Three Venice shows everyone is talking about

The Korea Herald recommends three must-visit museum shows in Venice during the Venice Biennale. At Palazzo Grassi, the Pinault Collection presents "Michael Armitage. The Promise of Change," featuring the Kenya-born British painter's vivid works addressing sociopolitical tensions and migration. At Gallerie dell'Accademia, "Transforming Energy" by Marina Abramovic marks her 80th birthday, creating a dialogue between her performance art and Renaissance masterpieces. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection hosts "Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector," revisiting her formative years and her short-lived London gallery Guggenheim Jeune.

Flesh and Bones: The Exhibition Turning the Art of Anatomy Into a Cultural Conversation

The exhibition "Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" at Singapore's ArtScience Museum explores the history of anatomical representation as a cultural construct rather than a universal scientific truth. It juxtaposes Western anatomical atlases from the Renaissance with Chinese meridian (jingluo) systems, featuring works by artist Chiharu Shiota and other historical pieces that reveal how different cultures have visualized the human body through both scientific and spiritual lenses.

WeWork (oralmoral)

The article reviews "WeWork (oralmoral)," a temporary exhibition at The Gallery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, curated by artist-turned-curator Florian Meisenberg. The show transforms a former office space into a free-form, non-hierarchical environment where works by over a dozen artists are placed unpredictably—in trash bins, closets, ventilation shafts, and on whiteboards left by the previous tenant. Artists span three generations, from Post-Minimal figures like B. Wurtz and David Humphrey to younger digital-savvy artists such as Lucas Blalock and Anna K.E., whose sound piece "Tamada" greets visitors. The exhibition runs from April 10 to May 18, 2026.

200 Years of Afro-Cuban Art at the Lowe Art Museum | Lowe Art Museum | Things to do in Miami

The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami is presenting two simultaneous exhibitions that together form the most comprehensive survey of Afro-Cuban art ever assembled. "El Pasado Mio/My Own Past," organized by Harvard's Afro-Latin American Research Institute, features over 81 works by 44 Cuban artists of African descent spanning two centuries, including nine paintings by Wifredo Lam and works by eleven female artists shown together for the first time. The companion exhibition, "Afrocubanismo: Highlights from the Ramón and Nercys Cernuda Collection," examines the cultural movement of the 1930s when artists began centering Cuba's African roots despite widespread societal suppression. The shows run through September 12 with free general admission.

FAD News: Sarah Lucas unveils new public sculpture commission for New Museum plaza

The New Museum has unveiled a major public sculpture by Sarah Lucas titled "VENUS VICTORIA," installed on its new outdoor plaza as part of the OMA-designed expansion on the Bowery. The large-scale work, which opened on May 12, 2026, and will remain on view for two years, inaugurates a long-term commission series dedicated to public sculpture by women artists. Lucas was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith, and is the first of five artists to be commissioned over the next decade. The sculpture extends Lucas's Bunny series, placing a reclining figure atop a giant washing machine to subvert traditional monumental statues.

Cleveland Museum of Art hosting ‘France in the Time of Manet and Morisot’

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has opened a free companion exhibition titled "France in the Time of Manet and Morisot," running through August 23 in the Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries. The show features 50 photographs from the museum's holdings of mid-1800s France, including works by Charles Marville and Édouard Baldus, who were commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III and the Louvre to document historic monuments and new architectural projects. Curated by Barbara Tannenbaum, CMA chair of prints, drawings, and photographs, the exhibition complements the museum's ticketed show "Manet & Morisot," which explores the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. Highlights include André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri's 1861 portrait "Monsieur Merlen," which is noted as an early precursor to the selfie, and a photograph of the Arc de Triomphe under construction.

Maine art galleries showcase dozens of artists in summer shows

A roundup of summer art exhibitions across Maine highlights dozens of artists showing at galleries and pop-up spaces from Rockport to Portland. Notable shows include Alexandre Gallery's pop-up featuring charcoal works by the late Cooper Union-trained artist Emily Nelligan, who spent decades depicting Cranberry Island; Karma's annual summer pop-up at artist Ann Craven's deconsecrated church in Thomaston; and solo exhibitions at Caldbeck Gallery, Courthouse Gallery, and Cove Street Arts. Other venues such as Carver Hill Gallery, Corey Daniels Gallery, Dowling Walsh, and Moss Galleries present group and solo shows spanning landscape painting, mythical imagery, and works addressing social resistance.

