Colombo’s skyline has undergone a radical transformation into a forest of glass and steel towers, epitomized by projects like the Lotus Tower and Port City. This rapid urbanization, driven by a state ambition to create a 'world-class city' following decades of civil war, has resulted in the displacement of local neighborhoods and the burial of historical layers under new infrastructure.
India has announced its artist lineup for the 61st Venice Biennale, featuring Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Asim Waqif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi. The national pavilion, located in the Arsenale, will showcase a diverse range of installations that explore themes of architectural memory, environmental sustainability, and the physical processes of nature. From Tashi’s recreations of Ladakhi homes using recycled materials to Singh’s spectral thread-based architectural fragments, the works collectively examine the fragility of heritage and the shifting relationship between humans and their environments.
A major retrospective of artist and writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha highlights her pioneering work in feminist conceptual art, focusing on videos and performances that explore displacement, language, and the violence of cultural hegemony. The exhibition, born from recent reassessments of her legacy, reconstructs the image of an artist whose brief career anticipated contemporary struggles with nationalism and identity.
Artist Delaine Le Bas is the featured guest on the fourth episode of the ArtReview Podcast, where she discusses her practice and influences with senior digital editor Chiara Wilkinson. Le Bas selects three works as lenses for the conversation: her own large-scale mural "Un-Fair-Ground" created at Glastonbury Festival, her installation "Witch House" at the Whitworth, and the 1969 film "The Color of Pomegranates."
San Francisco's Vaillancourt Fountain, a Brutalist concrete structure at Embarcadero Plaza since 1971, caught fire on Wednesday morning as workers used blow torches to disassemble it. The fire ignited rubber tubing and debris inside the sculpture's cantilevered arms, producing smoke that forced the temporary evacuation of nearby paddle board courts. The fountain is being removed to make way for a $32.5 million redevelopment of the plaza and playground into a five-acre park.
Major layoffs have hit Artnet and Artsy following their consolidation under the UK-based investment firm Beowolff Capital. The staff reductions occurred just one day after the merger announcement and include the departure of veteran Artnet News reporters Sarah Cascone and Eileen Kinsella, who both served the publication for over a decade. As part of the restructuring, Artnet will also shutter its German entity, while Andrew Russeth has been tapped to serve as interim editor.
L’artista Pietro Roccasalva senza tregua: genealogia di un motivo resiliente nella mostra a Milano
Italian artist Pietro Roccasalva presents a new body of work at MASSIMODECARLO’s Casa Corbellini-Wassermann in Milan, titled "Io ti saluto luce, ma con nervi offesi." The exhibition features a series of paintings characterized by dense stratification, featuring recurring motifs like a disheveled child, a bride with a tennis racket, and metamorphic animals. These works function as visual deposits where cultural references and personal iconography overlap, creating a theatrical dialogue with the gallery’s historic architecture.
Tutta la poesia del cielo in mostra nel grand hotel di Roma per ricordarci la nostra stessa complessità
Artist Giovanni Ozzola has opened a solo exhibition titled 'Il Cielo Dentro' (The Sky Within) at the Galleria Continua's space within The St. Regis hotel in Rome. The show features works centered on the sky as a metaphor for the vastness both outside and within the human experience, exploring the tension between internal and external horizons through light and abandoned architectural spaces like bunkers.
The City of Santa Monica has officially opened the Santa Monica City Gallery, its first municipal art space, located within the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The gallery launched with the inaugural exhibition "Case Study: Adapt," which showcases architectural models designed by students and professional firms to address housing needs for families displaced by the 2025 California wildfires. The venue is designed to host a rotating schedule of exhibitions, artist residencies, and selections from the city’s permanent Art Bank collection.
第10回マックスマーラ・アート・プライズ・フォー・ウィメン
The 10th Max Mara Art Prize for Women has been awarded to Indonesian artist Dian Suci, marking the first time the prize has been held in Asia. Suci was selected from five finalists for her project "Crafting Spirit: Cultural Dialogues in Heritage and Practice," which examines the intersection of religious craftsmanship traditions and capitalist systems. The prize is organized in partnership with the Museum MACAN in Jakarta. Suci will undertake a six-month residency in Italy, followed by solo exhibitions in 2027 at both Museum MACAN and Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia.
A new exhibition titled 'About Women' featuring seven decades of work by photographer Dorothy Bohm opens at Farleys House & Gallery, the former home of photographer Lee Miller. The show highlights Bohm's female-focused street photography, spanning from black-and-white to color work, and draws a direct connection to Miller's legacy.
