Who is Yto Barrada, France's representative at the Venice Biennale with a world-spanning work?

Qui est Yto Barrada, représentante de la France à la Biennale de Venise avec une œuvre-monde ?

Yto Barrada, the artist representing France at the 2026 Venice Biennale, has created a multidisciplinary installation titled "Saturne" for the French Pavilion. The work centers on textiles and natural dyeing, weaving together themes of postcolonial history, migration, craft transmission, and the symbolism of Saturn—from its astronomical mystery to its mythological role as the devourer of children. The installation features wool curtains, Aubusson tapestry, goat skins, wasp-nest sculptures, masks, muzzles, a color chart, and video, all housed in a renovated pavilion designed with the help of numerous artisans. Barrada, born in Paris in 1971 and raised in Tangier, founded the Cinémathèque de Tanger and later The Mothership, a research center focused on textiles and natural dyes. The exhibition is curated by Myriam Ben Salah.

Next stop – infinity! My transcendental experience on Japan’s ‘art island’ guided by its master Lee Ufan

The article profiles Korean-born artist Lee Ufan, who turns 90 next month, and his transcendental art on Japan's Naoshima island. It describes his upcoming major shows: a retrospective in Venice coinciding with the Biennale, and an exhibition at Dia Beacon in New York. Lee, a key figure in the Mono-ha movement, creates works like the steel arch "Porte Vers l'Infini" on Naoshima that engage with nature and perception. The piece traces his career from early violent, resistant sculptures involving cracked glass and boulders to later meditative paintings and installations.

Behind every great artist... there is a great gallery. A look at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Dietro ogni grande artista… c’è una grande galleria. Un punto sulla Biennale Arte 2026

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" (May 9 – November 22, 2026), features over 90% living artists, a significant shift from recent editions focused on historical rediscoveries. Curated by the late Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), the first African woman to lead the Biennale, the exhibition includes 111 artists, with a majority of women (64 vs. 48 men) and the highest percentage of African-born artists ever (20%). Notable participants include Nick Cave, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, and Kader Attia, with a focus on mid-career and established figures rather than emerging or deceased artists.

Cosmic, concrete, earthy: Nancy Holt’s Land Art on show in UK

Nancy Holt (1938-2014), a pioneering land artist who studied biology at Tufts University, is the subject of her first major UK exhibition at the Goodwood Art Foundation in West Sussex. The show includes the first posthumous installation of *Hydra's Head*, an earthwork of six pools aligned with the Hydra constellation, originally sited on the Niagara River in 1974, and *Ventilation System* (1985-92), which extends from the gallery into the landscape. Curated by Ann Gallagher, the exhibition draws on Holt's archives and the Holt/Smithson Foundation, which preserves her legacy and that of her husband Robert Smithson.

La grande fiera TEFAF si tiene a New York da 10 anni. Come sarà l’edizione 2026?

TEFAF New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory from May 15–19, 2026 (with a collector preview on May 14), marking the fair's tenth anniversary. The 2026 edition will host 88 top international galleries from 15 countries across four continents, offering museum-quality selections of modern and contemporary art, jewelry, antiques, and design. Highlights include Andy Warhol's Mao (1973) at ML Fine Art, Cecily Brown's Functor Hideaway (2008) at Berggruen Gallery, and a 2026 work by Minjung Kim at Voena. The fair also extends into the Armory's historic period rooms, and the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund will support the conservation of a Medici tapestry owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

David Armstrong “Portraits” at Artists Space, New York

Artists Space in New York is presenting the first US survey of photographer David Armstrong (1954–2014), titled "Portraits." The exhibition brings together over 90 photographs that showcase Armstrong's experimental approach to portraiture, transforming landscapes, still lifes, and fashion imagery into explorations of intimacy, desire, and loss.

Why Is Beeple So Successful?

The article examines the meteoric rise of artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, who broke auction records in 2021 by selling an NFT for $69.3 million at Christie's, becoming the third most expensive living artist. His robot dogs, featuring heads of figures like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach and are now on view at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie during Gallery Weekend. The show, titled "Regular Animals," has sparked controversy, with critics like Markus Lüpertz denouncing the works as trivial entertainment unworthy of a museum, while curators Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Lisa Botti defend the exhibition.

