Andreas Angelidakis: Escape Room

The Greek Ministry of Culture has selected artist Andreas Angelidakis to represent Greece at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. Angelidakis will present an installation titled "Escape Room" at the Greek Pavilion, curated by George Bekirakis with MOMUS as National Commissioner. The project reimagines Plato's allegory of the cave as an immersive environment addressing post-truth, nationalism, and digital illusions, while also confronting the troubled history of the Pavilion itself, including its 1934 inauguration amid the rise of fascism.

São Paulo pop-up exhibition spotlights spherical home by architect Eduardo Longo

The fifth edition of Aberto has launched in São Paulo, transforming the iconic Casa Bola—a spherical, sustainable home designed by architect Eduardo Longo in the 1970s—into a temporary art and design hub. Co-curated by Kiki Mazzucchelli and Claudia Moreira Salles, the exhibition features over 50 artists and six major galleries, including Gladstone Gallery and Mendes Wood DM. The show spans the futuristic residence and an adjacent warehouse, showcasing newly commissioned works that dialogue with Longo’s counterculture architectural vision.

NEXT in the Gallery: Pittsburgh in December is a sprawling winter carnival of art

Pittsburgh's visual artists are transforming the city into a sprawling winter carnival throughout December 2025, with a packed calendar of exhibitions and events. Highlights include Sharmistha Ray's three-channel animation "Emergent Realities" at Wood Street Galleries (Dec. 12–July 5, 2026), featuring a commissioned soundtrack by Grammy-winning composer Arooj Aftab; Mary Mazziotti's satirical textile series "Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter" at BE Galleries (Dec. 6–Jan. 31, 2026); and Offroute Art's "Crisis of Empathy // Limit of Empathy" showcasing eight young artists. Wood Street Galleries also partners with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2025 on Dec. 3, presenting videos exploring drug users and HIV crisis. The month kicks off with holiday markets and arcades, and includes a Neapolitan nativity scene exhibit and an art battle in Sharpsburg.

Queer sexuality in Islamic art explored in Norway exhibition

A new exhibition titled "Deviant Ornaments" opens at the National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) of Norway in Oslo, running from 27 November 2025 to 15 March 2026. Curated by Noor Bhangu, a South Asian curator and scholar based in Norway, the show explores queer desires and practices in the visual cultures of the Islamic world, bringing together over 40 works spanning 1,000 years. It connects historical objects—such as a Safavid textile, a 19th-century armband, and 13th-century Iranian wall tiles—with works by 12 contemporary artists, including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Alize Zorlutuna, Shahzia Sikander, Taner Ceylan, Damien Ajavon, Rah Eleh, Kasra Jalilipour, and Sa’dia Rehman. Four works are newly commissioned.

Heavy in more ways than one: Confederate statues hit the road for Los Angeles exhibition

The exhibition "Monuments" opens this week at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Moca) and the Brick in Los Angeles, featuring decommissioned Confederate statues alongside contemporary artworks. The show includes a double monument of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on loan from Baltimore, which required road closures and careful logistics to install, as well as works by Kara Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, and Karon Davis that recontextualize these symbols of white supremacy. Curators Hamza Walker, Bennett Simpson, and Kara Walker collaborated on the exhibition, which runs from October 23 through May 3, 2026.

Spencer Finch and Lindsay Adams to create large-scale commissions for Obama Presidential Center

The Obama Presidential Center has commissioned new site-specific works by artists Spencer Finch and Lindsay Adams for its 19-acre campus in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. Finch will create a wall tile installation inspired by the color palettes of Honolulu, Nairobi, Jakarta, and Chicago—cities formative to Barack Obama's life—while Adams will translate her 2024 painting "Weary Blues" into silkscreened fabric panels for the public cafe. The center, opening in the first half of 2026, will feature over 20 commissioned artworks, including previously announced pieces by Maya Lin, Richard Hunt, and Julie Mehretu.

Chicago's cultural affairs department hits crisis point

Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is in crisis, with at least 18 staff members—about 25% of the department—leaving since Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed former legislative director Clineé Hedspeth as commissioner last year, replacing Erin Harkey (who became CEO of Americans for the Arts). Multiple formal complaints have been filed against Hedspeth alleging bullying, and staff report a lack of communication and strategic direction amid funding challenges. A new advocacy group, Artists for Chicago, delivered a letter with 270 signatures to the mayor on April 14, expressing concerns about dysfunction and unmet needs in the arts sector.

