New York Art Week 2026 brings a major convergence of art events across the city, including several prominent art fairs such as Frieze New York, Independent New York, TEFAF New York, and NADA New York. The week also features gallery openings spanning from Tribeca to the Upper East Side, as well as auction previews ahead of key sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips.
The Hayward Gallery in London has announced a major solo exhibition of American artist and activist Nan Goldin, titled "You Never Did Anything Wrong." Running from 24 November 2026 to 7 March 2027, the show will mark Goldin's first institutional exhibition in the UK since 2002, featuring her intimate photographs and slideshows that document personal relationships, addiction, and queer communities over five decades. The exhibition rounds off the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary year and includes works such as "Flowers with cup and Gaja" (2024) and "Diana in the bath" (2024).
The article reports on five distinct art fairs—Frieze, NADA, Independent, 1-54, and Esther III—visited during New York Art Fair Week. It highlights key artists and works, including Kelly Tapia-Chuning's deconstructed serapes at NADA, Esaí Alfredo's queer nighttime paintings, Alex Burke's textile dolls at 1-54, and Laetitia KY's photographic self-sculpture. The fairs collectively emphasized themes of environmentalism, globalism, decolonization, and a growing textiles sector, with curation varying widely from commercial to conceptually driven.
The article discusses the newly opened David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), describing the viewing experience as seductive. The galleries are a major component of LACMA's ongoing transformation, designed by architect Peter Zumthor.
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles presents "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials," a spring 2026 exhibition running from April 5 to August 23. Curated by Jill Spalding, the show features works by artists including Edgar Calel, Guadalupe Maravilla, Carmen Argote, and others, exploring the concept of "Brownness"—a fluid identity rooted in ancestral memory, animal kinship, and a profound connection to living materials. The exhibition is organized into three acts: large-scale installations, paintings and works on paper, and ceramics, offering a visceral and immersive experience that draws on precolonial traditions across the Americas.
Art Basel 2026 has announced that artist Trevor Paglen will co-curate the latest edition of Zero 10, the fair's global initiative dedicated to digital art, alongside digital art strategist Eli Scheinman. Making its debut at Art Basel's flagship Swiss edition, Zero 10 will take over the Event Hall on Messeplatz from June 17–21, 2026, with a Preview Day on June 16. The expanded presentation will feature 19 exhibitors showcasing artists working at the forefront of digital, generative, and media-based practices, and is themed "The Condition," examining life within algorithmic systems and AI. Highlights include works by Hito Steyerl, Avery Singer, Andreas Gursky, Vera Molnar, Ryoji Ikeda, John Gerrard, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, presented by galleries such as Hauser & Wirth, Marian Goodman Gallery, Sprüth Magers, Esther Schipper, Almine Rech, bitforms gallery, Art Blocks, and HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste).
LACMA has opened its new David Geffen Galleries, a single-story building spanning Wilshire Boulevard that houses the museum's permanent collection spanning 6,000 years of art. The galleries feature a revolutionary curatorial approach organized around bodies of water—Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian, and Pacific—creating nonhierarchical displays that mix works across time and geography, such as 17th-century Dutch paintings alongside 20th-century photography. The building also includes 3.5 acres of shaded public space below, outdoor sculptures by artists like Alexander Calder and Jeff Koons, and a 220,000-square-foot pavement artwork by Mariana Castillo Deball.
The 61st Venice Biennale features standout national pavilions from Japan, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Singapore, and India. Japan presents Ei Arakawa-Nash's 'Grass Babies, Moon Babies,' an interactive exhibition with hand-sewn baby dolls and sound pieces exploring queer parenthood and collective care. The Philippines showcases Jon Cuyson's 'Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig,' a solo show using 'mussel thinking' to highlight Filipino seafarers. Timor-Leste's 'Across Words' brings together three artists addressing ethnolinguistic diversity and cultural memory, while Singapore presents Amanda Heng's 'A Pause,' a feminist performance on vulnerability and resilience. India's pavilion features Ranjani Shettar's work, supported by Talwar Gallery.
Tabish Khan, the London-based art critic, selects his top gallery and museum exhibitions to see in late May in London. Highlights include Christopher Page's illusionistic mirror paintings at Ben Hunter, Dirk Braeckman's chemically altered photographs at Grimm, a historical exhibition on Hawai'i's relationship with the UK at The British Museum, a pairing of James Capper's claw-like machines with Anthony Caro's metal sculptures, and a focused display of George Stubbs' horse portrait and anatomical drawings at The National Gallery.
Gallery Weekend Berlin took place from late April into early May, drawing large crowds despite ongoing concerns about the city's declining art-market relevance. The weekend kicked off with early previews on Wednesday, including Alex Heide's solo exhibition "the darkroom beams horizons" at the new space Klix, and continued with events at Sprüth Magers, the Between Bridges Foundation, and the hidden venue CHB Fine Arts, which featured works by Nairy Baghramian, Jack O'Brien, Sofia Duchovny, Ilya Lipkin, and Mania Godarzani-Bakhtiari. Friday, coinciding with May Day, saw gallery visits at Molitor and KOW, where Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili and Candice Breitz presented solo shows.
