From Chopin’s ballades to Jamaica’s Tanya Stephens, looking back on the best releases of 2006

From YouTube to a Hussein Chalayan dress, looking back over the most innovative design and technology of 2006

More art than ever is being bought and sold in Las Vegas. Haluk Akakçe’s Sky is the Limit was recently shown there – on the largest video screen in the world

Looking back over a year of new cinema from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Mali, Morocco, Romania, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the USA and the UK

A new collection of short stories explores the rich terrain of last words

Looking back over the best art and literature books of 2006

Looking back over a year in which – despite some masterly exceptions – discusssions about architecture were more prevalent than great new buildings

Is contemporary art overpackaged?

The US government has been relentless in its assault on contemporary art by privileging all things patriotic

Since the 1970s Canadian artist Rodney Graham has worked with film, photography, painting, writing and music. In 2006 he was included in the Whitney Biennial and awarded the Kurt Schwitters Prize, had a solo show at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany, exhibited at the Kunsthalle in Bergen, Norway and at Hauser & Wirth in Zurich, Switzerland. His exhibition at the Centro José Guerrero in Granada, Spain will open in February 2007.

Social events in the art world can result in a sense of disorientation that has little to do with the wine

frieze asked critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they felt to be the most significant shows and artists of 2006

frieze asked critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they felt to be the most significant shows and artists of 2006

‘How to Live Together’, was a compelling challenge to biennial models based on national representation

Curated by Okwui Enwezor, ‘The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in a Global Society’ seemed to ask: what kind of a mess are we in; why; and how do we get out of it?’

frieze asked the following critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they felt to be the most significant shows and artists of 2006

Three biennials in Singapore, China and Korea, themed around ‘Belief’, ‘Hyper-Design’ and ‘Fever Variations’

frieze asked the following critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they felt to be the most significant shows and artists of 2006

frieze asked the following critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they felt to be the most significant shows and artists of 2006:

Having experienced the extremes of postwar boom and economic crash, Japan continues to face new challenges. Across the vast, high-density sprawl of Tokyo, young Japanese artists are finding different ways in which to respond to both the local and international art scenes

frieze asked the following critics and curators from around the world to choose what, and who, they expected to be the most significant shows and artists of 2007

This summer, the German city of Muenster will host the Sculpture Projects for the fourth time. Ten years on from the exhibition’s last incarnation, has the role of public art changed?

Every five years, documenta – nicknamed ‘the 100 day museum’ – takes over the German city of Kassel. This year, under the leadership of Artistic Director Roger M. Buergel and curator Ruth Noack, it promises once again to pose as many questions as it hopes to answer