The Photography Show fair in New York sets new attendance record

The Photography Show, presented by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), returned to New York’s Park Avenue Armory for its second consecutive year from 23-27 April, featuring 64 exhibitors. The fair set a new attendance record with nearly 15,000 visitors, driven by strong foot traffic and a buzz around the iconic venue. Executive director Lydia Melamed Johnson noted the optimism surrounding the fair, which also highlighted Indigenous women photographers such as Jessica Eaton, Cara Romero, and Shelley Niro.

1,200-Year-Old Limestone Lintel was Inadvertently Repatriated to Mexico Instead of to Guatemala

A 1,200-year-old limestone lintel, carved by the ancient Maya artist Mayuy and depicting a ruler of Yaxchilán, was repatriated from the United States to Mexico in mid-April after an American businessman turned it over to the Mexican consulate in New York. However, Guatemala's cultural minister has begun proceedings to reclaim the artifact, arguing that it was originally removed from the Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River, not Mexico. The lintel was first documented by American explorers Dana and Ginger Lamb in the 1950s in an area called Laxtunich, and its exact provenance has been disputed by scholars.

Shelley’s hair to Schindler’s list: the most fascinating objects in the State Library of NSW – in pictures

The State Library of NSW is celebrating its 200th anniversary with a new exhibition featuring 200 objects from its collection of 6 million items. Lead curator Elise Edmonds and her team selected highlights including a lock of Mary Shelley's hair, the smallest book in the library's collection (measuring 6mm by 6mm), bread wrappers from the 1960s, a colonial sketchbook from 1817, a Dharawal Indigenous language wordlist, Australia's oldest surviving political cartoon from 1808, and a contemporary artwork by Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens. The objects span literature, colonial history, Indigenous culture, sport, and everyday life.

art artizia gregory crewdson artistic license series

Gregory Crewdson, known for his meticulously staged photographs of small-town America, has partnered with the fashion brand Aritzia for its Artistic License Series. The collaboration features Crewdson's images on limited-edition shopping bags, in stores, and online, accompanied by an exhibition during Frieze Week in Los Angeles. The series has previously worked with photographers like Juergen Teller, Ryan McGinley, and Harley Weir. In an interview, Crewdson discusses his influences, including filmmakers David Lynch and Steven Spielberg, and the challenges of shooting a rain scene when a real storm interrupted the set.

parties spector craft prize new york 2

A celebratory apéro dînatoire was held at the New York home of patrons Warren and Abigail Klem Spector to launch the Spector Craft Prize, a new initiative by the Spector Family Foundation that supports fine craft and its makers through recognition and financial support. The evening was co-hosted by CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson and artist Katie Stout, whose ceramics were integrated into the tablescape, and featured a crowd of cultural heavyweights including prize jury chairman Glenn Adamson, jurors Zesty Meyers and Rosanne Somerson, and designers Misha Kahn and Adam Charlap Hyman.

parties national academy of design morgan library

The National Academy of Design celebrated its 200th anniversary with a gala at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. The event honored the 2025 class of Academicians, including artists Tacita Dean, Nanette Carter, Sheila Hicks, and Nina Yankowitz, as well as architects Trey Trahan, Julie Snow, and Kim Yao. The evening featured an induction ceremony where new members were invited to contribute works to the Academy’s ongoing collection.

parties meurice paris collectors designers art basel

CULTURED magazine hosted an intimate dinner at Le Meurice's Salon Pompadour in Paris, cohosted by Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson, arts leader Jen Roberts, and collector Jamie Goguen. The event brought together art and design-world figures including gallerists, designers, Sotheby's CEO Charles F. Stewart, and Independent Art Fair founder Elizabeth Dee, with a feast by Alain Ducasse and pastry chef Cedric Grolet. Guests received a copy of the inaugural CULTURED at Home issue and a bottle of Roos & Roos fragrance.

