Chinese art collector to open non-profit in London devoted to contemporary Asian art

Chinese art collector and philanthropist Yan Du will open Yan Du Projects (YDP), a non-profit space dedicated to contemporary Asian and Asian diasporic art, in a Grade I-listed townhouse on Bedford Square, London, this October. The venue will host exhibitions, site-specific commissions, public events, and artist residencies, with an opening show by Chinese painter Duan Jianyu. Designed by Hong Kong-based Beau Architects, the space features a modular "suitcase project" interior that respects the building's listed status and reflects diasporic themes. YDP is distinct from Yan's earlier Asymmetry Art Foundation (founded 2019) and her private collection, aiming to promote under-represented Asian artists through flexible, artist-curated programming.

Grace Kotze exhibit at Art in the Country

Renowned Durban artist Grace Kotze will present a self-curated stand of her work, including her favorite piece 'Darwin's Perch', at the Art in the Country 2025 fair in Hilton from May 22 to 25. The fair, held at Harrington House, features 62 of South Africa's top artists and includes live music. Kotze, who recently showed at the Clarens Arts Festival, draws inspiration from everyday life and cites influences such as William Kentridge and Rembrandt.

Failed auction of $70M bronze bust stuns Sotheby’s bidders into silence

Sotheby's high-stakes Modern evening sale on Tuesday night ended in shock when Alberto Giacometti's bronze bust "Grand tête mince (Grand tête de Diego)," estimated at $70 million, failed to sell. Bidding stalled at $64.25 million, well below the reserve, and auctioneer Oliver Barker withdrew the lot. The consignment came from the Soloviev Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the late real estate mogul Sheldon Solow, who had declined an auction guarantee. The sale ultimately brought in only $152 million, far short of the $240 million low estimate, with the Giacometti representing nearly 30% of that target.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts announces touring exhibition Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon)

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco has announced a touring exhibition titled "Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon)," inspired by the only screenplay ever written by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Curated by Diego Villalobos and Rodrigo Ortiz Monasterio, the exhibition runs from June 12 to October 11, 2025, before traveling to Centro Federico García Lorca in Granada starting October 30. It features historic and contemporary works that reconstruct Lorca's lost 1932 film, which was halted after his murder and later destroyed in a studio fire, leaving only a script and photographs.

How Javier Milei’s war on history is threatening art spaces in Argentina

Argentina's President Javier Milei has escalated his campaign to rewrite the history of the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship by closing art and human-rights spaces on the grounds of the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory in Buenos Aires, a former clandestine prison turned memorial and UNESCO World Heritage Site. In January, the Haroldo Conti Cultural Centre was shuttered for 'internal restructuring,' with 50 of its 87 employees fired; in early April, the government halted operations at Espacio Memoria, suspending salary payments and funding pending an audit. Both centres are public institutions managed by the Human Rights Secretariat, which has undergone mass layoffs and changes under Milei's administration.

In Rotterdam, a new art museum explores the city's rich history of migration

The Fenix Museum of Migration opens in Rotterdam on May 16, housed in a former warehouse transformed by MAD Architects into a dramatic space centered on a double-helix staircase called the Tornado. The museum explores migration through art, with a major exhibition titled *All Directions* featuring over 100 artists, a photography show *The Family of Migrants*, and a maze built from 2,000 suitcases. Director Anne Kremers and foundation director Wim Pijbes emphasize the museum's role in telling stories of both departure and arrival in a city shaped by centuries of global movement.

Folk is having a revival—in the art world too

The article reports on the growing revival of folk culture in the visual arts, centered on the Neo Ancients festival in Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. The second edition of the festival, held over May Day weekend, featured an eclectic mix of music, Morris dancing, talks, film screenings, and exhibitions celebrating British folklore. Art dealer James Elwes organized a show at the local gallery Rattle and Brash, featuring artists like Sue Webster, Jeremy Deller, and Stanley Donwood, who presented works outside their usual practices. Exhibitions included Donwood's 'Floralia' and Webster's new self-portraits exploring pregnancy and reinvention.

