A new biographical drama film titled "Moss & Freud" is set to premiere in the UK, focusing on the portrait sessions between supermodel Kate Moss and painter Lucian Freud. The film stars Ellie Bamber as Moss and Derek Jacobi as Freud, and is directed by James Lucas, having first appeared at the London International Film Festival.
Cultured magazine hosted a party at the Twenty Two in New York to celebrate Sophia Cohen's appointment as arts editor-at-large. Cohen, a former Gagosian associate director and founder of the consultancy Siren, will write a monthly column called "In the Know." The event, timed to Frieze New York, brought together figures including fashion designer Kim Shui, writer Nate Freeman, art advisors Ralph DeLuca and Sandy Heller, artist Rogan Gregory, critic Johanna Fateman, collector Lucas Hoffmann, and David Zwirner senior director Lucas Zwirner.
Museion in Bolzano has launched a major retrospective titled "Feedback. The Environments of Franco Vaccari," focusing on the influential Italian conceptual artist. The exhibition marks the first comprehensive institutional survey to prioritize Vaccari’s "environments"—immersive spaces that utilize photography, video, and archival materials to engage the viewer in a process of real-time feedback.
South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s planned pavilion for the South Africa Pavilion at the Venice Biennale was canceled by culture minister Gayton McKenzie, who deemed it “highly divisive.” Despite the cancellation, Goliath has installed her work, a multi-screen iteration of her ongoing performance series *Elegy*, at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, half a mile from the Giardini. The new piece mourns victims of atrocities including South African femicide, the Herero and Nama genocide, and the death of Gazan poet Hiba Abu Nada, killed by an Israeli airstrike. Goliath stated that McKenzie explicitly demanded removal of the Palestinian content while deeming the other subjects acceptable.
The 2026 Sony World Photography Awards have announced their top honors across professional, open, student, and youth categories. Notable winners include Citlali Fabián for her series on Indigenous activists in Mexico, Seungho Kim for a project exploring the intersection of parenting and pet ownership in South Korea, and Dafna Talmor for her abstracted, collaged landscapes. The winning works span a diverse range of subjects, from the documentation of a fire at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm to intimate portraits of faith at the Vatican.
Germany’s federal government, along with the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, has reached a settlement with the descendants of the House of Hohenzollern, ending a nearly century-long legal dispute over ownership of 27,000 artworks. The collection includes a portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder and an 18th-century table service commissioned by Emperor Frederick II. Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s new Minister of State for Culture, announced the deal in Berlin, confirming the works will remain in public museums such as the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the German Historical Museum.
The article profiles Pietrasanta, a small town in Tuscany, Italy, that has evolved into a thriving international sculpture hub. It traces the town's artistic lineage back to Michelangelo, who sourced marble from local quarries in 1518, and highlights how today a dense network of workshops, foundries, and craftspeople attracts artists from around the world. The local government has established the Fondazione Centro Arti Visive di Pietrasanta to promote the town as a year-round art center, not just a seasonal destination. The piece features the Armenian-born artist Mikayel Ohanjanyan, who has seven sculptures on display in the town.
Nilbar Güreş, the artist representing Turkey at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026), responds to a questionnaire from ArtReview about her upcoming exhibition. She expresses exhaustion with having to explain herself to Western audiences and critiques the white, male-dominated art world. Her inspiration for the pavilion comes from this disgust and fatigue, and she states that the Biennale's theme, "In Minor Keys," did not guide her preparation. Güreş also voices disillusionment with the art world's silence on humanitarian crises, particularly the bombing of hospitals and children in Palestine, and notes that artists speaking out on Palestine face censorship and exclusion.
CULTURED editor-in-chief Sarah Harrelson and Legacy Investing co-founder Daniel English hosted an intimate dinner at Jean's in New York, bringing together leaders from art, finance, and real estate. Guests included Frieze's Julie Kim, Wells Group founder George Wells, Art Intelligence global director Rick Cappellazzo, and others. The evening featured Oscar Wilde's quote about artists and money printed on bookmarks, and guests received copies of Michael Craig-Martin's On Being an Artist and Michael Findlay's The Value of Art, along with CULT100 totes filled with magazines and products.
Romania is set to hold a re-run presidential election on May 4, 2025, after the original election was annulled due to allegations of Russian interference favoring far-right candidate Călin Georgescu. With Georgescu barred, another far-right candidate, George Simion, leads polls, sparking protests and online debates over nationalism, LGBTQ rights, and foreign relations. The political turmoil has affected the art scene, with gallery founder Suzana Vasilescu reporting a standstill in art sales and tension among collectors, though the scene remains resilient. Upcoming events like the RAD art fair and Art Encounters Biennale are proceeding, but art professionals express vigilance against potential nationalist pressures.
The Langen Foundation in Neuss, outside Düsseldorf, is hosting a rare public exhibition of the Ringier Collection, featuring 500 works from artists including Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Richard Prince, John Baldessari, and Sylvie Fleury. Titled 'Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Film, Video, Sound', the show was curated by Beatrix Ruf and artist Wade Guyton, and spans sketches to large-scale oils and photographic works from the 1960s to the present. The collection is owned by Swiss publishing mogul Michael Ringier, who began collecting 30 years ago and now holds 5,000 works.
