Stolen antiquities returned to India to coincide with independence day

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Stolen antiquities returned to India to coincide with independence day | Two artefacts that are thought to have been trafficked out of India by New York antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor were returned to the country yesterday, as part of its independence day celebrations. The objects, a 17th-century bronze Hindu statue and a limestone relief carving from the 1st century AD, were taken from the temples at Tamil Nadu and surrendered to the US Department of Homeland Security by a London-based collector in June. The artefacts were received by India’s high commissioner to the UK, Ruchi Ghanashyam, at India House in London.  

Istanbul Biennial announces new venue in former warehouse | Organisers of the Istanbul Biennial announced yesterday that the exhibition has been moved to Antrepo 5, a former warehouse that is currently being converted into an art gallery. The new waterfront venue was selected just a month before the biennial opens to the public on 14 September due to the discovery of asbestos at the Istanbul Shipyards, which has been the main site for previous editions. 

Recommended reading | Winner of the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion award, Arthur Jafa has been profiled by Megan O’Grady for The New York Times’ T Magazine. Art critic Philip Kennicott admires an exhibition of Bill Viola’s works at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, but has much harsher words for the institution’s painting galleries and its curators’ attempts to juxtapose old and new in the Washington Post.