The Eighth Lights Up Chelsea With a Bar That Steals the Show
With an alabaster-glowing bar and conceptual rituals, The Eighth’s debut delivers on design, but its cocktail ceremonies are still a work in progress.
Collector Jordan D. Schnitzer’s David Hockney Holdings Come Home to Portland
The traveling exhibition, which gathers 60 year’s worth of drawings, collages, photographic works and more, showcases the artist’s lifelong engagement with both tradition and innovation.
Porsche’s New CEO Michael Leiters Outlines Turnaround Plan Amid Company ‘Crisis’
Three months into his role, Michael Leiters launches a sweeping plan to revive Porsche after falling profits and sales declines.
Business
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Spotify Co-CEO Gustav Söderström Puts Listeners in Charge of Taste Algorithms
The co-CEO frames editable Taste Profiles as the next step in Spotify’s push for deeper personalization across music, podcasts and audiobooks.
Human Capital as a Competitive Moat in the Age of A.I. Agents
IDCA’s Mehdi Paryavi argues that the greatest threat of the A.I. agent boom is what happens when businesses deploy it without protecting the human capital that makes them worth competing with. As the race for efficiency produces a race to sameness, the businesses that survive the A.I. age will be the ones that invest the most in people.
Taktile CEO Maik Taro Wehmeyer Takes A.I. to Wall Street in Bold Lobster Stunt
After installing a 300-pound lobster by Wall Street’s bull, Maik Taro Wehmeyer reveals Taktile Labs to benchmark A.I. for banks.
Rev. Jesse Jackson and Milton Friedman: The Unlikeliest Bedfellows in American Capitalism
The Ford Foundation’s Roy Swan reflects on the death of Rev. Jesse Jackson and a conviction he shared with libertarian economist Milton Friedman: that you cannot have credible democracy if large groups are structurally locked out. But, Swan argues, Jackson understood what Friedman did not: the lock doesn’t open by itself.
How Regulatory Fragmentation Is Reshaping A.I. Startups
LaunchLemonade’s Cien Solon examines how diverging A.I. regulations are reshaping the way startups are built. For founders navigating a fragmented regulatory landscape, she argues that embedding governance early can turn compliance into a strategic advantage rather than a constraint.
Art
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The Masterpieces Not to Miss at TEFAF Maastricht
From ancient Greek sculpture to Renaissance painting and modern design, this fair highlights the extraordinary continuity of artistic creativity across centuries.
Observer’s Guide to the Best Art Galleries in Malta
This archipelago in the central Mediterranean is famous for its Baroque architecture, Megalithic temples and beautiful beaches. Its art scene, on the other hand, has flown under the radar for far too long.
The Mechanics Powering Heritage Brand Jewelry’s Secondary Market Appeal
While secondary prices often sit below retail, they tend to track upward over time as primary prices rise, limiting downside volatility rather than generating speculative gains.
One Fine Show: Rana Begum’s “Reflection” at the Gallery at Windsor in Florida
Begum’s post-minimalism trades the cold certainty of those earlier practitioners for a more delicate and provisional version that is more representative of our time.
Inside the Increasingly Litigious World of High-Value Art Sales
Driving this shift is “a new group of collectors who are extraordinarily wealthy, used to doing business in a certain way, used to getting their own way and ready to spend legal money,” Manhattan art lawyer Susan Duke Biederman told Observer.
Lifestyle
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The Best Red Carpet Fashion From the 2026 Oscars
From couture gowns to daring suiting, Hollywood’s most stylish stars brought their sartorial A-game to the Dolby Theatre.
The 9 Padel Clubs Turning Miami Into a Racquet Sports Playground
Padel is exploding across Miami, and these nine clubs are where the city’s latest racquet sport craze comes to life.
The 13 Places to Experience Authentic Ireland, Where True Charm Prevails Against the Cliché
New hotels, new Michelin stars, record flights and a country becoming one of Europe’s most compelling destinations.
The 15 Weekender Bags for Men Who Travel With Intention
The mudroom has never looked this polished, from machine-washable workhorses to hand-woven Italian leather that costs more than the hotel.
L.A.’s Most Exciting Restaurant Openings for March
From the long-awaited Sushisamba in West Hollywood to an elevated Thai concept at Westfield Century City, these are L.A.’s most anticipated March restaurant openings.
Interviews
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Meet the Collector: Karun Thakar’s Mission to Share the Hidden Histories of Indian Chintz
He has spent a lifetime collecting textiles from around the world in an effort to spotlight the overlooked makers behind abstract masterpieces he believes “the Western art world has always ignored.”