Hurricane Melissa has devastated Jamaica and Haiti, causing deadly floods and landslides before moving on to Cuba. The storm forced the closure of major cultural institutions in Kingston, including the National Gallery of Jamaica (closed since October 24) and the Bob Marley Museum, which announced it would remain shut until further notice. The National Gallery offered artists advice on protecting their work, such as removing art from walls, storing it above ground, and anchoring outdoor sculptures. At least 30 deaths have been reported across the region, with Jamaica declared a disaster area.
Art21, in partnership with the CHANEL Culture Fund, launched its new "IRL/url" documentary series with a celebratory event at New York's Roxy Cinema. The series profiles eight contemporary artists—including Neïl Beloufa, Jacky Connolly, and Sara Cwynar—who navigate the blended realms of physical and digital creation. Art21's executive director emphasized the urgency of capturing this moment, as artists grapple with rapid technological advances, particularly in AI.
Art21 successfully concluded its Fall 2025 festival season, with its films being screened at multiple international festivals including Artecinema in Italy, Bushwick Film Festival in New York, and others in Massachusetts, New Mexico, and North Carolina. The organization also participated as a sponsor and panelist at DOC NYC, and several of its recent films featuring artists like Sophie Calle, Dyani White Hawk, and Guadalupe Maravilla received recognition.
Mumbai-based contemporary artist Pooja Bhansali is making her debut solo exhibition, "Grid & Garden," at Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda. The show features works that blend painting, textile, and sculpture, using materials like herringbone tweed, silk brocade, and wool felt on custom wooden structures. Series include "Wave Grid," "The Golden Realm," "The Beehive Series," and "Water Garden Triptych," exploring themes of structure, fluidity, nature, and luxury.
Meriem Bennani, a New York-based artist known for her shape-shifting practice of videos, installations, and immersive environments, gained viral fame during the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. She co-created the animated series '2 Lizards' with fellow artist Orian Barki, which depicted surreal, humorous conversations between anthropomorphic reptiles navigating the first weeks of the pandemic in New York City. The series, posted on Instagram, resonated widely and led to eight episodes. Bennani's broader work, including 'Life on the CAPS' (2018–2022) and 'Mission Teens' (2019), blends digital animation, live-action footage, and cultural critique, often exploring themes of diaspora, post-colonialism, and migration through dystopian, supernatural narratives.
The National Gallery of Australia has officially opened 'Ngura Puḻka — Epic Country,' a landmark exhibition featuring 30 large-scale paintings by 49 First Nations artists from the APY Lands. The show, which features works predominantly measuring three-by-three meters, highlights the Tjukurpa (lore and ceremony) of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara regions. The opening follows a significant three-year delay caused by an independent investigation into allegations of improper interference by non-Indigenous staff.
Johannesburg-based artist Nyakallo Maleke presents her solo exhibition, 'A Soft Language of Distance,' at Bode in Berlin. The show features an expanded practice of drawing that incorporates textiles, wax paper, and intricate stitching to explore themes of movement, memory, and spatial experience. Maleke, who was recently named the recipient of the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, utilizes these unconventional materials to create a tactile vocabulary that bridges the gap between intimate gesture and architectural form.
The Ayala Foundation has announced the development of the Kontempo Center for Contemporary Art in Manila, appointing Reuben Keehan as its inaugural artistic director. Designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture in collaboration with Lor Calma & Partners, the center will be located on the site of a former racetrack in Circuit Makati. The facility will prioritize exhibitions, commissions, and public programming over a permanent collection, featuring three large galleries and extensive green space for public art installations.
Yoonshin Park's solo exhibition "Prompt and Prompted" is on view at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, featuring artists' books, video, and paper-based works that explore reading, memory, and materiality. The show includes pieces from Park's "How (Not) to Read" series, such as the unfurled scroll "I can no longer see. Whose story remains?" (2022), alongside works like "Partial Reading," "Night," and "Neither Flat Nor Fixed," accompanied by a video of the artist manipulating materials that generates a white-noise soundtrack.
The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tennessee, will host "Of Mark & Meaning: American Women Artists" from February 13 to April 26, 2026, as part of its ongoing "Celebrating Women Artists" series. The exhibition features 105 works selected from 791 entries by professional women artists, including world-renowned figures such as Paula B. Holtzclaw, Sherrie McGraw, Diana Reuter-Twining, Taylor Wiedemann, and Star Liana York. Selection jurors include Vivian Chiu, Marcia Goldenstein, and Kirsten Kokkin, while award judges include Katie Delmez, Sharon Louden, and Nandini Makrandi. Artists compete for over $30,000 in prizes, including a $10,000 Grand Prize. A related Symposium of Women in the Arts will take place at the Frist Art Museum on April 25, 2026, featuring a keynote by Sharon Louden.