La sede ad Albisola della Galleria Raffaella Cortese è più “un pensatoio che spazio espositivo”: la storia e le collaborazioni con gallerie d’arte emergente

Raffaella Cortese opened a small 12-square-meter space in Albisola Superiore, Italy, in June 2022, described as "more a think tank than an exhibition space." The venue, located near the Ligurian sea, honors the town's legacy as a center for contemporary ceramics from the 1950s to the 1970s, hosting artists like Lucio Fontana and Asger Jorn. The space alternates works from Cortese's Milan gallery with collaborations from emerging galleries, such as Fanta-MLN of Milan (presenting Noah Barker's installation "lux principum" in 2023) and Gian Marco Casini Gallery of Livorno (featuring Clarissa Baldassarri's "Exposure value" in 2024). A future collaboration with Triangolo gallery of Cremona is scheduled for May–September 2026, showcasing Nicole Colombo's sculpture "Rosario (to the moon and back)."

At the BnF, wonderful maps to imagine new worlds

À la BnF, des merveilles de cartes pour imaginer des mondes nouveaux

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) is presenting an exhibition of extraordinary maps that blend imagination with cartography, tracing the evolution of maps from ancient tools of navigation to fantastical creations that fueled exploration and myth. The show features rare works including Renaissance sea monsters, cosmological paintings, and literary maps from Tolkien's Middle-earth and George R.R. Martin's Westeros, alongside contemporary artists like Alighiero Boetti, Sergio Aquindo, and Michael Druks who use maps to express personal and political visions.

Giuli Buys Everything! The Ministry of Culture Also Wants to Take Over Rome's Teatro delle Vittorie and Venice's Palazzo Labia?

Giuli compra tutto! Il Ministero della Cultura vuole prendersi anche Il Teatro delle Vittorie di Roma e Palazzo Labia a Venezia?

Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli is pursuing an aggressive acquisition campaign for cultural properties. After high-profile purchases including Antonello da Messina's *Ecce Homo* and Caravaggio's *Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini* (€30 million), the Ministry has now expressed interest in acquiring Rome's Teatro delle Vittorie and Venice's Palazzo Labia—both part of a real estate portfolio being sold by state broadcaster Rai. The Ministry also recently bought Verona's historic Cinema Astra (with a €7.5 million restoration plan) and Naples' Teatro Sannazzaro after a fire.

Future Fair Is a Big Artist Party

Future Fair, held at Chelsea Industrial in New York from May 13–16, 2026, brought together 69 exhibitors from nine countries. Unlike traditional art fairs with segmented booths, the fair emphasized interconnectedness and interpersonal connection, featuring artist-run booths and family-led presentations. Notable participants included Nanor Hakimian showing her brother Garo's paintings, Olivia Janna Genereaux exhibiting with her son Hans Silas Jovine, and artists Cloe Galasso, John Vitale, and Miles Ingrassia. The fair also highlighted its profit-sharing model, dedicating 15% of proceeds plus exhibitor donations to subsidize emerging galleries.

The Joy of Discovery at 1-54 Art Fair

The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, now open at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan, presents a smaller edition than previous years but continues to offer unexpected, tactile works. Highlights include Rommulo Vieira Conceição's Pop-art-inspired wall installation at Aura gallery, Kendra Frorup's mixed-media piece at the Current: Baha Mar Gallery, and Eymric Moderne's gold-leaf and glass bird painting at TM Arthouse. The fair also features posthumous works by Marcel Gotène at Loeve and Co and Sophia Bounou's enigmatic paintings at Blond Contemporary.

Gulag Museum rebrand marks latest phase in Kremlin’s assault on free speech

The Kremlin is systematically erasing the memory of Soviet repression under Joseph Stalin from Russian museums. The Gulag Museum in Moscow, which documented Stalin-era crimes, has been rebranded as a "Museum of Memory" focused on Nazi war crimes, with its entire website replaced and exhibitions packed up. Simultaneously, Russia's supreme court banned Memorial, a human rights organization founded to document Stalin-era atrocities, labeling it an "anti-Russian" extremist group. The Yeltsin Presidential Center in Yekaterinburg has also removed references to Memorial from its walls, and the Sakharov Center in Moscow was disbanded and evicted from its facilities.

In Pol Taburet’s New Show, Being Paranoid Is the Point

French artist Pol Taburet has opened a solo exhibition titled *Paranoia as Method* at Villa Medici in Rome, on view through July 15. The show features sculptures, large-format paintings, and charcoal drawings created during his spring residency at the institution, transforming the villa’s gardens, loggias, and salons into tense psychic landscapes. Taburet’s figures drift between human and animal, evoking transformation, mortality, and spiritual tension, drawing on his Caribbean roots, voodoo traditions, contemporary culture, and classical painting.

