Artist Trevor Paglen Will Curate the Swiss Edition of Art Basel’s Digital Art Sector

Artist Trevor Paglen will curate the third edition of "Zero 10," Art Basel's digital art sector, at the fair's Swiss edition from June 17–21. Major galleries including Marian Goodman, Hauser and Wirth, and Almine Rech will present works by artists such as John Gerrard, Agnieszka Kurant, Avery Singer, and Hito Steyerl. Paglen co-curates with digital art strategist Eli Scheinman, and the presentation, titled "The Condition," surveys seven decades of instruction-based and computational art, featuring pioneers like Vera Molnár, Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, and Ben F. Laposky alongside contemporary stars.

A tale of two Annas: Van Gogh’s favourite Whistler painting stars in Tate Britain show

Tate Britain will open a major exhibition titled *James McNeill Whistler* on 21 May, running through 27 September, before traveling to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (16 October–10 January 2027) under the subtitle *Dandy and Disrupter*. The show’s centerpiece is Whistler’s iconic *Arrangement in Grey and Black no. 1* (commonly known as *Portrait of the Painter's Mother*), on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and displayed in its original frame designed by the artist. The article explores Vincent van Gogh’s admiration for the painting—he wrote to his sister Wil in 1889 that it reminded him of their own mother—and traces the work’s connections to the Goupil gallery (later Boussod & Valadon), where both Vincent and his brother Theo worked.

Queer eyes in focus, sculpture hits pay dirt and Whistler’s world – the week in art

This week's art roundup from The Guardian highlights a major exhibition of James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain, showcasing the American artist's impact on Victorian Britain with avant-garde influences from Paris and Japan. Other notable exhibitions include "Gender Stories" at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, featuring works by David Hockney and Grayson Perry; Delcy Morelos's earthy sculptures at the Barbican Centre; and Henry Moore's sculptures at Kew Gardens. The article also covers news of a Nazi-looted portrait found in the home of a Dutch SS leader's family, protests at the Venice Biennale over Israel's inclusion, and the unveiling of Zineb Sedira's film installation at Tate Britain.

‘It’s a love letter’: exhibition pays tribute to Frank Gehry’s lesser-known works

Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills has opened an exhibition titled "Frank Gehry" showcasing the architect's lesser-known sculptural works, including fish lamps, a crocodile, snakes, and a stainless steel bear. Curated by Deborah McLeod, a personal friend of Gehry, the show celebrates his non-architectural creations that explore animal forms and light, with pieces like the 7-foot-long "Bear With Us" and fish lamps using LED bulbs. The exhibition serves as a tribute following Gehry's death in 2025 at age 96.

At the Venice Biennale, the Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat

The article reports on the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale, highlighting the central exhibition "In Minor Keys" conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh, along with national pavilions and collateral events. It notes standout contributions from artists such as Alvaro Barrington, Kaloki Nyamai, Florentina Holzinger, Ei Arakawa-Nash, Li Yi-Fan, and Dries Verhoeven, while describing the American pavilion as lackluster and the overall commercial offerings as uneven. The text also covers performances and exhibitions featuring nudity and body horror, including Tino Sehgal's "The Kiss" and Maja Malou Lyse's video with the collective DIS.

In Pictures: New Museum curator Gary Carrion-Murayari’s Frieze favourites

New Museum curator Gary Carrion-Murayari shares his personal highlights from the Frieze New York art fair, selecting works by artists including Arthur Simms, Haegue Yang, Abel Rodriguez and Aycoobo-Wilson Rodríguez, Sung Tieu, Maryam Hoseini, Pedro Neves, and Melvin Way. Each pick is accompanied by a brief commentary explaining why the work resonates with him, ranging from underappreciated talents to artists featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Announces 314 New Acquisitions During 50th Anniversary Year

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden announced 314 new acquisitions in 2025, its 50th anniversary year. The additions span photography, mixed-media works, and contemporary American artists, including pieces by Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, Mickalene Thomas, Danny Lyon, Graciela Iturbide, Adam Pendleton, and Mark Bradford. Major gifts include a multi-year donation from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon of 176 works forming an archive of Pendleton's works on paper, as well as 13 contemporary Chinese works tied to a 2022 exhibition. The museum also acquired nine architectural photographs by Ezra Stoller documenting its 1974 opening and 19 prints by Joel-Peter Witkin.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies: Artists Revisit the Nude in Shows Across New York

This spring in New York, multiple exhibitions are revisiting the nude as an artistic genre, with artists exploring themes of flesh, harm, aging, and political oppression. Notable shows include Seung Ah Paik's "Self Configuration" series at Bortolami, where she paints distorted self-portraits that recall Surrealist and feminist traditions, and Joan Semmel's self-portraits at Alexander Gray Associates, which continue her decades-long focus on the nude body. These shows are part of a broader trend that also includes the New Museum's "New Humans: Memories of the Future."

