Folkestone Triennial 2025 review: environmental catastrophe—but also hope, joy and a jolly salamander

The Folkestone Triennial 2025, titled "The Lie of the Land," features 18 artists across the seaside town in southeast England. Works include Sara Trillo's chalk cob sculptures inspired by Iron Age urns, Emilija Skarnulyte's film on nuclear decommissioning at Lithuania's Ignalina plant, Katie Paterson's amulet installation made from planetary crisis materials, and Cooking Sections' activist project on UK sewerage pollution. The triennial runs through the ancient port's historic role as a site of arrival and departure.

Remembering Sebastião Salgado, world builder, photographer of collective humanity and prophet of possibility

Sebastião Salgado, the legendary Brazilian photographer known for his monumental documentary projects capturing collective humanity and environmental activism, has died. Born in 1944 in Aimorés, Brazil, Salgado studied economics at the University of São Paulo and was exiled to France for political activism before turning to photography in the 1970s. He joined Magnum Photos in 1979 and went on to create epic, multi-year projects such as "Workers" (1986-93), "Migrations" (1993-99), "Genesis" (2005-13), and "Amazônia" (2011-19), which redefined documentary practice through total immersion and scale. His work earned him the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador role, and numerous awards including the W. Eugene Smith Grant and the Royal Photographic Society’s Centenary Medal.

Pussy Riot co-founder starts Los Angeles prison performance with existential scream

Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of Pussy Riot, began a durational performance titled "Police State" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on June 5, 2025. Inside a mock prison cell at the Geffen Contemporary, she screams, plays a pink toy piano, synthesizer, and laptop, and layers live music with sampled prison noises to create an 80-hour experimental soundscape. The performance, running until June 15, references her own 2012 imprisonment in Russia for an anti-Putin protest. On the fourth day, MOCA closed due to clashes between ICE agents, the California National Guard, and protesters over immigrant raids, prompting Tolokonnikova to post: "Police State exhibit closed today due to police state."

A Pioneering Exhibition at the MAC in Barranco

A PIONEERING EXHIBITION AT THE MAC IN BARRANCO

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC Lima) and the Lima Art Museum (MALI) have launched "Thought is a Hybrid Garden," a comprehensive exhibition spanning six decades of work by Francesco Mariotti and María Luy. The show draws from the Mariotti-Luy Archive and features light installations, acoustic works, and silkscreens that blend technology with Amazonian myths and environmental activism. Curated by Miguel A. López and José-Carlos Mariátegui, the exhibition includes never-before-seen works in Peru, such as the "Hybrid Gardens" series which uses bioluminescence as a metaphor for ecological health.

ECUADOR UNVEILS KANUA IN THE CANALS OF VENICE

Ecuador has unveiled "Kanua: listening practices," a public program for its pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, launching on May 8 with solar-powered boat tours through Venice's canals. Developed by the anticolonial film collective Tawna in collaboration with the Kara Solar Foundation and curated by Manuela Moscoso, the project features six intimate boat journeys with discussions on extractivism, aqua-feminism, and territorial resistance, involving artists such as Carolina Caycedo, Mariana Castillo Deball, and Tabita Rezaire. The initiative reactivates Tawna's floating Amazonian film festival, which originally brought cinema to remote communities in Ecuador via a solar-powered boat.

There are 21 artists supporting the new voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla that set sail from Sicily with painted sails

Ci sono 21 artisti a sostegno del nuovo viaggio della Global Sumud Flotilla salpata dalla Sicilia con vele dipinte

A new humanitarian mission by the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail on April 26 from Augusta, Sicily, with 59 Italian and Spanish boats heading toward Gaza. The flotilla, which follows a first attempt in September 2025 that ended with activists arrested by the Israeli military, aims to deliver humanitarian aid by early May. Twenty-one artists have joined the initiative, called Vele d'Arte, painting the sails of the boats with symbolic artworks. Among the participating artists are Gio Pistone, Antonio Curcio, Escif, Lydia Giordano, Glenda Costa, Millo, Elia Novecento, MP5, Matteo Todeschini, Alleg, Sam3, Okuda, Antonella Santonocito, Fabrizio Foti, Igor Scalisi Palmiteri, Andrea Sposari, and Salvo Ligama. The project was conceived by Carlo Alberto Giardina, who hopes the energy painted on the sails will transform into positive forces.

