In Shanghai, a spectacular spiral opera house designed by Snøhetta is revealed

À Shanghai, un spectaculaire opéra en spirale conçu par l’agence Snøhetta se dévoile

The Shanghai Grand Opera House, a massive 147,000-square-meter cultural landmark designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta, has reached structural completion in the Houtan district. Inspired by the form of a traditional Chinese fan, the building features a dramatic white helical roof that doubles as a public walkway, connecting the urban landscape to the waterfront. The interior, which includes a 2,000-seat main hall and various modular spaces, is currently being finalized ahead of a scheduled opening in the second half of 2026.

L’œuvre « indocile » du photographe Guido Guidi exposée au BAL

The article announces the exhibition of photographer Guido Guidi's work at Le BAL in Paris, curated by Simona Antonacci, Pippo Ciorra, and Antonello Frongia, with scenography by Cyril Delhomme. The show, titled "Col tempo, 1956-2024," runs from February 20 to May 24, 2026, and was previously presented in a larger version at the MAXXI museum in Rome. Guidi, now 85, is described as the last of a generation of Italian photographers—alongside Luigi Ghirri and Ugo Mulas—who radically redefined photographic language through patient, obstinate reflection on the act of seeing.

À Annecy, le cinéma d’animation célébré toute l’année grâce à l’ouverture d’un lieu hybride et ambitieux en juin

A new permanent home for animation cinema, the Cité internationale du cinéma d'animation, will open in Annecy, France, on June 19, 2025, just before the annual Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Housed in a restored 19th-century horse stable (haras) listed as a historic monument, the 54-million-euro project includes a 450 m² permanent museum, a 332-seat cinema, temporary exhibition spaces, educational workshops, artist residencies, and image-education facilities. The city of Annecy contributes 30 million euros, with additional funding from the Haute-Savoie department, the state, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Designed by architecture firm dd.a and landscape architect Philippe Deliau, the center aims to be a hybrid, year-round hub for animation, blending heritage, creation, and transmission.

Art Central Enters Its Second Decade with a Discovery‑Led 11th Edition

Art Central 2026, the Hong Kong art fair, is launching its 11th edition with a record 117 galleries and over 500 artists. The event, staged on the Central Harbourfront, emphasizes discovery through large-scale installations, performances, and moving-image works, transforming its architecture into an immersive arena. It solidifies its role as a key regional platform.

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Construction on Barcelona’s Sagrada Família reached a historic milestone with the completion of the central Tower of Jesus Christ. The installation of a 56-foot cross atop the structure officially makes the basilica the tallest church in the world, fulfilling a key component of Antoni Gaudí’s original vision nearly a century after his death.

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David Adjaye has publicly spoken out against the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in 2023, calling a Financial Times article that detailed the claims “deeply unfair” and claiming he was caught in a “#MeToo slam.” In an interview with architecture critic Tim Abrahams for the podcast Superhumanism, reported by Dezeen, Adjaye said the FT story destabilized confidence in him and that there was no interest in hearing his side. He did not explain why he believed the reporting was unfair, despite having declined to comment to multiple outlets at the time. The allegations, which included sexual harassment and assault claims from three women, led several institutions to cut ties with Adjaye, most notably the Studio Museum in Harlem, which had just opened a new building designed by his firm.

Nymphs, mermaids and rosy cherubs: mansion filled with hidden wall paintings makes Victorian Society’s endangered buildings list

A derelict mansion called Parndon Hall, located within the grounds of Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, has been named to the Victorian Society’s annual list of the top ten at-risk buildings in England and Wales. The house, built in 1867, contains a hidden trove of wall paintings by the almost-forgotten Victorian artist Elizabeth Arkwright, who covered walls, ceilings, and doors with nymphs, mermaids, and cherubs—many still concealed under Edwardian whitewash. The building has been used for storage and has sat unoccupied since flood repairs in 2024.

K-Pop Band BTS Performed Two Songs from New Album ‘ARIRANG’ at the Guggenheim on Wednesday Morning

The K-pop group BTS performed two songs from their new album 'ARIRANG' in the main lobby of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The private, phone-free event for about 150 invited fans featured the tracks "SWIM" and "2.0," with leader RM performing seated for one song due to an ankle injury.

