The Met's New 'Costume Art' Exhibition Is All About Real Bodies

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled "Costume Art," curated by Andrew Bolton, which aims to collapse the historical hierarchy between fine art and fashion by focusing on the act of dressing and real bodies. The show features nine new mannequin forms representing pregnant, trans, disabled, and larger bodies, largely absent from traditional fashion displays. Models including musician Yseult, Jade O’Belle, Charlie Reynolds, and designer Michaela Stark were 3D-scanned and translated into physical figures by sculptor Frank Benson, with mirrored faces added by Samar Hejazi to reflect viewers. The exhibition also highlights voices and designers outside the European sphere, and the mannequins will become part of the museum's permanent collection.

First Look at the Met’s ‘Costume Art’ Where Every Body Matters, Really

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled its spring exhibition "Costume Art" in the Condé M. Nast Galleries, featuring around 200 pairings of garments and artworks that trace connections across centuries. The show prioritizes fashion over art, displaying dresses, jeans, body stockings, and bustiers to explore the human form through sections like "Naked and Nude Body," "Corpulent Body," and "Disabled Boy." Chief curator Andrew Bolton emphasizes celebrating body diversity amid threats from AI and politics, with nine individuals—including fashion designer Michaela Stark—scanned to create more realistic mannequins.

Painting LACMA's David Geffen Galleries with Light, Shadow, and Color

LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries, designed by architect Peter Zumthor, feature custom-tinted concrete walls that break from traditional museum aesthetics. The walls are coated with a transparent, nano-scale mineral glaze developed by Zumthor and Swiss craftsman Marius Fontana, manufactured by German company Keim. The palette—dusky red, vibrant blue, and nuanced black—was inspired by ancient Indigenous American pigments prepared by artist Porfirio Gutiérrez for the museum's exhibition "We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art." Diana Magaloni, LACMA's Senior Deputy Director for Conservation, Curatorial and Exhibitions, led the conceptualization and application of the glazes, which are designed to enhance the building's interplay of light and shadow without obscuring its raw concrete surfaces.

Students Selected for Autry Museum's Arts Exhibition

Twenty-seven students from South Pasadena High School have been selected to exhibit their work in the Autry Museum of the American West's "Visions of Humanity" student show, marking the largest number of SPHS students ever accepted into the exhibition. The display runs through May 31 at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park, featuring fourteen students in painting and drawing and thirteen in photography, taught by teachers Rouzanna Berberian and Aimee Levie-Hultman.

Shokkan at the ROM considers the sense of touch in Japanese art

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto presents "Shokkan," an exhibition curated by Akiko Takesue that explores the Japanese concept of touch in art. Despite the challenge of displaying tactile experiences behind glass, the show succeeds by featuring historic Japanese works—such as kimonos, tea bowls, ukiyo-e prints, and netsuke—alongside contemporary pieces by artists like Issey Miyake, Tabaimo, Makiko Hattori, and Emma Nishimura. Interactive stations allow visitors to handle replicas and less valuable objects, including samurai swords, scrolls, and netsuke, to physically engage with the theme.

Here's what's happening for First Friday in May

Juneau's First Friday in May 2026 features a diverse array of events, including a storytelling project called "Tambayan at Kwentuhan" that shares oral histories from Filipino elders, an exhibition titled "Dizzy Hooligan" by Kiyana Fonua recalling Kava gatherings in Anchorage, and a retrospective of Indigenous fashion designer Dorothy Grant at the Alaska State Museum. Other offerings include a chamber music concert by Taku Winds, a "Critter Trek" exhibition at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum featuring local wildlife art, planetarium explorations, a book release by author Corinna Cook, and displays of woodworking by Phil Paramore and jewelry by Colleen Goldrich.

Anne Frank exhibit debuts Friday with rare artifacts in Chicago

A new exhibition titled "Anne Frank The Exhibition" opens Friday, May 1 at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It features 130 collection items from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, including artifacts from the Secret Annex where Anne Frank and her family hid during the Nazi occupation. Some of these items have never been displayed in the United States before. The exhibition offers a personal look at the Frank family's life in hiding, including a board game that helped pass the time.

