3.\u00a0Undocumented Artists \u2014 Historically ignored by the art establishment, they now live under the immediate threat of being torn away from their families and deported to concentration camps in countries they\u2019ve never set foot in. The art community should do more to protect these most vulnerable artists.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0Smithsonian Institution \u2014 The Smithsonian relies on government funding for more than half of its budget. This must be the art world\u2019s most toxic relationship, as the institute has nowhere else to go. The Trump administration is well aware of this and continues to escalate its abusive tactics<\/a>, even releasing a chilling list of artworks<\/a> at the institution that it accuses of \u201cdivisive narratives.” This has also cost the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, her job. We won’t be surprised if the institution is renamed the Trumpsonian. <\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Trans Artists \u2014 Unfortunately but unsurprisingly back on Hyperallergic\u2019s Powerless List yet again, trans and nonbinary artists suffered an especially cruel year under President Trump, whose administration is not only targeting gender-affirming care<\/a> for minors but denying the very existence of trans individuals in mandates and official language. You know things are very bad when Amy Sherald, arguably one of the most renowned American painters of our era, cancels a Smithsonian exhibition<\/a> over fears that her portrait of a trans woman might be censored.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0LA Artists Who Lost Everything \u2014 When fires raged through Los Angeles<\/a> in January, tearing through entire neighborhoods and towns, like historically vibrant Altadena<\/a>, many artists said they lost their life\u2019s work, not to mention their homes and studios. The cultural community was quick to respond<\/a> with mutual aid and fundraisers in support of those affected, a glimmer of light amid the trauma and loss of a tragedy whose scale was likely preventable<\/a>.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0Palestinian Solidarity Activists \u2014 Silenced for speaking the truth, doxxed by shadowy groups, abducted by federal agents, their shows have been canceled, and their livelihoods destroyed. But ultimately, history will be on their side. <\/p>\n 8.\u00a0Creators of No Other Land \u2014 In September, the Israeli military raided the home<\/a> of Basel Adra, co-director of this acclaimed documentary about settler violence in Palestine. Months earlier, Awdah Hathaleen, a beloved Palestinian activist and teacher who worked on the movie, was killed by an Israeli settler<\/a> in the Occupied West Bank. The saga of No Other Land proves that not even Oscar-winning filmmakers are safe.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0White House East Wing \u2014 It survived 21 administrations and periods of deep political unrest in its 123-year history until one real estate developer with particularly bad taste <\/a>became a second-term president. Like many other symbols of American democracy, the White House East Wing is no more. <\/p>\n 10.\u00a0The Louvre\u2019s Security System \u2014 Imagine being hired to protect some of the world\u2019s most renowned art treasures and having your efforts thwarted by the dumbest security password ever. While we couldn\u2019t independently confirm the tragic reports<\/a> that the password was, yes, \u201cLOUVRE,\u201d countless other failings likely helped facilitate the heist of the century<\/a>. Old-money taste, new-money mistakes, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0National Museum of Yemen \u2014 The Sana’a museum, best known for its collection of Sabaean artifacts, reopened in 2023 in the \u201cPalace of Happiness\u201d (Dar Al-Sada) after being closed for a decade during the Yemeni revolution, but this past year was less than happy for the institution, which was damaged by Israeli air strikes<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n 12.\u00a0Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not! \u2014 It must\u2019ve seemed like a cool and wacky idea at first, to become the owners of Maurizio Cattelan’s \u201cAmerica\u201d (2016). But now the company is stuck with a $12 million gold toilet<\/a> that no one else wanted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 13.\u00a0Artists Whose Materials Were Hit by Tariffs \u2014 Thanks to the US president\u2019s regressive trade policies, all imported goods are more expensive now, including<\/a> art materials<\/a>. Makes sense, because there\u2019s nothing Trump hates more than culture. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n 14.\u00a0DEI Programs \u2014 While Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at museums and cultural institutions were already extremely flawed<\/a>, President Trump\u2019s ruthless attacks<\/a> on even the meekest effort to redress centuries of discrimination put the final nail in the coffin. This is especially true for federally funded organizations<\/a> fearful of the president\u2019s wrath, but the move also likely emboldened<\/a> private funders and corporations to embrace his pale, male, and stale vision of culture. <\/p>\n 15.