Alex Israel on finding inspiration in Erewhon, AI as a tool and new show 'Where Is My Mind'

Multimedia artist Alex Israel has launched his first collaboration with Pace Prints, releasing a new suite of 10 archival pigment prints titled 'Where Is My Mind?' The series, part of his ongoing Self Portrait project, features intimate-scale works that incorporate representational imagery within his signature silhouette—ranging from the Hollywood Bowl stage to aerial views of Los Angeles and a California desert scene with an iPhone outline. Each print began as a photograph, translated into paint by the Scenic Art department at Warner Brothers Studio, then scanned and mounted in custom frames. The show coincides with Pace Prints' upcoming expansion into Los Angeles in fall 2026.

Wonder Gallery Debuts in Coney Island With Vintage Photos and Mini Zines

Wonder Gallery, a collaboration between Parachute Literary Arts and the Coney Island History Project, opens May 23 at the History Project's Exhibit Center beside the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. The seasonal gallery will debut with black-and-white photographs by Brooklyn documentary photographer Anders Goldfarb, capturing Coney Island residents and architecture from the 1970s and 1980s, alongside the launch of the Coney Island Zine Machine featuring miniature zines by Sheepshead Bay artist Kelly Luu. The free gallery will be open weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Contemporary Indian Art at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is hosting "Sediments of Becoming: Fossilised Present, Summoned Pasts," an exhibition curated by Marina Schulz and Tunty Chauhan that features works by eleven contemporary Indian artists, including Afrah Shafiq, Anindita Bhattacharya, Debashish Mukherjee, and others. The show positions contemporary Indian artistic practice within a broader international and civilisational discourse, set against the Hermitage's historic backdrop of over three million objects spanning centuries.

Between everyday and exceptional

Emami Art in Kolkata presents "Nothing Twice," an exhibition featuring nine young women artists that explores the fragility of ordinary life through domestic, tactile, and overlooked subjects. Curated by Ushmita Sahu, the show includes works in painting, textiles, photography, ceramics, drawing, and video, with artists like Moumita Basak, Shilpi Sharma, and Riti Sengupta focusing on material memory and feminist art histories. Concurrently, "Khadi: A Canvas" at TRI Art & Culture showcases 19 khadi sarees woven in the jamdani technique by tribal women from Srikakulam, connecting Raja Ravi Varma's visual culture with Gandhi's politics of self-reliance, curated by Lavina Baldota with textile artist Gaurang Shah. Additionally, "Digital Atma (Spirits) X The Wandering Souls" at A.M (Art Multi-disciplines) examines digital life and technology's impact on identity and intimacy through poetry, sound, image, and performance.

Artist Felipe Pantone's home is a 'permanent exhibition' - with its own indoor nightclub

Spanish-Argentinian contemporary artist Felipe Pantone, who never reveals his face to the public, opens the doors to his striking home 'Casa Axis' in Valencia, Spain. Originally built between 1972 and 1975 by architect Pascual Genovés and designer Antonio Segura, the property was known as the 'Revolving House' before Pantone renamed it. After a two-year renovation, the 7,000 sq m estate now includes an indoor swimming pool designed by the artist, a private tennis court, a dance club, and rooms filled with natural light. Pantone and his partner Victoria Fernández host artists from around the world at the home, which also served as a backdrop for Netflix's Black Mirror.

Discover the David Geffen Galleries, Jazz at LACMA, and More This Weekend

LACMA is hosting its monthly Third Weekends event from May 15-17, 2025, featuring free workshops, screenings, concerts, and performances across its newly transformed campus, including the David Geffen Galleries. Highlights include guided architectural walks, figure drawing workshops, a concert by the Julius Rodriguez Trio at Jazz at LACMA, a screening of Tenzin Phuntsog’s film *Next Life*, a roving dance performance by Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and artist talks with Todd Gray. The weekend also includes outdoor activities, chess sessions, and a screening of the 1986 World Cup match.

Rising Voices: Inside the V&A’s Landmark Exhibition Of Asian, Australian & Pacific Art

A new exhibition, 'Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia, and the Pacific,' opens this weekend at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. It features over 70 works by more than 40 artists from 25 Asia Pacific countries, including sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, and textiles, many never before exhibited outside the region. The show is presented in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane and co-curated by Daniel Slater, the V&A's director of exhibitions.

Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater

The first UK presentation of Nancy Holt's work, titled "MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater," opens at the Goodwood Art Foundation in Sussex from 2 May to 1 November 2026. The exhibition includes both a gallery-based show and works in the landscape, featuring key pieces such as the monumental site-responsive installation "Ventilation System" (1985-92) and the earthwork "Hydra's Head" (1974). The show aims to highlight Holt's exploration of perception, language, and light, and includes works from her diverse practice spanning concrete poetry, film, photography, and public sculpture.