What We Throw Away Does Not Disappear

Was wir wegwerfen, verschwindet nicht

The Museum Ostwall at the Dortmunder U in Dortmund has opened a new exhibition titled "Müll – die globalen Wege des Abfalls" ("Waste – The Global Paths of Garbage"), curated by Christina Danick and Michael Griff. Featuring around 50 international artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, including two newly commissioned pieces, the show uses art to explore waste as material, motif, and aesthetic strategy. Key works include Kader Attia's "Los de Arriba y Los de Abajo," which addresses power imbalances through the lens of garbage in Hebron, and historical pieces by César Baldaccini, Arman, and HA Schult. The exhibition also highlights contemporary issues such as e-waste, global waste trafficking, and the environmental impact of industrial nations on the Global South.

A Record for Lalanne

Un record pour Lalanne

Sotheby's New York achieved a major result with the sale of a set of fifteen mirrors by Claude Lalanne (died 2019), commissioned between 1974 and 1985 for the music room of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's Paris apartment. Estimated at $10–15 million, the lot—from the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg after the 2009 Saint Laurent-Bergé sale—fetched $33.5 million including fees, setting a record for the artist.

Obama Presidential Center announces new work by Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson.

The Obama Foundation has unveiled the final group of artists commissioned to create site-specific works for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. This prestigious roster includes Jeffrey Gibson, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose works will be integrated into the 19.3-acre campus. The announcement completes the artistic vision for the center, which aims to blend public space with high-caliber contemporary art when it opens on June 19th.

art gaetano pesce final public sculpture

Gaetano Pesce's final sculpture, "Double Heart," has been installed as his only permanent public artwork in the United States. The 30-foot-tall illuminated piece, featuring two interlocking hearts pierced by Cupid's arrow, now hovers above the Massachusetts Turnpike at the Lyrik Back Bay plaza in Boston. Commissioned by developer Samuels & Associates and art advisory Goodman Taft, the work was overseen by gallerist Lucy Chadwick of Champ Lacombe after Pesce's death in early 2024. The sculpture reflects Pesce's signature blend of playfulness and humanism, contrasting with the rigid geometry of modernist design.

art jota mombaca aspen air festival

Jota Mombaça, a Brazilian multidisciplinary artist known for fusing critical theory with drawing, poetry, installation, and performance, has created a new three-act opera titled "The Muted Saints" commissioned for the Aspen Art Museum's AIR Festival. The work will premiere on July 29 at the Hallam Lake Nature Preserve in Aspen, Colorado. Inspired by Mombaça's 2023 short story about a protagonist transitioning from human to geological form, the opera explores themes of planetary interconnectedness, environmental catastrophe, and the transformation of beings into rocks, ghosts, or wind. Mombaça discusses their creative process, the influence of the local Colorado environment, and the importance of site-responsive work in an interview with CULTURED.

With Nearly 30,000 Clay Earth Bricks, Dana Awartani Remakes History in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion

Dana Awartani, a Jeddah- and New York-based artist of mixed Palestinian, Saudi, Jordanian, and Syrian descent, has created the Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale using nearly 30,000 clay earth bricks. The installation, titled "May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones," replicates traditional mosaic motifs sourced from over 20 cultural heritage sites across the Arab world that have been destroyed by human conflict. Awartani emphasizes collaboration, crediting numerous skilled craftsmen—economic migrants to Saudi Arabia—who worked alongside her, and her practice blends formal training at Central St. Martins with Islamic geometry and illumination studies in Turkey.

Venice exhibition of site-specific films aims to capture the hyper stimulating times we are living in

The Fondazione In Between Art Film presents "Canicula," the third and final exhibition in its Trilogy of Uncertainties, opening on 6 May at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice. Curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, the show features eight newly commissioned site-specific films that explore themes of excess, sensory overload, and geopolitical tension. Works include Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk's "Affirmations" (2026), depicting fictional deathbed testimonies of Russian soldiers, Lawrence Abu Hamdan's "450XL: The Story of a Fugitive Sound" (2026) about a sonic attack in Belgrade, and Maya Watanabe's "Jarkov" (2025-26) reflecting on Arctic ice melt and Pleistocene remains.

