Artist and professor Aisha Tandiwe Bell opened her solo exhibition "Ethos" at the Welancora Gallery in Brooklyn. The show features a video piece with spoken word poetry, mixed-media mounted works, and standalone sculptures that explore themes of displacement, cultural identity, and systemic injustice.
On April 18, 2026, the performance cycle "Atravesar el lago" (Crossing the Lake) took place in open spaces of Casa del Lago UNAM in Chapultepec Park, curated by Adonay Bermúdez. Artists Marilyn Boror Bor, Seba Calfuqueo, and Julieth Morales activated performances that destabilize dominant knowledge frameworks and confront narratives imposed by colonial modernity. Boror Bor's "Lo que el cemento no puede cubrir" turned the body into a living archive summoning ancestral memories; Calfuqueo's "Guardo mis semillas para el futuro" opened fissures in imposed borders; and Morales's "Enchumbarnos: Cuerpo, Norma y Territorio. Ritual para dos cuerpos" configured a threshold of listening and transformation. The article includes a curatorial text fragment exploring water as a dissident force, drawing on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui's thought.
Das ist das Pressefoto des Jahres
The World Press Photo competition has named Carol Guzy's photograph "Separated by ICE" as the World Press Photo of the Year. The image, taken for the Miami Herald in August 2025, shows children clinging to their father's shirt during a court hearing in New York after he was unexpectedly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The jury praised the photo as a stark documentation of family separation resulting from U.S. immigration policy. Two other finalists were recognized: Saber Nuraldin's image of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Victor J. Blue's photo documenting the Achi women from Guatemala who sought justice for wartime abuses.
Pressefotos des Jahres gewählt
Carol Guzy won the World Press Photo competition for 2025 with her image "Separated by ICE," taken for the Miami Herald. The photograph depicts children clinging to their father's shirt during a court hearing in New York, after he was unexpectedly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The jury selected the image from nearly 57,000 entries by about 3,700 photographers. Two other finalists were recognized: Saber Nuraldin for documenting the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and Victor J. Blue for covering the trial of perpetrators who kidnapped and abused women during Guatemala's civil war.
Historisches Museum gibt Bild zurück
The German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin has restituted a 19th-century portrait of historian Leopold von Ranke to the von der Schulenburg family. The painting by Adolf Jebens, dated 1876, was seized in 1945 during a land reform in the Soviet Occupation Zone from the family's Schloss Lodersleben estate. The museum's director, Raphael Gross, confirmed the return after provenance research identified the work's history.
The Countway Library at Harvard Medical School is hosting a closing ceremony for the art exhibition "Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to our Foremothers in Gynecology" on January 21. Developed by the Resilient Sisterhood Project, the multimedia exhibition highlights the exploitation of enslaved Black women—Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy—in the origins of modern gynecology, focusing on experiments by Dr. J. Marion Sims in the 1840s. The event will feature speakers including artists Jules Arthur, Dr. Michele David, Michelle Hartney, and others, along with community organizers.
Hyperallergic is hosting an online member event on April 15 featuring a conversation with social justice artist and 2025 MacArthur Fellow Tonika Lewis Johnson. The event will focus on her community-driven projects, including the "Folded Map Project," and will include readings from her 2024 book, *Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It*.
Brea Gallery in Brea, California, opened its 41st annual "Made in California" juried art exhibition on Saturday, featuring over 90 artists from across the state. The show includes a range of mediums such as oil paintings, sculptures, and mixed media, with jurors selecting works from roughly 5,000 submissions. This year's exhibition explores themes of identity and social justice, with pieces like Angel Lesnikowski's "Othered Existence" addressing Arab identity and conflict, and Adam Singer's "Big Feelings" reflecting on aging and mortality in Los Angeles. A solo installation by Lorena Molina, "This must be the place," draws on her Salvadoran heritage and the immigrant experience.
Cincinnati-based artist and activist Paul Kroner is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his space, Studio Kroner, with his first solo exhibition titled "What Have I Done?" opening April 17. Since its founding, the 1,200-square-foot venue has evolved from a private studio into a vibrant community hub, hosting national artists, theatrical performances, and social justice-oriented exhibitions. The upcoming show will feature a diverse range of Kroner’s own work, including paintings, illustrations, and a new series of bronze sculptures called "Liminals" created through a hybrid process of wax casting and digital scanning.
The Ballarat community has launched the 16 Days of Activism campaign to end violence against women, beginning on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) and running until Human Rights Day (December 10). The campaign includes a '16 Ways for 16 Days' trail map with daily activities, and features the 'Transforming Pain into Power' art exhibition at Ballarat Library, Barkly Square, and Art Space Ballarat, showcasing works by local artists speaking out against gendered violence. Survivor Marita Forsyth's artwork depicts her perpetrators in a burning car, symbolizing her empowerment.