Who’s Showing What—and What They Love—at Market Art Fair

Market Art Fair in Stockholm celebrated its 20th edition, the largest to date with 150 exhibitors, after moving from Liljevalch’s to Magasin 9, a former warehouse at the city’s port. The fair, founded in 2006 as a joint Nordic initiative, expanded its scope in 2025 to include international presentations. During the preview day, Malin Ebbing captured exhibiting artists, gallerists, and notables with her Polaroid, asking about their work and favorite booths. Artists such as Arvida Byström, Hans Berg, Sigrid Soomus, and Gabriel Karlsson discussed their artistic expressions and discoveries at the fair, with many gallerists reporting significant sales.

What’s on for spring? Spiritualism and symbolic systems

This article surveys several spring exhibitions in Chicago that explore themes of spiritualism, symbolic systems, and interconnected consciousness. Featured shows include Mindy Rose Schwartz's "Countersealed" at M. LeBlanc, which uses deconstructed fur coats, wands, and twisted fiber sculptures to evoke rituals addressing ecological disaster and historical subjugation. Daniel G. Baird's "Margin" at Patron examines thresholds between material and spiritual realms through a gilded canoe, wax arm cast, and birchwood oar. Leah Ke Yi Zheng's "Change, I Ching (64 Paintings)" at the Renaissance Society presents 64 hexagram paintings on silk, connecting abstract minimalism with Eastern silk painting traditions.

Master of Madonnas and the Market

Meister der Madonnen und des Marktes

A major exhibition titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, exploring how the Renaissance master Raphael's work was deeply intertwined with money, prestige, and patronage. The show traces his career from early mentorship under his father and influences from Leonardo da Vinci to his rivalry with Michelangelo, highlighting commissions from wealthy supporters like the aristocrat Elena Duglioli and Pope Leo X, who commissioned Raphael's extravagant tapestries for the Sistine Chapel.

Fondation Beyeler: Freier Eintritt im Bikini

The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, invited visitors to enter the museum for free if they came wearing swimwear, as part of a "Bathing Day" promotion. The event was inspired by Paul Cézanne, whose famous paintings of bathers are the subject of a current exhibition at the museum. The museum reported strong attendance and stated that the unusual setting brings art and visitors closer together, changing perception and reducing distance.

Gropius Bau öffnet abends länger

The Gropius Bau in Berlin has extended its evening opening hours by one hour, now open until 8 PM (closed Tuesdays), due to high demand for its exhibition of performance artist Marina Abramović. The show, titled "Balkan Erotic Epic," opened two weeks ago and drew long queues from the start. It features both new and older works, including performances where Abramović carved a star into her abdomen or lay in a burning installation until losing consciousness. The exhibition explores eroticism, politics, Balkan folklore, sexual energy, death, the political dimension of the body, and the Yugoslav wars.

The Last Interview with the Great Artist Georg Baselitz on the Occasion of His Exhibition in Florence

L’ultima intervista al grande artista Georg Baselitz in occasione della sua mostra a Firenze

Georg Baselitz, the German artist born in 1938, is the subject of a major retrospective titled "Avanti!" at the Museo Novecento in Florence, featuring 170 works including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, with a strong focus on his graphic output. The exhibition, curated by Sergio Risaliti and Daniel Blau (Baselitz's son and an artist himself), spans three floors and traces the evolution of Baselitz's practice, culminating in a dialogue with the work of Italian artist Ottone Rosai. The show is accompanied by a prequel exhibition honoring the 120th anniversary of Villa Romana, where Baselitz once held a fellowship, and will be followed by another exhibition at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice in May, which together with the Florence show form the artist's testament. Artribune published Baselitz's last interview in its new bimonthly issue.

Where to go in May?

Wohin im Mai?

The article, published by Monopol magazine, previews a selection of art exhibitions and biennials opening in May. Highlights include the 61st Venice Biennale, a solo show by Lina Lapelytė at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (part of the CHANEL COMMISSION series), a group exhibition titled "Lebt und arbeitet in Wien. Contemporary Art from Vienna" at Kunsthalle Wien, and a presentation of Christoph Schlingensief's work "The African Twin Towers" (2005) at MAK Wien. Also featured is Maximiliane Baumgärtner's exhibition at Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen in Düsseldorf.

‘We are complicit’: Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger’s immersive Venice Biennale pavilion brings apocalypse to the city

Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger has created 'Seaworld Venice,' an immersive and confrontational installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. The work explores climate change, technology, and a dystopian flooded future, drawing comparisons to the 1995 film 'Waterworld'—though neither Holzinger nor curator Nora-Swantje Almes had seen it. Known for extreme performance art involving nudity, blood, live piercing, and heavy machinery, Holzinger's previous works have caused audience members to faint or require medical treatment. The pavilion marks a significant platform for her radical, hybrid practice that blends theatre, dance, opera, and performance art.

