The Holy See Pavilion asks Venice Biennale Visitors to Slow Down and Listen, and Other News.

The Holy See's pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale presents "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul," a multi-sensory exhibition centered on deep listening and inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers with Soundwalk Collective, featuring new commissions by 24 artists including Patti Smith, Brian Eno, FKA twigs, and Dev Hynes across two Venetian sites. Separately, Chanel and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation have launched the Chanel Culture Fund Fellowship, a transatlantic curatorial program for postgraduate scholars at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. In other news, a father-daughter duo from New Jersey pleaded guilty to a $2 million counterfeit art scheme involving forged works attributed to Andy Warhol, Banksy, and others; Vienna's Burgtheater is offering guided scaffolding tours of Gustav Klimt's early ceiling paintings during restoration; and the sixth edition of the Head Hi Lamp Show opens in New York.

No Hay Banda: Vandria Borari, Petra Feriancová, Karoliina Hellberg, and Sofia Silva, 29th May – 26th June 2026, CFA, Milan, Italy. Private View: 28th May 2026.

CFA in Milan presents "No Hay Banda," a group exhibition running from 29 May to 26 June 2026, featuring four international artists: Vandria Borari (Brazil/Germany), Petra Feriancová (Slovakia), Karoliina Hellberg (Finland), and Sofia Silva. The show brings together ceramicist and Indigenous activist Borari, whose work includes the Yupirungáwa series and the Fluid Forest project; Feriancová, a Slovak artist who represented the Czech and Slovak Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale; and Hellberg, a Finnish artist who recently won the Visual Artist Award from the Marcus Collins Memorial Fund. The private view is scheduled for 28 May 2026.

What you want from your body? Antony Gormley, iron and crawling

British sculptor Antony Gormley discusses his solo exhibition "What Holds Us" at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, on view from 9 May to 13 September 2026. The show transforms the gallery's former cinema-theatre into an interactive environment where visitors are invited to crawl through massive cardboard bodies, exploring interior spaces and shifting from passive spectatorship to bodily engagement. Gormley explains that the title connects "hold" and "whole," suggesting that being held—by the ground, the womb, or the body—is essential for growth and wholeness.

Gladstone now represent The Estate of Anna Zemánková

Gladstone Gallery has announced its representation of The Estate of Anna Zemánková, a self-taught Czech artist known for her influential abstract works that explore psychological and spiritual realms. The gallery will collaborate with Cavin-Morris Gallery and plans to present a solo booth of Zemánková's work at TEFAF New York from May 14–19, 2026, following a spring 2025 exhibition in New York featuring her botanical drawings and works on paper. Zemánková, a key figure in Art Brut, created untitled, biomorphic works rooted in the subconscious, often compared to artists like Kunz and Hilma af Klint.

May Things to Do: Visual Art

This article from a Seattle arts publication rounds up May visual art events, including the Seattle Art Book Fair (May 9–10) at Washington Hall featuring over 85 artists and free admission; Timothy White Eagle's exhibition "Once Wild River" (May 9–June 21) at Mini Mart City Park, culminating his EPA artist-in-residency; "Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan" (May 13–Jan 17, 2027) at the Seattle Art Museum, where Donovan responds to Alexander Calder's black works; "Rebels + Icons: The Photography of Janette Beckman" opening May 15 at MoPOP, the largest collection of her iconic musician portraits; and Drie Chapek's "Then Is Now" (May 21–June 27).

After the Afterparty: Berlin Art Tests Its Pulse during Gallery Weekend

Gallery Weekend Berlin took place from late April into early May, drawing large crowds despite ongoing concerns about the city's declining art-market relevance. The weekend kicked off with early previews on Wednesday, including Alex Heide's solo exhibition "the darkroom beams horizons" at the new space Klix, and continued with events at Sprüth Magers, the Between Bridges Foundation, and the hidden venue CHB Fine Arts, which featured works by Nairy Baghramian, Jack O'Brien, Sofia Duchovny, Ilya Lipkin, and Mania Godarzani-Bakhtiari. Friday, coinciding with May Day, saw gallery visits at Molitor and KOW, where Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili and Candice Breitz presented solo shows.