An art exhibition called The Crow Gallery is opening in Westport, County Mayo, during the Westival 2025 arts and music festival. Housed in the vacant The Local public house on Castlebar Street, the show features work from local artists with disabilities and participants of an Open Call centered on disability justice. The exhibition explores perceptions of disability, challenges ableism, and aims to spark dialogue about inclusion. It is the first phase of a long-term project to establish a permanent gallery, coffee shop, gift shop, and artist studios where disabled and non-disabled artists collaborate, with people with disabilities leading the space. The project was inspired by local artist Maitiu Quinn and Amber Walsh, and is driven by Anna Wall, who participated in Social Entrepreneurs Ireland's Ideas Academy and a Mayo County Council Arts Office workshop facilitated by artist Kari Cahill.
Artist Paribartana Mohanty's solo exhibition "I Rescued Speed Altogether" at Delhi's Shrine Empire gallery presents 12 paintings and three moving-image works created over eight years of documenting the demolition of the Kathputli art colony, a historic slum cluster in west Delhi known for its street performers. The works, mounted on found objects like glue cans and plastic, focus on the objects and landscapes left behind after demolitions, with human figures absent from the canvases. Mohanty's title comes from his three-year-old son's triumphant statement after learning to pedal a bicycle, which the artist sees as an absurd phrase fitting for what he calls the "absurd acts" of demolition.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to extend the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act, which was set to expire at the end of the year. The Senate had already approved the extension, and the legislation now awaits the President's signature to become law.
Bard College has initiated an independent review of President Leon Botstein’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following the release of Department of Justice emails. While Botstein previously characterized the connection as purely philanthropic, the new correspondence suggests a more personal friendship, including frequent visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and a 2012 trip to Epstein’s private island. The college's board of trustees has hired the law firm WilmerHale to investigate the extent of these communications and any financial contributions.
The High Court of Justice of Andalusia has overturned a four-year prison sentence for antiques dealer Santos Boy Jiménez Cortés, who was previously convicted of misappropriating a 17th-century Baroque sculpture. The artwork, 'Saint Margaret of Cortona' by José de Mora, was purchased from the Our Lady of the Angels convent in Granada for €21,600 before being resold to a Madrid gallery and eventually offered at TEFAF New York for €400,000. The court ruled that the nuns' claims—that they had only requested a restoration budget rather than selling the piece—were inconsistent and lacked documentation.
Former French culture minister Jack Lang and his daughter, film producer Caroline Lang, have been named in newly released U.S. Department of Justice documents as having had ties with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The correspondence reveals Caroline Lang co-founded a company, Prytanee LLC, with Epstein in 2016, and that Jack Lang requested personal favors like the use of Epstein's car or plane.
The RSM Art Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition titled "Ideas to Postpone the End of the World" by artist Julia Csekö, running from March 19 to May 5, 2026. The show features her text-based works, including wearable welcome dresses, storied flags, and paintings from her 'Speaking Truth to Power' series. An opening reception and artist talk are scheduled for March 19.
The ARTS at King Street Station in Seattle has announced its 2026 exhibition calendar, featuring a diverse lineup of 13 shows from November 2025 through February 2027. Highlights include "Welcome to Paradise: ¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!" by Jo Cosme, which critiques colonial narratives of Puerto Rico; "Living and Loving Under the Carceral State" by Alison Bremner; a South Indian kolam exhibition by Anuradha Samrat; and "Tết In Diaspora" by Nhi Vo celebrating Vietnamese New Year. Other exhibitions explore Afrofuturism, Black figuration, animation, augmented reality, the legacy of Black Arts West Theater, and themes of mothering and gender-based violence.
David Drake, also known as Dave the Potter, was an enslaved African American ceramicist and poet in 19th-century South Carolina who inscribed his stoneware jars with defiant poetry at a time when teaching enslaved people to read or write was a crime. The article argues that despite his recognized genius, Drake was not fully an artist during his lifetime because he was denied the fundamental right to own, control, and benefit from his creations—a right the Berne Convention calls 'inalienable.' Only recently, after the Museum of Fine Arts Boston returned two of his jars to his heirs, has Drake begun to receive the full recognition and economic justice that define true artistic status.
Saif Azzuz, an artist of Libyan and Yurok heritage, presents a new body of work that intertwines themes of water, fire, and family, drawing from his experiences in both the Louisiana Bayou and the San Francisco Bay. The article, published by The New York Times, explores how Azzuz's mixed Indigenous and North African background informs his artistic practice, blending personal history with environmental and cultural narratives.