An open-air art gallery: Hogan Park at Highlands Creek

Hogan Park at Highlands Creek in Aurora, Colorado, is a 100-acre public park that doubles as an open-air art gallery, featuring around two dozen sculptures and painted installations along a two-mile trail. Curated by Carla Ferreira, CEO of the development, and her father, the park includes works by artists such as Michael Benisty, Hunter Brown, Daniel Popper, and Olivia Steele, with pieces designed to withstand Colorado's extreme weather. Notable installations include the 25-foot steel sculpture "Broken but Together," the viral fiberglass-reinforced concrete figure "Umi" by Daniel Popper, and a bronze bench honoring Dr. Justina Ford, part of the Statues for Equality initiative.

The 10 Best Venice Films

Die 10 besten Venedig-Filme

Monopol magazine has published a ranking of the ten best films set in Venice, timed to coincide with the opening of the Venice Art Biennale. The list includes titles such as Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "The Honey Pot" (1967), and Kenneth Branagh's "A Haunting in Venice" (2023), highlighting how the lagoon city serves as a central character in action films, comedies, and love dramas.

Kellogg Gallery spotlights unconventional, colorful artists

Cal Poly Pomona's W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery is presenting "Color & Quirk," an exhibition running from August 25 to November 18, 2025, curated by Michele Cairella Fillmore. The show features unconventional, colorful artists who avoid white, black, and gray, including Megan Geckler, known for immersive flagging tape installations like "You can never quarantine the past," Colin Roberts, who creates plexiglass sculptures inspired by glass architecture, and Seda Saar, whose work explores perception, light, and color through interior architecture and themed entertainment design.

Innovative London drawing fair with no stands stages its second edition

Tracing Time, a London drawing fair organized by Trois Crayons, returns for its second edition from 26 June to 5 July at No. 9 Cork Street. The selling exhibition features drawings spanning 500 years, with 35 participating galleries—double the number from its debut—including works by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Gustav Klimt, and Françoise Gilot. Unlike traditional fairs, it operates without stands: dealers pay a flat fee for logistics, retain 100% of sales, and the space functions as a social hub without booths or dealers present.

collectible body art: tattoos by lawrence weiner, peter marino and more hit the auction block

JOOPITER, Pharrell Williams's auction platform, launches its first standalone tattoo auction titled 'Inked: Tattoos by Contemporary Artists,' featuring commissioned designs by sixteen artists including Derrick Adams, Thom Browne, Jeffrey Gibson, and the late Lawrence Weiner. The sale runs from October 22nd to 31st, 2025, with select designs previewed at Dover Street Market during Art Basel Paris. Curated by Sharon Coplan, each tattoo design is accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity, and a complete set will be reserved for institutional donation.

Missoula Art Museum: The Escapee (museum exhibition)

The Missoula Art Museum (MAM) in Missoula, Montana, recently exhibited a 1999 mixed media assemblage titled *The Escapee* by Stephen Glueckert. Glueckert, a sculptor and mixed media artist living in Missoula, holds a BFA from the University of Idaho and an MA in Art Education from Western Washington University. He is retired from his role as curator of the Missoula Art Museum and now works as a full-time artist. The photos of the exhibition were taken on May 15, 2026.

Birmingham museum opens exhibition on death and grief

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has launched a community-led exhibition exploring the universal experiences of death, dying, and grief. Curated in partnership with the local collective BrumYODO, the showcase features traditional mourning rituals alongside contemporary inquiries into how artificial intelligence might manage bereavement. The exhibition serves as the centerpiece for the annual "A Matter of Life and Death" festival, incorporating interactive workshops, clay-making sessions, and even a themed comedy night to engage the public with a typically taboo subject.

Community Exhibition Explores Death, Grief and Rituals at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has launched a community-led exhibition exploring the universal themes of death, grief, and mourning rituals. Part of the annual "A Matter of Life and Death Festival 2026," the showcase combines historical artworks from the museum’s permanent collection with contemporary perspectives, including the role of artificial intelligence in grief management. The program features interactive workshops led by artists Bianca Beneduzi and Jemma Mellor, as well as a comedy night designed to spark open dialogue about mortality.

