Culture

78th Emmy Awards ceremony held: Widow's Bay leads with 6 wins, The Pitt takes Best Drama

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards aired September 14 on NBC. Horror-comedy Widow's Bay won six awards; HBO Max's The Pitt won Outstanding Drama Series with Noah Wyle also winning Lead Actor. Matthew Rhys became the first performer to win lead acting Emmys across drama, comedy, and limited-series categories.

CNN report (09-14)↗ Full item in ISSUE №50・09/17 ↗

Verification note: Compiled from CNN and Deadline reporting; confirm the complete winners list against the Television Academy's own announcements.

83rd Venice Film Festival closes: Danish-set drama Woman Unknown wins the Golden Lion

The 83rd Venice Film Festival closed September 12. A jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal awarded the Golden Lion to Woman Unknown, directed by May el-Toukhy; John Malkovich won Best Actor for Wild Horse Nine.

The Hollywood Reporter (09-12)↗ Full item in ISSUE №49・09/13 ↗

Verification note: Compiled from The Hollywood Reporter and the festival's official announcement; confirm the full winners list against La Biennale di Venezia's own site.

2026 Praemium Imperiale laureates announced: Jenny Holzer, Daniel Libeskind, and three others honored

The Japan Art Association announced the 2026 Praemium Imperiale laureates on September 8: Jenny Holzer (painting), Andy Goldsworthy (sculpture), Daniel Libeskind (architecture), Herbert Blomstedt (music), and Cate Blanchett (theatre/film), with an awards ceremony set for October 28 in Tokyo.

Artforum (09-08)↗ Full item in ISSUE №48・09/12 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from Artforum and ArchDaily reporting and the Japan Art Association's official announcement.

Maurizio Cattelan wins 2026 Preis der Nationalgalerie as his solo show "NIGHT" opens September 10 in Berlin

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan has been named winner of Berlin's 2026 Preis der Nationalgalerie, with his first major German solo exhibition, "NIGHT," opening September 10 at the Neue Nationalgalerie and running through March 7, 2027. The show brings together major works including "Him" (2001) and "Novecento" (1997), alongside new commissions, opening during Berlin Art Week.

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB)↗ Full item in ISSUE №46・09/10 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from the SMB's official announcement and ArtReview reporting. Refer to the Neue Nationalgalerie's official site for exhibition details.

Nazi-looted Kandinsky, restituted to heirs, heads to Christie's London auction with a $30M-plus estimate

Christie's London announced on September 1 that Kandinsky's 1907 painting "Colorful Life" will go to auction October 14 with an estimate over $30 million. Germany's Limbach Commission determined the work should be restituted to the heirs of a Jewish family persecuted by the Nazis; Munich's Lenbachhaus museum returned it in 2023 after holding it for nearly 50 years.

ArtNews (09-01)↗ Full item in ISSUE №44・09/02 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from ArtNews and Artnet News reporting. Refer to Christie's for the official sale result.

London's Science Museum ends its 25-year BP sponsorship

The Science Museum Group confirmed on August 28 that its sponsorship with BP would end August 31 "at the end of its agreed term," closing a relationship of nearly 25 years. The museum said BP's funding trained over 11,000 education and science professionals; the sponsorship had faced years of criticism from climate campaigners, including a boycott backed by the National Education Union.

The Art Newspaper (08-31)↗ Full item in ISSUE №43・09/01 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from The Art Newspaper and ARTnews reporting. Refer to the Science Museum Group for official sponsorship details.

Photographer Lee Miller retrospective "Lee Miller: Fearless" opens at the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago opened "Lee Miller: Fearless" on August 29, running through December 7 — the most comprehensive survey of Lee Miller's work in more than 25 years, featuring nearly 150 works spanning her career from model to portrait photographer, Surrealist artist, and World War II photojournalist. The show is organized in collaboration with Tate Britain and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, which previously presented the retrospective in London and Paris.

Art Institute of Chicago official page (08-29)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №41・08/30 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from the Art Institute of Chicago's official exhibition page and Galerie Magazine. Refer to the museum for the full checklist.

Thieves steal most of Spain's Bronze Age Treasure of Villena in a raid lasting under four minutes

An alarm went off around 5:20 a.m. on August 27 at the Villena Museum in Spain, and within four minutes the thieves had fled with most of the museum's centerpiece, the Treasure of Villena — 59 pieces of gold, silver, iron, and amber dating to the Late Bronze Age around 1000 BC. The treasure was discovered in 1963 by archaeologist José María Soler; reports estimate the material value of the stolen pieces at more than €1.5 million.