‘I couldn’t believe we weren’t falling over ourselves for it’: Asia-Pacific art finally conquers Britain

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has opened "Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific," a major exhibition produced in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane. Featuring over 70 works never before exhibited in the UK, the show draws from QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), which began in 1993. Highlights include Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture of a Māori bouncer, Montien Boonma's terracotta bell installation, and Takahiro Iwasaki's intricate wooden model. The exhibition is the first APT survey to be held outside Australia and Chile, arriving after years of planning by V&A exhibitions director Daniel Slater.

The car park that changed British art: Bold Tendencies at 20

Bold Tendencies, the pioneering arts organization that transformed a multi-storey car park in Peckham, London, into a vibrant cultural venue, is celebrating its 20th summer season. Founded by gallerist Hannah Barry in 2007, the project has hosted over 3 million visitors, commissioned dozens of new artworks, and built an auditorium and concert hall within the concrete structure. It began as a low-budget experiment in using derelict urban spaces for art, featuring sculptures, performances, and a rooftop bar that predated the experiential art boom.

The 17 Gallery Shows to See During Frieze Week in New York

Frieze New York has drawn collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts to the city, but this article highlights 17 gallery shows across Manhattan that are worth seeing during the fair week. Featured exhibitions include Katharina Fritsch's return to Matthew Marks with monumental sculptures, Kim Dacres' tire-based busts at Charles Moffett, Sasha Brodsky's debut solo show at Margot Samel, Jasper Johns' "Copy/Trace" at David Zwirner, and Lucia Hierro's packing-box sculptures at Marc Straus, among others.

Hirshhorn Museum Collection Tops 13,000 as Major 50th-Anniversary Acquisitions Announced

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, acquired 314 works in 2025, bringing its collection to over 13,000 pieces. The acquisitions, announced in conjunction with the museum's 50th anniversary, include major works by Lorna Simpson, Sarah Sze, Mickalene Thomas, and Adam Pendleton, as well as photographs by Graciela Iturbide, Danny Lyon, Ezra Stoller, and Joel-Peter Witkin. The museum also received 176 works by Adam Pendleton as part of a multiyear gift from collectors Doug and Toni Gordon.

The 5 Best Booths at Frieze New York 2026

Frieze New York 2026 opened its VIP day at The Shed on May 13, following the Venice Biennale's opening week. Now in its 15th edition, the fair anchors New York Art Week, a series of concurrent fairs, gallery openings, auctions, and parties that take over the city each May. The article highlights the five best booths at the fair, curated by Artsy Editorial.

Frieze New York Is an Assembly-Line Salad

At Frieze New York, curator Lucien Zayan searches for artworks exploring the relationship between food and art, finding a piece by Aki Goto at Europa gallery that reflects on sugar, colonization, and cavities. The fair features works like David Lamelas's "To Pour Milk into a Glass" (1972) from Dia Art Foundation and Mungo Thomson's "Snowman" (2023) at Karma, while a performance by Kite (Oglála Lakȟóta) at the Counterpublic triennial booth offers a reprieve from the monotonous fair experience.

New York institutions offer nuanced and inclusive views of US’s 250th birthday

New York institutions are presenting nuanced exhibitions for the US's 250th birthday, offering both patriotic and critical perspectives on the American Revolution. The Grey Art Museum at NYU displays one of the 26 surviving Dunlap broadsides of the Declaration of Independence alongside over 100 contextual documents in "The Declaration of Independence: Long Trail to Liberty," while the Museum of the City of New York's "The Occupied City" immerses visitors in the British occupation of New York, featuring interactive elements like toppling a digital effigy of King George III.

