Penske Gobbles Up Vox Media

Art Movements

In better news: Frankenthaler Foundation climate grants, Meow Wolf on “The Simpsons,” Schomburg Center acquisitions, and more.

Jay Penske has his tentacles around another media network. (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic, Standard Oil cartoon via Library of Congress)

Art Movements, published every Thursday afternoon, is a roundup of must-know news, appointments, awards, and other happenings in today’s chaotic art world.

Penske Media Corporation Acquires Vox Media

Jay Penske, notorious for consolidating media companies and for taking $200 million in Saudi money, continues his campaign of gobbling up publications. Today, June 18, Penske Media Corporation (PMC) announced that it is acquiring the Vox Media portfolio (specifically, the Vox sites that weren’t already purchased by James Murdoch in a reported $300M+ deal last month). That means Eater, The Verge, and SB Nation will join Variety, Rolling Stone, and the more recently acquired Artforum, Artnews, and Art in America, as well as events like the Golden Globes and South by Southwest, in the grip of Penske’s tentacles. The prospects have been bad for a long time, but today’s news signals an even more alarming shift, as it makes PMC the world’s largest digital publisher. (Note that PMC was already the largest shareholder in Vox before this agreement.) What does it mean for editorial independence? What does it mean for journalists? You know where to find me for tips: valentina@hyperallergic.com.

A Boost for Climate Efforts in the Arts

Exterior view of Fresno Ideaworks Community Makerspace, a Frankenthaler Climate Initiative grantee, featuring “Synergy” (2025) by Michael Howe (photo Rachel Baldwyn, courtesy FCI)

The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation announced the 83 recipients of its Frankenthaler Climate Initiative grants for 2026, totaling $4.5 million for projects aimed at reducing emissions and supporting environmental resilience. Selected visual arts organizations include the Minneapolis Institute of Art, for aquifer geothermal wells that will power a new sustainable energy facility; the Albuquerque Museum, for solar panels on the roof of its new education facility; and Fresno Ideaworks, for a series of lighting upgrades and energy monitoring systems.

Acquisitions

Tschabalala Self, “Black Panther” (2022) (photo Jonathan Blanc, courtesy NYPL)As the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture wraps up its centennial, the Harlem institution acquired Tschabalala Self‘s never-before-seen “Black Panther” (2022), a graphic etching with gold leaf whose artist-designed frame weighs over 100 pounds (!). The piece is part of a group of new acquisitions, including Simone Leigh’s “Untitled” (2023) and Nona Faustine’s “Mitochondria” (2008–16) and “White Shoes” (2012–21). All are viewable with an appointment to Schomburg’s arts or photo divisions, and will be formally unveiled in a fall exhibition.The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio acquired Edra Soto’s “Screenhouse” (2019), to be installed in late July.The Achenbach Foundation acquired the drawing “Head of a Youth with His Hand Covering His Face” (c. 1760) by Lorenzo Tiepolo, son of 18th-century Venetian school artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. It’s now on view in Drawn to Venice at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor.

What Else Happened?

The Curatorial Program for Research’s 2026 NYC artist residents (photo courtesy CPR)The Curatorial Program for Research (CPR) named the artists selected for its “Hello New York!” residency. The selected residents are Adriana Flores, Andrea Gandarillas, Andrius Alvarez-Backus, Nicole Economides, Clo Pantano, Elisa Lutteral, Yunfei Ren, Livia Ortiz, Lolo Ostia, Luciana Pinchiero, Maximiliano Ruelas, Nora Maité Nieves, Victoria Martinez, Zhu Gaocanyue, Zipporah Camille Thompson, and Pegah Pasalar.Soyoung Yoon was appointed director of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. Read more at Hyperallergic.Artist Ygor Landarin is now represented by Galeria Galatea.Villa Albertine announced its 2027 residency cohort. In the Visual Arts category, the residents are Marie de Brugerolle, Garance Früh, Anton Hirschfeld, Youssef Nabil, mountaincutters, Adeline Rapon, Louis-Cyprien Rials, TILT, Mickaël Vis, and Xie Lei. The full list is here.

Meow Wolf Joins the Simpsons Ranks

The beloved immersive art collective Meow Wolf has just earned one of pop culture’s most coveted honors: featuring on The Simpsons‘s iconic “couch gag.” Street artist Banksy and film director Guillermo del Toro are among the figures who have previously collaborated on the recurring joke for the opening sequence of the longest-running cartoon in the United States. The episode titled “Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition,” which premiered yesterday, June 17, is peppered with Meow Wolf easter eggs, such as Marge shopping at a grocery store inspired by the group’s super trippy, interactive art installation “Omega Mart” in Las Vegas. All I’ll say is — psssh, I liked Meow Wolf before it was mainstream!

🔗 Source: Original Source

📅 Published on: 2026-06-19 01:24:00

🖋️ Author: Valentina Di Liscia – An expert in architectural innovation and design trends.

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Note: This article was reviewed and edited by the archot editorial team to ensure accuracy and quality.