This Professor Won the ‘Bauhaus Bathroom’ Design Competition for the Gropius House

The New York Times Art section announced the winner of a competition to design a public restroom at the historic Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The winning design, dubbed the 'Bauhaus Bathroom,' was created by a professor whose identity has not been disclosed in the provided text. The competition aimed to add a functional, contemporary restroom that respects the iconic Bauhaus architecture of the house, which was designed by Walter Gropius in 1938.

Pedro Friedeberg, Whose Hand Chair Drew Outsize Attention, Dies at 90

Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexican surrealist artist and designer, has died at age 90. He was best known for his iconic "Hand Chair," a functional sculpture shaped like a hand that became a symbol of 1960s and '70s pop culture and design, as well as for his intricate, fantastical paintings of impossible architectures.

Rafał Zajko Is Hatching a Plan

Rafał Zajko's exhibition 'The Egg Egg' at Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Poland, brings together 50 works from the past decade across two floors of a former power station, organized into nine 'acts'. The show features modular installations like 'Funny Games' (2025), a set of pastel-colored platforms on wheels with ceramic reliefs, and monumental sculptures such as 'Sisyphus' (2025), a suspended ceramic bobbin evoking textile factory tools. Performances by Agnieszka Szczotka, including 'Song to the Siren' (2026), activate works like 'Amber Chamber III Echo' (2025), blending archaism, futurism, and themes of labor and technology.

The 15th-century Ca' Giustinian Faccanon reopens in Venice. It will be a space for exhibitions and events

A Venezia riapre il quattrocentesco Ca’ Giustinian Faccanon. Sarà uno spazio per mostre ed eventi

The historic Ca' Giustinian Faccanon, a rare example of Venetian Gothic architecture in the San Marco district, has reopened in Venice after over a year of restoration work. The 15th-century palace, acquired by entrepreneur Andrea Parisotto, will now serve as a space for exhibitions and events managed by Art Events and Cultural Real Estate Studio. During the 61st Venice Biennale, it will host the Vietnam Pavilion with the exhibition "Arte nel flusso globale" curated by Do Tuong Linh, marking Vietnam's first official participation, as well as a solo show by Korean sculptor Shim Moon-Seup titled "Harnessed From Nature."

The Great Festival of Contemporary Creativity in Parma Celebrates Its First 10 Years: The Events to See

Il grande festival di Parma sulla creatività contemporanea festeggia i suoi primi 10 anni: gli eventi da vedere

The Parma 360 Festival, a major contemporary creativity festival in Parma, Italy, celebrates its tenth edition with the theme "Lux. Visioni sulla Luce" (Lux: Visions of Light). Curated by Chiara Canali and Camilla Mineo, the festival features five exhibitions across special city locations, transforming Parma into a diffuse museum. Highlights include Antonio Barrese's "Morphology Light. Viaggio nella forma della luce" at Galleria San Ludovico, exploring light as plastic matter, and Michael Kenna's photographic exhibition "Il fiume Po. Scritture di luce" at Palazzo Pigorini, capturing the Po River through contemplative black-and-white imagery. Over its nine previous editions (2016–2025), the festival has presented more than 70 official exhibitions and involved over 200 artists.

Artist Pietro Roccasalva Without Respite: Genealogy of a Resilient Motif in the Milan Exhibition

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.

More UNESCO-Listed Sites Damaged by Airstrikes in Iran

Multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites in Iran, including the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan, have sustained significant damage from recent US-Israeli airstrikes. The attacks shattered historic windows, doors, and decorative tiles at several monuments in Isfahan's historic center, and also damaged the third-century Falak-ol-Aflak Citadel, despite the display of protective Blue Shield emblems.

Tiffany Chung’s exhibition at the AD&A Museum maps history within deep geological time

The Art, Design & Architecture (AD&A) Museum at UC Santa Barbara has launched "Tiffany Chung: indelible traces," a mid-career survey of the Vietnamese American artist and UCSB alumna. The exhibition features over 70 works spanning 25 years, including her signature hand-drawn and embroidered maps, video, and sculptural installations. Curated by Orianna Cacchione, the show highlights Chung’s use of cartography to challenge colonial narratives and document the complexities of forced migration, climate crises, and the movement of botanical organisms across continents.

