The UK government has agreed to classify galleries and auction houses as ‘non-essential retail businesses’, thus allowing them to reopen in the second phase of the lifting of lockdown restrictions, currently planned after 1 June. The Art Newspaper reports that art trade associations including LAPADA and the British Art Market Federation (BAMF) have been lobbying the government for guidelines regarding a safe return to work.
At Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai, Indian contemporary artist Manish Nai invites viewers to reconsider the materials that surround them. In In Search of Material within Material, a solo exhibition bringing together works created between 2021 and 2026, discarded objects, industrial surfaces and familiar everyday materials become the starting point for an exploration of form, memory and transformation.