Month: October 2025

Egypt reopens Amenhotep III’s tomb

After a two-decade conservation led by Japanese experts, Egypt has reopened the vast tomb of Amenhotep III in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings. Visitors can now see restored wall paintings of the pharaoh with deities and Book of the Dead passages; the burial complex also includes chambers for Queens Tiye and Sitamun. The sarcophagus was looted centuries ago, and Amenhotep’s mummy resides in Cairo, but the reopening adds a major draw just ahead of the Grand Egyptian Museum’s Nov 1 inauguration—another signal that Egypt is using heritage to supercharge tourism after years of instability. Expect long lines and a new spotlight on 18th-dynasty art and engineering. AP News

Alfredo Jaar wins the 11th Prix Pictet (“Storm”)

Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar took photography’s leading sustainability prize for The End, his elegy to Utah’s shrinking Great Salt Lake. The award (100,000 CHF) was announced at London’s V&A; the show runs through Oct 19. Jaar’s suite confronts ecological collapse and its human fallout—fitting the “Storm” theme that embraces literal and metaphorical turbulence. Beyond the cash, the win elevates an already influential artist at the crossroads of image-making and activism, and reframes climate art as urgent documentary. For audiences, it’s also a timely primer on how visual culture can mobilize environmental awareness without slipping into didacticism. Prix Pictet+1

British Museum unveils its first Met-style Ball (Oct 18)

London will debut the British Museum Ball—an annual, ultra-glam fundraiser timed to Frieze Week. This year’s sold-out theme is “pink,” riffing on the museum’s Ancient India: Living Traditions exhibition, with performances by sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar and the Jules Buckley Orchestra. Organizers say proceeds will fund international partnerships (not the £1bn redevelopment). Early reaction mixes excitement with skepticism about splashy galas in public institutions; either way, the Great Court is poised for a new place on the culture calendar. britishmuseum.org+1

Art Basel Paris adds an “Avant Première” for the ultra-VIPs

To court top collectors, Art Basel Paris introduces a by-invitation preview on Tue, Oct 21 (3–7 pm), preceding its regular VIP days (Oct 22–23) and public opening (Oct 24–26). The move mirrors Basel’s flagship timing and intensifies competition in a hot Paris market. For galleries, it means earlier, potentially calmer face time with “closest clients”; for the fair ecosystem, it’s another signal that Paris’s October week is consolidating as Europe’s most dealer-driven sales window after London’s. theartnewspaper.com+1

BFI London Film Festival (Oct 8–19): juries named, premieres queued

The 69th LFF opens this week with starry galas, a stacked competition slate, and newly announced juries led by producers and multidisciplinary creators. The festival’s remit—“everyone is invited”—spreads premieres across the city and UK venues, while preserving cinephile must-sees for in-person audiences. For industry watchers, LFF remains the crucial autumn bridge between Venice/Toronto buzz and awards season positioning; for viewers, it’s a buffet ranging from prestige drama to boundary-pushing debuts. whatson.bfi.org.uk+1

Frieze London + Frieze Sculpture supercharge October

Frieze Sculpture, the free outdoor show in Regent’s Park, is already open through Nov 2, setting the tone for Frieze Week before the tents rise. Expect blue-chip booths, “Focus” presentations by younger galleries, and museum-grade collateral programming across the city. With London’s art ecosystem in flux, Frieze’s gravitational pull (and the park’s sculpture trail) remains the capital’s most visible barometer of market confidence and curatorial risk-taking—an open-air prelude to the main event. frieze.com+1

New Frida museum opens in Mexico City: Museo Casa Kahlo

Just blocks from Casa Azul, Casa Roja—Frida’s family home—has opened as Museo Casa Kahlo. Designed with Rockwell Group, the intimate museum reframes Kahlo through family archives: letters, early works (including her first oil painting), personal effects, and rare murals attributed to her. The aim is to balance the icon with the person—foregrounding Guillermo Kahlo’s influence and a domestic context that shaped her style. It expands Coyoacán’s “Kahlo circuit” and is poised to redistribute visitor flow (and scholarship) beyond Casa Azul’s mythos. Wallpaper*+1

Booker Prize 2025 shortlist lands

The Booker shortlist of six spans established and first-time nominees, selected by a jury chaired by Roddy Doyle. The list underscores Booker’s tilt toward formally adventurous but emotionally direct fiction—positioning the Oct–Dec season for maximal bookstore and prize-circuit attention. With festivals and media aligned around Frieze/LFF, the Booker announcement strategically keeps literature in the same cultural conversation as film and art, priming discovery ahead of November’s winner reveal. The Booker Prizes

Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction) shortlist announced

From extremism in the 1970s to a lone wolf’s Alpine crossings, this year’s six-book shortlist is notably wide in scope and style. The £50,000 award (winner Nov 4) remains a lighthouse for narrative nonfiction despite recent sponsor controversies; jury comments praised the “boldness” and range of the finalists. Readers get a ready-made syllabus for autumn; publishers get a sales jolt; debates about funding ethics continue in the background—proof that literary prizes are also cultural weather vanes. Literary Hub+1

Petrit Halilaj named 2027 Nasher Prize laureate—donates award

Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj, 39, becomes the youngest (and ninth) recipient of the $100,000 Nasher Prize, honoring his expansive, community-rooted sculptural practice. In a notable gesture, he will donate the entire sum to the Hajde! Foundation, which he co-founded to support artists in Kosovo. The announcement extends the Nasher’s influence beyond Dallas, aligning its global profile with artists who braid personal history, pedagogy, and public engagement—an ethics-forward definition of sculptural impact today. artnews.com+1