Art Collaboration Kyoto announces new leadership

The contemporary art fair Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) has announced a major leadership change, transitioning from a single director to a seven-member leadership committee. The new committee, effective April 1, includes Doi Miho, Hattori Yoko, Mine Keiko, Ohishi Masako, Suzuki Hidenori, Takamura Miwa, and Tezen Wakako. Current director Yamashita Yukako will step down and assume the role of chair of ACK Ambassadors. The fair's sixth edition is scheduled for November 7–9 at the Kyoto International Conference Center.

Must-See: Mirosław Bałka and the Fragility of Memory

Mirosław Bałka has opened a major solo exhibition at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, featuring a new, large-scale installation titled 'CROSSOVER/S' (2026). The work, a monumental steel structure filled with salt, continues the Polish artist's decades-long exploration of memory, trauma, and the body, using industrial materials to evoke profound personal and historical narratives.

Shaped By Histories: “Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing” at the DePaul Art Museum

The article reviews the exhibition "Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: A Want for Nothing" at the DePaul Art Museum, which presents the artist's multimedia works that explore themes of history, migration, and identity. Manglano-Ovalle's pieces, including video installations and sculptures, engage with personal and collective narratives, drawing on archival materials and contemporary issues.

five art world power players form new advisory firm 2661022

Five major art world figures have formed a new advisory firm called New Perspectives Art Partners, aimed at serving high-end collectors and institutions. The founders include former Christie’s and Philips CEO Ed Dolman and his son Alex (Dolman Partners), Brett Gorvy of Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Philip Hoffman of the Fine Art Group, and former Sotheby’s rainmaker Patti Wong of Patti Wong and Associates. All five will maintain their existing roles while collaborating on complex, project-driven client needs, leveraging their collective expertise and regional networks.

The Museum Breathing Life Into New York's Downtown Performance Scene

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in SoHo has emerged as a vital hub for New York’s downtown performance scene through its intergenerational exhibition, "Sacred and Profane." Featuring a collaborative residency between poet Pamela Sneed and performance artist Carlos Martiel, the programming centers on themes of Black maternal grief, queer identity, and the exhumation of suppressed histories. Recent performances included Martiel’s "No Resurrection," a ritualistic piece involving his mother and a mound of earth, and Sneed’s readings that address the collective trauma and "urgent care" status of the LGBTQ+ community.

As Told By: Slavs and Tatars at Rossi & Rossi

Slavs and Tatars, the research-based art collective, opened their first solo exhibition in Hong Kong titled “胡 ( هو / who) are you?” at Rossi & Rossi, running until May 9, 2026. The show gathers iconic projects and new commissions across various media, playfully probing the philosophical question of identity and belonging. Co-founder Payam Sharifi discusses works such as the handblown glass melon sculptures in "Dark Yelblow" (2025), which explore cultural stereotypes and the figure of the Other, and the "Love Me, Love Me Not" series, which recovers original place names and scripts to reveal the layered complexity of empires.

What makes love political, Wynnie Mynerva?

Was macht Liebe politisch, Wynnie Mynerva?

Peruvian artist Wynnie Mynerva discusses her exhibition "Volveré y seré millones" at the Société gallery in Berlin, timed to coincide with Gallery Weekend. The artist explores Andean cosmologies, specifically the concept of 'Ayni' or collective reciprocity, as a counter-narrative to Western, capitalist structures of romantic love and individualism. Her work draws from her personal experience as a migrant in Europe and her observations of Berlin’s queer scene, questioning how care and survival function within modern political frameworks.

Your guide to free self-care: 8 L.A. wellness events you can’t miss in May

The Los Angeles Times article highlights a curated list of free wellness events in Los Angeles for May, with a focus on the first annual Sacred Music and Healing Festival at the World Stage Performance Gallery in Leimert Park on May 23. Executive Director Dwight Trible explains that the festival blends jazz, Indigenous traditions, and healing arts to offer a wellness experience rooted in culture and community, featuring music, yoga, tai chi, and presentations on herbs and meditation.