Garth Greenan’s Long Game: How the Dealer Is Redefining Artist Representation for the Future
Over 15 years, the dealer built a gallery around artists whose importance was hiding in plain sight. Now it’s moving to Soho.
Inside Debra Wimpfheimer’s Vision for the Queens Museum
The incoming executive director will oversee the museum’s next phase of development focused on accessibility and deeper engagement with diverse local communities.
At Hauser & Wirth, Qiu Xiaofei’s Transmutation of Grief
“Art does not cure anxiety or make us perfect but becomes a way to visualize those intangible, interior dimensions—to give form to what is otherwise invisible,” he tells Observer.
India Returns to Venice With a Pavilion Rooted in Memories of Home
After a seven-year absence, the country will return to the Venice Biennale under the direction of curator Amin Jaffer at a moment of rapid transformation and global cultural expansion.
Power Lists
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Observer New Media Power List: Call for Submissions
Nominations are open for Observer’s 2026 New Media Power List
The 50 Most Powerful PR Firms of 2026
This year’s honorees are emblematic of a notable shift in public relations from responsive publicity to proactive leadership in the moments that matter most.
Wall-to-Wall Cultural Capital: Inside Observer’s Art Power Index Party
Under the dim lights of the Lower East Side’s Maison Nur, art world luminaries gathered to celebrate Observer’s Art Power Index—and each other. From the impassioned speeches to the sharp tailoring and Damien Hirst over the bar, the evening embodied our legacy of chronicling power with style.
2025 Nightlife & Dining Power Index
Humanity is still the most vital ingredient in hospitality, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.
Observer’s 2025 Art Power Index: The Art Market’s Most Influential People
Their acquisitions, affinities and approbations move the needle on valuation and redefine how art is made, shown and sold.
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In Kochi, a Biennial Becomes a Civic Laboratory
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale showcases how major international exhibitions can transcend traditional displays of art, transforming ordinary spaces into vibrant hubs of reflection, experimentation, shared learning and empowerment.
The Oscars’ Fight to Stay Relevant Amid Its Cultural Decline
Fragmented media, streaming and social media have weakened the Oscars’ cultural influence, prompting the Academy to chase audiences on YouTube.
How BUTTER’s Founders Are Rethinking the Economics of the Art Fair
“A non-traditional model such as ours requires funders who understand long-term value over short-term branding, and that’s not something every partner is used to navigating,” Malina Simone Bacon and Alan Bacon told Observer.
Big Tech’s $650 Billion Bet on A.I. Infrastructure
dTelecom’s Petr Malyukov examines the massive shift underway beneath the A.I. economy. As Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft prepare to spend a combined $650 billion on A.I. infrastructure, Malyukov argues that the real competitive advantage is moving below the application layer to the compute, energy and networks that power modern A.I. systems.
Yann LeCun’s Paris A.I. Startup AMI Labs Raises Record $1B Seed Round
The ex-Meta A.I. chief assembles a powerhouse team to pursue smarter, more grounded artificial intelligence at AMI Labs.
Rebecca Minkoff and Alison Wyatt’s Fight to Power Women Founders in a Tougher Era
Rebecca Minkoff and Alison Wyatt share how they built Female Founders Collective, scaled its summit, and support women-led businesses navigating growth.
Anna Tsouhlarakis and Native Visibility at the Whitney Biennial
Her spiked horse lingers in memory, a testament to how one artist can both anchor and animate a collective Indigenous presence.
An Insider’s Guide to Where to Stay, Eat and Explore in Vienna
The Austrian capital has stacked a world-class hotel boom, a natural wine scene that rivals Berlin’s and the restaurants to finally back up all that confidence.
Raksha Sanikam’s House of Santal Brings Contemporary South Asian Design to New York
Her newly launched contemporary design gallery is propelling the region’s designers and master artisans onto the international stage.
Meta Alum Mina Fahmi’s Sandbar Raises $23M to Redefine A.I. Wearable Tech
Sandbar CEO Mina Fahmi aims to bridge humans and machines with the Stream ring, an A.I.-powered wearable debuting this summer.
From Cowtown to Culinary Mecca: Why Fort Worth is Rising in the Fine Dining Ranks
Fueled by explosive growth, ambitious chefs and a wave of luxe openings, Fort Worth is shedding its steakhouse stereotype and climbing the fine-dining ladder.
ARCOmadrid Balances Curatorial Quality With an Easygoing Spirit
This European fair has long cultivated its reputation as a platform for encountering thoughtful work rather than a marketplace where well-heeled buyers chase high-priced trophies.