The Sanctus Artem club at Manhattan University recently hosted "The MET MU," a formal art exhibition held in Smith Auditorium. Designed to emulate the high-end atmosphere of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the event showcased a diverse array of student and alumni work, including 2D and 3D art, digital media, and fashion-related projects. The exhibition featured contributions from over a dozen artists and offered a professional gallery experience complete with formal attire and refreshments.
The Arlington Museum of Art (AMA) presents the Annual Juried UTA Student Exhibition from October 30, 2025, through February 22, 2026, featuring 27 graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). The exhibition was juried and curated by Clare Milliken, Assistant Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, who selected works across bronze, blown glass, painting, photography, sculpture, and video art. UTA painting faculty Benjamin Terry coordinated the show for the second year, noting a shift toward introspective, material-focused works compared to last year's politically charged selections.
Staff at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) announced their intent to unionize as part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The new union, Lacma United, will represent over 300 museum employees across curatorial, visitor services, education, and publications departments. Workers cite fairer compensation, expanded benefits, and increased transparency as key motivations, and have requested voluntary recognition by November 5. The effort joins AFSCME Cultural Workers United District Council 36, which has supported union campaigns at other Los Angeles institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago presents “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists,” a group exhibition curated by Dr. Rikki Byrd, the center’s inaugural Radicle Curatorial Resident. The show features works by Lisa DeAbreu, Lex Marie, Natasha Moustache, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and Ciarra K. Walters, each exploring mark-making as a conceptual and material practice. Highlights include Walters’ video “Eileen’s Daughters,” which uses fragile eggshell-covered suits to evoke familial intimacy and vulnerability; DeAbreu’s textile works that transform household items into visual heirlooms; Ogbara’s sculptural piece “Hopscotch (A Safe Space to Land),” combining bronze and soil to address Black beauty and West African heritage; and Marie’s reimagined American flags made from hospital blankets and beads, critiquing the nation’s relationship with Black maternity and childhood.
Nearly 200 Old Master treasures from the Schroder Collection, amassed by the late banker Bruno Schroder and his family over more than a century, will go on long-term display at the Holburne Museum in Bath, UK, starting 10 September. The collection includes silver, maiolica, and paintings by artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Holbein the Elder, many shown publicly for the first time. The loan was facilitated by Bruno’s daughter Leonie, who requested the works remain in the UK and be placed in a regional museum rather than London.
From September 26, 2025 to January 25, 2026, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco in Florence are jointly presenting a major exhibition dedicated to the 15th-century painter Beato Angelico. The show brings together over 140 works—including paintings, drawings, sculptures, and miniatures—from prestigious institutions such as the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in Washington, the Vatican Museums, and the Rijksmuseum. It explores Angelico’s artistic development, his collaborations with contemporaries like Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, and Lorenzo Ghiberti, and his influence on Renaissance art, with a special focus on his frescoes at the Museo di San Marco, including the iconic Annunciation.
The article examines the artistic and historical legacy of popes named Leo, following the election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV on 8 May. It traces the name through figures like Leo I (Leo the Great), Leo IX, and Leo X, focusing on Raphael's iconic 1518-20 portrait of Pope Leo X with cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de Rossi. The piece also discusses Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican's Stanze and Loggia, which depict earlier Leonine popes, and highlights the Medici family's role in bankrolling the Renaissance.
Com’è oggi essere una giovane artista a Milano? Risponde Denise Ceragioli
The article features an interview with young Milan-based artist Denise Ceragioli, who discusses the challenges and realities of sustaining an artistic practice in the city after graduating from the Brera Academy. She details her journey of finding a studio, the evolution of her painting from figurative to highly material-based work involving wax, and the importance of building relationships within Milan's art ecosystem of institutions, galleries, and independent spaces.
London-based artist Zazou Roddam explores the intersection of pop culture nostalgia and historical trauma through the manipulation of found objects and archival media. Her practice, rooted in a long-standing fascination with the 'detritus of history' found in London’s Portobello Road Market, gained significant attention following her debut solo exhibition at Brunette Coleman. Central to her recent work is the video piece 'Pop Inflection (The City)', which meticulously edits footage from 'Sex and the City' to track the architectural and psychological shifts in New York City before and after the 9/11 attacks.
Andy Friend's book "Comrades in Art" chronicles the founding and first decade of the Artists International Association (AIA), a radical union of artists established in London in the 1930s. The AIA, born from a belief in art's power to revolutionize society, grew from a small group of mostly underemployed communist-affiliated commercial artists into a popular front against fascism and war, eventually including over 1,000 members such as Henry Moore and Paul Nash. The book focuses on lesser-known figures like Felicia Browne, the first British female combatant killed in the Spanish Civil War.
