Weekly News Roundup: May 5, 2026

The article reports three major developments in the global art world. Saudi Arabia's Diriyah Company has awarded a $490 million contract for a new flagship space of the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA) in Diriyah, designed by Godwin Austen Johnson. The Sharjah Art Foundation has announced details for Sharjah Biennial 17 (SB17), titled "What remains, sits restive," curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Paula Nascimento, featuring 109 artists and set to open in 2027. Additionally, DATALAND, a new AI art museum founded by Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, will open on June 20 in Los Angeles, showcasing digital and immersive artworks.

Filippo Lippi painting—once the centrepiece of Florence's Palazzo Medici Chapel—to undergo two-year restoration

The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin has announced a two-year restoration of Filippo Lippi’s 1459 painting *The Adoration in the Forest*, funded by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Schoof’schen Stiftung. The tempera-on-panel work, a centerpiece of the Palazzo Medici chapel in Florence, is now in the Gemäldegalerie’s collection. Conservators discovered that a 19th-century varnish layer is degrading the paint, causing it to lift off the panel, particularly affecting the Virgin’s blue cloak, skin, and gold leaf areas. The treatment aims to remove the varnish while stabilizing the paint layer, and may also reveal Lippi’s use of oil paint alongside egg tempera.

Opportunities in May 2026

Hyperallergic's May 2026 Opportunities Listings compile residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls for artists, writers, and art workers. Featured opportunities include the Center for Craft's Craft Archive Fellowship, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation's Fellowship for Distinction in Fine Crafts and Design, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum's Robert Motherwell & Renate Ponsold Fellowship, the Bennett Prize for women figurative realist painters, the Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture residency, the Wassaic Project's Haunted Barn Open Call, the Jonathan and Barbara Silver Foundation's Grant for Writing on Sculpture, the Academy of American Poets' James Laughlin Award, and VIA Art Fund's Artistic Production Grants.

May 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

Colossal's May 2026 opportunities roundup lists multiple open calls, residencies, and grants for artists worldwide. Featured opportunities include the Scenerium 2026 Art Award (deadline May 7), the Hopper Prize offering $4,500 and $1,000 artist grants (deadline May 12), and the SaveArtSpace Billboard Art Open Call curated by Gigi Chen (deadline May 7). Other listings include the YICCA Art Prize, CIFRA Award, Cass Art Prize for the U.K. and Ireland, Sunshine Coast National Art Prize in Australia, an opportunity to get published in Artistonish magazine, and the Abbey Mural Prize.

Golden Lions of the Biennale voted by the public? 7 reasons why they cannot work

Leoni d’Oro della Biennale votati dal pubblico? 7 motivi per cui non possono funzionare

On April 30, 2026, the International Jury of the Venice Art Biennale resigned en masse. In response, the Biennale Foundation hastily announced a new initiative called the "Visitor Lions" (Leoni dei Visitatori), where paying visitors would vote to award the Golden Lions for best artist and best national participation. The voting system would rely on ticket tracking to verify attendance at the main venues, the Giardini and the Arsenale. However, just a week before the public opening, no further details had been released, raising numerous practical concerns about the mechanism's feasibility.

Venice Biennale thrown into fresh turmoil as art jury resigns

The Venice Biennale has been thrown into fresh turmoil after its art jury resigned. The jury's departure adds to ongoing instability surrounding the prestigious international art exhibition, though specific reasons for the resignation were not detailed in the article.