Winterthur’s ‘Almost Unknown’ offers immersive look at Black history and art

Winterthur Museum in Delaware has opened a new exhibition titled "Almost Unknown: The Afric-American Picture Gallery," which brings to life a fictional gallery imagined in 1859 by Black writer and schoolteacher William J. Wilson, writing under the pseudonym Ethiop. In a series of columns for the magazine "The Anglo-American," Wilson described an imaginary museum of Black history and art, featuring works like a depiction of a slave ship, a bust of poet Phillis Wheatley, and images of Crispus Attucks and Haitian Revolution heroes. Curator Jonathan Square has transformed Wilson's fantasy into an immersive, haunted-attraction-style exhibition using objects from Winterthur's collection, with dark lighting, sound effects, and false walls that evoke a carnival ride inspired by Jordan Peele films and "The Shining."

Kemper Art Museum wins best monograph award

The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis has won the 2024 best monograph award from the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) for its exhibition catalog "Adam Pendleton: To Divide By." The catalog, published by the museum and distributed by the University of Chicago Press, was honored during the society's Outstanding Catalog Awards ceremony in Denver on April 4. Edited by Kemper curator Meredith Malone, the volume features essays by Malone, Joshua Chambers-Letson, Hal Foster, and a conversation between Pendleton and critic Isabelle Graw, along with transcripts of two film portraits by the artist.

What Category Was the Most Lucrative at Auction in 2024?

The Artnet Intelligence Report's analysis of 2024 auction data reveals that Postwar and Contemporary art remained the most lucrative market category for the second consecutive year, generating nearly $4 billion. However, this represented a 20.5% decline from 2023, and every major category saw a drop in total sales. Ultra-contemporary art suffered the steepest decline at 37.9% year-over-year, as collectors avoided riskier newer artists amid economic uncertainty. Impressionist and Modern sales fell 19.3% to $3.6 billion, with only one top-five lot—Claude Monet's *Nymphéas* (1914) at $65.5 million—coming from that category. Old Masters shrank 27.8%, with growth only in the under-$10,000 bracket.

Immersed in Pink: Christo’s Legacy Anchored in NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale

The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale has become the permanent home of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Surrounded Islands," featuring over 43 original preparatory drawings and collages by Christo, along with large-scale photo murals, photographs, engineering surveys, environmental reports, permits, personal correspondence, scale models, and actual fabric segments from the project. The exhibition is ongoing and includes rare archival materials gifted by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation.

Basquiat Work Expected To Fetch Up To $525M At Sotheby’s Auction

A recently discovered early painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, created in 1981 when he was 20, will be sold at Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction in New York on May 13. The untitled work, unseen publicly for over 30 years, carries an estimate of $10 million to $15 million. Sotheby’s chairman Grégoire Billault highlighted the piece as a highlight of the Modern Evening Auction, with exhibitions opening May 2 through May 15. The auction also features top lots from Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, and the collections of Sally and Victor Ganz and Barbara Gladstone.

New Exhibition by Activist Artist Shines Human Light on Homeless

Zhenya Gershman, a Moscow-born, bi-coastal painter based in New York and Los Angeles, is opening a new exhibition titled "ICU2" on May 10, the second part of her "I See You" project addressing homelessness. Gershman, who began her career at age 14 in St. Petersburg and now runs Zhenya's Art Academy, draws inspiration from subway encounters, approaching strangers to photograph them and transforming candid, imperfect shots into oil-on-canvas portraits. The exhibition follows her previous activist projects, including a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a painting of a Ukrainian war victim that sold for $100,000 to benefit the Ukraine Red Cross.

Exploring Memory, Material, and Movement: Highlights From Third Week of Senior Art Studio Thesis Exhibition

The third week of the University's 2025 art studio senior thesis exhibitions opened on April 9, 2025, at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, featuring works by eight seniors: Kerri Bel, Beatrice Campomori Garuti, Olivia Gomez, Vicky Gong, Will Hardison, Aleah Hurwitz, Ava Liberace, and Alp Yücel. The exhibition spans diverse mediums and themes, including Vicky Gong's "Ether," which explores technology, intimacy, and alienation through material and affect; Will Hardison's "The Sand Remembers the Waves," a monotype series about memory and landscape; and Alp Yücel's "Obstructed View," a sculptural installation that challenges visual perception and physical movement through the gallery space.