Santa Monicas 1st Municipal Art Gallery To Open Soon

The City of Santa Monica is launching its first municipal art gallery, the Santa Monica City Gallery, located within the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The space will debut on April 10 with an inaugural exhibition titled “Case Study: Adapt,” which features architectural models developed by USC Architecture students in collaboration with professional firms. The opening event will include remarks from California for the Arts Executive Director Julie Baker and a commendation for State Senator Ben Allen.

McMichael Canadian Art Collection picks architect for museum expansion

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, has selected Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects (HPA) to lead a transformative redevelopment of its campus, the first major investment in the museum in over 40 years. The announcement was made during the opening night of the Art Toronto fair, where the museum hosted a fundraiser. The project, which includes expanded exhibition, education, and public programming spaces, is backed by up to C$50 million from the Ontario government (contingent on matching funds) and a previous C$25 million federal investment, though additional funding is still being sought.

An underground art park by Mike Hewson opens beneath the Art Gallery of NSW

New Zealand-born engineer-turned-artist Mike Hewson has opened 'The Key’s Under The Mat,' an interactive social sculpture inside the subterranean Nelson Packer Tank at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. The free exhibition, running from October 4, 2025 through 2026, transforms a former WWII oil reservoir into an art park featuring dozens of usable sculptures—including a functioning sauna, steam room, laundromat, playground, and barbecue—all made from thousands of salvaged objects. Visitors are encouraged to dwell, play, create, and even do laundry, with the artist describing the work as a 'handmade utopia.'

metropolitan museum of art's new rockefeller wing to open this weekend with public party

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen its Michael C. Rockefeller Wing on May 31, 2025, after a four-year renovation led by Kulapat Yantrasast and WHY Architecture. The redesigned wing houses the museum's collections of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Ancient Americas in distinct galleries with improved sight-lines, filtered daylight, and a more navigable layout. A day-long public festival featuring a ribbon-cutting, live performances, workshops, artist talks, and food will celebrate the opening.

At Chaumont-sur-Loire, incredible gardens recreate cult films

À Chaumont-sur-Loire, d’incroyables jardins recréent des films culte

The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire in France has launched the 2026 edition of its Festival International des Jardins, themed around cinema. Participants including gardeners, landscape designers, and artists—among them actresses Sabine Azéma, Golshifteh Farahani, and Mélanie Laurent, and director Momoko Seto—have transformed small plots into living landscapes inspired by iconic films and cinematic genres, such as a vegetal Cannes Film Festival and a garden based on James Cameron's *Avatar* trilogy. The festival runs from April 22 to November 1, 2026, alongside the estate's ongoing 'Saison d'art' exhibition featuring works by Marc Desgrandchamps, Antonio Crespo Foix, and others.

Serpentine announces 25th pavilion artists—and anniversary project honouring Zaha Hadid

The Serpentine Gallery in London has announced that Mexican architecture studio Lanza Atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, will design the 25th Serpentine Pavilion, titled "a serpentine," on view from June 6 to October 25. The pavilion draws inspiration from the English crinkle-crankle wall, featuring a translucent roof, brick columns, and a winding outdoor bench. To mark the anniversary, the Serpentine is collaborating with the Zaha Hadid Foundation on a dedicated architecture program at Serpentine South, exploring Hadid's legacy and contemporary architectural issues. The project is sponsored by Goldman Sachs, which has supported the pavilion for 12 years.

Inside Kashi Hallegua House, The Historic Kochi Mansion Hosting One of the Biennale’s Most Provocative Art Exhibition

The historic 200-year-old Kashi Hallegua House in Kochi's Jewish quarter has been transformed into Ishara House, hosting the exhibition "Amphibian Aesthetics" during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale season. Running from December 13, 2025, to March 31, 2026, the show features 12 international artists including Shilpa Gupta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Dima Srouji, with works responding directly to the building's architecture and maritime histories. The exhibition is organized by Ishara Art Foundation and curated with an "amphibian" lens, exploring themes of transition, climate crisis, and cultural displacement.