Pao Houa Her Captivates Midway Contemporary Art with New Exhibition Through May 2026

Hmong-American artist Pao Houa Her is currently presenting a solo exhibition at Midway Contemporary Art in Chicago, running through May 2, 2026. The show explores themes of displacement, identity, and cultural memory through Her's photographs and installations, which blend personal narrative with broader social commentary on the Hmong diaspora experience post-Vietnam War. Born in Laos and raised in Minnesota, Her's work challenges viewers to confront the complexities of migration and belonging, using staged portraits and intimate compositions to subvert expectations of representation.

Scaled back Art Dubai 2026 reveals wide impact of Iran war

Art Dubai 2026 has announced a significantly scaled-back edition for its 20th anniversary, now running from May 15 to 17 at Madinat Jumeirah with a VIP day on May 14. The fair will feature just 50 galleries—a 60% drop from pre-war expectations—and will be free for all visitors for the first time. Two-thirds of participants are Middle East-based, with all Indian galleries canceling due to safety concerns, shipping risks, and lack of insurance. A new “risk-sharing” model allows galleries to pay a percentage of sales capped at their booth fee, while half of withdrawn galleries’ fees are refunded and half credited toward 2027.

FAD’s Fab Five: 5 Must-See Highlights at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Lee Sharrock selects five must-see highlights at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in 2025. The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Giardini, Arsenale, and various Venetian venues. Featured highlights include Marina Abramović's historic exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia—the first major show for a living woman artist there—the Holy See Pavilion's "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul" with artists like Patti Smith and Brian Eno, and Lubaina Himid's British Pavilion presentation "Predicting History: Testing Translation."

Carrie Mae Weems Shines in Miami's Semiquincentennial Show at Pérez Art Museum

Carrie Mae Weems is featured in the Pérez Art Museum Miami's upcoming exhibition 'This Is America,' which celebrates the United States' 250th anniversary. The show opens May 23 and runs through 2027, including works by Alfredo Jaar, Judy Chicago, and Rashid Johnson alongside local artists. Weems, known for series like 'Kitchen Table' and 'From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried,' uses photography and staged scenes to explore race, gender, and power.

Richard Diebenkorn | Untitled (For Harvey Gantt) | For Sale

Artsy is offering for sale Richard Diebenkorn's work "Untitled (For Harvey Gantt)", a piece by the renowned American painter associated with Abstract Expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative movement. The artwork is listed on the online platform, making it available to collectors and art enthusiasts.

The Top 10 Exhibitions to See Around the World This May

Ocula's global team of editors has curated a list of the top 10 exhibitions to see worldwide in May, highlighting diverse shows from Rio de Janeiro to New York. Featured exhibitions include Jungjin Lee's photographic works blending Icelandic landscapes and intimate objects on traditional Korean paper, a millennial-themed group show titled "Genuine Premium Fake Economy" examining precarity through artists like Jasmine Gregory and Buck Ellis, Joan Semmel's solo exhibition "Continuities" at Xavier Hufkens and Alexander Gray Associates showcasing her erotic self-portraiture at age 93, and Wynnie Mynerva's Berlin Gallery Weekend show addressing colonial violence and Andean mythology.

What’s on for spring? Spiritualism and symbolic systems

This article surveys several spring exhibitions in Chicago that explore themes of spiritualism, symbolic systems, and interconnected consciousness. Featured shows include Mindy Rose Schwartz's "Countersealed" at M. LeBlanc, which uses deconstructed fur coats, wands, and twisted fiber sculptures to evoke rituals addressing ecological disaster and historical subjugation. Daniel G. Baird's "Margin" at Patron examines thresholds between material and spiritual realms through a gilded canoe, wax arm cast, and birchwood oar. Leah Ke Yi Zheng's "Change, I Ching (64 Paintings)" at the Renaissance Society presents 64 hexagram paintings on silk, connecting abstract minimalism with Eastern silk painting traditions.

Your Australian art guide for May 2026 is here

May 2026 brings a packed calendar of art exhibitions across Australia, with highlights including Rone's 'Another TIME' at COMA Gallery in Sydney, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW, and solo shows by Eleanor Louise Butt, Jordan Gogos, Natalya Hughes, Patricia Piccinini, and Michaela Gleave. Regional venues like Bundanon and Ngununggula also feature major exhibitions, including a posthumous show of Rosalie Gascoigne alongside new commissions by First Nations women artists.