Indonesia Returns to Venice Biennale for 2026 Edition

Indonesia will return to the Venice Biennale in 2026 after a six-year absence. The national pavilion, titled "Printing the Unprinted," will be curated by Aminudin TH Siregar and will feature archival materials alongside works by 14 emerging artists, aiming to explore the country's cultural identity and art history.

Bocconi University opens an art gallery in its new Rome headquarters: the first exhibition speaks of the sacred

L’Università Bocconi ha aperto una galleria d’arte nella sua nuova sede a Roma: la prima mostra parla di sacro

Bocconi University has inaugurated a new art gallery at its Rome campus, Villa Morgagni, launching the Bocconi Art Gallery (BAG) program in the capital. The debut exhibition features the work of Brazilian artist and Franciscan friar Sidival Fila, who is known for transforming discarded ecclesiastical textiles and liturgical objects into contemporary art. His practice involves stitching, cutting, and remodeling ancient fabrics to explore themes of transcendence, immanence, and human history.

Art Gallery of Burlington hosts spring gala with farm-to-table dinner and more

The Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) has announced its upcoming spring gala, "Seeds of Change," scheduled for May 7th. The event features a farm-to-table dinner helmed by Executive Chef Matteo Paonessa, a silent auction, and a preview of a new solo exhibition by Argentine artist Celina Eceiza titled "A material called Earth, Vol 1: The life of corners." The gala also highlights the gallery's new Community & Medicine Garden, an initiative where artists-in-residence will harvest natural materials for pigments and textiles.

Ethics and Parafiction: A Conversation

Ethics and Parafiction: A Conversation

e-flux Screening Room hosted an event featuring artist and filmmaker Salomé Lamas on December 6, 2025. The program included screenings of her films 'Eldorado XXI' (2016) and 'Gold and Ashes' (2025), a presentation of her related publication, and a public conversation with curator Lukas Brasiskis. The published transcript focuses on Lamas's filmmaking process, particularly the logistical and ethical challenges of shooting in extreme locations like La Rinconada, Peru.

Russia and Israel cannot win any prizes at the next Venice Art Biennale 2026. The jury takes a stand

Russia e Israele non potranno vincere nessun premio alla prossima Biennale Arte di Venezia 2026. La giuria prende posizione

The international jury for the 61st Venice Biennale, led by Solange Farkas, has unanimously declared it will not consider countries whose leaders are currently accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. This means Russia and Israel are excluded from competing for the Golden Lion awards, including Best National Participation and Best Artist. The jury's statement, published on e-Flux Notes, emphasizes the Biennale's historical role as a platform connecting art with contemporary urgencies and acknowledges the complex relationship between artistic practice and state representation.

And the (Senior Show and URECA Art Exhibition) Winners Are …

The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University hosted the opening reception of the ninth annual combined Senior Show and URECA Arts Exhibition on April 29, drawing about 300 attendees including students, faculty, staff, university leaders, and local museum curators. The Senior Show, a nearly 50-year tradition, features works by senior studio art majors and minors, while the URECA exhibition highlights undergraduate research-based art selected by faculty. This year's exhibition is noted for its diversity in subject matter and materials, from chalk painting to digital media, and runs through May 22.

Vibrant Victorian-Era Transparencies Illuminate a Host of Microscopic Creatures

Osh Gallery in London is exhibiting 'The Hudson Transparencies,' a collection of 58 original illustrations by Charles Thomas Hudson, a 19th-century educator and amateur scientist. Created for his lectures, these large-scale transparencies (37.8 by 29.5 inches) combine painted paper and perforated pinholes to depict microscopic creatures such as rotifers, algae, protozoa, and marine organisms. When back-lit, the dark, seemingly unfinished images transform into vivid, detailed visions of life invisible to the naked eye, showcasing the intersection of Victorian-era optical innovation and scientific discovery.

Diego Gualandris “Floralia” at ADA, Rome

Diego Gualandris presents "Floralia" at ADA gallery in Rome, an exhibition that explores themes of growth, nature, and human intervention through a poetic lens. The show features works that evoke the cycle of life and decay, using floral motifs to reflect on the fragility of existence and the tension between natural processes and external forces.

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.