Al Jazeera (08-27)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №40・08/29 ↗

Verification note: Summarized from Al Jazeera and Euronews reporting. Refer to Spanish police and the museum for the full inventory of stolen items.

Stray Kids' "THIS & THAT" debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200, ties The Rolling Stones' record

South Korean group Stray Kids' 10th Korean-language EP, "THIS & THAT," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 369,000 equivalent album units (357,000 of them traditional album sales, the group's best sales week ever). It marks the group's ninth Billboard 200 No. 1, tying The Rolling Stones for the second-most No. 1 albums by a group in the chart's history, behind only The Beatles' 19. Every Stray Kids album that has charted has debuted at No. 1, making them the first act in the Billboard 200's roughly 70-year history to open its first nine charting entries in the top spot. Lead singles from the EP are "Run It" and "This & That."

Billboard (08-21)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №34・08/23 ↗

Verification note: Chart figures summarized from Billboard's official reporting. Sales-unit methodology and the official chart are subject to Billboard's own announcements.

Venice Film Festival unveils full 2026 lineup, opens with Danny Boyle's "Ink"

Artistic director Alberto Barbera held a press conference on August 18 unveiling the full lineup for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale di Venezia), running September 2-12. The festival opens with Danny Boyle's "Ink," a drama about the early days of Rupert Murdoch's media empire starring Guy Pearce, Jack O'Connell, and Claire Foy, screening in competition; American actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal will preside as jury president. Competition entries also include Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine," Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love" — his first feature since 2018's "Burning" — Casey Affleck's directorial effort "Company," and Hirokazu Koreeda's "Look Back." George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn will receive Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement honors during the festival.

Variety coverage (Aug 18)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №32・08/21 ↗

Verification note: Lineup and award details compiled from Variety and other entertainment media; check the Venice Film Festival's official site for the complete program and competition results.

79th Edinburgh International Film Festival closes; "Skintown" wins the Sean Connery Prize

The 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival held its closing-night awards on August 19. "Skintown," directed by Irish filmmaker Kieron J. Walsh, won the festival's top honor, the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, which carries a £50,000 (about $68,055) award — the film is a portrait of Northern Ireland youth in the 1990s. The short-film award, the Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence, went to "Grief Room," directed by Sinda Agha. The awards were presented by Jason Connery, son of the late actor Sean Connery.

The Hollywood Reporter coverage (Aug 19)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №31・08/20 ↗

Verification note: Award winners compiled from The Hollywood Reporter and official festival coverage; check the Edinburgh International Film Festival's official site for the complete list of winners.

79th Locarno Film Festival closes with Golden Leopard for Romanian film "You Don't Belong Here"

The 79th Locarno Film Festival ran August 5-15 in Locarno, Switzerland, with its top prize, the Golden Leopard, going to Romanian director Florin Șerban's "You Don't Belong Here" — about a physician raising his son alone who learns police suspect the teen in a murder, uncovering a hidden side of him. The festival also handed out several other awards, with honorees including Monica Bellucci and Hong Sang-soo.

Screen Daily festival coverage (Aug 15)↗ Full issue: ISSUE №29・08/17 ↗

Verification note: Award list compiled from official festival announcements and trade press; check Locarno's official website for the complete winners list.

MoMA's Duchamp retrospective enters its final stretch — first major US retrospective in 53 years

The Museum of Modern Art's Marcel Duchamp retrospective has been on view since April 12 and runs through August 22, featuring nearly 300 works — the first major US retrospective of the artist since 1973 — and is now entering its final weeks.

ArtReview's August exhibition picks (Aug)↗ Full issue: №27・Aug 10 ↗

Verification note: Exhibition dates and work count are from arts-media coverage; for full details, check MoMA's own website.

Inaugural Shaw Festival London marks centenary of Shaw's Nobel Prize in Literature

The first-ever Shaw Festival London ran July 10-12, marking 100 years since playwright George Bernard Shaw won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature, with a program of theatre, film screenings, and lectures.

ArtsHub London arts coverage (Jul)↗ Full issue: №19・Jul 13 ↗

Verification note: Event details are from arts-media coverage; for program changes, check the organizer's own announcements.

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