Good Morning! Controversy has erupted in Spain over the appointment of a high school art teacher as director of the Galician Center for Contemporary Art. President Trump’s no-bid contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue and stop leaks granted an inflated profit to the construction company on the job. The $102 million Louvre heist is set to be adapted into a film by French filmmaker Romain Gavras. The Headlines TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT. Spain’s Galician Center for Contemporary Art (CGAC) is in open revolt after the regional government appointed Eva López Tarrío—a high school art teacher and civil servant with no significant curatorial or international art world experience—to lead the prestigious Santiago de Compostela institution, El Pais reports. (It should be noted that she does have a PhD in Fine Arts.) The move drew immediate and widespread condemnation from more than 1,400 artists, critics, gallery owners, and academics across Spain, who signed an open letter warning that limiting the directorship to civil servants would “impoverish and politicize” the center. Among those speaking out is Susana Cendán, a PhD curator and lecturer …

To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. Good morning! Russia attacked Kyiv on Sunday, killing four, injuring about 100, and damaging cultural sites. Romania’s culture minister has stepped down following an outcry over a leaked recording. One of the oldest manuscripts to tell the tale of King Arthur is heading to auction. The Headlines KYIV CULTURE ATTACKED. Early Sunday morning, Russia struck Kyiv and nearby towns with its largest attack on the Ukrainian capital city since 2024; a rare Oreshnik ballistic missile and drones killed four, injured about 100, and hit cultural institutions, according to reports. Among the approximately 40 damaged sites are the National Chernobyl museum and the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), per the Kyiv Post. An estimated 40 percent of the Chernobyl museum was reportedly destroyed, while the NAMU’s landmark building was damaged by a blast wave. No artworks were harmed in the NAMU, which was recently restored and reopened in the summer of 2023. On May 21, it debuted a “performance-exhibition” by Holyi/Kostiantyn Mishukov and Oleh Tistol, about art as a form of therapy during …

Good Morning! Iran denies ever withdrawing from the Venice Biennale, and the Somalia Pavilion sparks controversy. A new report led by France‘s parliament has revealed wide-ranging flaws in the country’s museum security management. US Interior Department staff are concerned that Trump‘s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repairs are behind schedule and of poor quality. The Headlines VEXED IN VENICE. News from this year’s politically mired Venice Biennale keeps coming. For starters, the Art Newspaper  reports that Iran is still negotiating its participation in the Biennale. The general director of visual arts at Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance—Mahdizadeh Tehrani— denied that the state ever withdrew from the exhibition this year, and said the country still hopes to take part in some capacity. Last week, Biennale organizers announced Iran would not be represented at its pavilion. Elsewhere, according to ArtReview, Somali artists and cultural workers have expressed “deep disappointment and concern” about the Somalia Pavilion. In one open letter, the Somali Arts Foundation(SAF) alleged the exhibition was “led and organized by Somali diaspora figures in collaboration with their European colleagues … while artists and arts organizations based in Somalia were neither meaningfully consulted nor included.” …