The week in art news: Miami art week begins, Turner Prize 2024 winner announced, radioactive sculpture park and more…

Miami art week begins as Art Basel Miami Beach, NADA and Untitled Art Fairs open their doors to the public. Stay tuned for Instagram coverage of colourful art, Cybertrucks, BBLs, crab claws and horrendous expenses (one gallerist told Plaster she paid $20 for a single tequila shot). Keep a lookout for our roving Plaster correspondents Billy Parker and Dora DB, reporting from the ground.

Jasleen Kaur wins Turner Prize. The 38-year-old artist was nominated for her show ‘Alter Altar’, at Tramway in Glasgow, which included an eye-catching red Ford Escort draped with a supersized lace doily. The award ceremony was held on Tuesday at Tate Britain (the first time in six years that the ceremony has been held there). While the VIPs gathered inside, outside were hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors, calling on the Tate to divest from Israeli-linked organisations. Kaur used her winner’s speech to support the protestors, saying “Ceasefire now, arms embargo now, free Palestine.” The exhibition of the four shortlisted artists continues at Tate Britain until 16th February, 2025.

At the intersection of art and radioactive waste: the Los Angeles Times reports that gamma radiation has been detected at a former-landfill turned sculpture park near the city of Albany, California. An investigation of the city archives has revealed that between 1960-71, 11,000 of tons of toxic waste was dumped at Albany Bulb, including pesticides and potentially radioactive sludge. It doesn’t help that some of the sculptures on display were made from trash scavenged from the landfill…

Talking of toxic trash: Jeff Koons’ Balloon Swan narrowly survived a fire in a Hong Kong office block. The fire broke out on the third floor lobby of The Henderson, when Christmas decorations short circuited. The fire took place out of office hours and was quickly extinguished with no injuries. The Henderson is one of Hong Kong’s newest towers, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and opened in September 2024. It’s also the headquarters of Christie’s Asia.

Man eats banana: It seemed like everyone went mad last week when Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian was bought for $6.2M by Justin Sun, an otherwise unremarkable cryptocurrency investor. Some people were under the impression that that specific banana was worth $6.2M (it wasn’t) that Cattelan saw any money (he didn’t) and that it was extremely funny (guess again!). Anyway, Sun decided to keep his name in the press by eating it.

Venice Biennale 2026: the 2024 edition may have only just ended, but the planning for the 2026 edition has already begun. France has picked French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada to represent the country. Meanwhile the exhibition itself will be curated by Koyo Kouoh. The pick of the self-described “fundamental pan-Africanist” is a surprise to many, who assumed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would install one of her right wing allies.

Candida Gertler resigns from Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Recent pro-Palestine protests have called for arts organisations to dissociate from Outset, given the close links between the Candida and Zak Gertler and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Candida claimed that her resignation from all voluntary positions within UK arts institutions was a “principled protest against the alarming rise of antisemitism.”