The Fashion-Art Collective Captivating New York, One Furry Bridge at a Time

The New York-based Asian-American art and fashion collective CFGNY has opened a new exhibition, "Puddles into Pond," at the non-profit art space Amant in Brooklyn. The show features an immersive installation with a shaggy fur bridge, kinetic sculptures, and ceramic works, running until August 16. This exhibition is part of a significant season for the collective, which also includes a debut installation at the Whitney Biennial and participation in a group show at Pioneer Works.

From Rocky to Rizzo: Monument Expert Paul Farber Talks Statues and Public Spaces

Paul Farber, founder of Monument Lab, discusses his new exhibition "Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The show moves the iconic Rocky statue inside the museum and examines how a fictional boxer's statue became Philadelphia's most famous work of art, exploring broader questions about collective memory and public commemoration. Farber also reflects on the dismantling of the Frank Rizzo statue and how unintentional monuments like the Berlin Wall shape cultural discourse.

UK Art Museum announces Spring ’26 exhibitions and photography lecture

The University of Kentucky Art Museum has announced its Spring 2026 exhibition lineup, running from February 3 to June 27, alongside the first Robert C. May Endowed Photography Lecture of the semester. The season features two main exhibitions: "Ecstatic Personas," a group show exploring joy as a radical force with works by Carlos Rosales-Silva and Shannon Alonzo, and "Harry Gamboa Jr.: The Early, The Late, The Lost," a career-spanning survey of the artist's photography, performance, and writing. Gamboa, a co-founder of the influential collective Asco, will also deliver a lecture on March 27 as part of the photography lecture series.

That time a bunch of radical artists got under the hood at Mia – and stayed there

A group of experimental Minnesota artists in the 1970s, frustrated with the established art scene, successfully pitched the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) to create the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP). Launched in 1975, MAEP gave artists direct control over curating a dedicated gallery within the museum, selecting their peers for exhibitions. Fifty years later, the program remains active, with artists chosen through an open call and an advisory committee, and has featured influential figures like Phyllis Wiener, Judy Onofrio, and George Morrison.

LOOK: Winning artists crowned at Rugby Open exhibition

The Rugby Open 25 exhibition has opened at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, showcasing works from contemporary artists across the Midlands. A panel of judges, including Arts Council Collection director Alona Pardo and Art Riot Collective creative director Kyla Craig, selected the pieces. Paul Anthony Goalby won the overall prize of £1,000 for his painting 'The Placeholder,' plus £500 for a solo exhibition, while Dexter Rudkin won the Youth Open for 'Boo!' Other award winners include Ella Black, Victoria Wyton-Mills, Jo McChesney, Carmen Tilley, Jane Tilley, James Tallon, Katherine Taylor, Sandra Jenkins, and Hannah Venkatasamy. The exhibition also features a supporting show, '25 for 25,' celebrating the venue's 25th anniversary.

Venice, Sydney, Gwangju: the most interesting biennials to visit in 2026

The article previews several major biennials scheduled for 2026, including the 61st Venice Biennale, the 25th Sydney Biennale, and the 16th Gwangju Biennale. The Venice Biennale will proceed posthumously under the vision of curator Koyo Kouoh, who died in May 2025; she was the first African woman appointed to curate the event. The Sydney Biennale, themed "Rememory" and inspired by Toni Morrison, will be directed by Hoor Al Qasimi, while the Gwangju Biennale will be led by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen, focusing on collective artistic responses to global crises.

Radical History: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition opens at The Huntington

The exhibition "Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" opens at The Huntington's Marylou and George Boone Gallery from November 16 to March 2. Curated by E. Carmen Ramos, the show features 60 works by nearly 40 artists and collectives, tracing over six decades of Chicano printmaking as a tool for resistance, community building, and cultural reclamation. The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections—"Together We Fight," "¡Guerra No!," "Violent Divisions," "Rethinking América," and "Changemakers"—and begins with the late 1960s Delano Grape Strike, highlighting how artists used silkscreens, posters, and offset prints to mobilize communities and confront injustice.

At Frieze London, a new section explores the flow of cultural influence between Africa and Brazil

Frieze London 2025 introduces a new curated section titled "Echoes in the Present," organized by Nigerian art historian Jareh Das. The section features eight galleries and ten artists, exploring the bidirectional cultural influences between Africa and Brazil, rooted in the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Artists such as Bunmi Agusto present works that delve into personal and collective histories, including Agusto's paintings about her great-great-grandfather, a Nigerian man sold into slavery who later returned home. The section builds on recent exhibitions like "Afro-Atlantic Histories" and "Brazil and Africa: a shared history," which have similarly examined the African diaspora's impact on Brazilian culture.