Who is Gladys Hynes? Show reinstates forgotten artist who once represented Britain at the Venice Biennale

The exhibition "Gladys Hynes: Radical Lives" opens this month at Charleston in Lewes, aiming to resurrect the career of Gladys Hynes (1888-1958), a forgotten artist who once represented Britain at the 1924 Venice Biennale. The show brings together 120 paintings, drawings, graphic designs, and sculptural pieces, including works by Hynes and her contemporaries, curated by Sacha Llewellyn. Hynes trained with Stanhope Forbes, Frank Brangwyn, and William Nicholson, worked with Roger Fry's Omega Workshops, associated with Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticists, and was commissioned by Ezra Pound to illustrate his Cantos. Despite her achievements, only one of her paintings is in a British public collection.

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Ludovic Nkoth is the latest artist featured in the FLAG Art Foundation’s “Spotlight” series, which showcases a single, previously unexhibited work paired with a commissioned text. The featured painting, "Stars under the border" (2026), depicts figures in a quiet, mundane moment of rest or labor, exploring the tension between aspiration and systemic limitation. Nkoth’s practice, rooted in his Cameroonian heritage and New York base, utilizes nuanced brushwork and color to investigate the psychological complexities of the Black diasporic experience.

plautilla bricci painter roman architect 2748566

The nonprofit organization Artemisia Gold has announced a major restoration project for Plautilla Bricci’s 17th-century altarpiece, 'Birth of the Virgin' (ca. 1660), located in Rome’s Church of Santa Maria in Campo Marzio. Bricci, a rare female polymath of the Baroque era, was Italy’s first professional female architect as well as a prolific painter and sculptor. The restoration team, led by Jane Adams, aims to clean the darkened canvas and conduct X-ray analysis to potentially uncover a hidden signature and more details regarding its commission by Abbess Anna Maria Mazzarino.

Gaudí Attribution Confirmed for Xalet del Catllaràs

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A comprehensive architectural report commissioned by the Government of Catalonia has officially confirmed that Antoni Gaudí designed the Xalet del Catllaràs, a remote chalet in the Catalan mountains. Built between 1901 and 1908 for engineers working at coal mines owned by Gaudí’s patron Eusebi Güell, the building’s attribution was previously suspected but unverified. Researchers used structural analysis of the canted arches, room distribution, and specific lime plastering techniques to link the pyramidal structure to Gaudí’s signature modernist style.

saudi arabia commission mural domingo zapata 1234773760

Saudi Arabia has commissioned New York-based artist Domingo Zapata to create what is being billed as the world's largest mural, spanning 540,000 square feet. The project, part of the $63 billion Diriyah cultural zone development in Riyadh, is backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and will involve a team of about 100 artists working over four to six years, with Zapata describing it as having "a blank check" for creative freedom.

domingo zapata worlds largest mural saudi arabia 2746229

Spanish artist Domingo Zapata has been commissioned by Saudi Arabia to create the world's largest mural, a 540,000-square-foot work the size of nine football fields. The project, part of the $63 billion Diriyah cultural zone in Riyadh, will take five to six years to complete and involves a team of about 100 artists, engineers, and architects. Zapata describes it as a "Middle Eastern version of the Sistine Chapel."

bad bunny crossing the delaware ektor rivera 2739899

Artist Ektor Rivera has created a painting titled "The Discovery of Americans" (2025) that reimagines Emanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" to celebrate Puerto Rican cultural figures, with Bad Bunny at the center. The work was commissioned by Miami art collector Seth Goldberg as a response to conservative criticism over Bad Bunny being selected to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. The five-by-eight-foot painting places George Washington in the background while Puerto Rican icons including Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, and Roberto Clemente take center stage, with Bad Bunny draped in the Puerto Rican flag. The artwork has garnered over 2.3 million views on Instagram and Facebook.

villa silvestri rivaldi rome 47 million restoration 2730149

The Lazio Region of Rome and Italy's Ministry of Culture are undertaking a €35 million ($41.1 million) restoration of Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, a historic palazzo overlooking the Colosseum that has long fallen into disrepair. Originally commissioned by Pope Paul III in the 1540s and designed by Sangallo the Younger with gardens by Giacomo Del Duca, the villa has housed cardinals, served as a convent, textile factory, welfare institution, and school, and was even used by squatters and hostage-takers in the 1970s. Early restoration work since 2024 has focused on stabilizing the structure and cleaning its frescoes with laser technology, with full-scale restorations set to begin in 2026.

