A critic's visit to the 36th Bienal de São Paulo led to a pointed critique of the exhibition's didactic strategy. The show, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, featured floor-mounted placards with QR codes, poorly placed basic labels, and extremely lengthy omnibus section texts, creating a frustrating experience that oscillated between providing too little and too much information.
The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is presenting the exhibition 'Small Living Things: The Magical Art of Eric Carle.' The show, organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, features original artwork from Carle's classic children's books, process sketches, and related cultural objects, including a 1996 McDonald's Happy Meal toy series and a bronze sculpture of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It runs from February 14 through May 24, supported by several donors and foundations.
The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston has launched two new exhibitions, 'The Uncanny In-Between' and 'Mud + Corn + Stone + Blue,' both running through March 14. The first features ceramic works by five Korean artists exploring bicultural identity, while the second presents works by artists from the U.S. Corn Belt and Central America, weaving together themes of agriculture, history, and political intervention.
The Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center has opened a new exhibition titled "Fashioning Architecture," on view through August 9. Curated by executive director Christine Vendredi, the show examines the spatial and hierarchical dynamics of fashion shows—such as the front row, runway, and backstage—treating them as architectural constructs. It features photography, video, and objects including audience T-shirts from Virgil Abloh's Spring/Summer 2019 Louis Vuitton show and a LaQuan Smith dress from New York Fashion Week, alongside historical Palm Springs fashion moments like a 1939 Racquet Club show and Nicolas Ghesquière's 2015 Louis Vuitton cruise show at the Bob Hope House.
Jack Lang, France's former culture minister, resigned as president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) on February 7 following revelations in the Epstein files that his name appeared 673 times. Lang, 86, denies any wrongdoing, acknowledging a long "cordial relationship" with Jeffrey Epstein but claiming ignorance of his sex crimes. The Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into Lang and his daughter Caroline for "laundering of aggravated tax fraud," and Lang stepped down after being summoned by the French foreign ministry at the request of President Macron and Prime Minister Lecornu.
Pace University Art Gallery presents *Summer Remembers Winter*, a solo exhibition by painter Siobhan McBride, opening February 14, 2026. The show features new works exploring disjointed spaces, memory, and identity shaped by dislocation, reflecting McBride's experience as a Korean-born, U.S.-raised adoptee. The exhibition includes a free public reception on February 19 and an artist talk on March 5, running through March 21, 2026.
The Vancouver Art Gallery is opening a major exhibition titled 'That Green Ideal: Emily Carr and the Idea of Nature' on February 6. This is the most comprehensive show of Carr's work in over two decades, focusing on her evolving vision of nature and drawing primarily from the gallery's own collection of her paintings.
India is returning to the Venice Biennale after a seven-year hiatus with a national pavilion in the Arsenale. The presentation, titled 'Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home,' will feature five artists: Alwar Balasubramaniam (Bala), Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Asim Waqif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi. The exhibition is curated by Amin Jaffer and is backed by India's Ministry of Culture and two cultural institutions.
The Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) is presenting the exhibition 'Don’t mind if I do,' a project conceived by artist Finnegan Shannon. The show features a 25-foot conveyor belt loop that displays 30 small, touchable sculptures by eight artists, allowing visitors to view the art from comfortable seating without needing to move through the gallery. The project originated from a 2019 residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and has toured to several university galleries before arriving at Smith.
Chicago-based artist Jan Tichy has created a new exhibition titled 'Darkness' at Michigan State University's Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The project is the result of a nearly nine-month collaboration with four MSU labs, most prominently the Department of Entomology, where Tichy worked with researchers and students to incorporate insects and scientific methods like blacklight sampling into the artwork.
Princeton University Art Museum has opened its inaugural exhibition in its new building, focusing on the work of ceramic artist and longtime faculty member Toshiko Takaezu. The show, 'Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay,' features her 'closed form' ceramics alongside works by her contemporaries, highlighting her artistic experimentation and her nearly three-decade tenure teaching at the university.
The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum will present "Autoethnography," a solo exhibition by artist Sharif Bey, from February 12 to July 19. The show features a comprehensive range of Bey's work, from functional pottery to figurative sculptures, shields, and large-scale necklaces, tracing the evolution of his practice.
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is presenting *Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings*, the first survey of the late conceptual artist’s work in over two decades. Running from January 24 to April 19, the exhibition draws on BAMPFA’s substantial holdings of Cha’s art and archives, showcasing her multidisciplinary practice—including concrete poetry, mail art, textiles, ceramics, performance, and film. Curator Victoria Sung, alongside curatorial associate Tausif Noor, aims to de-emphasize Cha’s best-known work, *Dictée*, and instead highlight the fluidity of her process, revisiting themes across different media from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. The show features a recreation of her 1980 film *Exilée*, documentation of performances such as *Réveillé dans la Brume* (1977), and early ceramics and textiles never before shown publicly.
The Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill will open two new exhibitions on January 30, 2026. "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men" presents introspective portraits of male students from Durham School of the Arts, exploring masculinity through photography and audio interviews. "Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection" reimagines modernist works from the museum's collection in a dense, single-wall installation inspired by 19th-century Parisian Salons.
Two museum exhibitions, one at Americas Society in New York and another at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, are reframing perceptions of Amazon civilizations by centering the artistic and cultural traditions of the region's Indigenous peoples. The New York show, "Amazonia Açu" (on view through April 18, 2026), features works by artists including Sara Flores, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, PV Dias, and the film collective Colectivo Tawna, blending mediums and challenging Western distinctions between art and craft. The Paris exhibition, "Amazônia – Indigenous Creations and Futures" (through January 18), presents the Amazon as a culturally rich, inhabited ecosystem rather than a pristine wilderness.
Iranian galleries have closed or altered their hours as nationwide protests, sparked by economic turmoil and a crashing currency, escalated into violent unrest. The protests began on 28 December among bazaar traders and spread to artists and gallerists, with many shutting their doors or canceling exhibitions, some under public pressure. A government-imposed internet and communications blackout on 8 January has severely limited information, though one gallerist speaking anonymously described the closures as a unified act of solidarity across society, not merely a response to safety concerns. The gallerist noted that the economy is in its worst condition, with basic necessities unaffordable and even bubble-wrap prices fluctuating wildly. Another gallery founder confirmed that all projects are on hold, and staging exhibitions risks public backlash. Instagram account Galleryinfo.ir faced online criticism for promoting exhibitions during the crisis, while Bavan Gallery reversed its initial stance of "resilience is an art form" and announced it would hold no exhibitions.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has opened 'Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art', a major exhibition featuring over 250 works spanning nearly 3,000 years, from pre-Hispanic times to the present day. Curated by Kimberly Masteller, the show is the first presentation of Mesoamerican art at the museum in nearly 40 years and includes textiles, ceramics, paintings, murals, and codices organized by color categories—white, blue/green/yellow, and red/black—to explore the cultural and spiritual significance of color in Mesoamerican traditions.
The Marietta Cobb Museum of Art (MCMA) in Georgia is presenting its first juried exhibition focused exclusively on wood art and woodworking, titled "Georgia Wood Artists: A Juried Exhibition." Curated by Madeline Beck, the show features works selected from over 150 submissions by artists living in Georgia, including Arnold Abelman, Jody Pollack, Abraham Tesser, Thomas Williams, and Doug Pisik. The exhibition highlights a range of techniques such as carving, woodturning, marquetry, intarsia, joinery, and epoxy woodworking, and runs from January 10 to March 22, 2026.
Fine artist Vanessa Johansson is presenting her debut solo exhibition in the Sky Garden Penthouse of Gramercy’s 200E20TH in New York City. The show features atmospheric acrylic abstract paintings, displayed in a residential setting that complements CetraRuddy’s contemporary architecture. Johansson, who studied at the Art Students League, will next participate in the group exhibition “Women and Abstraction” at Pierre Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris.
The University of Kentucky Art Museum has announced its Spring 2026 exhibition lineup, running from February 3 to June 27, alongside the first Robert C. May Endowed Photography Lecture of the semester. The season features two main exhibitions: "Ecstatic Personas," a group show exploring joy as a radical force with works by Carlos Rosales-Silva and Shannon Alonzo, and "Harry Gamboa Jr.: The Early, The Late, The Lost," a career-spanning survey of the artist's photography, performance, and writing. Gamboa, a co-founder of the influential collective Asco, will also deliver a lecture on March 27 as part of the photography lecture series.
Humid Traces, curated by Federico Pérez Villoro, is an exhibition at an unnamed New York venue that examines how bodies of water are weaponized as borders amid climate change and extreme weather. The show features international artists—including Dele Adeyemo, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Zishaan A Latif, Caio Reisewitz, Susan Schuppli, Marisa Srijunpleang, Studio Folder, and Leonel Vásquez—whose works in installation, sound, photography, video, and data visualization reveal the violent effects of migration-control technologies and water's material memory.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has announced its January 2026 schedule, headlined by the special exhibition "Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection," running through January 25. The month-long program includes a wide range of free events such as Kimbell Kids Drop-In Studios, docent tours, lectures like "Women of a Certain Age" by Jessica L. Fripp, film screenings including "Destination: Ancient Rome," family festivals, sensory-friendly hours, and guided tours of the museum's iconic buildings designed by Louis I. Kahn and Renzo Piano.
Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, has been knighted in the UK New Year Honours list for 2026, recognized for his services to museums. Other art-world figures honored include curator Ekow Eshun (OBE), art historian Marcia Pointon (OBE), cultural heritage expert Janet Blake (OBE), Jo Quinton-Tulloch of the National Science and Media Museum (OBE), Susan Bowers of the Pilgrim Trust (MBE), and Hilary McGrady of the National Trust (CBE).
UCR ARTS' California Museum of Photography presents "Transgresoras: Mail Art and Messages, 1960s–2020s," an exhibition guest co-curated by Zanna Gilbert of the Getty Research Institute and Elena Shtromberg of the University of Utah. Running from September 13, 2025, to February 15, 2026, the show features over 50 Latinx and Latin American women artists who used mail art to subvert authoritarian censorship, turning the government's own postal system into a tool for creative expression across militarized borders. The exhibition includes video, sculpture, paintings, prints, and installations, organized into thematic sections addressing state control, gender, migration, colonialism, and ecology.
Burning Man art is increasingly appearing in museums, cities, and regional events worldwide, moving beyond the temporary desert environment of Black Rock City. Artists like Miki Masuhara-Page and Walker Babington have brought their interactive sculptures—such as 'Cosmic Messenger' and 'Burden of the Beast'—to venues including the Portland Winter Light Festival and The Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia. The Black Rock City Honoraria Program, funded by the nonprofit Burning Man Project, supports approximately 75 artworks annually, while the Art department assists nearly 400 pieces destined for the playa.
USC Pacific Asia Museum (USC PAM) has announced "Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry," a major exhibition conceived by Los Angeles–based Korean American artist Dave Young Kim. Opening February 14, 2026, the 12-room immersive installation blends approximately 100 objects from the museum's collection—spanning 5,000 years of Asian and Pacific art—with new media technology and contemporary works by over 20 artists, including Dinh Q. Lê, Lily Honglei, Wendy Park, Momoko Schafer, Kyungmi Shin, Sanjay Vora, and Lauren YS. The exhibition uses mythology as a visual language to explore the immigrant experience, featuring environments like a shadowy night crossing, a recreated first apartment, and a gilded room with a gold Jin Chan frog. A limited public preview runs December 20, 2025–January 4, 2026.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art announced a new exhibition, "Of the Hills: Pahari Paintings from India's Himalayan Kingdoms," on view from April 18 to July 26, 2026. Featuring 48 paintings and colored drawings, the show includes canonical masterpieces and never-before-displayed works from the renowned Benkaim Collection, acquired by the museum in 2017–2018. The exhibition explores collaboration and creativity across three key periods from 1620 to 1830, highlighting intricate details, naturalistic figures, and vivid stylizations created with materials like ground pigments, beetle wings, and gold.
Istanbul Modern's annual Gala Modern fundraising auction raised ₺29.6 million (over $693,000) through the sale of 12 artworks, with Azade Köker's specially created collage 'Orchestra' achieving the top price of ₺6 million (over $140,500). The event, held at the museum during a private gala, featured a Support Auction with contributions from 13 Turkish and international artists, drawing collectors, patrons, and cultural figures including Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
Isaiah Davis '25, a visual arts alumnus of Columbia School of the Arts, opened his third solo exhibition, 'Confessions of Fire,' at King's Leap gallery in Chinatown this fall. The exhibition, which runs through December 20, 2025, features steel sculptures and enamel paintings on metal that explore Black masculinity through the motifs of leather culture and steel, inspired by rapper Cam'ron's debut album. ARTnews named it one of New York's best exhibitions of 2025, with senior editor Alex Greenberger praising the sculpture 'Slave (2025)' as the most surprising work of the year. The New York Times critic Travis Diehl and Frieze critic George Egerton-Warburton also gave it positive reviews.
A group of experimental Minnesota artists in the 1970s, frustrated with the established art scene, successfully pitched the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) to create the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP). Launched in 1975, MAEP gave artists direct control over curating a dedicated gallery within the museum, selecting their peers for exhibitions. Fifty years later, the program remains active, with artists chosen through an open call and an advisory committee, and has featured influential figures like Phyllis Wiener, Judy Onofrio, and George Morrison.