Two American artists have invented a pedal-powered basketball court that now arrives in Milan to regenerate the suburbs

Due artisti americani hanno inventato un campo da basket a pedali che ora arriva a Milano per rigenerare le periferie

Artists Marisa Morán Jahn and Rafi Segal, both faculty members at MIT, have brought their 'HOOPCycle' project to Milan for Design Week. The installation consists of a mobile basketball hoop mounted on a cargo bike, designed to transform urban spaces into spontaneous playgrounds and community hubs. This Italian iteration features backboards made from recycled plastic by the design collective IlVespaio and includes a vertical hoop inspired by the ancient Mesoamerican game of pok-ta-pok.

Tania El Khoury’s Soothing “Revenge Art”

Lebanese artist and Bard College professor Tania El Khoury discusses her multidisciplinary practice and her recent experience living through the escalation of conflict in Beirut. The interview highlights her interactive performance piece, "The Search for Power," which uses her own 2018 wedding blackout as a jumping-off point to investigate the colonial roots of Lebanon's systemic infrastructure failures. Originally set for a Beirut run in March, the production was postponed due to the outbreak of war.

The Forgotten of Art: The Story of Architect and Sculptor Pietro De Laurentiis

I dimenticati dell’arte. La storia dell’architetto e scultore Pietro De Laurentiis

The life and legacy of Pietro De Laurentiis, a multifaceted Italian architect, sculptor, and cultural activist, are being rediscovered through a retrospective look at his prolific career. Born into a peasant family in Abruzzo, De Laurentiis rose to prominence in Rome's mid-century art scene, balancing a forty-year teaching career at the Faculty of Architecture with significant public commissions, including bronze panels for the ACEA headquarters and marble works for INPS. His artistic style evolved from rural-inspired figuration to a unique geometric abstraction that blended Cubism with folk traditions.

International Friendship Park, at the western end of the U.S.-Mexico border, is focus of new art exhibition

A new art exhibition titled “Occupy Thirdspace III: The Park” opens at San Diego’s Central Library, focusing on International Friendship Park, a state park at the western end of the U.S.-Mexico border. Co-curated by Sara Solaimani and Natalia Ventura, the show features three artist collectives—Las Comadres, Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS), and Friends of International Friendship Park—to visually tell the park’s story. The park opened in 1971 as a meeting place for families divided by the border but has been closed on the U.S. side since 2020, while remaining open on the Mexico side. The exhibition is the third installment in Solaimani’s series exploring Henri Lefebvre’s concept of “third spaces” as symbolic sites that challenge systems of power.

Pavilions of the Venice Biennale go on strike

Pavillons der Venedig-Biennale werden bestreikt

Cultural workers and participants of the Venice Biennale went on strike on Friday, protesting Israel's participation in the art exhibition. Organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) alongside several cultural groups and Italian grassroots unions, the 24-hour walkout led to the closure of several national pavilions on the final preview day. A rally was planned near the Arsenale grounds. The strike aims to oppose the "normalization of genocide in culture" and poor working conditions at the Biennale, following an earlier open letter signed by over 230 artists and curators demanding the exclusion of the Israeli pavilion. Israel is represented by sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, who opposes cultural boycotts and advocates for dialogue. The Biennale's leadership has distanced itself from the strike, emphasizing adherence to regulations and support for freedom of speech and pluralism.

Climate Activists Smear Palazzo Vecchio

Klimaaktivisten beschmieren Palazzo Vecchio

Members of the climate activist group Ultima Generazione targeted the historic Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, spraying its facade with orange washable paint using fire extinguishers. The protest was swiftly interrupted by security forces and Florence's Mayor Dario Nardella, who happened to be on-site and personally tackled one of the activists. Following the incident, the mayor joined cleaning crews on scaffolding to help scrub the medieval stonework with brushes and high-pressure hoses.

Linocuts by Eduardo Robledo Celebrate Mexican Heritage and Community

Eduardo Robledo, a Mexico City-based artist from Xochimilco, creates detailed linocuts that celebrate Mexican heritage, community, and spiritual motifs. His work features traditional symbols like skulls, skeletons, and Sacred Hearts alongside regional animals and cultural references such as Xochimilco's canal boats. Robledo also engages in social activism through printmaking, viewing it as a democratic medium for spreading messages about causes he supports. His prints are available at Hecho a Mano in Santa Fe, and he co-founded Lugar de Huida, a gallery in Mexico City that highlights Mexican printmakers.

MARCELO BRODSKY IN WIESBADEN MEMORY AS AN ACTIVE PRACTICE

The Kunsthaus Wiesbaden is hosting a comprehensive survey of Argentine artist Marcelo Brodsky titled "Memory in Action," running through June 2026. The exhibition showcases Brodsky’s unique practice of intervening in archival photographs to address global human rights abuses, political violence, and the persistence of historical trauma. Key series on display include his seminal work on the Argentine military dictatorship, "Buena Memoria," alongside explorations of 1968 global protests and African liberation movements.