The exhibitions to see in New York during Art Week 2026

Le mostre da vedere a New York durante l’Art Week 2026

The article highlights a selection of must-see exhibitions in New York during the 2026 Art Week, spanning major museums and galleries. At MoMA, three shows explore memory, identity, and artistic experimentation: Elizabeth Murray's retrospective on fragmented painting, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa's works addressing Guatemala's civil war, and Arthur Jafa's curated connections across the museum's collection. The Whitney Museum presents the 82nd Whitney Biennial, featuring 56 artists questioning what it means to be 'American,' alongside an Andy Warhol exhibition of rarely seen polaroids from 1972-73. Hauser & Wirth debuts its first Carol Rama show, highlighting six decades of her experimental, anticonformist art.

Iván Argote brings roving public art project to Chicago streets

Paris-based artist Iván Argote launches a new mobile sculpture titled DIGNIDAD in Chicago on June 12, installed on a flatbed truck that will travel through the city. The project, organized by the Floating Museum as part of its Floating Monuments series, begins in Humboldt Park—a neighborhood central to Chicago's Puerto Rican community—and will also visit Pilsen, Little Village, and potentially other cities like Dallas and Minneapolis. Argote, known for his giant pigeon sculpture Dinosaur on the High Line, worked with curator Carla Acevedo-Yates and local communities to create a work that responds to current political tensions around immigration and dignity.

‘Common ground for me is everywhere I step’: Mohammad Omer Khalil on his five-institution show

Mohammad Omer Khalil, a 90-year-old Sudanese artist and master printmaker, is the subject of a five-institution exhibition titled "Common Ground" spanning New York, Philadelphia, and Michigan. The show brings together six decades of his prints and paintings, along with ephemera from his travels, oral histories, and cultural influences. Khalil, who has lived in the US since 1967, learned printmaking at the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and has taught at Pratt Institute, the New School, Columbia University, and New York University. He also produces editions with notable artists and has maintained a long connection to the Asilah Cultural Moussem in Morocco.

For Fashion Iconoclast Iris van Herpen, ‘Nature Is the Best Artist’

The Brooklyn Museum has opened "Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses," a major exhibition surveying two decades of the Dutch designer's avant-garde fashion. Curated by Matthew Yokobosky and Imani Williford, the show features over 140 of van Herpen's biomorphic couture pieces, including designs worn by Lady Gaga and Björk, alongside works by contemporary artists like Agostino Arrivabene and Tara Donovan. The exhibition, which originated at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023, highlights van Herpen's use of cutting-edge technology such as 3D printing and magnetic sculpting, as well as her deep inspiration from natural phenomena like fossils, coral, and water.

At a Powerful Carnegie International, Solidarity Is a Means of Survival

The 2026 Carnegie International, titled “If the word we,” opened at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, featuring 61 artists from around the world. Curated by Ryan Inouye, Liz Park, and Danielle A. Jackson, the exhibition emphasizes collective survival and interdependence, with works including Khalil Rabah’s video about Palestinian resilience, Shala Miller’s abstraction inspired by Toni Morrison, and a performance by Brooke O’Harra and collaborators celebrating teamwork through a historic basketball dunk by Julius Erving. The show extends to three other venues, including the Mattress Factory, where married artists Claudia Martinez Garay and Artur Kameya present a sprawling installation.

‘This is the place of dreams’: Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo’s Venetian island venue opens to public

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo opened San Giacomo, a Venetian lagoon island she and her husband bought in 2018, to the public on May 7 during the Venice Biennale. The former military site now houses exhibition spaces in converted munitions storehouses, featuring a solo show by Matt Copson curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, selections from the Sandretto collection with works by Michael Armitage, Sarah Lucas, Victor Man, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and outdoor installations by Pamela Rosenkranz, Claire Fontaine, Hugh Hayden, and Goshka Macuga. The island also includes a chapel-like structure by Hayden and a rocket sculpture by Macuga.

Radiohead Brings Its Strange Visual Universe to Life in an Immersive Spectacle

Radiohead has launched "Motion Picture House," an immersive audiovisual installation at Brooklyn Navy Yards in New York, on view through June. The exhibition draws from the band's albums *Kid A* (2000) and *Amnesiac* (2001), featuring glitching televisions, cryptic posters, stick-figure sculptures, and alien landscapes. It culminates in a 75-minute film, *KID A MNESIA*, directed by Sean Evans, originally released in 2021. The show debuted at Coachella Festival and will travel to Chicago, Mexico City, and San Francisco through early 2027.