elizabeth street garden mamdani reconsider demolition 2723645

For 12 years, a one-acre community garden in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood, Elizabeth Street Garden, has been locked in a battle with New York City officials over plans to build affordable housing on the site. The city, under former Mayor Eric Adams, had scheduled an eviction for March 2024 to make way for Haven Garden, a 123-unit senior housing development. After a last-minute impasse, the Adams administration abandoned those plans in June, instead rezoning three nearby sites. However, newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on closing the garden for housing, has revived uncertainty. Just before Mamdani took office, the Adams administration permanently dedicated the land as public parkland, requiring state legislative approval for any future development.

el salvador first national pavilion 2026 venice biennale 1234764701

El Salvador will debut its first national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, featuring Salvadoran American artist J. Oscar Molina. The pavilion, titled "Cartographies of the Displaced," will be curated by Alejandra Cabezas and commissioned by Astrid Bahamond, the national director for museums and exhibition spaces of El Salvador's Ministry of Culture. Molina will install at least 15 of his "Children of the World" sculptures at Palazzo Mora in Venice's Cannaregio district, each accompanied by QR codes linking to interactive stories from displaced communities, including his own experience fleeing El Salvador's civil war in 1989.

trump mamdani roosevelt salisbury portrait 2718933

New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani visited President Donald Trump at the White House on November 21, where the two former online adversaries found common ground on issues like crime, rent, and affordable housing. They posed together in front of Frank O. Salisbury's portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which Trump claimed to have rediscovered in White House vaults, though it was previously hung by President Joe Biden. The article traces the history of Salisbury's 1935 painting and its copies, including the official White House version commissioned by Harry S. Truman in 1947.

harry clarke geneva window wolfsonian miami 2576058

The Wolfsonian–Florida International University in Miami Beach is exhibiting "Harry Clarke and the Geneva Window," showcasing a luminous stained glass window created by Irish artist Harry Clarke (1891–1931) for the League of Nations building in Geneva. Commissioned by the Irish Free State in 1926, the window was ultimately rejected by the Irish government due to its controversial content, including depictions of drunkenness, nudity, and Protestant writers. The exhibition explores the window's scandalous history, Clarke's life cut short by tuberculosis at age 41, and the broader context of Irish nationalism and the Celtic Revival.

trump fires commission of fine arts members 1234759275

All six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that reviews major construction projects in Washington, D.C., including President Donald Trump’s planned triumphal arch and a new White House ballroom, have been fired. The commissioners, appointed under former President Joe Biden to four-year terms, received termination emails on October 28, with several expected to serve through 2028. The move follows a pattern of political turnover at the agency, as Biden had previously fired Trump appointees in 2021. Architect Bruce Becker, one of the fired commissioners, noted the commission’s role in shaping the nation’s capital and reviewing plans for the new structure replacing the historic East Wing.

st patricks cathedral cvijanovic mural 1234753026

A new mural by artist Adam Cvijanovic, titled *What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding*, was unveiled at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on September 17, 2025. Spanning 1,920 square feet across 12 panels, the work is the largest permanent artwork commissioned for the cathedral in its 146-year history. It reimagines the 1879 Apparition at Knock, Ireland, as a backdrop to immigrant life in New York, featuring figures such as St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Dorothy Day, and Pierre Toussaint among contemporary immigrants. The project was facilitated by art adviser Suzanne Geiss and funded by benefactors Kevin and Dee Conway, with installation handled by UOVO.

italian politicians protest return of altarpiece slovenia 1234751577

A 16th-century altarpiece by Vittore Carpaccio, *Madonna and Child Enthroned with Six Saints* (1518), has been returned to the Slovenian town of Piran, where it was originally commissioned for the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. The painting was removed in 1940 and placed in Padua for safekeeping during World War II, remaining in the Basilica of Sant’Antonio for decades. Following pressure from Franciscan friars in Padua, the work was quietly transferred back to Piran on September 4, days before Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s state visit to Slovenia. Slovenian Culture Minister Asta Vrečko hailed the return as the result of long-standing efforts.

rabkin foundation 2025 arts journalism grant winners 1234750766

The Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation in Portland, Maine, has named eight recipients of its 2025 Rabkin Prize for visual arts journalists. Each winner receives an unrestricted $50,000 grant. This year's honorees are Tempestt Hazel, Jessica Lynne, Nicole Martinez, Brandy McDonnell, America Meredith, Eva Recinos, Paul Chaat Smith, and J Wortham. The foundation also commissioned portraits by photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki and will publish a series of interviews with the winners starting September 10.