A new critical biography, "Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures," has been published, marking the first comprehensive study of the British artist Helen Chadwick (1953-96). Edited by Laura Smith, director of collections and exhibitions at the Hepworth Wakefield, the book includes contributions from historian Marina Warner, curator Katrin Bucher Trantow, and artist Maria Christoforidou. A touring exhibition of Chadwick's work opens at the Hepworth Wakefield on 17 May and runs until 27 October. The article highlights Chadwick's provocative, punky, and perverse body-focused works, such as "Untitled (Eat Art)" (1973), where she cast her face in jelly for viewers to consume, and "Piss Flowers" (1991-92), made from snow she urinated on. It also recounts the infamous 1986 incident at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where her sculpture "Carcass"—a glass tower of rotting vegetables—leaked and collapsed.
La fiera miart 2026 è finita e non ha più un direttore. Chi dirigerà l’edizione 2027? Il totonomi
The 2026 edition of the Milanese art fair miart has concluded, but its director Nicola Ricciardi is not expected to continue. The fair's owner, Fiera Milano, issued a closing statement with results and future dates, but failed to announce a successor, leaving the leadership for the 2027 edition in question.
A new documentary titled "The Final Cut" explores the life and artistic journey of Lucio Fontana, the Italian-Argentine artist famous for his slashed canvases (Concetti Spaziali). Produced by Good Day Films and Nexo Studios, directed by Andrea Bettinetti and narrated by Miriam Leone, the film will screen in Italian cinemas on May 25–27 as part of the "La Grande Arte al Cinema" season. It features archival footage, interviews with artists such as Doug Wheeler, Antony Gormley, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Heinz Mack, and scholars Luca Massimo Barbero and Daniela Alejandra Sbaraglia, highlighting Fontana's revolutionary approach and his first immersive installation, "Ambiente Spaziale a luce nera" (1949).
Video intervista a Cecilia Canziani e Chiara Camoni curatrice e artista del Padiglione Italia alla Biennale di Venezia
The article is a video interview with curator Cecilia Canziani and artist Chiara Camoni about the Italy Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Camoni's installation, titled "Con te e con tutto," features large, monumental figures called "Sisters" that evoke ancient yet contemporary presences, created through a slow, collective, and materially responsive process. The pavilion is divided into two spaces: a vertical, sacred-like area and a horizontal, convivial one that includes a sub-exhibition called "Dialoghi." The project builds on years of friendship and collaboration between Canziani and Camoni, and involves a fluid community of international students, weavers, midwives, and artists working at Camoni's studio in Fabbiano, on the Apuan Alps.
7 nuovi libri d’arte e cultura in libreria. Mappe del presente: tra arte, lavoro, memoria e forme della percezione
This article from Artribune presents a curated selection of seven new art and culture books recently released in Italy. The featured titles range from a theoretical lexicon for 21st-century arts edited by Nicolas Martino, which redefines key terms like 'author,' 'AI,' and 'care,' to a poetic pop-up book by Japanese designer Katsumi Komagata titled 'Piccolo Albero,' which uses paper engineering to narrate the cycle of life. Other works explore themes of labor, memory, domestic space (Giorgio Morandi), inner labyrinths (Andrea Bocconi), and direct testimony from Gaza, all aiming to provide new frameworks for understanding a fractured present.
A new exhibition titled "Dante Ferretti. Con i miei occhi" has opened at the Musei di San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome, celebrating the legendary Italian set designer and costume designer Dante Ferretti. Curated by Raffaele Curi, the show runs until July 19, 2026, and features a collection of Ferretti's sketches, charcoal drawings, and collages that served as the foundational visual ideas for films by directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Tim Burton. The exhibition presents these preparatory works not merely as production tools but as autonomous works of art, tracing Ferretti's visual genealogy from Renaissance painters like Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio to contemporary cinema.
In una mostra a Roma un artista disegna un proprio atlante: il corpo diventa mondo
Luca di Luzio's exhibition "Atlas ego imago mundi" at Palazzo Mattei in Rome, hosted by the Italian Geographical Society, presents a personal geography where the artist's body becomes landscape and world. Curated by Anna Cestelli Guidi, the show features around 40 maps, three large canvases, and a handmade book created between 2015 and 2023. Di Luzio uses his body as a palette, pressing skin directly onto paper or canvas to generate imaginary territories that merge sensory experience with artistic expression, referencing Merleau-Ponty's philosophy and Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
Le Pussy Riot e le FEMEN in protesta al Padiglione russo alla Biennale di Venezia. “Il sangue è il vero linguaggio della Russia”
On May 6, 2026, during the preview days of the 61st Venice Biennale, Pussy Riot and FEMEN staged a joint protest outside the Russian Pavilion. Led by Nadya Tolokonnikova, the activists denounced Russia's participation in the Biennale as a form of political normalization while the war in Ukraine continues. The action included chants and slogans such as "Russia kills, Biennale exhibits. Blood is Russia's art," and targeted the Russian ambassador present inside the pavilion. The protest was unannounced and caught Biennale security off guard, drawing a crowd of journalists, visitors, and art professionals.