A school art festival at St Barnabas Primary School in the UK has received support from celebrities and artists, whose paintings and contributions feature in the event. Headteacher Beccy Harris noted that the festival's theme aligns with the school's vision to 'help children soar on wings like eagles.'
The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, is hosting the 'Empire of Light: Visions and Voices of Afghanistan' exhibition, running through May 30, 2026. The show features rare Afghan artifacts, illuminated manuscripts, and contemporary works, curated by Nicoletta Fazio, and is partnered with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The museum, designed by I.M. Pei and opened in 2008, also offers weekend bazaars at MIA Park, enhancing the visitor experience with local crafts and jewelry.
More than 300 museums and art institutions across South Korea will participate in the 2026 Museum and Gallery Week, a nationwide cultural festival organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, running from May 1 to May 31. The event adopts the theme "Museums Uniting a Divided World" from the International Council of Museums, and features three main programs: "Museum × Meet" highlighting 50 signature objects, "Museum × Enjoy" with exhibitions and performances at 18 institutions, and "Museum × Wander" offering guided tours connecting galleries with historic sites.
BTS leader RM will present an exhibition of artworks from his personal collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The show, titled "RM: Resonance," is scheduled to run from October 3, 2026, to February 7, 2027, and will feature a selection of contemporary pieces he has acquired.
The Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is launching a major two-year immersive exhibition dedicated to the hit sitcom *The Office*. Opening on October 31, 2025, the four-room installation explores the show's evolution from a mockumentary into a global cultural phenomenon, featuring interactive displays, behind-the-scenes narratives, and fan tributes.
Perivale Gallery on Manitoulin Island will host 'Through Ivan’s Eyes: A Northern Vision Lives On' on May 16, a final exhibition and sale of works by the late artist Ivan Wheale. The event includes Wheale’s last painting, completed shortly before his death, and pieces from his personal collection, marking the last chance to acquire his work from his official gallery.
Andrew Durham Gallery in Houston is presenting "Long Division," a solo exhibition of works by artist Mark Wade, on view from March 28 to May 23, 2026. The show features Wade's mixed-media pieces that explore historical fault lines in the United States, particularly the American Indian Wars, using fragmented and reconstructed materials to question how national narratives are formed and suppressed.
The inaugural Salt Lake Art Show will debut May 14–17, 2026 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. Founded by father-daughter team Kevin O’Keefe and Briana Dolan of Peaks Art Fairs and the Reno Tahoe International Art Show, the fair features nearly 200 exhibitors from 20 U.S. states and five countries, organized into six segments including Galleries, Studios & Collectives, Utah Treasures, Bespoke Furniture, Sculpture Walk, and First Nations, Indigenous Peoples. The show emphasizes accessibility, interdisciplinary programming, and community engagement, building on the Reno Tahoe model that has doubled in size twice and generated millions in art sales.
The Angular Festival, curated by Focus Group Radio, takes over four spaces at Palomar by Crossway in Chennai, blending music stages, an art gallery, listening sessions, artist installations, and a makers market. Five artists—Arya, Poorvaja Rathi, BVS, Sasithar, and co-curator Rhea Fabian—present works across painting, sculpture, installation, and film, while musical acts like Komododo, CDV, and The Dipshit Ladies perform on two stages. The event also features listening sessions curated by non-musicians and interactive installations by Television Dust and Abhishek Jayaprakash.
Two Holyoke artists, Natasha Colón Ortiz and Lora McNeece Barrett, have created a new exhibition titled 'Waterpower' at City Hall, featuring paintings inspired by the city's historic three-level canal system. The show, which includes original works by both artists, will open with a reception on May 1, 2025. Colón Ortiz and Barrett, who once shared a teacher-student relationship, now collaborate as colleagues after being recommended by residents in response to Mayor Joshua A. Garcia's call for ideas to revitalize the mayor's office space.
The Herndon Gallery at Antioch College is opening a group exhibition titled 'Rightstarter: Resistance, Rap and the Golden Era,' curated by artist Joshua Whitaker. The show, launching with a reception on May 9, explores the rap counterculture of the late 1980s and early 1990s, featuring works by artists from Dayton and beyond. It includes drawings, paintings, sculpture, installations, video, and performance, with a live jazz performance by G. Scott Jones and the Freedom Ensemble. The exhibition highlights how hip-hop served as a platform for social commentary against the backdrop of Reaganomics, the crack epidemic, the war on drugs, and the AIDS crisis.
