Each week, we scour the internet for the most significant, surprising, and outrageous art news—helping you stay informed (and sound smart). Have a suggestion? Let us know on social media (@meetmeural) with the tag #thisweekinartnews. (See all installments.)

1. “A Step Into the Unknown, With Virtual Reality” by Josie Thaddeus-Johns, The New York Times

When a new technology becomes available, contemporary artists everywhere flock to it. But that doesn’t mean the art world takes it seriously. That often takes years; gatekeepers and influencers have to approve, meaningful funding has to be invested, and writers and critics have to figure out what to make of it. It seems we’re at that inflection point with virtual reality (VR). This article centers around the recent departure of the Swedish curator Daniel Birnbaum from the renowned Moderna Museet to a VR startup, Acute Art. But it also details how some of art’s biggest institutions and names (the image above features a still from a new Marina Abramovic work) are scrambling to put their best foot forward in the VR space. The results, it goes without saying, are heady.

2. “Turner Prize 2019 shortlist is announced”, BBC

The Turner prize, named after J.M.W. Turner and organized by the Tate in London, is one of the U.K.’s (and the world’s) most prestigious art awards. It’s a great way to see what’s considered exciting, up and coming, and relevant. The shortlist for the 2019 award has just been announced, featuring “investigative art, works blurring fact and fiction and explorations of oppression.” The four artists hail from Jordan, London (two of the four), and Colombia, and they differ wildly not just in medium but content. The winner won’t be announced until October; who takes home the prize is anyone’s guess.

3. “The Unlikely Pairing of Caravaggio and Daniel Buren” by Joseph Nechvatal, Hyperallergic

Though modern art seems, at times, completely cleaved from its classical past, many contemporary artists site Old Masters as inspiration. Some even go so far as to remix the classics into their work (like our newly added artist, Yiannis Kranidiotis). Daniel Buren’s site-specific work at the Kamel Mennour gallery in Paris takes the idea to a new extreme, pairing a long-lost work by Caravaggio—Judith and Holofernes (c. 1607)—with a pyramidal sculpture of sorts (it’s hard to put it into words). Nechvatal’s take is beautiful, bringing the exhibit to life: “Stilling Caravaggio’s scene of violence, which evokes male castration, Buren’s shimmering, reflective rectangles of light seem to gently wash out over the dim floor towards the painting — parts of which are reflected in the pyramid’s mirrors (depending on viewer position), so that neither work reverts only to its own space and chronology. The dark ambiance established is that of sober celebration tinged with melancholy reflection. Tied-back crimson curtains in the painting swirl above the head-cutting like bloody ghosts and a maelstrom of tiny shadows soils the bed sheets.”

4. “A brief history of female rage in art” by Ariela Gittlen, CNN

When one thinks of “female rage in art,” the mind goes to Artemisia Gentileschi, who we included in our list of 7 Female Old Masters Who Defied Their Time—specifically Judith Beheading Holofernes (c. 1614–1620). CNN Style included that work in their brief history of female rage in art as well as some more surprising picks, such as Elisabetta Sirani’s Timoclea Killing Her Rapist from 1659 (Sirani is also included in our list), and Jean-Léon Gérôme’s unforgettable Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind from 1896. The article may not be exhaustive, but it’s definitely worth a browse.