Major cities across the United States are hosting First Friday events tonight, featuring extended gallery hours, free museum admissions, and live cultural programming. A central highlight is the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its after-hours series with a sold-out evening of live music, DJ sets, and science discussions led by experts.
Kansas City’s spring art season features a diverse lineup of exhibitions across several key local venues, highlighting regional talent and identity-driven narratives. Notable shows include a group exhibition by the Kansas City Art Institute’s AAPI Association at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center and a collaborative project between Kansas City and Chicago galleries titled "Queer Ecologies II" at the Charlotte Street Foundation, which explores the intersection of queer identity and environmental science.
The New York Times profiles artist June Leaf, whose multidisciplinary practice blended elements of science, dance, aviation, and archery. The article explores her unconventional approach to art-making, which defied easy categorization and drew from a wide range of influences and techniques.
Michigan Technological University's Rozsa Art Galleries has opened "Nanowonder: Images from the Microscopic World," an exhibition featuring photographs taken with a Hitachi scanning electron microscope. The show displays magnified images of everyday objects like butterfly wings, toy cars, and spider legs, and is part of Hitachi's Inspire STEM Education Outreach Program. The opening reception on September 27 drew a diverse crowd, with attendees bringing their own samples for live magnification, and included special guest Sonnet the Pigeon, whose feather was featured in the exhibit.
The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, known for its collection of medical artifacts including human remains, has been embroiled in controversy since a 2023 ProPublica investigation revealed it held Native American remains without repatriating them as required by NAGPRA. The museum's executive director Kate Quinn and then-president Mira Irons responded by removing digital content mentioning human remains, sparking a petition signed by over 30,000 people accusing them of reactive decisions. High-level staff departed, donors requested their body parts back, and both Quinn and Irons eventually resigned. The museum is now led by science historians Erin McLeary and Sara Ray.
The article is a Q&A with an artist and co-director of the Global Spanish Initiative at the University of Virginia (UVA), discussing the exhibition 'Fuego Eterno.' The show, which opened August 29, features artists from indigenous and Afro-descended communities across the Americas and its diasporas, exploring themes of indigenous sovereignty, Nahua cosmologies, border resistance, and diaspora. The exhibition includes the co-director's own artworks and is accompanied by a symposium, a workshop with Peruvian artist Venuca Evanán Vivanco, a film screening, and a closing party.
Dozens of arts and media professionals have set sail for Gaza aboard a flotilla called the Thousand Madleens, led by Bangladeshi photographer and curator Shahidul Alam. The group departed Otranto, Italy on 1 October and is currently in international waters, expecting to be apprehended by Israeli forces. Alam is traveling on the Conscience, the largest private vessel attempting to break the siege since October 2023, carrying 92 civilians from 26 countries, mostly medics and arts workers. The mission aims to challenge the legality of the siege and demonstrate solidarity with Palestinian journalists and medics, who Alam says have been specifically targeted by Israel.
Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University presents a new faculty art exhibition titled "Tempo/Tempus: Rhythm and Time in Visual Art" at the Behnke Gallery on the South Lake Union campus. Curated by Robert Campbell, a Cornish art faculty member and Behnke Gallery curator, the show features works by nine Seattle University faculty artists: Kristofer Carlson, Francisco Guerrero, Naomi Kasumi, Jim Y. H. Li, Aunna Moriarty, Alexander Mouton, Trung Pham, Miha Sarani, and Arielle Simmons. The exhibition marks the first of six planned shows for the 2025-26 academic year, celebrating the recent merger of Cornish College of the Arts into Seattle University.
The Binghamton University Art Museum (BUAM) has opened its fall semester exhibition, “In the American Grain: Exploring America through Art, 1919-1946,” curated by art history professor Tom McDonough. The show spans the interwar period through World War II, featuring works from BUAM’s collection—many donated by local collectors Gil and Deborah Williams—alongside loans from the BU libraries, the Roberson Museum and Science Center, and the Art Bridges Collection. Originally conceived with Chelsea Gibson of the Binghamton Codes! Program, the exhibition grew from a pandemic-era digital project and includes thematic categories such as Americans Abroad, City Life, Picturing Black Lives, and War Time, with works by artists like Jane Peterson, Chiura Obata, James Lesesne Wells, and Helen Torr.