The article is a Q&A with an artist and co-director of the Global Spanish Initiative at the University of Virginia (UVA), discussing the exhibition 'Fuego Eterno.' The show, which opened August 29, features artists from indigenous and Afro-descended communities across the Americas and its diasporas, exploring themes of indigenous sovereignty, Nahua cosmologies, border resistance, and diaspora. The exhibition includes the co-director's own artworks and is accompanied by a symposium, a workshop with Peruvian artist Venuca Evanán Vivanco, a film screening, and a closing party.
Ten youth curators aged 15 to 17 from Seattle's Fresh Perspectives program have organized a new art exhibition titled "You, Me, & Everything Between Us" at King Street Station. The show is presented by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture in collaboration with Seattle Public Utilities' 1% Art program. The teen curators—Audrey Mae Lumaguip, Billie Atkins, Bowie Logan, Bryan Emmanuel, Bunny Heminger, Cam Koga, Giselle Kalei Balansay, Max Santiago, Sammy Tewelde, and Nico Charbonneau—were mentored by artist and project manager Janet Nechama Miller. Seattle Public Utilities has set aside a budget to acquire works from the exhibition for the city's Civic Art Collection.
A large-scale installation titled 'Dreams in Transit' has been unveiled on the facade of the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, featuring 100 black-and-white portraits of migrants photographed from behind. The project, launched on Wednesday in collaboration with Art for Action and The Human Safety Net (a foundation funded by Generali), takes inspiration from French street artist JR’s Inside Out project but reverses the perspective. Inside the building, a complementary exhibition includes works by Leila Alaoui, Lorraine de Sagazan, Anouk Maugein, Ange Leccia, and a sound installation by Sarah Makharine, all focusing on migrants’ dreams and resilience.
Argentina's President Javier Milei has escalated his campaign to rewrite the history of the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship by closing art and human-rights spaces on the grounds of the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory in Buenos Aires, a former clandestine prison turned memorial and UNESCO World Heritage Site. In January, the Haroldo Conti Cultural Centre was shuttered for 'internal restructuring,' with 50 of its 87 employees fired; in early April, the government halted operations at Espacio Memoria, suspending salary payments and funding pending an audit. Both centres are public institutions managed by the Human Rights Secretariat, which has undergone mass layoffs and changes under Milei's administration.
The heirs of David Drake, an enslaved 19th-century potter known as Dave the Potter, are engaged in a legal and ethical struggle to recover his legacy and his works. They argue that his pottery, which includes jars inscribed with his name and poetry, represents their family's artistic and spiritual inheritance, and they are seeking recognition and a role in the stewardship of these artifacts.
A guerrilla art installation called the "Jeffrey Epstein Walk of Shame" appeared in Washington, DC's Farragut Square. It consists of sidewalk stickers resembling Hollywood stars, bearing the names and images of twenty public figures linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Gates, and Bill Clinton. Each sticker features a QR code linking to Department of Justice evidence or the Epstein Files.
Il mito di Sandokan in mostra a Monza tra storia e immaginario. Parola ai curatori
A new exhibition titled "Sandokan. La Tigre ruggisce ancora" has opened at the Reggia di Monza, exploring the enduring myth of the fictional pirate Sandokan, who first appeared in Italian serialized fiction in 1883. Curated by Francesco Aquilanti and Loretta Paderni, the show brings together ethnographic materials, costumes from the 1970s television series, weapons, books, illustrations, and archival items, including the original Dayak collection donated by Sir Charles Brooke to the King of Italy. The exhibition traces Sandokan's evolution across literature, comics, film, and television, presenting him as a layered, ambivalent hero—both ruthless pirate and justice fighter—whose story remains relevant today.
Il dolore che non si vede: il racconto del manicomio nell’ultimo film di Alessandro Bencivenga
Director Alessandro Bencivenga’s new film, L’invisibile filo rosso, debuted out of competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, offering a poignant look at the Pergine Valsugana psychiatric hospital in the 1950s. Based on extensive archival research, the narrative follows a young nurse from Ischia who witnesses the hidden horrors and human dignity within the asylum. The film features a notable cast including Massimo Bonetti, who portrays the real-life figure Giovanni Giulio Anesini, and Ornella Muti as Ida Dalser, the persecuted first wife of Benito Mussolini.
The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has selected the project "The Unfinished Business of Living Together" to represent Switzerland at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Conceived by Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, and artist Nina Wakeford, the exhibition utilizes archival television broadcasts from the 1970s and 80s to explore the history of LGBTQ+ visibility and social coexistence. The installation will feature a spatialized video production and garden interventions that reactivate historical media moments to examine how social norms dictate public discourse.
« Restitutions » : le Parlement prêt à tout lâcher
The French Parliament is moving forward with an accelerated legislative process to pass a framework law governing the restitution of cultural property to foreign states. This bill aims to streamline the return of artworks and artifacts deemed to have been illicitly acquired, fulfilling a long-standing promise made by President Emmanuel Macron to address colonial-era acquisitions and other contested heritage.