Major, International Touring Exhibition ‘Treasures of the Pharaohs’ Coming to the Kimbell Art Museum in 2027

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, announced it will host the major international touring exhibition 'Treasures of the Pharaohs' from March 14 to September 19, 2027. Featuring 130 artifacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Luxor Museum, the exhibition spans 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history, including royal treasures, newly discovered objects from the 'Golden City' in the Valley of the Kings, and works from Dynasty I to the Ptolemaic period. The exhibition is currently on view at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome and will travel to the de Young museum in San Francisco before arriving at the Kimbell.

At 1-54 New York 2026, Afro-Brazilian art takes centre stage for the first time

The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York (May 13–17, 2026) will debut a curated section titled '1-54 Presents: Brazil Beyond Brazil,' focusing exclusively on Afro-Brazilian art and artists. Organized by Brazilian curator Igor Simões, the section features works by ten Black Brazilian artists—including Ana Claudia Almeida, Rebeca Carapiá, and Rommulo Vieira Conceição—presented by leading Brazilian galleries such as Almeida & Dale, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Nara Roesler, and Aura. The initiative draws on archival research, reinterprets modernist legacies, and challenges narrow narratives around Afro-Brazilian art, highlighting the cultural links between Africa and Latin America.

Hamed Abdalla | Untitled (1972) | For Sale

Hamed Abdalla's 1972 painting "Untitled" is being offered for sale through Mark Hachem Gallery, listed on Artsy. The work is an acrylic on canvas measuring 92 × 65 cm, hand-signed by the artist, and includes a certificate of authenticity. Abdalla (1917–1985) was a pioneering Egyptian modernist who developed the concept of the "Creative Word," blending abstraction with human forms. His career included exhibitions at Cairo's Museum of Modern Art, the Louvre in Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and his works are held in major institutions such as the Tate Modern, the Barjeel Art Collection, and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

Hamed Abdalla | Al Beous, Misery (1961) | For Sale

Hamed Abdalla's 1961 work "Al Beous, Misery" is being offered for sale through Mark Hachem Gallery, listed on Artsy. The piece is an ink on paper from glue relief, measuring 33 × 46 cm, hand-signed, and includes a certificate of authenticity. Abdalla (1917–1985) was a pioneering Egyptian and Arab modernist, known for his "Creative Word" concept blending abstraction and human forms. His career included exhibitions at Cairo's Museum of Modern Art, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Tate Modern, among others.

Keeping It Simple

On Valentine's Day, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, Kansas, opened the inaugural "Kansas Triennial 25/26" exhibition, featuring works by four Kansas-based visual artists: Mona Cliff, Mark Cowardin, Poppy DeltaDawn, and Ann Resnick. The museum engaged young visitors by handing out paper hearts and inviting them to place their heart in front of the artwork they loved best, creating a reflective and participatory experience.

Air de Paris, a Radical Stalwart of the French Gallery Scene, Is Closing

After 36 years and over 400 exhibitions, the radical Parisian gallery Air de Paris is closing due to bankruptcy. Co-founders Florence Bonnefous and Edouard Merino decided to shutter the gallery after its financial situation became fragile, compounded by Bonnefous's health issues (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and their refusal to adapt to the increasingly profit-driven, corporatist art market. The gallery's final show, titled “Oh What a Time,” in Romainville featured works by artists including Joseph Grigely, Amy Vogel, Allen Ruppersberg, Pierre Joseph, Mona Varichon, Pati Hill, Lily van der Stokker, and Trisha Donnelly.

La restitution du lit de Louis XVI

The Château de Versailles has inaugurated the restored private bedroom of King Louis XVI, featuring a fully recreated bed that was burned during the French Revolution. The project, which took forty years of research and craftsmanship, involved reconstructing the bed from sparse 18th-century archives, including a sculptor's memorandum by Babel and a fabric sample preserved by the silk manufacturer Tassinari & Chatel. The restoration also includes a commode from the Château de Compiègne, as the original is at Chantilly, and follows principles of harmony in gilding and textile motifs.

Mimmo Paladino torna a Milano con una grande mostra dopo anni. Sotterranea e immersiva

Mimmo Paladino returns to Milan with a major exhibition after 15 years, opening on May 16 at Palazzo Citterio's underground Sala Stirling. The show features his iconic series "Dormienti" (Sleepers), 32 anthropomorphic terracotta sculptures in fetal positions, arranged in a theatrical, immersive installation. The exhibition also includes a soundscape by Brian Eno and a selection of 15 drawings on paper from 1973, curated by Lorenzo Madaro and organized by Grande Brera and the Archivio Paladino. It runs until July 26, 2026.