An art exhibition titled "Unspoken Resilience: Healing from the Lewiston Shootings Two Years In" will open at the University of New England Art Gallery in Portland on September 25, 2025, coinciding with Deaf Culture Week. Co-curated by Michelle Ames and Meryl Troop, the show features works by deaf artists and artisans, alongside photographs by Michael Kolster documenting Lewiston, Maine, where a mass shooting in 2023 killed 18 people and injured 13. Four of the victims were deaf, and two other deaf individuals were injured, making this the only mass shooting in U.S. history to disproportionately impact the Deaf community. The exhibition runs through February 7, 2026, and includes contributions from American Sign Language interpreters.
The Pat Guthrie Special Exhibitions Teaching Gallery at the University of Wyoming Art Museum is hosting its Fall 2025 exhibition, which integrates artworks from the museum's collection into four university courses: GEOL 1101 on the Anthropocene, ENGL 4999 on place and public memory, HP 3165-04 on Inuit environmental dilemmas, and HP 1020 on dreams and reality. Featured works include prints by Katsushika Hokusai, Martin Stupich, Dana Claxton, and Linda Connor, each paired with course themes to foster interdisciplinary learning.
Artist Maja Malou Lyse will represent Denmark at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with her project 'Things To Come'. The work is a video created in collaboration with DIS, starring actresses from the porn industry, and explores the intersection of science, fiction, and pornography, inspired by a study on how virtual sexual stimuli affect the body.
From May 13 to 15, 2026, the MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma will host "Science Fashion," an event curated by Dobrila Denegri that explores the intersections of fashion, science, and new technologies. The program brings together international researchers and practitioners in experimental fashion to discuss urgent issues such as climate emergency, energy, and interspecies coexistence. It is part of the broader multi-year initiative "Experiments in Fashion and Art," launched in 2024 with "Critical Fashion," and involves collaborations with NABA, Sapienza University of Rome, and UnitelmaSapienza.
A Torino inizia la Biennale Tecnologia. Cinque giorni tra teatro, performance, intelligenze artificiali e futuri distorti
The Biennale Tecnologia has launched in Turin, featuring over 120 events across 20 venues, including lectures, exhibitions, and a significant performing arts program. The festival utilizes theater and audiovisual performances to translate complex technological themes—such as artificial intelligence, environmental infrastructure, and ethics—into accessible narratives. Key highlights include Marco Paolini’s exploration of the Po River at OGR Torino and the play 'Retrofuturo,' which uses a comedic time-travel premise to critique societal reliance on algorithms.
Tolosa è la capitale europea dei viaggi nello spazio (e sa come celebrarli)
Toulouse has solidified its status as Europe’s aerospace capital, blending industrial prowess with cultural engagement. The city, home to the Airbus headquarters and the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), celebrates the legacy of flight from Clément Ader’s 1890 steam-powered takeoff to modern satellite technology. Key institutions like the Cité de l’espace and the Envol des Pionniers museum offer immersive experiences, including flight simulators, real-scale rocket replicas, and exhibitions on the history of Air France.
The Manchester Open exhibition will return in 2026 for its fourth iteration, taking place at HOME Manchester from June 20 to September 6. The open-call show invites submissions from artists of all experience levels across eight categories including ceramics, painting, photography, and textiles. A new award honoring philanthropist Kate Voke will be introduced, and three artists will receive development packages managed by HOME and Castlefield Gallery. The application process is now open, with the selection panel to be announced in spring 2026.
Pittsburg State University's Art Department is hosting a series of free exhibitions in its two galleries at Porter Hall this fall. Featured shows include Katie Petersen's "Centripetal: The Return to the Self" (Sept. 3–Oct. 10) at the Harry Krug Gallery, exploring balance and health through pastel colors and x-ray imagery; Diane Bronstein's "Unreal city" at the University Gallery, blending vintage photography with embroidery to address climate change; "Seeded: Art After Investment" (Oct. 15–Nov. 10) showcasing faculty and student works made possible by grant funding; and Jason Tanner Young's "Finder" (Oct. 22–Dec. 15), a sculpture exhibition examining the relationship between objects and memory. All exhibits and receptions are free and open to the public.
Anastasia Drayton is transforming the former Pittsfield Plant Connector space at 46 West St. in Pittsfield into Solarium, a plant shop and art gallery slated to open in mid-September. Drayton, who previously ran a pop-up called Foraged and Found inside the Plant Connector, will offer plants, nature-based home decor, self-care products, and works from local artists. The center of the store will become the Atrium Gallery, curated by muralist Mike Carty, featuring local art and named in tribute to Carty's heart transplant. Drayton also plans to host workshops, educational seminars, and community events, building on the legacy of former owners Bonnie Marks and Emilee Yawn.