Claire Tabouret Unveils Designs for Notre Dame's New Stained Glass Windows

French artist Claire Tabouret has unveiled her designs for new stained-glass windows at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The full-scale ink-on-paper maquettes are now on display at the Grand Palais as part of her solo exhibition "In a Single Breath," running through March 15. The exhibition also includes sketches and preparatory works, offering insight into the production process at the Simon-Marq atelier. Tabouret was selected in December 2024 from over 100 artists in a competition hosted by the French Ministry of Culture, tasked with creating contemporary designs based on the Pentecost story. Her windows will replace 19th-century monochrome windows by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus in six bays along the south aisle of the nave.

Penang’s turtle-shaped art gallery officially opens its doors

The Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery, designed in the shape of a turtle, has officially opened at The Light Waterfront in Gelugor, Penang. The eight-storey museum houses a collection of over 1,000 artworks, with more than 400 on display through rotating exhibitions. It features an art education centre, permanent and special exhibition halls, and a sixth-floor global exhibition platform. The opening ceremony included remarks from Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and founder Prof Lin Xiang Xiong, who emphasized the gallery's mission of 'Art for Peace.' A special inaugural exhibition, 'Picasso and Lin Xiang Xiong: A Dialogue Across Time,' explores themes of anti-war, anti-poverty, and environmental awareness.

Tyler’s reimagined Pyramid Club gallery enters final exhibition month

Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University opened an archive exhibition at the Tyler Contemporary Art Gallery on September 5, reimagining the historic Pyramid Club, a cultural hub for Black professionals in North Philadelphia from 1937 to 1963. Curated by Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta, the show features 34 paintings and 35 photographs by John Mosely, alongside works by contemporary artists like Shawn Theodore, and draws from archives by William Dodd, Leslie Willis-Lowry, and the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection. The exhibition runs through its final month, with events drawing over 200 attendees.

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.

Christie’s highlights Arab artists in London auction

Christie’s is highlighting several Arab artists in its upcoming Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale, scheduled for November 6 in London with an online preview from October 28 to November 11. Featured works include Paul Guiragossian’s 'Automne,' a masterpiece from the 1980s that previously achieved the second-highest auction price for the artist; Abdulhalim Radwi’s 'Untitled,' a semi-abstract cityscape blending traditional architecture and modernist influences; Samia Halaby’s 'Gardenia' from her 'Diagonal Flight' series; Kamal Boullata’s 'Nocturne I,' exploring geometric abstraction and exile; Mahmoud Said’s 'Mekarzel Hill,' a landscape once owned by a former Egyptian prime minister; and Laila Shawa’s 'City of Peace (Jerusalem),' a socio-political commentary on Palestinian life under occupation.

Torggler Celebrates African American Artists And Their Stories

The Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center in Virginia will present two new exhibitions this fall: "Gateways: African American Art from the Key Collection" and "Transcendence" featuring works by Norfolk artist Luisa Adelfio. "Gateways" showcases ninety works from the collection of Eric Key, a Smithfield native who began collecting African American art in the 1990s as a means of exploring his identity and supporting Black artists, including pieces by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, and Elizabeth Catlett. "Transcendence" presents Adelfio's paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the last five years, blending Classical architecture, Renaissance panel painting, and Surrealism, with a series titled "Corona Chronicles" that juxtaposes domestic objects with pandemic-era headlines.

Sarasota Art Museum celebrates 100th anniversary of Art Deco with exhibition of 100 rare advertisement posters

The Sarasota Art Museum will open an exhibition titled "Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration" on August 31, featuring 100 rare fine art advertisement posters from the 1920s and '30s. The posters, created by early master graphic designers such as A. M. Cassandre and Leonetto Cappiello, are drawn from the Crouse Collection, considered the most significant private collection of its kind. The exhibition also includes sculptural works, cocktail shakers, and Art Deco furniture on loan from the Wolfsonian Museum at Florida International University.