Documenta unveils first all-woman curatorial team for 2027

Documenta has announced the first all-woman curatorial team for its 16th edition, set to take place in Kassel, Germany, from June 12 to September 19, 2027. Artistic director Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selected four curators—Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng—to develop the exhibition, publications, and programming. Each curator brings distinct expertise: Acevedo-Yates focuses on diaspora and cultural production; Crawford on race and American visual culture; Rodríguez Castro on writing and editing; and Weng on globalization, feminism, and decolonization.

A tome accompanying the Lahore Biennale is a celebration of authenticity

The second Lahore Biennale took place in early 2020 across Lahore, Pakistan, with installations at historic sites such as the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort, Tollinton Market, and Bradlaugh Hall. Artists like Barbara Walker and the Pak Khawateen Painting Club presented works addressing colonial erasure, sexuality in an Islamic Republic, and water scarcity. Skira has published the "Lahore Biennale 02 Reader," edited by Sheikha Hoor al Qasimi and Iftikhar Dadi, which compiles essays and reflections from the biennial's academic forum, including contributions from the Ajam Media Collective and anthropologist Seema Golestaneh on Sufism and state power in Iran and Pakistan.

Explore 200 Years of American Art at the PEM

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, is hosting "Making History: 200 Years of American Art," an exhibition organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and on view through September 21, 2025. The show features 85 original works by American artists, including Charles Willson Peale's *The Artist in His Museum*, Patience Wright's wax sculpture of George Washington, and portraits of Ruth St. Denis and Mrs. Chase. PEM's curators have reimagined the exhibition with local relevance and immersive design, and the final gallery invites visitors to contribute personal reflections on history.

Whales and the stories they carry about climate change are the subject of new art and science exhibition at the IAS - UC Santa Cruz

The Institute of the Arts and Sciences (IAS) at UC Santa Cruz will present "Weather and the Whale," a major art and science exhibition running from May 29, 2025, to March 8, 2026. The show features immersive displays of original scientific research from the Friedlaender Lab, alongside newly commissioned contemporary artworks by ten artists and collectives, including Carolina Caycedo. The exhibition explores how climate change affects whales and marine mammals, using video, painting, photography, sculpture, and installations to communicate ecological threats such as environmental toxins and sea ice retreat.

Art, ancestors and the land: summer season opens at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) opens its summer season with three contemporary exhibitions centered on Indigenous perspectives, identity, and land. The anchor show is Meryl McMaster's "Bloodline," opening June 18, featuring large-scale photographs, sculptural elements, and immersive video that trace her mixed Plains Cree, Métis, Dutch, and British heritage through the lives of her grandmothers from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. Alongside it, "Lekwungen: Place to Smoke Herring" by Brianna Bear and Eli Hirtle presents a film installation on Songhees Nation language and land stewardship, while "Architectures of Protection," curated by Dr. Toby Lawrence, features works by Dana Claxton, Jessica Karuhanga, Emilio Rojas, Beth Stuart, and France Trépanier exploring care and resistance.

Immediately after the Second World War, how did six exhibitions attempt to make sense of the atrocities?

Berlin's Deutsches Historisches Museum has opened an exhibition titled "On Displaying Violence: First Exhibitions on the Nazi Occupation in Europe, 1945-48," which revisits six post-World War II exhibitions that attempted to process the atrocities of the war. These shows took place in venues ranging from the Grand Palais in Paris to a Czech villa formerly occupied by a Nazi official, and included displays such as the UK's Daily Express "The Horror Camps" (1945), the French traveling show "Hitlerian Crimes" (1945), "Warsaw Accuses" (1945) at the National Museum in Warsaw, and "Our Path to Freedom" (1947) at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The Berlin exhibition uses original objects, film footage, photographs, and recordings to recreate the experience of these early post-war shows.

