent and accessible across the board. The company does that, he said, by offering guarantees at a more affordable price point, which expands which assets can be provided guarantees beyond high-end artworks. The company thinks its system can be applied to low-priced artworks, like the Riley print, but also luxury items. The hope, he added, is that the model could be adopted not just by small houses, but also by big ones, like Sotheby’s and Christie’s, and “set a new standard in the art market.” 

Artclear, meanwhile, said it sees its partnership with the White Glove as being about boosting art’s liquidity, making for easier trading in the process. There’s also the hope that it will make it easier to secure asset ownership and provenance information. “We’re enhancing the value of the service that the auction house can provide [because auction houses] can intrinsically trust the data we provide, and it becomes much easier to resell artworks,” Angus Scott, Artclear’s CEO, told ARTnews.

For the White Glove, the way into the top auction houses is to simplify the “lower end of the market” for them. “At this end, it doesn’t make sense for the auction houses to put in the time and effort to find guarantors, so that’s where the maximum value add is for the White Glove,” he added.

Christie’s has experimented with blockchain technology before. Back in 2018, the auction house was the first to record a sale on the blockchain, in this case during the Barney A. Ebsworth Collection auction in New York. The house partnered up with Artory, a blockchain title registry start-up specific to the art market, to create a digitally encrypted certificate for each work in the 90-lot sale, which totaled $323.1 million. Blockchain technology hasn’t been used much in auctions since then, but both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are very gung-ho about guarantees. Why wouldn’t they be, when they ultimately result in fewer unsold lots?

“Used prudently, guarantees are good for consignors, collectors, and the market overall,” Mari-Claudia Jiménez, Sotheby’s head of global business development, told ARTnews. “A potential consignor may feel more inclined to sell if they have the security of a guarantee.” A Christie’s spokesperson similarly told ARTnews that guarantees can “provide a level of assurance” in a tough market and encourage “more sellers to sell their works” at auction. When asked about transparency, Jiménez and the Christie’s spokesperson both mentioned that all guarantees are noted before the sale in online auction catalogs.

And as for the idea that guarantees take the excitement out of the sales? Jiménez pointed to the recent record-breaking sale of Leonora Carrington’s Les Distractions de Dagobert (1945) in May. That work carried both an irrevocable bid and a guarantee and still had a ten-minute bidding war, eventually hitting $28.5 million on a $12 million–$18 million pre-sale estimate.

“It is the market’s recognition of the value of a work of art that establishes its ultimate value, not guarantees,” the Christie’s spokesperson said.

“The Manton Center for British Art will serve as an intellectual hub for art historians, curators, critics, artists, and students nationally and internationally, providing a platform for sharing world-leading research and for teaching the next generation of British art specialists,” the Courtauld said.

Initially due to be located at the gallery’s current campus in Vernon Square in central London, the center will later be moved a couple of miles south next to the Thames in purpose-designed premises at Somerset House.

The Manton Foundation was founded in 1991 by British American couple Sir Edwin and Lady Gretchen Manton “as a vehicle for their charitable giving,” according to the foundation. “Today, the foundation is managed by the Mantons’ descendants and functions as a family endeavor. Funded projects fall largely into a range of fields encompassing education, arts and culture, medial research, and community preservation.”

“After a visit to the Courtauld and several discussions with its leadership and faculty, we came away impressed by the dedicated academic training offered to students interested in British art, including the period of most interest to our grandparents [Edwin and Gretchen],” Julia Krapf and Sandy Niles, trustees of the Manton Foundation, said in the statement. “We are excited and motivated by the opportunity to help the Courtauld strengthen and formalize its research capacity in that area.” 

Matt Hallett, the Märit Rausing director of the Courtauld, hailed the donation as a “thrilling moment” for the gallery. “Our new Manton Center will place British art in a global context, and aim to deliver truly world-class teaching and research in this rich, endlessly fascinating field of study,” he said. “The center will support students through a generously endowed programme of scholarships, and offer a dynamic programme of activities and events across the year. We are hugely grateful to the Manton Foundation for their generous gift, which will enable us to support the very best new thinking and teaching on British art for generations to come.”

The Manton Collection of British Art comprises over 300 works by the likes of Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, and John Constable. Edwin and Gretchen Manton started the collection in the 1940s.

“The Courtauld’s specialists in British art will become members of the center and help shape its activities and development,” the gallery added. “The center will operate as the base for students taking modules in British art as part of their MA degree and also provide a home for the Courtauld’s PhD students researching British art.”