Ashland University senior art exhibition opens April 9

Ashland University is set to host its annual Senior Art and Design Exhibition at the Coburn Gallery, running from April 9 through May 9, 2026. The showcase features the capstone projects of graduating seniors and kicks off with an opening reception where student awards will be officially announced.

Black Excellence fills Columbus Arts Council with warmth, artistry and community

The Columbus Arts Council in Mississippi hosted the opening reception of its second Black Excellence Art Exhibition, featuring fiber artist Stephany Brown reading from 'Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South' and a poem by Alabama Poet Laureate Ashley M. Jones. The exhibition showcased a diverse range of works including Brittany Horne's luminous portrait of her daughter, Brown's hand-sewn quilts, Kenneth Smith's stained glass mosaics, and live music by vocalist-pianist Kyia King. Culinary arts students from East Mississippi Community College contributed food honoring Black chefs and agricultural scientists, creating a multisensory celebration of Black artistry and heritage.

Early career artists are invited to apply to Collective programme

Collective Gallery on Calton Hill in Edinburgh has announced its 2026 exhibition programme, featuring solo shows by Paloma Proudfoot and Katie Paterson in the City Dome Gallery. Proudfoot's exhibition, running from March to May 2026, will include new sculptures and a performance exploring the female voice and body, while Paterson's 'Afterlife' presents nearly 200 amulets made from endangered materials, previously shown at Folkestone Triennial 2025. The gallery also launched a new career-development programme called Time + Space, inviting early-career artists to apply by 14 December 2025, with the first edition featuring Alberta Whittle and Aqsa Arif.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art Announces Major Exhibition and Long-Term Loan Partnership with Wyvern Collection

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) has announced a major exhibition and long-term loan partnership with the Wyvern Collection, a prestigious London-based private collection of medieval art. The first exhibition, "Medieval Art from the Wyvern Collection: Global Networks and Creative Connections," will open this fall, featuring more than 57 artworks on long-term loan combined with objects from BCMA's own holdings. The show highlights cross-cultural connections across a vast geographic range—from Japan to Mexico, northern Europe to Africa—challenging traditional Eurocentric views of the Middle Ages.

“Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art” at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth presents "Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art," co-organized with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, marking the first major Maya exhibition in the U.S. in a decade. Featuring 95 works, the show includes 50 objects never before seen in the U.S. and 17 recent archaeological discoveries, with contributions from 23 lenders including the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología in Guatemala and the INAH – Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. The exhibition is organized thematically around Creations, Day, Night, Rain, Maize, Knowledge, and Patron Gods, and highlights recent scholarship in Maya glyph decipherment, archaeology, and art interpretation.

Penarth artist holds first exhibition after a lifetime of painting

Stephen Stokes, a 66-year-old retired kitchen business owner from Penarth, Wales, has staged his first-ever art exhibition after a lifetime of painting. The show, held at Llanover Hall Arts Centre in Cardiff, features works spanning decades, including portraits, still lifes, and scenes painted from life. Stokes, who studied at art college in Liverpool in the 1980s, was inspired by post-Impressionist masters like Matisse, Van Gogh, and Monet. Around 80 people attended the opening, and several visitors expressed interest in purchasing his work, though he had not initially priced the pieces.

The Art of Performing Maintenance

This article explores the work of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who in 1969 wrote her "Manifesto for Maintenance Art" after experiencing a crisis of meaning following the birth of her first child. She proposed that routine maintenance tasks—like cleaning, cooking, and laundry—could be redefined as art when performed in public, particularly in museums. The article traces her early exhibitions at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, where she swept and mopped as performance, and her later projects interviewing passersby on New York City sidewalks and embedding herself in a Manhattan office building, where she invited workers to declare their maintenance tasks art.

Arts Center donates works for library sale

The Davis Arts Center (DAC) has donated approximately 100 artworks from its permanent collection to the Friends of the Davis Public Library for a sale starting this weekend. The works, mostly from the 1960s-1980s, include pieces by notable Davis-area artists such as Richard Nelson, Robert Arneson, Margery Mann, and Roland Petersen, and are priced under $100. The donation follows DAC's 2019 transformation from an exhibition space to a studio-focused nonprofit offering classes and camps, which led to most of its collection being placed in storage. DAC executive director Sam King enlisted Davis High School art teacher Luke Turner—a former museum professional—to help curate and place select pieces with institutions like the Mills College Art Museum and the Manetti Shrem Museum, while the remaining works are now being offered to the community at bargain prices.

