Frieze owner and Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel is not convinced that Israel’s violence against Palestinians meets the definition of genocide. He also didn’t appreciate rapper Macklemore’s comments on the matter during a recent Ed Sheeran concert. The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the Israeli nonprofit B’Tselem are among many organizations that beg to differ with Emanuel. Read more below.
Also today: a look back on five-plus decades of Willie Birch’s art, the Met Museum announces a major Félix González-Torres survey, and the overlooked artisans who built Ancient Egypt.
Hyperallergic members, if you’re in New York on September 30, please join us for a special event with artists at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP). We’d love to see you there.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Frieze Owner Ari Emanuel Criticizes Macklemore Over Pro-Palestinian Comments
Hollywood mogul and Frieze owner Ari Emanuel objected to calling the actions of the Israeli military in the Occupied West Bank a genocide, criticized rapper Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian remarks, and complimented Elon Musk for doing “incredible things for the human race” during an interview on the Daily Show on Monday, September 21.
The comments come days before the September 24 opening of New York’s Armory Show, which Frieze owns and effectively operates alongside six other fairs, two exhibition spaces, and its namesake publication. | Anna Lee
Derrick Adams, Randy Polumbo, Wills Glasspiegel & More Artists Project Newly-Commissioned Works Onto Historic Hangars in Brooklyn
Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy gathers 21 artists for the second biennial Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival on October 3
News
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the first major exhibition on Felix Gonzalez-Torres in New York in over 30 years.
- A new report from the Joan Mitchell Foundation highlights deep structural issues affecting legacy work across the arts.
- Philadelphia’s iconic Rocky Balboa statue is being installed outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art again, this time occupying a prominent spot at the top of the museum’s front steps. [6abc Philadelphia]
Books
The Unsung Craftspeople Who Built Ancient Egypt
A new publication reflects a growing interest in the lives of the makers behind the civilization’s arts and crafts, long marginalized and erased by mythologized depictions of the ancient world. | Nageen Shaikh
From Our Critics
Gather ’Round, Willie Birch Is Speaking
Across five decades of work, he always asked: What’s my neighborhood, and what does it need? | Nereya Otieno
Thomas Hart Benton’s Sanitized American Idyll
His ambition to capture the full experience of living in the United States had its limits. | Bryan Martin
Applications Open: IDSVA Low-Residency PhD Program for Artists and Creative Thinkers
Begin your PhD journey in summer 2027 with residencies in Rome, Spannocchia Castle, Arezzo, and Siena.
In Memoriam
Remembering Lucia Laguna, Rodrigo Cass, and Nelson Garrido
This week, we honor a Brazilian painter inspired by nature and another who drew on Catholicism, and a Venezuelan photographer who challenged power. | Lisa Yin Zhang
Funding International Dialogue: The Asian Cultural Council Opens 2027 Global Grant Cycle
ACC invites artists, arts professionals, scholars, and organizations to apply from Oct 1 to Nov 10, 2026.
Member Comment
—Marcia Geiger on “Art Problems: If I Have a Day Job, Am I a Real Artist?“
From the Archive
Archival Art Will Not Save Us
Archival work has a place in historical recovery and cultural self-understanding. But not every artwork must be archival, and our politics shouldn’t end with presence rather than action. | Vinh Phu Pham