Secret Asian Man presents: 언니 언니(unni) at Whistle

Whistle gallery in Seoul presents "언니 언니(unni)," a group exhibition curated by the collective Secret Asian Man. The show features a diverse roster of contemporary artists including Dongho Kang, Muyeong Kim, Young Joon Kwak, Kang Seung Lee, Grim Park, Isaac Chong Wai, and Carrie Yamaoka. The exhibition is a collaborative effort involving works and support from both Whistle and the Los Angeles-based gallery Commonwealth and Council.

Rose Finn-Kelcey review – flying puns, smart pranks and prayers for 20p

The Guardian reviews "Rose Finn-Kelcey: House Rules," a posthumous exhibition at the new Arts Collective in Northampton, UK. The show features works by the British conceptual artist (1945–2014), including her 1972 flag installation "Power for the People" at Battersea Power Station, a prayer vending machine titled "It Pays to Pray," and pieces exploring permission, spirituality, and societal restrictions. The exhibition is presented as a homecoming for Finn-Kelcey, who was born in Northampton.

In Its ‘Greater New York’ Show, MoMA PS1 Focuses on the Here and Now

MoMA PS1 has announced the artist list for the upcoming edition of 'Greater New York,' its signature survey of artists living and working in the New York City area. This iteration features 53 artists and collectives, maintaining the exhibition's long-standing tradition of serving as a critical launchpad for emerging talent while reflecting the current creative pulse of the city.

lina lapelytė fills hamburger bahnhof with 400,000 cubes, inviting visitors to build and sing

Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė has filled Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof museum with 400,000 lightweight foam cubes, creating an interactive installation titled "The Singing Cube." Visitors are invited to stack, carry, and rebuild the cubes while participating in collective singing performances, transforming the museum into a participatory sound and sculpture environment. The installation evolves over time through the collaborative actions of participants, blending architecture, music, and social interaction.

India at Venice Biennale 2026 curtain raiser: Many voices, one resonance

India has announced its participation in the 61st Venice Biennale with the India Pavilion exhibition titled 'Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home,' curated by Amin Jaffer. The exhibition, presented by the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Ministry of Culture, will feature works by five artists: Alwar Balasubramaniam, Ranjani Shettar, Sumakshi Singh, Skarma Sonam Tashi, and Asim Waqif. It will run from May 9, 2026, with previews from May 6-8. The pavilion is supported by Isha Ambani, chairperson of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, and Sunil Munjal, founder of Serendipity Arts Foundation. Additionally, on May 8, Kochi-Muziris Biennale president Jitish Kallat will announce the curator for its seventh edition.

designboom radar: exhibitions to see around the world this may

Designboom has published its monthly roundup of must-see art exhibitions around the world for May 2026. Featured shows include Nick Doyle's 'Collective Hallucinations' at Perrotin, Nicola Turner's 'Time’s Scythe' in collaboration with Annely Juda Fine Art at YSP, and Katharina Grosse's 'I Set Out, I Walked Fast' at White Cube. The article also includes a tribute to Georg Baselitz, the influential German painter who recently passed away at 88, and a guide to the 61st Venice Art Biennale 2026.

Expansive Exhibition Highlights U.S. History Through ‘A Nation of Artists’

The United States is marking its 250th anniversary in 2026 with a major collaborative exhibition titled *A Nation of Artists*, presented simultaneously at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). The show features over 1,000 works—paintings, photographs, sculptures, and decorative arts—spanning from the late 18th century to the present, including more than 120 rarely seen pieces from the Middleton Family Collection, one of the country's most significant private holdings of American art. PAFA organizes the works thematically around westward expansion, industrialization, and globalization, while PMA, celebrating its 150th anniversary, presents a chronological survey from 1700 to 1960, highlighting international exchange, technological innovation, and shifting cultural economics.

the eight Impressionist exhibitions

Between 1874 and 1886, a group of avant-garde artists in Paris—including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot—organized eight independent exhibitions as a rebellion against the government-sponsored Salon. Rejected by the Salon's conservative jury, which favored academic standards, these artists pooled resources to stage their own shows, initially held at photographer Nadar's atelier on the boulevard des Capucines. The exhibitions had fluctuating lineups and varied titles, and the term "Impressionist" was only applied retrospectively by art historians in the 20th century.