How LACMA Is Centering Curation Around Cross-Cultural Exchange

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opened its new David Geffen Galleries on April 19, featuring a groundbreaking installation organized around four bodies of water—the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea—rather than by country of origin or chronological sequence. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long single-level space holds 2,500 to 3,000 objects, with 45 curators collaborating to arrange works from vastly different cultures and centuries together, allowing visitors to meander without prescribed pathways.

Global Retrospective Exhibitions

A major retrospective titled "NIGO: From Japan with Love" opens at the Design Museum in London on May 1, 2026, marking the designer's first major exhibition outside Japan. The show features over 700 objects spanning three decades, including around 600 items from NIGO's personal archive, a reconstruction of his teenage bedroom, vintage clothing, early designs, collaborations, hand-thrown ceramics, and a life-size glass tea house created for the exhibition. The display traces his career from Harajuku street culture through founding A Bathing Ape to his current role as artistic director of Kenzo.

Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir: Pocket Universe

The Icelandic Art Center will present "Pocket Universe," a multidisciplinary exhibition by artist, poet, composer, and filmmaker Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir, representing Iceland at the 61st Venice Biennale. The exhibition, held at the Icelandic Pavilion's new location at Docks Cantieri Cucchini, explores shifting perspectives through hope, imagination, and belief, blending sound, performance, moving image, sculpture, and installation. It features a moving image work centered on a character called "Creature Zero" searching for the "original rock," and incorporates themes of luck, chance, and transformation through playful, game-like structures.

New exhibition brings rare Charles Russell artwork to Fort Worth

The Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will open a new exhibition titled "Russell’s Retreat: Summers at Glacier National Park" on May 2, 2026. The show focuses on Charles M. Russell’s life and work at his summer home, Bull Head Lodge, and features objects borrowed from museums and private collections, many displayed in Fort Worth for the first time. Highlights include the landscape painting "Storm Over Lake McDonald" (1906), birchbark paintings, and a replica of gnome figures Russell made from moss and twigs.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art Opens New Innovative Exhibition Space

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened its new David Geffen Galleries, a landmark building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The structure features floor-to-ceiling windows, spans Wilshire Boulevard 30 feet above the Miracle Mile, and houses galleries organized around maritime trade routes. The museum celebrated its inaugural events with a gala and ribbon-cutting, opening to the public on April 20, 2026. The new space displays over 155,000 art objects from the permanent collection, spanning ancient civilizations to contemporary works.

Robert McLaughlin Gallery Opens New Summer Exhibits in Oshawa

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, will launch its summer exhibition season on June 13, 2026, featuring five new displays. The season includes solo shows by artists Stephen Andrews, Oliver Husain, and Austin Henderson. Andrews presents 'The sum of the parts,' a display of 125 drawings examining media coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Husain offers an immersive video installation titled 'I ♥ Snail,' exploring the history of IMAX cinema. Henderson, the RBC emerging artist in residence, debuts works investigating queer history and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Canada through his family history. A free public event with curator remarks, artist-led tours, and a complimentary shuttle from OCAD University in Toronto will mark the opening.

'Tough Stuff' Women in the American Glass Studio opens May 16 at CMoG

The Corning Museum of Glass (CMoG) will open 'Tough Stuff: Women in the American Glass Studio' on May 16, 2026, running through January 10, 2027. This is the first survey exhibition dedicated to women artists working in glass during the 1960s and 1970s, featuring over 200 objects from artists including Claire Falkenstein, Audrey Handler, Margie Jervis, Susie Krasnican, Kathleen Mulcahy, Ginny Ruffner, Ruth Tamura, and Toots Zynsky. Curated by Tami Landis, the show draws from CMoG's permanent collection, the Rakow Research Library, and notable loans, presenting works that have never been displayed before.

Who Owns These Artworks? Musée d’Orsay Hopes Visitors Can Help Find Out.

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris has opened a new room in its permanent display featuring 13 artworks recovered from Germany and Austria after World War II, whose provenance remains unknown. The museum is inviting visitors to help identify the original owners of these pieces, which were looted or displaced during the war and later restituted to France.

Art House Productions presents "Playing Favorites"

Art House Productions in Jersey City, NJ, presents "Playing Favorites," a solo exhibition by artist Bryant Small, curated by Andrea McKenna. The show runs from May 2 to May 31, 2026, at the Art House Gallery, featuring a selection of Small's most cherished works, many never publicly exhibited before. The exhibition includes an opening reception on May 2 and an artist talk on April 17, with all artwork available for purchase in person and online.

