The Venice Biennale has announced the five-member jury for its 2026 edition, which will award the prestigious Golden Lion prizes. The jury president is Solange Oliveira Farkas, founder of the Videobrasil Biennial, and she will be joined by curators and academics Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi.
Bonhams auction house, in collaboration with the Fine Art Group, is organizing a four-part, 550-lot sale of Diane Keaton's personal belongings. The sales, taking place online and in New York from late May to mid-June, will include her iconic wardrobe, Hollywood memorabilia, home furnishings, and a significant portion of her art collection, featuring works by artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Ed Ruscha, as well as her own mixed-media collages.
Sotheby's and Christie's are increasingly turning to private, invitation-only sales to move high-value artworks, bypassing the traditional auction model. Sotheby's recent "The Apartment" exhibition in London, featuring works by David Hockney, George Condo, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold half its $40 million inventory before the public even saw it. Christie's reported that its three most expensive paintings sold in 2025 were all private transactions, with the house trading $1.5 billion privately last year—nearly a quarter of its global sales.
La Market Art Fair di Stoccolma è un nuovo modello di fiera d’arte da cui imparare qualcosa
The Market Art Fair in Stockholm, founded in 2006 by galleries from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, held its 20th edition from April 23-26, 2026, at Magasin 9 during Stockholm Art Week. The fair features 54 exhibitors from 8 countries and 150 artists, with 80% of works tied to the Nordic context and 20% international. Highlights include a solo presentation by Olafur Eliasson at i8 Gallery (Reykjavík) featuring his sculpture *Rare metallic plant* (2026), and a preview of the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale by artist Benjamin Orlow at Season 4 Episode 6 gallery. The fair has recently opened its selection to international galleries, a shift welcomed by collectors.
Der Norden kann mehr als Design
During Stockholm Art Week, the Swedish capital showcases itself as a leading Nordic art destination. Highlights include textile sculptures by Diana Orving at Millesgården Museum, two concurrent art fairs—the independent Supermarket and the 20th edition of Market Art Fair—and numerous gallery exhibitions, artist talks, and studio visits. The Market Art Fair features 54 booths and over 150 artists, with a focus on Nordic positions, including works by Ólafur Elíasson and the duo Inka & Niclas. The city's art scene is growing, with many new galleries opening and strong private institutions like Bonniers Konsthall and Fotografiska participating.
Art Basel has announced new program highlights for its flagship fair in Basel this June, including a new initiative called Basel Exclusive. Developed in dialogue with galleries, Basel Exclusive requires participating exhibitors from the main Galleries sector to reserve at least one major work—or an entire presentation—from all pre-fair previews, online viewing rooms, and pre-sales, unveiling them publicly for the first time during the VIP opening on June 16. The fair also revealed the lineup for Unlimited, its platform for large-scale works, which will feature 59 projects by 66 international galleries, curated for the first time by Ruba Katrib of MoMA PS1. Unlimited Night returns on June 18 with extended hours and special performances.
The Judd Foundation has appointed Alexandra Cunningham Cameron as its first director of design, a new role overseeing Donald Judd Furniture LLC. Cameron, currently a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, will start on April 27, guiding product development, operations, and strategic growth for the foundation's furniture line, which produces over 70 designs based on Donald Judd's original specifications.
The 20th edition of Stockholm's Market Art Fair for Modern and contemporary art opens in a new waterfront venue at Magasin 9 in the Frihamnen docks area, running until 26 April. This year, 54 dealers—mostly from the Nordics—are joined by international galleries from the US and UK, including Anthony Wilkinson gallery (London) and albertz benda (New York). The fair expanded its reach last year by opening applications to galleries without existing Nordic ties. Notable presentations include new works by Ólafur Elíasson (i8 gallery, Iceland), dystopian paintings by Munan Øvrelid (Galleri Haaken, Oslo), and textile works by Petra Lindholm (Magnus Karlsson gallery). Prices range from SEK 28,000 to €195,000, with strong early sales reported.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts have launched a major collaborative exhibition titled 'A Nation of Artists.' Spanning both institutions, the show features over 1,000 works from 1700 to the present, drawing heavily from the private Middleton Family Collection. It coincides with the reopening of the PMA's newly renovated American art galleries and PAFA's restored Frank Furness-designed Historic Landmark Building.
Barber e Osgerby: il meglio del design londinese arriva in mostra a Milano
Designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have opened a major exhibition, 'Edward Barber | Jay Osgerby. Alphabet,' at the Triennale di Milano. The show presents a chronological survey of their work from the mid-1990s to 2022, featuring furniture, objects, and prototypes displayed on large plinths, alongside an archival section revealing their creative process.