Venice Biennale 2026 Highlights: Off-Site Exhibitions

ArtReview editors highlight off-site pavilions and exhibitions at the 61st Venice Biennale, running from 9 May through 22 November 2026. Featured works include Li Yi-Fan's film *Screen Melancholy* at Palazzo delle Prigioni, which uses motion capture and a free-trial videogame engine to explore digital alienation and the 'enshittosphere,' and Roberto Diago's installation *Free Men* at the Pavilion of Cuban Republic, comprising rusted iron heads, fragmented wooden figures, and text works critiquing political oppression in Cuba.

5 free must-see exhibitions to pick in Parisian galleries in May

5 expos gratuites coups de cœur à cueillir dans les galeries parisiennes en mai

Beaux Arts Magazine highlights five free exhibitions to visit in Parisian galleries in May 2026. At Galerie Mayoral, a show explores Alexander Calder's ties to Paris, featuring gouaches and totems. Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire presents Michel Jocaille's first solo exhibition, "Lily of the Valley," which uses lily-of-the-valley motifs to evoke labor history and camp aesthetics. Galerie Anne-Laure Buffard hosts a poignant dialogue between Diane Esmond, a painter whose works were burned by the Nazis, and her granddaughter Adrianna Wallis, whose photographs reference looted objects. Galerie Templon exhibits Alioune Diagne's paintings inspired by Wolof traditions, and another gallery shows prints by Swedish artist Mamma Andersson.

Allison Katz’s Playful Paintings Hide Serious Ideas in Plain Sight

Painter Allison Katz, who lived in New York for seven years but hasn't shown in Manhattan for over a decade, returns with a major debut solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth's Wooster Street location. Titled "Outta the Bag," the show features a suite of New York–centric paintings, including depictions of the city's museums and skyscrapers, as well as an ironically small "Big Apple" composition, marking a significant moment for the mid-career artist.

5 Trends Shaping the 2026 Venice Biennale

The 2026 Venice Biennale has opened to the public, featuring the main exhibition 'In Minor Keys' conceived by the late Cameroonian Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, who died unexpectedly in May 2025. Kouoh, the first African woman appointed to lead the Biennale, had her curatorial team—including Rasha Salti, Marie Hélène Pereira, and Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo—carry forward her vision of art as a 'shared and sustaining force.' The opening was weighted with politics and emotion.

11 Must-See Shows During New York Art Week 2026

New York Art Week 2026 is set to be a packed event, with major art fairs including Frieze, TEFAF, and Independent all scheduled within a single week this May. The art world will arrive directly from the Venice Biennale, and New York galleries are opening their major spring exhibitions to coincide with the influx of curators and collectors.

Still in 'war mode': Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art reopens with exhibitions about conflict

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) has reopened with a weekly rotating post-ceasefire program called 'Art and War,' following weeks of bombardment that forced its closure and prompted emergency efforts to protect its collection. The program began with works by American Pop artists James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana, and this week features three works from Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman series, focusing on Spain. Museum director Reza Dabirinezhad described the challenges of safeguarding the collection during US-Israeli strikes, including removing 80% of the oil from Noriyuki Haraguchi's installation 'Matter and Mind' (1977) to prevent fire risk, and protecting outdoor sculptures by Henry Moore, René Magritte, and Max Bill.

Frank Stella’s eye-dazzling collection of Navajo weavings to go on view

An exhibition of Navajo (Diné) weavings from the collection of the late artist Frank Stella opens on 15 May at Peter Pap Rugs at Arader Galleries in New York City, running until 10 June. The show features 40 weavings from the 19th and early 20th centuries, acquired by Stella over four decades for their optical effects and resonance with his own work. Organized by dealer Peter Pap in collaboration with Stella’s widow Harriet McGurk, the exhibition also includes geometric drawings by Stella from the 1960s, on loan from the Frank Stella Estate.

Frieze New York marks 15th edition with expanded international reach

Frieze New York marks its 15th edition from 13-17 May at the Shed, featuring 68 galleries from over 25 countries. The fair includes 57 exhibitors in the main section and 11 in Focus, with nearly half maintaining a New York location. First-time participants include Europa, Sargent’s Daughters, Soft Opening, Ulrik, and W-galería. Latin American representation has grown significantly, with 14 galleries from the region, including Campeche from Mexico City, Isla Flotante from Buenos Aires, and Central from São Paulo. Christine Messineo, Frieze’s director of fairs for the Americas, highlights the fair’s increasingly international scope and the strong Brazilian contingent.