Displaying the gallery

The Los Medanos College Art Gallery is preparing for its spring student exhibition, which opened April 15. Gallery director Sarah Lee oversees the installation process, working with student workers and volunteers like Jordan Castro, Dasha Shevchenko, and Eric Sanchez to arrange artworks—including paintings, sculptures, and ceramics—into a cohesive display. A guest juror selected the pieces, and this year's show features an interactive element created by senior lab coordinator Cesar Reyes and Nick Nabas, inviting visitors to engage directly with the exhibit.

Venus Lespugue

The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens presents "Jeff Koons: Venus Lespugue," an exhibition pairing Jeff Koons' monumental stainless steel sculpture *Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange)* (2013–2019) with ten certified copies of Paleolithic Venus figurines from major European museums. The Koons work, on public display for the first time, is loaned from the Homem Sonnabend Collection and directly references the 28,000-year-old Venus of Lespugue carved from mammoth tusk ivory.

Art Exhibits: What's on display in the Fort Wayne area

The article lists current and upcoming art exhibitions in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, including shows at The Orchard Gallery of Fine Art, Garrett Museum of Art, Clark Gallery, ArtSpace/Lima, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Artlink, Ruth Koomler Art Gallery, Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, Visual Arts Gallery at Purdue University Fort Wayne, Allen County Public Library, Langhinrichs Art Gallery, and Atelier. Featured artists include Heidi Malott, Hope Wallace, Greg Lookerse, Jim Gabbard, Angela Green, Chuck Sperry, Jeff Schofield, Katherine Kratzer, Julie Wall, Andrea Granger, and KristinA, with exhibitions ranging from oil paintings and mixed-media to photography, printmaking, and electric vehicle art.

Art Exhibits: What's on display in the Fort Wayne area

This article is a local arts calendar listing current and upcoming exhibitions in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. It highlights new shows such as "Grounded in Light" featuring Julie Wall at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, "Summer Selections" of student work at Purdue University Fort Wayne's Visual Arts Gallery, and "Archetypes" by printmaker Chuck Sperry at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Also listed are ongoing exhibitions including the "46th National Print Exhibition" at Artlink, a tribute to late ceramic artist Tom Sherbondy at Ruth Koomler Art Gallery, and several other shows at venues like the Orchard Gallery, Allen County Public Library, Garrett Museum of Art, and Honeywell Center.

All 3.5 Million Pages of the Epstein Files Are Now on View at This Pop-Up Exhibition

The Institute for Primary Facts has transformed New York's Mriya Gallery into the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Reading Room, a pop-up exhibition displaying all 3.5 million pages of the released Epstein files in 3,437 bound volumes. Open from May 8 to May 21 in Tribeca, the installation is the group's first live project, requiring visitors aged 16 and over to book appointments via a platform called Trumpsonian. Only accredited press, Congress, law enforcement, and victims' advocates may open the volumes, due to the Department of Justice's failure to properly redact victims' names.

BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF CANADA BRINGS TWILIGHT TO THE VENICE BIENNALE

Abbas Akhavan, born in Tehran in 1977, represents Canada at the 61st Venice Biennale with an exhibition titled "Entre chien et loup" (Between Dog and Wolf). Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by Kim Nguyen, the installation transforms the Canada Pavilion into a monumental Wardian case—a 19th-century plant transport device—converted into a greenhouse for Victoria water lilies. The lilies, native to South America and germinated at the Orto Botanico di Padova from seeds provided by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, reference their prominent display in the Crystal Palace during the 1851 Great Exhibition. The exhibition runs until November 22, 2026.

SPLENDID PLAYGROUND at Galerie Meyer Kainer

Galerie Meyer Kainer in Vienna is presenting "SPLENDID PLAYGROUND," a group exhibition featuring works by Ei Arakawa-Nash, Nikolas Gambaroff, and Nora Schultz. The show runs from March 20 to May 16, 2026, and includes 29 images documenting the exhibition, as published by Contemporary Art Daily.