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.
Scottsdale Arts has opened 'Visions ’26,' an exhibition at the Center Space gallery inside the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, featuring works by 40 high school students from six Valley schools. The show is the culmination of a yearlong mentorship program pairing young artists with 13 professional Arizona-based teaching artists, with instruction from faculty at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Paradise Valley Community College. Participating students, including Emily Pye and Ilana Belogorodsky, created pieces in painting, multimedia, and sculpture, with Pye's mixed-media work 'Le Stagioni' exploring her Italian heritage and Belogorodsky's oil painting 'Refracted' representing childhood emotions.
On May 7, the National Art Museum of Belarus opened the exhibition "Harmony of the World of Niehliubka Weavers," showcasing traditional weaving from the village of Niehliubka in the Vetka District. The display features about 50 textile works from the museum's collection, along with tools, rare costume elements, and photographs provided by the Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life and the Vetka Museum of Old Believer and Belarusian Traditions named after Shklyarau. This tradition, which originated in the 17th century, includes towels, clothing, and interior items made with original weaving and embroidery techniques.
Edmonds College Art Gallery in Lynnwood, Washington, is presenting its spring exhibition, "Student Art Show," from May 8 to June 12. The show features works by nine emerging student artists—Alexandria Ashley, Christian Douglas, Karis Johnson, Daphne Lynch, Zoe Mody, Aya Nakano, Jinx Pineda, Lika Rukhadze, and Felicity Silvers—across mixed media, painting, sculpture, and ceramics. An opening reception will be held on May 8 with food, refreshments, and live piano music.
The Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, in collaboration with the East-West Center Arts Program, will present 'Ocean of Peace,' a group exhibition featuring seven artists of Micronesian heritage at Honolulu Hale from May 8 to June 11, 2026. The exhibition centers on the 'Ocean of Peace' declaration, a political and cultural framework endorsed at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in the Solomon Islands in September 2025, which envisions Pacific Island nations as sovereign and free from geopolitical conflict and coercion. Participating artists include James Bamba, Carol Ann Carl, Gillian Duenas, Kalany Omengkar, Anthony Watson, Lissette Yamase, and Manny Crisostomo, exploring themes of Indigenous Pacific knowledge, identity, and storytelling.
The Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) and the Hall of Art (Műcsarnok) have opened an outdoor panel exhibition in front of the Műcsarnok building on Bajza Street to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the institution's opening. Designed by Albert Schickedanz, the building was completed in 1896 for the Millennium alongside Heroes' Square and the Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition, which will be on view until November 22, looks back on the Műcsarnok's 130-year history, and a fall anniversary exhibition is also planned.
The Sadequain Art Exhibition opened on Monday in Mississauga, Canada, for a three-day event celebrating Pakistan’s cultural heritage. Organized by the Sadequain Foundation USA in collaboration with media partners, the exhibition was inaugurated by Muhammad Saleem Khan and features Islamic calligraphy, drawings, paintings, Urdu poetry, and wall carvings by the renowned artist Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi. Attendees included Ontario MPP Sheref Sabawy and participants from the Aga Khan Academy Toronto.
The Center for Black Excellence and Culture will open on West Badger Road in Madison on May 6, after years of planning and raising over $32 million from roughly 1,300 donors. The facility includes a central gallery, display spaces, a 280-seat fine arts theater, a black box theater, a library, a Black studies reading room, a recording studio, and a women's empowerment center. The grand opening will feature performances by The House Urban Arts Initiative Inc., Dana Pellebon, Theola Carter, Anthony Brown, and others. The inaugural visual arts exhibition, "Neo Black Renaissance: A Vision in One's Mind," will run through August, showcasing works by artists including Comfort Wasikhongo, Odalo Wasikhongo, Marlon Banks, Brooklyn Doby, Jessica Patterson, Fatima Laster, and Shalicia Johnson.