\u00a0Artists and Cultural Workers in Sudan: A report<\/a> by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) released last month identified at least 55 artists killed in the brutal civil war, a toll that attests to \u201ca disturbing escalation from incidental wartime loss to what human rights analysts describe as a campaign of cultural cleansing.\u201d We stand in solidarity with our Sudanese peers and friends.\u00a0 <\/p>\n 16.\u00a0SAIC\u2019s Video Data Bank <\/a>\u2014 Video art was not exactly thriving before this happened, but when the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) decided to strip the historic Video Data Bank<\/a> (VDB), the future of media-based practices began to look even bleaker<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 17.\u00a0The Philadelphia Art Museum\u2019s Brand Identity \u2014 We are already nostalgic for the simpler days of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), which this year became the Philadelphia Art Museum, uncomfortably stylized as \u2026 PhAM. That\u2019s not all: The institution decided to rehaul its entire brand, with a new logo that looks like an AI-generated team jersey for a made-up sports team \u2014 or, in the words of online commentators, \u201csome kind of Cold War monstrosity.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n 18.\u00a0Isamu Noguchi\u2019s Legacy \u2014 The Japanese-American artist spent his entire life as an anti-fascist, while those who head his namesake museum decided to prohibit workers from wearing keffiyehs<\/a>, Arab headscarves that are seen as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. Over a year after the Noguchi Museum in New York City first announced the controversial ban, the institution is back to business as usual, but the artist\u2019s legacy is forever stained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 19.\u00a0US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale \u2014 The United States\u2019s Venice Biennale Pavilion has seen some things this year. First Trump changed the curatorial guidelines<\/a> to suit his creepy patriotic fantasies, and then Andres Serrano proposed a truly terrifying<\/a> design idea that fortunately did not come to fruition. But the final punch was thrown last month, when the artist selected to represent the nation<\/a> was finally announced \u2026 and he was exactly what we expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n 20.\u00a0Rainbow Crosswalks \u2014 It was a bad year for the multicolored stripes painted on street crossings as a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and solidarity. Out of the many reports of their erasure<\/a> at the behest of Republican officials across the country, perhaps no incident was more egregious than Florida\u2019s shameless removal of a rainbow crosswalk memorial<\/a> honoring the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Honorable Mentions<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Poorly Positioned Art Fair Booths \u2014 We\u2019ve seen it happen: a gallery shells out several grand for a minute piece of real estate on an art fair floor, only to be relegated to a dark corner near the bathrooms \u2014 or, worse yet, a new section with an insipid and ambiguous name, like \u201cNeutron\u201d or \u201cPerpetual,\u201d that was obviously thrown together last-minute to lump all the peasants in one place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Art Writers Who Love Em Dashes \u2014 Many of us love a good em dash \u2014 but AI came and ruined that, too. Thank you, AI slop machines \u2014 it\u2019s said that they use em dashes profusely \u2014 for killing our joy. But you know what \u2014\u00a0you won\u2019t stop us!<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0Beloved Art Material Shops \u2014 Having served expert knitters and crafty kindergarten teachers alike for eight decades, Joann, formerly Jo-Ann Fabrics, officially went out of business<\/a> this year following two bankruptcy filings. Kremer Pigments, a family-run paint store worshipped by artists, closed its New York City location<\/a>, citing rising rents and tariffs. It’s a bad omen, if you ask us. <\/p>\n ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766600595_51_christina.jpg\")
The charred remains of artist Christina Quarles’s Altadena home, which was already undergoing renovations after a house fire in April (photo courtesy Christina Quarles)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766600596_395_GettyImages-2242848550--1-.jpg\")
President Trump demolished the White House East Wing to build a multimillion-dollar ballroom. (photo by Eric Lee\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766600597_418_phamigcomments.jpg\")
Online criticism of the Philadelphia Art Museum’s rebranding (screenshot Hyperallergic\u00a0via @philamuseum on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>)<\/p>\n