Exhibition | Mark di Suvero, 'Avanti!' at Paula Cooper Gallery, 534 West 21st Street, New York, United States

Paula Cooper Gallery in New York will present an exhibition of large-scale sculptures and drawings by Mark di Suvero from May 2 through July 17. The show features the debut of the kinetic sculpture 'Avanti!' (c. late 1990s), a human-intervention piece with a suspended beam that viewers can rock with their body weight, alongside the 1986 work 'Nelly' and the stainless steel 'Tables Turn’d' (2004), as well as a selection of works on paper including interactive "sliding drawings."

'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Singapore Art Museum will present 'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' from 29 May to 4 October 2026, marking the artist’s first major exhibition in Southeast Asia. The show brings together 63 works from 11 series and 14 fossils from Sugimoto’s personal collection, spanning five decades of his practice. The title references the Heart Sutra, reflecting Sugimoto’s long-standing exploration of the tension between appearance and reality.

NEXT in the Gallery: Preview Pittsburgh summer with a 'Pity Party,' dog sculptures and so much more art

NEXTpittsburgh's May 2026 gallery preview highlights a packed month of art events leading into the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Key offerings include the 59th Carnegie International at Carnegie Museum of Art, opening May 2 with works by 61 artists from 24 countries and four new commissions at local institutions. Other featured shows include 'Down to Earth: Revealing the Natural World' at James Gallery, Jody Shell's 'Shoebox Memories,' Dominique Swift's 'Uli Awakened,' and a three-artist exhibition at Irma Freeman Center featuring Laura Jean McLaughlin, James Simon, and Robert Qualters.

In Venice, Hernan Bas Paints the Problem With Modern Tourism

American artist Hernan Bas has created a series of 40 paintings critiquing modern tourism, set to open in May at Ca' Pesaro–International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice during the Biennale. Titled "The Visitors," the exhibition depicts young white male American tourists engaging in objectionable behaviors worldwide—from begpacking to visiting disaster sites—painted with Bas's signature attention to clothing details. The works were developed during a residency in Venice, a city emblematic of overtourism, in collaboration with Victoria Miro, Lehmann Maupin, and Perrotin galleries.

Last chance: hurry to see these Parisian exhibitions before they close in May 2026.

A roundup article lists numerous exhibitions closing in May 2026 across Paris and the Île-de-France region, including shows at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Nocturne Calder #1) and Perrotin Gallery (Soulages–Hartung: Elective Affinities, Lee Mingwei's When Beauty Appears, and Susumu Kamijo's When I Think of You in Spring). The piece also highlights free-entry days at castles and museums in Yvelines and Seine-et-Marne, and the Parcours d’art de la Boucle de Seine open-studio event.

The New York Historical Celebrates Artist Betye Saar’s 100th Birthday with a New Exhibition Featuring Her Black Doll Collection

The New York Historical will present "Betye Saar’s Black Dolls" from May 8 to October 4, 2026, celebrating the artist’s 100th birthday. The exhibition features 27 dolls from Saar’s promised gift of over 100 Black dolls to the museum, alongside 15 watercolors and several assemblages, including "Hoo Doo Woman" (1974) and "Indigo Mercy" (1975). Saar, a key figure in the Black Arts and feminist art movements, began collecting Black dolls in the late 1960s after growing up without one.

Art and authoritarianism in Auckland

Auckland Art Gallery is presenting 'Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now,' a major survey of Chinese contemporary art featuring 67 works by 42 artists, running from May 2 to August 23, 2026. The exhibition includes Xiao Lu's iconic 1989 work 'Dialogue,' which she famously shot with a gun hours after its opening, an act later linked to the Tiananmen Square protests. Xiao Lu comments on the political resonance of the show in New Zealand amid global shifts in democracy and US-centric world order.

Exhibition | Carlos Garaicoa, 'Rituals and Liberty' at Goodman Gallery, New York, United States

Goodman Gallery presents Carlos Garaicoa's first solo exhibition at its New York viewing room, titled 'Rituals and Liberty.' The show features eight works, including five reliefs that blend painting and photography, and sculptural models incorporating 19th-century French engravings. The exhibition precedes Garaicoa's solo show at Museo La Tertulia in Cali, Colombia, in May. Garaicoa, a Cuban-born artist based in Madrid, explores urbanism and how architecture reflects and shapes society, continuing his long-standing interest in decoding urban infrastructures.