Lubaina Himid has been selected to represent the United Kingdom at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2026 with a major solo installation titled 'Predicting History: Testing Translation' at the British Pavilion. The exhibition, running from May 9 to November 2026, features a new series of large, multipaneled paintings in dazzling colors, surreal settings, and a soundscape created in collaboration with artist Magda Stawarska. Himid, a Turner Prize-winning pioneer of the Black British Art Movement and Emeritus Professor at the University of Central Lancashire, explores themes of belonging, migration, and making a home in a new place.
Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has created a new installation in Utah that combines art and sound to raise awareness about climate change. Drawing on his childhood experiences in Iceland and Denmark, the work uses natural elements and sensory engagement to connect viewers with environmental issues. The piece is part of a broader effort by the artist to use immersive, site-specific art to provoke reflection on humanity's relationship with the planet.
From 26 April 2026 to 10 January 2027, the Vincenzo Vela Museum in Ligornetto, Switzerland, presents "Bertille Bak: Voices from the Earth," the first major solo exhibition in Switzerland of French artist Bertille Bak. The show brings together works from the past fifteen years that combine cinema, visual arts, and field research, focusing on marginalized communities and themes of labor, identity, and resistance. Bak, born in Arras in 1983, creates video installations and narrative devices through long immersions in communities, with her work held in collections such as the Centre Pompidou and the Collection François Pinault.
MIT's List Visual Arts Center celebrated its 40th anniversary on April 10, 2026, with performances, receptions, and the opening of a new exhibition titled "Performing Conditions," which explores work, debt, and labor. Housed in the Wiesner Building designed by I. M. Pei, the museum manages public art across MIT's campus, including works by Olafur Eliasson and Sanford Biggers, and runs a Student Lending Art Program that loans about 700 works annually. An anonymous donor has launched a $1 million matching challenge grant for conservation of the public art collection.
The article examines the inherent limitations of traditional photography in documenting installation art, arguing that static images fail to convey the experiential qualities of scale, sequence, and audience interaction central to the medium. It uses Olafur Eliasson's iconic 'The Weather Project' as a prime example of a work whose atmospheric and social dimensions are lost in photographic reproduction.
Sculptor and author Barbara Chase-Riboud has publicly declined an invitation to represent the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale, stating it was "not the moment" for her to do so. She was among the artists initially considered by the newly formed American Arts Conservancy (AAC), which is organizing the US pavilion after both she and photographer William Eggleston turned down the opportunity.
Saatchi Yates is partnering with creative director and makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench to launch Studio Iron, a new design gallery whose inaugural exhibition opens April 30 and runs through June 7, 2026. The show presents a dense, post-industrial landscape dominated by steel and iron, featuring works by artists including Jannis Kounellis, Paul McCarthy, Jordan Wolfson, Anne Imhof, Marina Abramovic, Nico Vascellari, and others. Furniture, sculpture, installation, and painting collide in a space that resists categorization, hovering between function and non-function, utility and image.
The article explores the transformation of cultural travel for artists and art lovers, contrasting the arduous, unknown journeys of historical figures like Eugène Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, and Ella Maillart with today's accessible, curated experiences. It describes how contemporary artists such as Ólafur Elíasson, JR, and Marina Abramović now use travel itself as a medium, creating works that engage with climate change, social issues, and presence. Destinations like the Venice Biennale, AlUla in Saudi Arabia, Naoshima in Japan, and Le Voyage à Nantes are highlighted as hubs where art and travel merge into immersive, sensory experiences.
The Haas Brothers, twin artists Simon Haas and Nikolai Haas, are the subject of a midcareer survey exhibition that is currently touring the United States. The show highlights their whimsical, colorful, and often functional sculptures and furniture pieces that blend craft, design, and fine art.
Art Dubai has announced a significantly scaled-back "special edition" of its 20th-anniversary fair, set for May 14–17 at the Madinat Jumeirah venue. The fair was postponed and reformatted due to the US-Israel war in Iran, which caused major logistical disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and spiked oil prices, hampering air travel in the UAE. It will now feature only 50 exhibitors, a reduction of nearly 60% from the originally planned 120.
Perrotin New York presents 'Half-Looking, Half-Seen', a special exhibition of new paintings by GaHee Park, featuring still lifes and portraits set within seascapes and landscapes that explore psychological dynamics of perception and coexistence. The show precedes Park's first institutional solo exhibition in the United States, opening in August 2026 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Works such as 'Seafood Heaven', 'Wetland at Dusk', and 'Creeping Shadow' depict ambiguous scenes where figures, animals, and natural elements blur boundaries between perceiving and being perceived, with influences including Joan Jonas's performance art.