Scotland’s oldest art exhibition marks 200 years with landmark show

The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in Edinburgh is celebrating its bicentenary with its largest annual exhibition to date, running from May 9 to June 14, 2026. Curated by artist Annie Cattrell under the theme "In-Time," the landmark 200th edition features hundreds of works by artists and architects, including invited contributions from Martin Creed and Cathie Pilkington. The event also introduces several new major prizes, such as the Jack Vettriano Award, bringing the total prize fund to over £25,000.

CONTACT Inaugural Fundraising Gala and Auction

The CONTACT Photography Festival has announced its inaugural fundraising gala and auction, titled PICTURE THIS, to be held on February 24, 2026, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA). The event celebrates the festival's 30th anniversary and features a high-profile auction of works by renowned artists including Edward Burtynsky, Carrie Mae Weems, and Suzy Lake. Led by auctioneer Stephen Ranger, the evening aims to secure the financial future of North America’s largest photography festival.

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s ‘Yes &…’ favors the process over the pretty

The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) has opened a new exhibition titled 'Yes &…', inspired by the improvisational comedy rule of accepting and building on ideas. Guest curators Donald Fodness and Tobias Fike selected 18 artists whose work emphasizes process over polish, featuring visible seams, fingerprints, and evidence of human decision-making across painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance. The exhibition includes interactive elements, such as a sculpture with hand-carved 'ice cubes' intended for viewers to take, and runs through May 3.

Art Department announces spring 2026 exhibitions, True Inspiration Artist in Residence

Furman University's Department of Art has announced its spring 2026 exhibition schedule at the Thompson Art Gallery, featuring three shows: Jessica Lambert's "Sportsball" (Jan. 12-Feb. 13), Alexa Wheeler's "ToastLab" (Feb. 19-March 27), and the 2026 Senior Thesis Exhibition. Wheeler will also serve as the spring 2026 True Inspiration Artist in Residence, working in an open studio and collaborating with university departments and the Greenville community. All events are free and open to the public.

What happens at a tattoo auction?

JOOPITER, the platform founded by Pharrell Williams, has launched a new auction titled "INKED: Tattoos by Contemporary Artists," curated by Sharon Coplan. The auction features sixteen international artists—including Sarah Andelman, Derrick Adams, Thom Browne, Jeffrey Gibson, Titus Kaphar, Marilyn Minter, Mickalene Thomas, and tattoo artist Dr. Woo—who each created a unique, signed drawing intended to be tattooed on skin or displayed as standalone artwork on paper. Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity, and the buyer may choose to have the design tattooed or keep it as a collectible print.

The Sky High Farm Biennial Cultivates Something Special

The Sky High Farm Biennial, curated by former Downtown art star Dan Colen, opened in a cold storage warehouse in Germantown, N.Y., featuring over 160 works by 50 artists across two floors. The exhibition is loosely themed around humanity's relationship with the natural world, with immersive installations by Anne Imhof (a maze of cider crates) and Rudolf Stingel (a mirrored floor requiring paper booties). Highlights include works by Nan Goldin, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Stephen Lichty, Carrol Dunham, Pia Camil, and Ann Craven. The show balances informal and polished elements, offering a breezy summer experience while serving as a thesis on artist community.

Boston Public Art Triennial launches with more than a dozen projects across the city

The inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial launches on 22 May, bringing over a dozen site-specific installations, performances, and community-led activities to public spaces and cultural institutions across Boston through October. With a projected cost of $8 million, the free event features newly commissioned works by artists including Stephen Hamilton, Swoon, Nicholas Galanin, Beatriz Cortez, and Ekene Ijeoma, exploring themes such as Indigenous experience, trauma and healing, social justice, and humanity's relationship with nature.