Koshy Brahmatmaj's debut solo exhibition, titled 'how do i make you believe,' is currently on view in Mumbai. The show presents artworks that draw from personal pain and limitation, with the artist choosing to work within constraints rather than against them. Images of the exhibition have been released by the gallery, showing pieces that reflect Brahmatmaj's engagement with themes of ecology, identity, archives, and community-based practice.
Marquette University held its fourth annual Student Art Exhibition on April 23, 2026, at the Lemonis Center for Student Success, featuring ten student artists each awarded a $500 stipend to create works around themes such as “Culture & Career,” “Defining Success,” “Belonging at Marquette,” and “Expanding Horizons.” The event, organized by Career Center director Courtney Hanson, included pieces by Jessica Wrobel and Salo Aristizabal, among others, and was sponsored by the Career Center, the Division of Belonging and Student Affairs, the Lemonis Center, Raynor Library, and Enterprise Mobility.
Artist and arts administrator Kathleen Kirk Stoves is debuting an art exhibit at Mobile Arts Council in downtown Mobile, Alabama, in partnership with Lynn Oldshue, founder and writer of the storytelling project Our Southern Souls. The exhibit runs through May and coincides with the ArtWalk event on May 8th. Stoves created paintings inspired by Oldshue's interviews with over 2,000 people from the Mobile area, originally sparked by stories about bus riders.
The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University will host "The Art of the Simpsons," the first-ever art exhibition dedicated to the iconic animated family. The exhibition, opening November 18, 2026, will feature original illustrations and production cels of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and other Springfield characters, celebrating the show's 39-year history and the museum's 10th anniversary.
The Pickens Museum has opened a new exhibition titled 'Contemporary Native Women Artists' in the atrium of City Central in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The showcase features paintings by Traci Rabbit, the late Bill Rabbit, and Gwen Coleman Lester, focusing on the strength, dignity, and creative vision of Indigenous women artists. The exhibition will be on view through September 2026.
Wildlife painter Aga Elliott is presenting an exhibition of her work at OASIS Fine Art and Craft in downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia, through the end of June. The exhibition features life-like paintings of animals ranging from chipmunks to tigers, aiming to illustrate the interconnectedness of ecosystems. Elliott creates her works using photographs from her encounters with animals, often from her time near Yellowstone National Park and wildlife sanctuaries.
Photographer Rusty Costanza opened an exhibition of his black-and-white photographs at the Art House in Covington, documenting his life and perspective since being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The show was the featured exhibit of the annual Spring for Art celebration, with a special preview for friends, family, and patrons.
Government College Women University Faisalabad's Department of Art & Design is organizing a solo exhibition titled "Chain of Memories" featuring works by artist Dr. Tooba Najam. The exhibition will be held at the Punjab Council of Arts Faisalabad Division and inaugurated by Divisional Commissioner Musarrat Jabeen, with university Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Kanwal Ameen attending as a special guest.
Artist Vio Choe has opened a solo exhibition titled 'Time Interface' at The Page Gallery in Seoul, South Korea. The exhibition features paintings that Choe describes as an attempt to express energy perceived through unconsciousness, aiming to communicate with viewers on a sensory, non-verbal level.
La Biennale e il peso delle bandiere. Che senso hanno i padiglioni nazionali?
The article examines the inherent contradiction within the Venice Biennale: its historical structure of national pavilions, a legacy of 19th-century world fairs and state-sponsored art, clashes with the transnational, post-identity vision of the international exhibition curated by Koyo Kouoh. The return of the Russia Pavilion amid geopolitical conflict and the international show titled "In Minor Keys," which rejects national belonging as an interpretive criterion, highlight this tension. The piece also addresses the controversy over the lack of Italian artists in the main exhibition, questioning whether a Biennale hosted in Italy should guarantee national representation.
The Franco Fossati Foundation's Museo del Fumetto (Comics Museum), which was evicted from Milan due to a €180,000 debt to the city, has found a new permanent home in Monza. The Monza city council approved the foundation's proposal on April 30, paving the way for the renovation of a former library in the Cederna district, which has been abandoned for years. The archive of 500,000 pieces will be temporarily stored in Desio while the Monza building is refurbished with €850,000 from the municipality and additional funds from the foundation.