The mayor of Venice, Luigo Brugnaro, has announced that its civic museums, 11 institutions including the Doge’s Palace, Palazzo Fortuny, and the Museo Correr, are to remain closed until at least 1 April, when the tourist season usually begins. Museums across Italy have been closed due to national restrictions since 5 November, but these are only in effect until 15 January. Brugnaro has stated that, because the museums in Venice depend largely on tourists, there is a ‘business logic’ to keeping them closed until they can have more visitors. A petition calling for him to reverse his decision is circulating with some 3,000 signatures gathered so far.
Once a place where sea, desert, and palm groves coexisted in rare harmony, Tunisia’s Gabès Oasis stands today as one of the world’s most fragile cultural-environmental sites. At its heart is artist Mohamed Amine Hamouda, whose ecological practice offers a form of resistance—one built on memory, materials, and a return to ancestral knowledge.