Artist Werner Sun, a particle physicist by training, presents a new exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art in Auburn, N.Y., running through May 17, 2025. The show merges digital photography and paper folding techniques into sculptural wall and ceiling works, drawing on Sun's background in science and mathematics. Sun, who earned degrees from Harvard and Caltech and works as IT director at Cornell University's Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education, uses algorithms and tessellation patterns to transform photographs into geometric folded pieces. The exhibition includes series such as 'Double Vision,' 'Big Bang,' and 'Rose Window,' with the latter two hosted at the Cayuga Museum.
Annonce de chercheur : Les poteries « genre Palissy » au XIXe siècle en France
A doctoral candidate in art history, Mariette Boudgourd, has announced a public call for information to aid her research on 19th-century French ceramics in the 'genre Palissy' style. Her thesis aims to define the corpus of these works, analyzing their production techniques, market diffusion, and the construction of the myth surrounding the Renaissance potter Bernard Palissy.
Diriyah Art Futures (DAF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has opened applications for its third Emerging New Media Artists Programme, a one-year fully supported residency running from October 2026 to October 2027. Developed in collaboration with Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, the programme offers emerging artists aged 35 or under access to professional equipment, a production budget, mentorship by international digital artists, and multidisciplinary training in art, science, and technology. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2026, with a focus on applicants from the Middle East and North Africa.
A new art exhibition titled "Persistent Curiosity: Charting the Rippled Fabric of the Sea" has opened at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Center for Coastal Studies. The show runs from May 15 through July 19, with an opening reception on May 22.
The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh have launched a $500 million comprehensive campaign, the largest in their history, to fund capital projects across all four of their institutions: the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. The campaign, which has already raised $325 million, will support renovations, new exhibitions, and expanded educational programming, including a major overhaul of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's dinosaur hall and a new wing for the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Artists nationwide are invited to submit original works to a juried exhibition titled "Allegories of a Better World," which will be held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on June 28, 2026. The submission deadline is May 15, 2026. The exhibition is organized in conjunction with the premiere of the documentary film "The Making of America," directed by Monique Linder and produced by OMG Studios in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. Submissions should explore themes such as virtue, moral courage, truth, justice, liberation, reconstruction, memory, history, and cultural healing. Selected works may also be featured in the film.
Art in Bloom, the Minneapolis Institute of Art's annual floral showcase, returned from April 23 to 26, 2026, featuring over 160 flower arrangements inspired by artworks from the museum's permanent collection. The free, four-day event, presented by the Friends of the Institute, drew thousands of visitors and included guided tours, family activities, and expanded programming. Floral designers, florists, and garden clubs placed their interpretations alongside original pieces, with this year's centerpiece inspired by a Japanese Presentation vase from the early 20th century, once owned by railroad magnate James J. Hill.
Chicago artist Brian Sykes is debuting a multidisciplinary exhibition titled “I Heard the City Breathe” at the Beverly Arts Center, running from April 6 through May 1. The project, which includes a short film and gallery-style visual art, serves as a collaborative reflection on the Black experience in Chicago. By blending music, storytelling, and intergenerational community input, Sykes explores themes of identity, memory, and the cultural realities of the city’s South Side.
The UC Davis College of Letters and Science is hosting a weekend event titled "Weekender: Music, Live Sound Installation, Art" at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. The event features a live sound installation by artist and composer Pamela Z, alongside a performance by the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christian Baldini, which will include a piece by composer Gabriela Ortiz.
A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) warns that state-funded UK museums are reaching a breaking point as they attempt to offset significant government funding cuts with self-generated income. Analyzing 15 major institutions including the British Museum and Tate, the report reveals that while self-generated revenue rose by 53% since 2021-22, it remains highly volatile and susceptible to external factors like tourism costs and membership churn. Despite a recent £31m funding boost from the DCMS, over half of these institutions report being in a worse financial position than they were three years ago.
During Alberta’s province-wide teachers’ strike, the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, TELUS Spark science centre, and Contemporary Calgary are offering special programs for students. TELUS Spark is providing first-come, first-served camps for grades 1-6, with registration opening weekly, while the zoo highlights new animal additions. Contemporary Calgary is offering a $20-per-child art field trip on color theory and painting for students aged 5-13, with a maximum of 30 children per session.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is leveraging its extensive digitization program to apply artificial intelligence to new fields, including pain management. Through partnerships like the PHAROS consortium and a collaboration with McGill University researcher Hannah Derue, the museum's open-access collection of over 61,000 high-resolution images is being used to train AI models for PAin+, a software platform that helps chronic pain patients articulate and track their experiences using art-based mindfulness and machine learning.