Lee Sharrock selects five must-see highlights at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in 2025. The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Giardini, Arsenale, and various Venetian venues. Featured highlights include Marina Abramović's historic exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia—the first major show for a living woman artist there—the Holy See Pavilion's "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul" with artists like Patti Smith and Brian Eno, and Lubaina Himid's British Pavilion presentation "Predicting History: Testing Translation."
Mohammad Omer Khalil, the 90-year-old Sudanese-born printmaker based in New York, is the subject of a multi-city retrospective titled "Common Ground." The anchor exhibition runs through May 31 at the Blackburn Study Center in Manhattan, with satellite events at venues including Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia, the Arab American National Museum in Michigan, the New York Public Library, and Anthology Film Archives. Curated by Amina Ahmed and Jenna Hamed, the show spans Khalil's entire career, from his first etching made in Florence in 1964 to large-scale works inspired by Bob Dylan songs, poetry by Adonis, and films such as "The Chalk Garden."
The article is a roundup of current and upcoming art exhibitions in Cairo, Egypt, spanning May 2025 through June 2026. Highlights include Mostafa El-Razzaz's "Fractals of Art and Soul" at Bibliothek Arkan Plaza, Mahmoud Hamdi's "Journey to the Core" at Difaf, a retrospective for Said El-Sadr and his students at Gezira Arts Centre, and the Egyptian debut of "Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" at District 5 by Marakez in New Cairo. Also featured are a Swiss-Egyptian photography exhibition on glaciers and the Nile at the Goethe Institute, a Colombian embassy exhibition, a Korean embassy show, and a permanent ceramics display at Al-Fustat Centre.
Walid Nayif is holding a painting exhibition at Yassin gallery, which the article describes as not to be missed. The article also lists numerous other art events in Cairo, including photographic projects, immersive digital exhibitions, and ceramic showcases, featuring artists such as Judi Yassin, Tia Khalil, Mostafa El-Razzaz, Khaled Taher, Mahmoud Hamdi, and Pierre Jeanneret, as well as the 'Beyond Van Gogh' immersive experience directed by Mathieu Saint-Arnaud.
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with the exhibition "Everything Now All at Once," on view from August 21 to November 1, 2026. The show gathers landmark works from the museum's contemporary collection, emphasizing artists and perspectives historically excluded from dominant narratives. Curated by director Trevor Schoonmaker and curator Dr. Xuxa Rodriguez, the exhibition is presented as an evolving visual mixtape rather than a fixed archive, reflecting the cultural exchange of North Carolina's Research Triangle.
The South London Gallery (SLG) is celebrating its 135th anniversary with 'SLG Forever,' a special fundraising exhibition in partnership with Christie’s. Open to the public in London from 5–25 June 2026, with an online component until 30 September, the show features donated works by over 25 major British and international artists, including Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley, Edmund de Waal, Yinka Shonibare, and Firelei Báez. The exhibition launches alongside the SLG Forever campaign, which aims to raise £2 million to support building upgrades, new commissions, and the expansion of the gallery’s Communities & Learning programmes.
The New Museum has unveiled a major public sculpture by Sarah Lucas titled "VENUS VICTORIA," installed on its new outdoor plaza as part of the OMA-designed expansion on the Bowery. The large-scale work, which opened on May 12, 2026, and will remain on view for two years, inaugurates a long-term commission series dedicated to public sculpture by women artists. Lucas was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith, and is the first of five artists to be commissioned over the next decade. The sculpture extends Lucas's Bunny series, placing a reclining figure atop a giant washing machine to subvert traditional monumental statues.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) commissioned Tokyo-based textile designer Reiko Sudō to create custom curtains for its new David Geffen Galleries, which feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Sudō developed sputter-plated chrome textiles—in matte and gloss finishes—that are both transparent and light-protective, solving the challenge of shielding light-sensitive artworks while preserving panoramic views of the surrounding city. The textiles, produced by Sudō’s company NUNO, are now installed as curtains and will also appear in her retrospective "Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō and NUNO" at LACMA opening September 20, 2026.
Artforum's editors preview twenty-five anticipated institutional exhibitions opening worldwide between May and August. Highlights include "Fade" at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the latest in its career-making "F show" series featuring seventeen emerging artists of African descent; "Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum in New York, showcasing over 180 women designers from Austria's famed atelier; "Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz" at the Hessel Museum of Art, exploring the intersection of Navajo weaving and microchip history; the 59th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art, with 61 artists spread across Pittsburgh venues; and "Mary Ellen Carroll: How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
The San Antonio Museum of Art is presenting "Maya Blue: Ancient Color, New Visions," an exhibition curated by Kristopher Driggers that explores the ancient Maya pigment known as Maya blue. The show features eight earthenware artworks and one stucco piece dating from 550 to 1,500 years ago, alongside five modernist and contemporary works that highlight the enduring influence of Indigenous knowledge. Objects on view include figurines, a censer, and jade pieces, many bearing traces of the distinctive blue pigment, which was difficult to produce and held sacred significance in Maya culture.
