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To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0<\/em>Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tGood morning!<\/p>\n THE SHOW MUST GO ON.<\/strong>\u00a0Ahead of the opening of the 2026\u00a0Venice Biennale<\/strong>\u00a0next week, the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0takes an inside look at how its central exhibition, \u201cIn Minor Keys\u201d is being put together without its curator,\u00a0Koyo Kouoh<\/strong>, who died last May from liver cancer. Her husband,\u00a0Philippe Mall\u00a0<\/strong>, who recalled her saying that curating the Biennale had been her dream, expected it to be canceled. But Biennale president\u00a0Pietrangelo Buttafuoco<\/strong>\u00a0reached out to Mall and\u00a0Djibril Schmed<\/strong>, Kouoh\u2019s son from a prior relationship, asking to continue. They agreed, and the exhibition will open to the public on May 9, executed by the team of advisers she had assembled and decided on the artist list before her death. Schmed felt it should go on because Kouoh was working on \u201cher deathbed essentially,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t want to be dramatic about it, but she was \u2026 [she]\u00a0wanted to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n CRYPTO CROOK<\/strong>. A Chicago judge has sentenced\u00a0Robert Dunlap<\/strong>\u00a0to 23 years in federal prison and to pay damages for a cryptocurrency scam that he claimed was backed by major artworks, reports\u00a0The Art Newspaper<\/em>. The Texas native was also convicted last year on mail fraud charges. From 2018 to 2023, Dunlap operated a cryptocurrency business selling digital tokens through what he called the \u201cMeta-1 Coin Trust.\u201d Fake legal documents in hand, he claimed the \u201ctrust\u201d was backed by billions in gold, and as much as $1 billion in art, by the likes of\u00a0Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/strong>, and\u00a0Vincent van Gogh<\/strong>. Nearly 1,000 people fell for his trap, for a total of over $20 million in losses.<\/p>\n \n\tAlmost since it was announced last year, the\u00a0US Pavilion<\/strong>\u2019s commissioner the\u00a0American Arts Conservancy (AAC)\u00a0<\/strong>has been seeking donations of a minimum of $100 to help cover\u00a0\u201cthe fees we have to pay\u201d to realize the exhibition. The year-old nonprofit\u2019s executive director\u00a0Jenni Parido<\/strong>\u00a0told\u00a0Hyperallergic\u00a0<\/em>that AAC did not receive \u201ccorporate or foundation funding,\u201d opting instead for \u201cthe generous support of private citizens who believe in the importance of American artists and cultural exchange.\u201d\u00a0[\u00a0Hyperallergic]\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLast year, French authorities seized 12 percent more looted artifacts than the previous year, and more recently, intercepted a trove of ancient art from Iran on its way to the UK. [Le Figaro and AFP]<\/p>\n \n\tAn 1884 painting by\u00a0Pierre-Auguste Renoir,\u00a0<\/strong>titled\u00a0The Cherry Hat<\/em>,is headed back to Spain, where it once belonged to the Spanish\u00a0Duchess of Alba.\u00a0<\/strong>The return is\u00a0thanks to a Spanish buyer who cited \u201chistorical and cultural\u201d reasons for the purchase. [El Pa\u00eds]<\/p>\n \n\tThe\u00a0Belarus Free Theatre\u00a0<\/strong>discusses its plans for\u00a0\u201cOfficial. Unofficial. Belarus.,\u201d a collateral event at the\u00a0Venice Biennale\u00a0<\/strong>that aims to present \u201cthe voice of unofficial culture representing what usually only a nation-state represents,\u201d according to\u00a0Daniella Kaliada<\/strong>, the company\u2019s curator of art projects. [ARTnews]\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tA robot on wheels named R1 is the new docent at the 18th-century\u00a0Palazzo Madama<\/strong>\u00a0in Turin. [Artnet News]<\/p>\n \n\tA new contemporary art fair in the small town of Fiuggi, south of Rome, will debut on September 11, and its founder\u00a0Nicola Monti<\/strong>\u00a0tells us all about it. [Artribune]<\/p>\n ORIGINIAL INSPIRATION<\/strong>.\u00a0Loie Hollowell\u00a0<\/strong>believes her anatomical, colorful abstractions, which speak of pregnancy and birth, would not have been as well-received 20 years ago as they are today. \u201cWhen I first started showing, I didn\u2019t talk about the works \u2026 being influenced by an abortion I had,\u201d she told the\u00a0Guardian\u00a0<\/em>about her current\u00a0Pace Gallery\u00a0<\/strong>show in London. \u201cBut over the years \u2026 I\u2019ve been able to highlight that original inspiration.\u201d Her pastel drawings are more identifiable depictions of vulvas and breasts, with titles like\u00a0Happy Vagina<\/em>, or\u00a0Let Down<\/em>. \u201cWhen I think about making the earlier works, I was super horny,\u201d she remembers. Lately, that\u2019s evolved, and Hollowell describes a new sense of empowerment over her evolving practice. \u00a0\u201cI feel so in control, in a way that I haven\u2019t felt in the past, and that\u2019s so interesting,\u201d she said. \u201cThe art will change again. My favorite artists really blossomed in their 50s and 60s, and I can see why.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/koyo-kouoh-venice-biennale-preview-morning-links-april-29-2026-1234783053\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1769869191.jpg?w=1024″] To receive\u00a0Morning Links\u00a0in your inbox every weekday,\u00a0sign\u00a0up\u00a0for our\u00a0Breakfast with ARTnews\u00a0newsletter. Good morning! An inside look at the realization of Koyo Kouoh\u2019s Venice Biennale. A Chicago judge has sentenced a man to 23 years for an art-backed cryptocurrency scam.\u00a0 A Renoir painting once owned by the Duchess of Alba will return to Spain. 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