The University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG) opened an exhibition titled "i look to the skies," a solo installation by Palestinian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist Jude Abu Zaineh. The work centers on Maqlouba, a traditional Palestinian dish, as a metaphor for diaspora, memory, and cultural preservation. The installation incorporates bioart, video, sculpture, textiles, and petri dishes cultivated from food remnants and foraged materials, creating a contemplative sanctuary that explores themes of exile, migration, and identity under colonial violence.
Sotheby's announced it will open its new global headquarters at the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue in New York on November 8th. The inaugural weekend will feature a major exhibition of modern and contemporary art, with marquee auctions scheduled for the week of November 17th. The building, originally designed by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer for the Whitney Museum, has been renovated by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with PBDW Architects, adding new salesrooms, climate control, and a second-floor gallery while preserving the original design.
The Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics in Chicago has opened a new group exhibition titled "Perspectives from Japan," featuring works by eight Japanese artists, including master mosaicist Toyoharu Kii. Kii, known for his monochromatic white marble pieces, has taught at the Chicago Mosaic School for over a decade and traveled from Tokyo for the show, which runs through July 12. The exhibition aims to highlight the artistic sophistication of mosaic as a contemporary fine-art medium.
Paul Chan, the artist known for his early digital video works, is preparing for a new exhibition at Greene Naftali titled "Automa Mon Amour," opening March 12, featuring his latest "breathers"—kinetic windsock-like sculptures powered by fans. Chan, who quit making art in 2009 to found the indie publishing house Badlands Unlimited, has since returned to art-making with analog-focused works, yet simultaneously developed Paul’ (Paul Prime), a sophisticated AI project that creates a digital version of himself using his personal data, writings, and interviews. The article explores the contradiction between Chan's rejection of screens and his engagement with highly technical, code-intensive digital art.
The Dalmore whisky distillery hosted a private panel discussion in San Francisco, featuring architect Ben Dobbin of Foster + Partners and artist Sarah Meyohas, moderated by CULTURED Executive Editor Mara Veitch. The event, held at Studio at Mission Rock, brought together local gallerists, designers, and art enthusiasts to explore the intersection of fine art, architecture, and commercial practice. Dobbin was recently selected for the third iteration of The Dalmore's Luminary series, collaborating with master distillers to create limited edition whiskies housed in his custom bronze sculpture and bespoke case.
The Serpentine Summer Party took place in London's Kensington Gardens, drawing a glamorous crowd to celebrate Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum's 25th Anniversary Serpentine Pavilion, titled "A Capsule in Time." Co-hosted by actor Cate Blanchett, the event featured musical performances by Caroline Polachek and GALLiVANTER, along with exhibitions by Giuseppe Penone and Sir Peter Cook. Notable attendees included Serpentine Board Chairman Michael Bloomberg, Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, CEO Bettina Korek, and a host of celebrities and cultural figures.
Paola Siri Renard presents "Double Star" at nouveaux deuxdeux in Munich, featuring sculptures assembled from fragments of architectural ornaments, equestrian monuments, industrial display systems, and skeletal forms. Her work extracts elements from historical structures—spanning Gothic, Greco-Roman, and Art Nouveau styles—and reconfigures them into unstable, evocative constellations.
Walter Pichler's exhibition "Die Bleche und ich gehen heim" (The Sheets of Metal and I Are Going Home) is being presented at Contemporary Fine Arts in Basel. The show features a significant body of the artist's work, stemming from a long-standing relationship between the gallery and Pichler that began with an invitation in 1994.
A 125-year-old dairy barn converted into a contemporary art museum will open May 1 in Indianapolis's Garfield Park neighborhood. The Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), founded by Big Car Collaborative co-founders Jim Walker and Shauta Marsh, spans 40,000 square feet and includes six exhibition spaces, 18 artist studios, five storefronts for creative businesses, a performance space, a cafe, and a culinary arts area. The museum will be free to the public, with its inaugural exhibition featuring Puerto Rican painter Ivelisse Jiménez in the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery. CAMi aims to offer a welcoming, barrier-free environment—no security guards, no stern signage—and will focus on paying artists to create work rather than acquiring a permanent collection.