[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Met-Opera-House_3903.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tGood Morning!<\/p>\n
DIRE STRAITS OF HORMUZ<\/strong>. The\u00a0Saudi Arabian government<\/strong>\u00a0has formally backed out of a deal with the\u00a0Metropolitan Opera<\/strong>\u00a0that would have provided as much as $200 million over the next eight years to the cash-strapped New York company,reports\u00a0the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>. On Thursday, Met general manager Peter Gelb said the Saudis blamed the war in Iran and the blocked Strait of Hormuz for reneging on a noncommittal \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d that was first announced in September with much fanfare. However, even before the war in Iran, the Saudi government had failed to send funding as agreed, prompting the Met to launch a series of cost-cutting measures, including preemptive layoffs in January. \u201cThey are only doing the projects that are essential,\u201d Gelb told reporters, and that apparently doesn\u2019t include the Met deal. The New York institution is now facing a $30 million shortfall for this fiscal year alone but, ironically, has had some of its \u201cgreatest artistic successes,\u201d said Gelb.<\/p>\n REVOLVING DOOR<\/strong>. Berlin culture senator\u00a0Sarah Wedl-Wilson\u00a0<\/strong>announced Friday\u00a0she is resigning after having replaced\u00a0Joe Chialo l\u00a0<\/strong>ess than a year ago, when he stepped down amid controversy related to budget cuts, reports dpa. This time, Wedl-Wilson is leaving following a scandal related to conclusions by a state audit that determined she illegally authorized funding for 13 projects apparently focused on the prevention of antisemitism and \u201cof particular political significance.\u201d The\u00a0Berlin Court of Auditors\u00a0<\/strong>said Wedl-Wilson committed serious omissions and violated state budget regulations and other rules. The 13 projects in question were granted about \u20ac2.6 million ($3 million) in total. Wedl-Wilson said she was resigning to preserve the government\u2019s stated intention of combating antisemitism. The Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion \u201cwill now ensure a legally sound funding framework for projects against antisemitism,\u201d insisted Berlin governing mayor\u00a0Kai Wegner<\/strong>. \u201cBecause one thing is certain: We will not relent in the fight against antisemitism in Berlin.\u201d<\/p>\n President Trump<\/strong>\u00a0has announced plans to renovate the\u00a0Lincoln Memorial<\/strong>\u00a0reflecting pool in Washington, D.C., which he called \u201cfilthy\u201d and \u201cdirty\u201d and in need of an upgrade. [The New York Times]<\/p>\n \n\tOntario is investing an additional $21 million CAD in annual support of the\u00a0Art Gallery of Ontario<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Royal Ontario Museum<\/strong>. [press release]<\/p>\n \n\tRome\u2019s newest museum, dedicated to photography and located in the\u00a0Mattatoio<\/strong>\u00a0complex, a former slaughterhouse, is part of an ambitious plan to create a new cultural district. [Apollo Magazine]<\/p>\n \n\tBrazilian-born\u00a0Thiago de Paula Souza<\/strong>\u00a0will curate the eighth\u00a0Athens Biennale<\/strong>\u00a0in the spring of 2027. [Artforum]<\/p>\n \n\tCollector\u00a0Justin Sun<\/strong>\u00a0is suing\u00a0World Liberty Financial<\/strong>, the Trump family\u2019s memecoin company, claiming that it illegally froze his holdings of tokens. [ARTnews]<\/p>\n FLOP ERA.<\/strong>\u00a0For some designs, timing is everything. That couldn\u2019t be truer for one German entrepreneur named\u00a0Jan Vinzenz Krause<\/strong>, whom the\u00a0New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0tells us invented a \u201cspray-on condom\u201d that was supposed to fit its wearer like a \u2026 glove? We don\u2019t need to spell out all the problems this posed, but one involved the lengthy amount of time it took for the latex product to dry. By then, it no longer fit. All this is told best in a new exhibition at the\u00a0Mus\u00e9e des Arts et M\u00e9tiers<\/strong>\u00a0in Paris called \u201cFlops?!\u201d The show displays terrible inventions, or the \u201cfailure, bust, bomb, fiasco, debacle,\u201d and \u201call the stuff that gets shoved under the carpet,\u201d explains co-curator\u00a0Marjolaine Schuch<\/strong>. The spray-on condom (a literal flop, if you will) is joined by a roller-skating Barbie doll that set rugs on fire, and a forehead-slapping email from\u00a0Paul Graham<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Fred Wilson<\/strong>outlining why investing in a then-new company called Airbnb was a stupid idea. \u201cI am not sure they can take on the hotel market,\u201d Wilson reasons. From the hilarious to the distasteful and even sexist, the show \u201cwas an opportunity to demystify and de-dramatize failure,\u201d added Schuch. As visitors flock to the museum exhibit, open until May 17, the gamble is paying off. \u201cFlops?!\u201d is a fabulous success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/saudi-arabia-renege-met-opera-deal-berlin-culture-senator-resigns-1234782528\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Met-Opera-House_3903.jpg?w=1024″] Good Morning! The Metropolitan Opera says Saudi Arabia has backed out of a deal that would have provided the cash-strapped institution with millions over eight years. Berlin culture senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson has resigned amid a scandal related to funding projects supposed to combat antisemitism.\u00a0 President Trump now wants to renovate the Lincoln […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1900980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1900980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1900980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1900980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1900980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1900980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1900980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\tThe Digest\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tThe Kicker\t<\/h2>\n