MARILYN BOROR BOR, SEBA CALFUQUEO, JULIETH MORALES. PERFORMANCE Y DISIDENCIAS

On April 18, 2026, the performance cycle "Atravesar el lago" (Crossing the Lake) took place in open spaces of Casa del Lago UNAM in Chapultepec Park, curated by Adonay Bermúdez. Artists Marilyn Boror Bor, Seba Calfuqueo, and Julieth Morales activated performances that destabilize dominant knowledge frameworks and confront narratives imposed by colonial modernity. Boror Bor's "Lo que el cemento no puede cubrir" turned the body into a living archive summoning ancestral memories; Calfuqueo's "Guardo mis semillas para el futuro" opened fissures in imposed borders; and Morales's "Enchumbarnos: Cuerpo, Norma y Territorio. Ritual para dos cuerpos" configured a threshold of listening and transformation. The article includes a curatorial text fragment exploring water as a dissident force, drawing on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui's thought.

Syracuse’s ArtRage Gallery hosts new exhibit exploring global plastic crisis

ArtRage Gallery in Syracuse is hosting a new exhibition titled 'A Rising Tide of Plastic in Art,' featuring works by members of the international collective Project Vortex. The show includes sculptures, photographs, and installations created from reclaimed plastic waste, with artists like Alejandro Durán, Nicole Hixon, Anne Percoco, and Blue McRight transforming debris into commentary on pollution.

Experimental Funding Schemes and Militant Analysis: The Experience of CERFI

The Center for Institutional Studies, Research, and Training (CERFI), a research cooperative co-founded by Félix Guattari in the wake of May 1968, sought to merge militant political practice with institutional psychotherapy. By adopting a model of 'analytical self-management,' the group utilized rotational roles and collective research to avoid the hierarchies and alienation typical of traditional academic and political organizations. This experimental structure was heavily influenced by the 'grid' system used at the La Borde psychiatric clinic, aiming to turn administrative labor into a tool for subjective liberation.

Noni Olabisi Art Exhibit Carries Relevancy, Truth, and Power

The Laband Art Gallery at Loyola Marymount University is hosting a retrospective titled "Noni Olabisi: When Lightning Strikes," showcasing over 40 works by the late Los Angeles muralist and painter. The exhibition, curated by Karen Rapp, spans Olabisi’s career from 1984 to 2022, featuring her powerful political murals and personal canvases that document Black culture and the struggle against systemic racism. This marks the first major posthumous survey of her work since her unexpected passing in 2022.

Infectious creativity

CIMA Gallery in Kolkata is hosting an exhibition titled "Outsider Art," on view until May 2, featuring works by a diverse group of individuals without formal artistic training. Participants include entrepreneur Dilip De, chartered accountant Amartya Mukherjee, danseuse Amala Shankar, musician Ayaan Ali Bangash, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others. The show highlights a wide range of media, from digital paintings and watercolors to photography and stoneware, all united by a raw, instinctive creativity.

Austin's graffiti wall returns: HOPE Outdoor Gallery opens 18-acre site

Austin's iconic graffiti wall has returned with the grand opening of the HOPE Outdoor Gallery's new 18-acre site in Southeast Austin on December 17, 2025. The original wall near Lamar Boulevard was removed six years ago, and the new location near Austin Bergstrom International Airport features a 6,000-square-foot open-air gallery, community art park, murals by local artists, a cafe, rooftop bar, art supply shop, and spaces for programming and vendors. The space is free, open to the public, and all-ages, with a ribbon-cutting attended by District 2 City Council member Vanessa Fuentes.

Q&A with Sarah Koff, an environmental artist with an exhibition at AVA Gallery

Sarah Koff, a woodblock printmaker and environmentalist based in New Hampshire, discusses her exhibition “Object Permanence” at AVA Gallery in Lebanon, which runs from July 11 to August 9. Koff, a 2024 Juror Recognition Award winner from the Alliance for the Visual Arts Gallery, creates intricate prints that explore local environmental issues, such as invasive species like Japanese Knotweed and chemical pollution. She describes her slow, tactile process of woodcutting and her commitment to non-toxic printmaking through her work with Zea Mays Printmaking.

