Space as Practice. A Decade of WL4 Art Space.

WL4 Art Space in Gdańsk, Poland, celebrates its tenth anniversary. Founded in 2015 when a group of artists took over a former bakery at Wiosny Ludów 4, the space has evolved from a practical need for studios into a self-organized, grassroots collective. Operating in a raw industrial building that once housed a giant steam bread oven, WL4 resists traditional display protocols, treating the site as a collaborator rather than a neutral container. Co-founder Adriana Majdzińska recalls the early euphoria as artists quickly filled the studios, building and adapting spaces while maintaining a simple rule: you had to be actively creating.

Arts of Oceania

The article explores the rich artistic traditions of Oceania, emphasizing how the vast network of islands and ocean passageways fostered a dynamic exchange of cultures, materials, and ideas over millennia. It describes Oceanic art as vessels for metaphysical journeys, with objects like fishhooks, stick charts, and carved figures serving as tangible expressions of ancestral power and cultural knowledge. The text highlights the role of artists as chiefs and orators who manipulate local materials to manifest spirits, and traces the region's entanglements with European colonial powers from the sixteenth century onward.

In Piazza Navona the École française de Rome opens a space for exhibitions (all will be free admission)

A Piazza Navona l’École française de Rome apre uno spazio per le mostre (saranno tutte ad accesso gratuito)

The École française de Rome, founded in 1875 and housed at Palazzo Farnese, has opened a permanent exhibition space at Piazza Navona 62 in Rome. A current exhibition running until April 30, 2026, traces the institute's 150-year history of historical, archaeological, and social science research, highlighting its Italian and Mediterranean focus and the collaborative spirit between France and Italy. The new gallery will host a regular program of free-admission exhibitions and events dedicated to cultural heritage, archaeology, and history, starting with the show "Isole e santi – Monasteri e santuari dell’Adriatico orientale, da san Girolamo a Gregorio VII" from May 27, 2026.

The Dragon's Coils, the Flower and the Cloud. The Museo del Tappeto Antico of Brescia Looks to China

Le spire del drago, il fiore e la nuvola. Il Museo del Tappeto Antico di Brescia guarda alla Cina

The Museo Internazionale del Tappeto Antico (MITA) in Brescia, Italy, has opened a new exhibition titled "Le trame del dragone. Tappeti cinesi delle dinastie imperiali" (The Dragon's Wefts: Chinese Carpets of the Imperial Dynasties). The show presents around forty antique Chinese carpets from the MITA collection, the world's most important private collection of antique rugs, assembled by Romain Zaleski and housed in a glass cube designed by OBR. Curated by Giovanni Valagussa, the exhibition traces the history of Chinese carpet-making from the 15th to the 19th century, highlighting two main typologies: red-ground rugs from the Xinjiang region with geometric and floral motifs, and gold-and-blue rugs from the Ming and Qing capitals featuring dragon and auspicious symbols. The exhibition is free and runs until June.

Tracing the Traces Art Exhibit Opens at Oak Cliff Cultural Center

A solo exhibition titled "Tracing the Traces" by artist Chenxi Gao opens at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center in Dallas on Saturday, May 9, with a free reception from 6-8 p.m. Gao, a printmaking-based mixed-media artist from China, holds a BFA from Baylor University and an MFA from the University of North Texas. Her work, which has entered collections such as the Bradbury Art Museum, explores themes of home, memory, and displacement through works created between 2023 and 2026 in Denton, Fayetteville, Ark., and Roanoke, Va.

Exhibition 'Our History Living in Stitches' fascinates viewers [PHOTOS]

An exhibition titled 'Our History Living in Stitches' has opened at the Azerbaijan National Art Museum, dedicated to the Goycha and Garagoyunlu regions of Western Azerbaijan. The show features carpets woven by Azerbaijani women from those areas, preserved as treasured belongings during deportations between 1987 and 1991 and brought to Azerbaijan. The opening ceremony included speeches by museum director Shirin Malikova, community leaders, and a member of parliament, alongside musical performances by the 'Khazri' dance ensemble.

Explorations: A State Affair? The historical exhibition unfolds at the Army Museum

The Army Museum in Paris is hosting "Explorations: A State Affair?", a comprehensive exhibition running from April 15 to August 16, 2026. The showcase traces three centuries of French global expeditions, from the aftermath of the Seven Years' War in 1763 through the space race to contemporary missions focused on climate change and resource security. Featuring a diverse array of artifacts including maps, scientific instruments, military uniforms, and paintings, the exhibition highlights the military's central role in scientific discovery, territorial expansion, and state power.

Kansong's Cultural Defense Exhibition Features National Treasure Vase

The Kansong Art Museum in Seoul has launched a special exhibition titled "Cultural Defense of the Nation: The Spirit of Our People Preserved Through Faith," showcasing 46 significant artifacts reclaimed by collector Chun Hyung-pil during the Japanese colonial period. The centerpiece of the show is a rare 18th-century white porcelain bottle decorated with underglaze blue, iron-red, and copper-red, which Chun famously acquired at the Gyeongseong Art Club auction in 1936. He outbid a prominent Japanese dealer with a record-breaking bid of 14,580 won—a sum equivalent to the price of 15 houses at the time—to prevent the treasure from leaving Korea.

Exhibition in Barcelona explores an artist's journey into nature

The Vila Casas Foundation has launched a major retrospective of Esther Boix at the Espais Volart gallery in Barcelona, marking the centenary of the artist’s birth. Featuring 180 works, the exhibition traces Boix’s evolution from early figurative portraits and social realism to her later, more abstract explorations of nature and ecology. The show highlights her role in the anti-Franco movement, her involvement with the Postectura group, and her significant contributions to art education through the founding of the L’ARC school.

ARTIUM RECOVERS THE SILENCED DISSIDENCE OF JUANA CIMA

Artium museum in Vitoria, Spain, has opened a retrospective exhibition titled "Juana Cima: Una mirada disidente" dedicated to Cuban-born artist Juana Fernández Cima (b. 1951). The show traces her career from the late 1970s through the 1990s, highlighting her pioneering work on identity, gender, and ecology, which was progressively marginalized from the dominant artistic narrative. The exhibition is organized around five conceptual territories—Bilbao, mythical ecofeminist landscapes, insular identity, spirituality via India and Buddhism, and mountain retreat—and runs until August 30, 2026.

NEREIDA APAZA MAMANI A HISTORY OF MIGRATION AND VIOLENCE AT THE ICPNA CULTURAL IN MIRAFLORES

Nereida Apaza Mamani presents a solo exhibition at ICPNA Cultural in Miraflores, Lima, featuring 150 works across watercolor, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, embroidery, and installation. The show traces stories of migration and displacement through cartographies, maps, and family trees, drawing on embroidery techniques inherited from her mother and grandmother. Curated by Miguel López, the exhibition explores belonging in a country marked by discrimination and centralism, incorporating the artist's notebooks begun in 2009 and works that address political violence and memory.

ECOFEMINIST PERSPECTIVES AT THE PANAMANIAN CULTURAL CENTER OF SPAIN

The Cultural Center of Spain in Panama is hosting an exhibition titled 'The Dimension of the Invisible: Ecofeminist Traces of Panamanian Art' until April 1, 2026. The show features traditional and digital works by ten Panamanian and international artists who explore the intersections of nature, culture, and the body from an ecofeminist viewpoint, challenging established boundaries between the human and non-human.