Julian Charrière has created two new bodies of work, *Chorals* (2025) and *Veils* (2025), in collaboration with Maison Ruinart. The projects are inspired by the Lutetian Sea, which submerged the Champagne region 45 million years ago, and explore themes of deep time, climate change, and the interconnectedness of organic and mineral life. *Chorals* is a permanent sound installation in Ruinart's cellars in Reims, featuring amplified recordings of ocean reefs, while *Veils* comprises wall works and sculptures centered on corals and fading coral imagery. The works travel to art fairs as preludes to the permanent installation.
Bow Arts has announced an open call for the 2027 edition of the East London Art Prize, now entering its third cycle. The prize will support 12 shortlisted artists with exhibitions, mentoring, and career development, awarding one artist £15,000 and a solo exhibition at Nunnery Gallery, and another a year-long studio residency. The judging panel includes Brendan Cormier, Alex Needham, Marine Tanguy, and artist Michelle Williams Gamaker, with submissions open from 14 May to 16 August 2026.
Artist Widline Cadet, who was separated from her mother for six years as a child during her family's emigration from Haiti to New York, has spent nearly a decade creating a multi-generational "living archive" of photographs, video, sound, and sculpture. The archive fills the gaps left by scarce family photographs and fading memories, exploring the diasporic experience and the elusiveness of memory. The largest presentation of this work is currently on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum in the exhibition "Currents 40: Widline Cadet."
Brooklyn Museum will present 'Art of Manga' on October 3, 2026, the first large-scale exhibition in the Americas dedicated to manga as a fine art form. Organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the show features over 600 original hand-drawn manga artworks (genga) by influential Japanese artists including Araki Hirohiko, Oda Eiichiro, Takahashi Rumiko, and Tagame Gengoroh, spanning foundational figures to eight contemporary masters.
Il Padiglione del Qatar alla Biennale di Venezia ancora non c’è. Ma prende forma sotto una tenda ai Giardini con un ricco programma culturale
Qatar's national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, designed by architect Lina Ghotmeh, is still under construction in the Giardini. For the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, Qatar Museums and Rubaiya Qatar have commissioned artist Rirkrit Tiravanija to present "Untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people)" under a tent structure on the site. The project, curated by Tom Eccles and Ruba Katrib, will feature a film by Sophia Al-Maria, live performances by Tarek Atoui, a culinary program by chef Fadi Kattan, and a large-scale sculpture by Alia Farid, bringing together artists, musicians, and chefs from the Arab world.
La Francia riapre il suo storico padiglione alla Biennale Arte 2026 dopo i restauri con l’artista Yto Barrada
France will reopen its historic pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) after restoration, with Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971) presenting the immersive textile-based project "Comme Saturne," curated by Myriam Ben Salah. The exhibition uses the "dévoré" technique—acid selectively corrodes fabric—as a metaphor for destruction and creation, featuring a goat-skin kite, a Room of Folds with wool drapery that fades in natural light, a Laboratory inspired by Saturnalia, and a Study Room linked to Barrada's garden of dye plants in Tangier, culminating in the Room of the Devoured where chemically attacked material fragments into an aesthetic of wear and formlessness.
Los Angeles Metro unveiled a major public art installation on May 8 with the opening of the 3.92-mile D Line extension, connecting downtown to Beverly Hills. Nine artists were selected from over 1,400 applicants to create works across three stations—Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega. Notable pieces include Karl Haendel's "Hands and Things" at the Wilshire/Fairfax station, featuring photorealist pencil drawings of hands holding objects sourced from nearby cultural institutions, and Susan Silton's "WE, OUR, US." The artworks are mounted using durable porcelain enameling that resists corrosion, scratching, fading, and graffiti.
Photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre have documented abandoned early 20th-century movie theatres across the United States, capturing the haunting beauty of their decline. These once-grand cinemas, converted from 1920s music halls and theatres, have been left as hybrid ruins due to the rise of television, streaming platforms, and individualized media consumption. The work is exhibited at Kyotographie 2026 in Japan until 17 May.
Artist Adrien Vescovi has installed a monumental textile work titled "Dormir comme le soleil" at the Vieille Charité in Marseille. The installation features over 600 dyed sheets suspended across 108 arches of the former hospice, using natural pigments from plants, spices, and ochres. The fabrics, dyed in a labor-intensive process involving large wooden spoons and cauldrons, are designed to fade and evolve over the eight-month exhibition, responding to wind, humidity, and Mediterranean light.
From May 30 to June 30, 2026, Blocco 13 in Rome hosts "Qb," the first Roman solo exhibition of Sardinian artist Ruggero Baragliu (born 1987). Curated by Antonello Cuccu and Chiara Manca, the show presents oils, papers, and bas-reliefs that explore the boundary between painting and sculpture through an essential, layered language. Works include small-format oils on panel such as "Colossus" (2026), the multi-year "Untitled with Checkers" (2019–2024), and the bas-relief "Garbata," which transforms brushstroke into volume. The exhibition is part of Blocco 13's "Guests" section, which has previously hosted artists like Pierluigi Fresia and Alessandro Finocchiaro.