A small bronze by Hans Arp was stolen from a dealer's stand at Art Cologne on the fair's closing day, in a theft that took place in plain sight during the busiest minutes of the event. "S'elevant (Rising)", a 1962 bronze standing just 28 centimetres tall, disappeared from Gallery Ludorff's booth between 4:55pm and 5:10pm on Sunday 8 November, the last day of the fair.

The work had sat on a plinth at the Dusseldorf gallery's stand, C-121, flanked by two paintings by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, since the fair opened on 5 November. It was not bolted down. Four gallery employees were working the stand when the sculpture vanished, and they alerted the North Rhine-Westphalia State Police as soon as they noticed it was gone. The gallery has valued the bronze at 145,000 euros, about $160,000.

Police have not identified who took the work and are asking fair visitors and staff to come forward with any information or photographs from the stand that could help the investigation. The gallery has published a plan of its booth showing exactly where the sculpture stood, between the two Nay paintings.

Art Cologne is one of Germany's leading fairs for modern and contemporary art, and its 2026 edition ran from 5 to 8 November. The theft comes in a year when museum and fair security has been under intense scrutiny across Europe, after a run of brazen daylight robberies at institutions in France, Austria and Spain. No arrests have been reported in the Arp case.