Four Dozen Artists Celebrate Marine Wildlife and Lore in ‘Common Waters’

Arch Enemy Arts in Philadelphia is presenting 'Common Waters,' a group exhibition running from June 5 to July 5, featuring 60 artists from around the world. The show celebrates marine wildlife and lore through square-format works that range from fantastical depictions of coral-haired sirens and octopuses to miniature paintings and sculpted paper reliefs of sea turtles. A portion of sales proceeds will be donated to PangeaSeed, a non-profit that uses art to advocate for ocean conservation.

Sculpture as a Form of Architecture: Happening at the Foundation of Super Artist Anish Kapoor in Venice

La scultura come forma di architettura. Succede alla Fondazione del super artista Anish Kapoor a Venezia

Anish Kapoor has opened a major solo exhibition at Palazzo Manfrin in Venice, a 16th-century building he purchased in 2018, now home to his foundation. The show, running until August 8 during the 61st Venice Biennale, spans over fifty years of his practice, featuring models, studies, and installations that blur the line between sculpture and architecture. Works include the Monte Sant'Angelo metro station in Naples, the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower for the 2012 London Olympics, the inflatable concert hall Ark Nova, and the environmental installation Temenos. The palazzo itself remains under restoration, with exposed construction elements and workspaces visible, reinforcing the exhibition's theme of continuous transformation.

Nella Tenuta Todini in Umbria sta per aprire un parco di sculture d’arte contemporanea. Le immagini

A new contemporary sculpture park, Parco Sculture Todini, is set to open on May 23 within the Tenuta Todini estate in Collevalenza, near Todi, Umbria. The debut features two site-specific works: "VITE" by Matteo Attruia, which plays on the double meaning of vine and lives, and "Tempus Mirabilis" by Silvia Ranchicchio, a reflective environmental sculpture that changes with light and seasons. The park is curated by Massimo Mattioli and supported by the Arvedi steelworks of Terni and entrepreneur Luisa Todini.

There is an absent pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale that no one has talked about: Venezuela

C’è un padiglione assente alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026 di cui nessuno ha parlato: il Venezuela

The Venezuelan pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale remains closed, an absence that has gone largely unnoticed amid other controversies surrounding the Russian, Israeli, South African, and Iranian pavilions. Designed by architect Carlo Scarpa and built between 1953 and 1956, the pavilion now displays a trilingual sign stating it will "rise again soon," reflecting the country's collapse after the kidnapping and imprisonment of President Nicolás Maduro by the United States and the installation of a fragile pro-American interim government.

Art and technology meet in the augmented reality of artist Lois He

Arte e tecnologia si incontrano nella realtà aumentata dell’artista Lois He

Lois He, a Chinese-born artist now based in New York, creates immersive XR installations that blend art and technology, transforming viewers into active participants. Her works, such as "Rising River," an AI-driven virtual reality experience, and "The Silent Carnival," a digital reinterpretation of Goethe's Faust, explore identity, emotion, and the impact of external agents like technology and culture. He also collaborates with institutions like the Museo Dalí and the NYU Neuroscience Institute, merging art with literature and science.

Casabianca is the name of the new art space to visit in Como

Si chiama Casabianca il nuovo spazio per l’arte da visitare a Como

A new art space called Casabianca has opened in Como, Italy, housed in a 1930s building designed by Piero Ponci. The project is spearheaded by hoteliers Paolo and Antonella De Santis, who have transformed the former luxury villa and bank into a domestic-style exhibition venue for their contemporary art collection. The space features works by artists such as Giulio Paolini, Stefano Arienti, Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Marina Abramovic, and Joseph Kosuth, with no labels or didactics to preserve the feel of a private home.

A Roma una mostra celebra il leggendario scenografo e costumista Dante Ferretti

A new exhibition titled "Dante Ferretti. Con i miei occhi" has opened at the Musei di San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome, celebrating the legendary Italian set designer and costume designer Dante Ferretti. Curated by Raffaele Curi, the show runs until July 19, 2026, and features a collection of Ferretti's sketches, charcoal drawings, and collages that served as the foundational visual ideas for films by directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Tim Burton. The exhibition presents these preparatory works not merely as production tools but as autonomous works of art, tracing Ferretti's visual genealogy from Renaissance painters like Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio to contemporary cinema.