UK artist defends pro-Palestine drawings after show cancellation

UK artist Matthew Collings has condemned the cancellation of his art exhibition "Drawings Against Genocide" in Margate, England, after UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) accused the show of being antisemitic. The exhibit featured 130 drawings depicting Israeli military, political officials, and business leaders, which Collings describes as artistic metaphors for Zionism, brutality, and violence. Collings insists the work is against genocide, not against Jews, and criticizes the conflation of antisemitism with pro-Palestine activism.

design formafantasma andrea trimarchi simone farresin

Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Milan-based design studio Formafantasma have become fashion and art's go-to design duo. In the past year, they designed runways for Meryll Rogge's Marni debut, scenography for the new Fondation Cartier, and a radical take on the Shaker legacy for a show at the Vitra Design Museum. In an interview, they discuss their critical approach to design, the gap between design's progressive claims and its environmental and labor impacts, and their commitment to using design as a tool for inquiry rather than mere form-making.

craft as protest

Craft-based activism is surging in the U.S. as a form of protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies and operations under President Trump's second term. Projects include the "Melt the ICE" hat, a red beanie pattern that has sold over 65,000 copies and raised over $600,000 for immigrant-support nonprofits, and origami rabbits for a detained five-year-old boy, drawing direct parallels to historical craft-as-resistance movements like the Norwegian topplue worn against Nazi occupation.

austin black artists matter rainbow crosswalk to be removed

The city of Austin, Texas, is set to remove a 'Black Artists Matter' street mural and a rainbow crosswalk after Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to comply with a federal order from President Donald Trump. The July 1 directive from Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy requires states to eliminate political messages and artwork from roadways, citing driver and pedestrian safety. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has identified about 16 locations that may be affected and warned that non-compliance could jeopardize $175 million in state and federal grant funding. The mural, painted in June 2020 in Austin's historically Black East side neighborhood by local artists with the Austin Justice Coalition and Capitol View Arts, was created in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The trolls come indoors as a Danish recycling artist stages his first museum exhibit

Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo, known for creating nearly 200 wooden troll sculptures hidden in natural settings across 19 countries, is opening his first museum exhibition. Titled “The Garbage Man,” the show at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art near Copenhagen features a new collection of fairy tale-inspired trolls that take over the museum and build a giant human figure out of trash. The exhibition opens Sunday and runs until November 29, marking a shift from Dambo's usual outdoor treasure-hunt installations to an indoor, narrative-driven experience.

6 Nigerian Gen Z Painting Artists We Should All Recognize By Now

This article profiles six Nigerian Gen Z painting artists who are gaining international recognition for their vibrant, culturally reflective works. The featured artists include Anthony Azekwoh, known for blending classical and digital styles; Olaolu Slawn, a former skateboarder turned graffiti-style artist with collaborations like Rolex and Formula 1; Chigozie Obi, whose multidimensional art explores activism and mental health; Ayanfe Olarinde, a self-taught multidisciplinary artist; Adeoluwa Oluwajoba, a mixed-media artist and curator; and Meju Lawrence, known for colorful, animated pieces displayed in notable galleries.

Forest Tales: Lélia Demoisy's exhibition at Domaine de Chamarande

Lélia Demoisy presents 'Forest Stories' (Récits de forêts), a solo contemporary art exhibition at the Domaine départemental de Chamarande in Essonne, France, from May 10 to August 30, 2026. The exhibition features sculptures and installations across the orangery, park, and domain spaces, using materials such as wood, fibers, organic fragments, hides, charcoal, and animal tracks to explore the forest as a living network of relations, traces, and transformations. Key works include 'Laissés sur la rive', 'Le Foyer', 'Les chairs froides', 'Cedrus deodara – Forêts futures', and 'Créature'.

Remains of time: Discarded Material Finds New Life As Artwork

Two Indian artists, Manveer Singh (aka Plasticvalla) and Smriti Dixit, are creating artworks from discarded materials to address environmental degradation. Singh transforms multi-layered plastic waste into sculptures inspired by local landscapes and folk traditions, such as a snow leopard for Spiti Valley and a landfill-inspired piece for Delhi. Dixit finds her practice meditative, while other young artists like Anuja Dasgupta and Mrugen Rathod recently exhibited at the 'Sustaina' exhibition using recycled materials like agricultural waste and discarded hotel textiles. Additionally, Tara Lal's Aranyani Pavilion, made from invasive Lantana Camara wood, was displayed at Sunder Nursery to promote forest restoration.

Aaron Goldschmidt of The Shine Studio on Art, Inspiration, and Creativity

Aaron Goldschmidt, founder and director of The Shine Studio in Bridgehampton, discusses the studio's first art exhibition, "The Lost Works" by multidisciplinary artist Adam Baranello. The show features 70 pieces of "lost art" recovered from a gallery that closed, representing Baranello's work from 2015 to 2020. The exhibition runs through the end of April, with works sold at original prices.