Lubaina Himid has been busy ‘Predicting History: Testing Translation’

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.

Ten Out Of London Exhibitions Spring 2026 – Artlyst Guide

Artlyst has published a guide to ten major exhibitions opening across UK museums and galleries outside London in Spring 2026. Highlights include a year-long programme for the 250th anniversary of John Constable in Suffolk, the Gwen John exhibition 'Strange Beauties' at National Museum Cardiff celebrating her 150th birthday, a Frank Bowling survey at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, a Joan Eardley show in Edinburgh, and Paula Rego at Newlands House & Gallery. Other featured exhibitions include Andy Hollingworth's photography of comedians at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and a Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the Bowes Museum.

White Stripes Frontman Jack White Is Showing Art at Damien Hirst’s Gallery

Jack White, frontman of the White Stripes, is opening a sculpture exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London. Titled “Jack White: THESE THOUGHTS MAY DISAPPEAR,” the show runs from May 29 to September 13 and features found-object sculptures, furniture designs, notebooks, and photography. White and Hirst first met in 2021 when White was opening a Third Man Records store near Hirst’s studio, and Hirst encouraged White to mount a show after seeing his artwork.

Richter works from gallerist Marian Goodman and Donald Judd pieces lead Christie's New York auctions

I lavori di Richter della gallerista Marian Goodman e le opere Donald Judd guidano le aste di Christie’s a New York

Christie's New York spring sales opened on May 20, 2026, with two major collections: the minimalist art collection of Henry S. McNeil Jr. and works by Gerhard Richter from the collection of legendary gallerist Marian Goodman. The 42-lot session achieved $162.7 million, with 98% sold by lot. The 21st Century Evening Sale alone reached $136.8 million, a 42% increase over May 2025 and Christie's highest result for the category in five years. Top lots included Donald Judd's "Untitled" (1969) at $12.8 million—a new auction record for a Judd stack—and Richard Artschwager's "Two-Part Invention" (1967) which soared to $635,000 from an estimate of $60,000–80,000. The Goodman collection of eight Richter works, all guaranteed, generated $78.8 million, exceeding expectations.

A $1B Evening With Nicole Kidman

Hyperallergic's newsletter reports on a record-setting $1 billion evening sale at Christie's on May 18, which included works by Jackson Pollock and Constantin Brancusi alongside Hollywood star Nicole Kidman. Other stories cover an exhibition at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center celebrating Black American artists in Paris, a painted book cover trend analyzed by Tara Anne Dalbow, a Gaza Square sculpture unveiling in Paterson, New Jersey, and a performance event by Bahar Behbahani on Governors Island.

“Gaza Love” Monument Unveiled in Paterson, NJ

Artist and activist Kyle Goen's sculpture "Gaza Love" (2014) was permanently installed outside the South Paterson Library Community Center in Paterson, New Jersey, as part of the city's newly dedicated Gaza Square on Main Street. The unveiling took place on Palestine Day, May 17, and commemorates Paterson's large diasporic Palestinian community. The sculpture, which borrows the typography of Robert Indiana's LOVE series and the colors of the Palestinian flag, originated during protests against the 2014 Gaza War and has been used in organizing spaces for over a decade, including during the 2021 Strike MoMA movement.

The Painted Book Cover Is Back

The article reports on a growing trend in book cover design: the use of painted, figurative artwork instead of stock photos or digital renderings. Publishers are increasingly licensing paintings by artists from Hilma af Klint to Shannon Cartier Lucy, seeing them as a way to signal cultural authority and intellectual rigor. The trend is discussed through examples like Victoria Redel's *I Am You* (2025) and Kyung-Ran Jo's *Blowfish* (2025), with insights from LiteraryHub Managing Editor Emily Temple and Astra House publisher Benjamin Schrank.

Who’s That Nude Figure on a Washing Machine Outside the New Museum?

British artist Sarah Lucas has unveiled a new public sculpture titled "VENUS VICTORIA" (2026) at the New Museum's entrance plaza on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. The work, which will remain on view for two years, features a monumental nude female figure with flailing arms and large pink breasts perched atop a dusty washing machine, wearing bright yellow high heels. Lucas adapted the figure from her ongoing "Bunnies" series (1997–present), which uses knotted pantyhose and found objects. The sculpture was unveiled on May 12, 2026, inaugurating a decade-long series of public commissions by women artists at the museum.