INTERTWINED NARRATIVES CASSANDRA MAYELA ALLEN EXHIBITS IN NEW YORK

The Instituto Cervantes in New York presents *Aquel Amplex*, the first institutional exhibition of Venezuelan artist Cassandra Mayela Allen, on view until June 28, 2026. Curated by Fabiola R. Delgado and Carlos Núñez, the show features braided textile sculptures, paintings, and drawings that examine Allen's process-driven practice within the legacies of Venezuelan and Latin American modernism and informalism. The title, meaning "that embrace," references a 1969 letter from Hélio Oiticica to Lygia Clark, evoking longing and forced migration. Allen, a self-taught artist who migrated from Venezuela in 2014, uses communal braiding gatherings to transform found fabrics and garments into architectural works that deconstruct national and artistic heritage.

QUESTIONING POWER AND COLONIAL STRUCTURES CINTHIA MARCELLE INTERVENES AT SERRALVES

Brazilian artist Cinthia Marcelle has unveiled a major site-specific installation titled "beginning, middle, beginning" at the Serralves Museum in Porto. Developed in collaboration with the architecture collective vão and curated by Inês Grosso, the work transforms the museum’s Central Gallery into a space governed by cycles of repetition. Drawing inspiration from the philosopher and Quilombola leader Nêgo Bispo, the installation challenges Western linear conceptions of time and highlights the persistence of colonial structures in modern social organization.

Gallery openings and exhibits in Central Oregon this week

Central Oregon’s art scene is hosting a diverse array of exhibitions this week across Bend, Sisters, Sunriver, and Redmond. Notable highlights include Jana Charl’s mixed-media showcase "This is not a Love Story" at Art Adventure Gallery, Hilary Baker’s moth-themed "Prophets" at the High Desert Museum, and a collection of literary-inspired quilts at the Deschutes Historical Museum. The offerings span various mediums, from nomadic woven macramé and custom jewelry to volcanic science explorations and historic cartography.

Commentary: This year's Met Gala proved one thing: The real devil who wears Prada is Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary co-chairs and sponsors of this year's Met Gala, sparking widespread protests and calls for boycotts. Guerrilla activist group Everyone Hates Elon plastered New York with anti-Bezos signage, and activists placed 300 bottles filled with fake urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to highlight Amazon workers' bathroom break complaints. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined his invitation, and the absence of celebrities like Meryl Streep and Zendaya fueled speculation about a boycott, though representatives denied any coordinated protest. Despite the controversy, the gala proceeded with many attendees and is expected to raise more than last year's $31 million for the Costume Institute.

Holocaust Museum LA will reopen as part of the new $70-million Goldrich Cultural Center

Holocaust Museum LA, the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the United States, will reopen after a 10-month closure as part of the new $70-million Goldrich Cultural Center in Pan Pacific Park. The 70,000-square-foot campus, debuting June 14, doubles the museum's original footprint and includes three pavilions, a 200-seat theater, exhibition galleries, a rooftop garden, and a Holocaust-era boxcar. The center is named after the late Jona Goldrich, a Holocaust survivor and co-founder of the museum, and was designed by architect Hagy Belzberg.

À Florence, une touriste poursuivie pour avoir endommagé la fontaine de Neptune

In Florence, Italy, a 28-year-old tourist is being prosecuted for damaging the historic Neptune Fountain during a bachelorette party on the night of April 18-19. She allegedly climbed the monument on Piazza della Signoria after a dare from friends to touch the statue's intimate parts, causing an estimated €5,000 in damages to the horses' legs and a decorative frieze. This follows a similar incident in September 2023, when a 22-year-old German tourist caused €5,000 in damage to the same fountain while posing for photos.

Taiwan Strips National Prize from Sakuliu Pavavaljung After Sexual Assault Conviction

Taiwan’s National Culture and Arts Foundation has revoked the National Award for Arts from Indigenous Paiwan artist Sakuliu Pavavaljung, following his conviction for sexual assault. The Supreme Court upheld a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for forcible sexual intercourse involving a female student in 2021. Pavavaljung, who received the award in 2018, must return the NTD 1 million prize. The case gained traction after artist Kuo Yu Ping disclosed it on social media in December 2021, leading to additional victims coming forward. His planned exhibition for Taiwan at the 59th Venice Biennale was canceled in 2022.