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artmix is a party built for repeat collectors and first-time buyers

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) is hosting its annual Artmix fundraiser on May 8, 2026, a fast-paced evening featuring a silent auction of works by 100 regional artists. The event includes a VIP preview with early access, champagne, and a guided tour, followed by a general admission party where bidding runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets range from $150 for members to $300 for VIP access, with proceeds supporting BMoCA's exhibitions and education programs.

Meet the artist turning Venezuelan protest music into art

Nadia Hernández, a Venezuelan-born artist now based in Melbourne, has created a multidisciplinary installation titled "Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo" (To see you better, at all times) currently on view at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The work traces the history of Venezuelan protest music, incorporating a textile collage, a soundscape, and a site-specific mural. Hernández, who won the Grace Cossington Smith Art Award in 2021 and was a finalist for the Ramsay Art Prize and Sulman Prize in 2023, began this project two years ago as an evolving archive of protest songs, building on earlier iterations shown at the Oslo Freedom Forum, TarraWarra Biennial, and Art Basel Hong Kong.

Meet the Canadian artists heading to Venice Biennale

Five Canadian artists have been selected for the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, titled *In Minor Keys*, which opens to the public next Saturday. The participants are Abbas Akhavan (featured in the Canada Pavilion), Manuel Mathieu, Rajni Perera, Marigold Santos, and one additional artist. The exhibition is the first Biennale curated by a Black woman, Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, who died suddenly in May last year after a cancer diagnosis, just six months after her appointment. Despite her death, the Biennale proceeded with her plans, with her team completing the work.

Stars feiern Mode und Kunst bei Met-Gala

The Met Gala, hosted by Anna Wintour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, raised millions for the museum's Costume Institute. This year's event featured celebrities like Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Heidi Klum, with a dress code of "Fashion is Art." Beyoncé and Kidman brought their daughters for the first time, while Klum dressed as a stone statue. The gala opened the "Costume Art" exhibition and was co-sponsored by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, drawing protests over Bezos's involvement.

How the Arts Club of Chicago Stays Contemporary in its Second Century

The Arts Club of Chicago, founded in 1916, continues to balance its historic legacy with contemporary relevance under executive director and chief curator Janine Mileaf. The club, which gave Pablo Picasso his first solo institutional exhibition in the U.S. in 1923 and hosted figures like Gertrude Stein and John Cage, now operates as both a public space and a private membership club. Mileaf’s programming emphasizes Dada and surrealist roots while showcasing experimental, site-specific works, including a recent installation by Korean artist Haegue Yang. The club maintains a close relationship with Chicago’s arts community, aiming to expose audiences to challenging and surprising art.

Pinta Lima Offered Curated Content–and Context–for the Curious

Pinta Lima, the 13th edition of the art fair, opened with a vibrant VIP preview and strong attendance of 16,000 visitors. The fair features around 50 booths and special presentations, with a curation-driven approach that includes sections like NEXT (curated by Juan Canela) and RADAR (curated by Ilaria Conti), as well as FORO panel discussions. The fair emphasizes Latin American art, particularly Peruvian contemporary art, and is part of the broader Pinta network that stages fairs and Art Weeks across Latin America and the U.S. Textile, fiber, and ceramic works are notably prominent, recontextualizing indigenous craft traditions.

In Stockholm, the Tech scene supports art

Stockholm's art fair, featuring 54 galleries and around 150 artists, offers a democratic layout with no sections, placing established and emerging galleries side by side. Prices range from €300 to €300,000, with most works under €50,000. Notable presentations include Olafur Eliasson's new works at i8 gallery, Benjamin Orlow's sculpture destined for the Venice Biennale's Nordic Pavilion, and emerging galleries like Coulisse Gallery showing Jonatan Pihlgren. The fair reflects a strong local collector base, though some galleries note a recent market contraction.

Royal artist returns to Devon with stunning new exhibition

Alan Cotton MBE, a Westcountry artist known for his palette knife technique and royal connections, is returning to Devon with a new exhibition of landscapes from the Otter Valley and North Devon. The show, held at Kennaway House in Sidmouth from April 28 to May 4, marks his first public gallery showing in the region since 2015. Cotton, who once served as tour artist for King Charles when he was Prince of Wales, has works in the King's collection and exhibited at Buckingham Palace in 2025. His early life included homemade paint brushes made from his mother's hair, and he later became a BBC presenter and honorary professor at the University of Bath.

Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition Closes Following Strong Community Participation

The Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts has concluded after an extended run from November 8, 2025 to April 26, 2026. The exhibition invited artists to respond to four themes tied to America's semiquincentennial: Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, Tell Everyone's Story, and American Experiment. Eighty-five artists submitted 198 works, with 62 selected for display. Over 13,500 visitors attended, and more than 3,000 participated in the popular vote. The first-place winner was James Roberts for his work "Fabric," a mixed-media piece critiquing gun violence.

What Brakes Through: “Teresa Tyszkiewicz. Stories That Tell Themselves” at Profile Foundation.

Teresa Tyszkiewicz's exhibition "Stories That Tell Themselves" at Profile Foundation in Warsaw showcases the Polish artist's process-driven practice spanning video, performance, and relief-like paintings made with pins, nails, metal plates, ropes, and fabrics. Curated by Bożena Czubak, the show highlights Tyszkiewicz's use of the body as a medium—often naked and immersed in organic materials—to explore emotions, intuition, and unconscious desires, as seen in works like the 1980 film "Grain." The artist, who began her career in the late 1970s alongside Polish neo-avantgarde filmmakers but rejected their conceptual tendencies, developed a tactile, laborious approach that invites sensory engagement.

Islamic Art Exhibition Showcases Persian Manuscript Masterpiece

The National Museum of Korea is hosting “Islamic Art, A Journey of Radiant Light” until October 11th, featuring artifacts from the Islamic Art Museum in Doha, Qatar. The exhibition showcases calligraphy, paintings, and crafts from the 7th to 19th centuries, with highlights including two illustrations from the *Tahmasp Shahnameh*, a Persian miniature manuscript from the Safavid era that took over a decade to complete.

The 81st May Show fills Mansfield Art Center with Ohio creativity

The 81st May Show has opened at the Mansfield Art Center in Ohio, featuring over 100 works selected from nearly 600 submissions by guest juror Wendy Earle, curator of the Akron Art Museum. The exhibition, which runs through the end of May, showcases a diverse range of mediums from Ohio artists aged 16 to their late 80s. Awards include the Fred "Fritz" Culler Award for Best of Show to Bradley Wallace for "Venus 1K Views," the Mechanics Bank Award of Excellence to Barbara Morejon and Luanne Bole-Becker, and the Jeff McBride & Maura Teynor Emerging Artist Award to high school senior Katerina Prykodko.

Tashema Davis Exhibit at Thyen-Clark Cultural Center beginning May 7

Jasper Arts presents a solo exhibition titled 'Talitha Cumi' by Marion, Indiana artist Tashema Davis at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, running May through July 2026. The show features original oil and acrylic paintings, with an opening reception and gallery talk on May 7, followed by additional receptions on June 4 and July 2. Davis, who teaches art at Marion High School, creates vibrant portraits focused on brown faces, drawing from her childhood in Gary, Indiana, and her graduate training at Ball State University.

Ullger reflects on ‘quite special’ Berlin exhibition with Cane-Yo collective

Artist Karl Ullger recently participated in the group exhibition "Running with Scissors" at Anders Galerie in Berlin, organized by the global artist collective Cane-Yo. The show featured over 40 artists, including five invited Berlin artists, and displayed some 200 artworks. Ullger described the experience as "quite special," highlighting the energy of the packed opening and the direct engagement with visitors. He noted standout works by Austrian artist Theo Ritzinger, Chilean artist Diego Palacios, and Italian artist Yasmine Elgamal, as well as the opportunity to reconnect with fellow artists Alf Sims, Alex May, Shanice Farrugia, and Nicole Debono.

Geometry of the Inner World: Art as Therapy in Budapest

On 22 April, Art Corner by Clark and Leo opened its ninth exhibition, 'Art Is Therapy', featuring works by Hungarian artist Judit Horváth Lóczi at the Hotel Clark Budapest and Leo Bistro. The show includes paintings and small-scale sculptures that explore personal experience, emotional memory, and female identity through geometric structures and vivid colors. The exhibition builds on material first presented in Berlin in 2020, now expanded with new works, and was inaugurated with a private vernissage attended by prominent figures from the Hungarian art scene, accompanied by a performance from Zoltán Grecsó and cellist Endre Kertész, plus a specially curated gastronomic program.