Pandolfini Auction House is hosting a solo exhibition titled "Giardino Alchemico" (Alchemical Garden) by French artist Julie Hamisky at its Milan office during Design Week 2026, from April 22 to 26. The exhibition, created in collaboration with Mitterrand gallery, features sculptures and botanical jewelry made through electroplating—a process that preserves organic matter like flowers and leaves in metal. Key works include "La Géante" (2024), an enlarged poppy sculpture, and "Aqua" (2024), a chandelier of galvanized plant elements, alongside wearable jewelry pieces.
The exhibition 'Continuum,' curated by artist-curator Gauri Minocha at The Art Hub Gallery in Gurugram, presents over 100 artworks by South Asian artists within a refurbished house turned home gallery. Works are displayed across rooms, hallways, stairways, and terraces, moving away from the traditional white cube model to allow viewers to experience art in a domestic setting. The show spans from the 1950s to 2026, featuring modern masters like Ram Kumar, Jamini Roy, and Rubin Mondal, with each room defined by a distinct color palette and mood.
Diario del Salone – Tag eins
The author begins a daily diary from the Milan Design Week, navigating the sprawling Fuorisalone exhibitions that run parallel to the Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The overwhelming experience prompts a search for genuine innovation amid a sea of installations merging fashion, art, and design, leading to the first lesson of the week: accepting the inevitability of missing out on some events.
Fourteen Korean collectors have formed a collective called Arche II to jointly acquire and display works by world-renowned artists in Daejeon, a city 140 km from Seoul. Their exhibition "Tracing the Unfinished" at the multidisciplinary complex Heredium features 30 works, including 14 jointly owned pieces, by artists such as Le Corbusier, Robert Longo, Olafur Eliasson, David Hockney, Yang Hae-gue, Anicka Yi, and Choi Byung-so. The group, founded in 2017 by business leaders including a radiologist and a former prosecutor, contributes a fixed annual budget to purchase three to five works at major art fairs, focusing on emerging artists rather than established names.
Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, New York, will present a major retrospective of Alighiero Boetti titled "Tutto Boetti 1966-1993," running from April 26, 2026 to April 26, 2028. The exhibition features about 30 works drawn from the museum's permanent collection, loans from the artist's heirs, and a private collection, spanning Boetti's career from 1966 to 1993. Highlights include large-scale pieces such as "Mazzo di tubi" (1966), "Da mille a mille" (1975), "Insicuro Noncurante" (1975-76), and the kilim "Alternando da uno a cento e viceversa" (1993). The show is part of Magazzino's ongoing series of monographic exhibitions on Arte Povera artists, following earlier focuses on Piero Gilardi and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
Cosa sono questi “art club” che Alessandro Benetton sta aprendo in giro per l’Italia? Il racconto
21Art, a company founded by Alessandro Benetton based on a project by entrepreneur Davide Vanin, is expanding its network of gallery spaces and affiliated 'Art Clubs' across Italy and into Monaco. This spring, a new location in Montecarlo will join existing galleries in Rome, Padua, and Treviso, with plans for further openings in Milan, Cortina, and Jesolo by 2027. The expansion is accompanied by a spring 2026 exhibition program featuring shows by Mario Ceroli in Treviso, Ahmet Güneştekin in Rome, and Jan Fabre in Montecarlo.
La casa d’aste Phillips presenta a Milano gli highlights della prossima asta tra arte e design
Phillips auction house is presenting a selection of highlights from upcoming auctions and private sales in Milan during the city's Art Week and Salone del Mobile. The exhibition, staged in a space with architecture and furnishings by Dimoregallery and Dimoremilano, features significant Italian post-war art and design pieces, including a notable 1983 'Mappa' by Alighiero Boetti made in Kabul, works by Carla Accardi and Piero Dorazio, and a Carmen Herrera painting slated for auction in New York.
Isaac Julien has created a new site-responsive film installation titled 'All That Changes You. Metamorphosis' at The Cosmic House in London. The work, which features protagonists Lilith and Naomi, explores themes of transformation, cosmology, and interdependence through a non-linear narrative that moves from Californian redwoods to Renaissance interiors, using the postmodern architecture as an active participant in the dialogue.
A set of bronze mirrors by French sculptor Claude Lalanne sold for $33.5 million with fees at Sotheby’s in New York, smashing multiple auction records. The Ensemble of Fifteen Mirrors from 1974 more than doubled its high estimate of $15 million after a 10-minute bidding war between five collectors.