Corazón Cafe’s Chingonas gallery honors ‘badass women’ through art

Corazón Cafe in downtown San Luis Obispo hosts an annual art gallery called "Chingonas" during March and April, celebrating Women's History Month. The gallery, curated by co-owner Sara McGrath, features around 20 participants ranging from ages 5 to 85, displaying works that honor "badass women"—from famous figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gloria Steinem to everyday family members. The term "Chingonas" is a reclaimed Mexican-Spanish slang for strong, independent women.

[Gallery Walk] The Vanished Rooms of Women Reopened

Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul is presenting "Into Other Spaces: Synesthetic Environments by Women Artists 1956-1976," a major exhibition opening May 5 that reconstructs immersive environmental artworks by 11 women artists from Asia, the Americas, and Europe. The show features full-scale recreations of works that were often dismantled or lost, including Jeong Gangja's "Muchejeon" (1970), which was shut down by authorities after just days. Curators Andrea Lissoni and Marina Pugliese used archival materials, photographs, and direct consultations with artists or their estates to piece together these ephemeral pieces.

Arts Center donates works for library sale

The Davis Arts Center (DAC) has donated approximately 100 artworks from its permanent collection to the Friends of the Davis Public Library for a sale starting this weekend. The works, mostly from the 1960s-1980s, include pieces by notable Davis-area artists such as Richard Nelson, Robert Arneson, Margery Mann, and Roland Petersen, and are priced under $100. The donation follows DAC's 2019 transformation from an exhibition space to a studio-focused nonprofit offering classes and camps, which led to most of its collection being placed in storage. DAC executive director Sam King enlisted Davis High School art teacher Luke Turner—a former museum professional—to help curate and place select pieces with institutions like the Mills College Art Museum and the Manetti Shrem Museum, while the remaining works are now being offered to the community at bargain prices.

The Vatican brings Hildegard of Bingen to the Biennale. "The ear is the eye of the soul", by Brian Eno and Patti Smith

The Holy See Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled "The Ear is the Eye of the Soul," centers on the 12th-century Benedictine abbess and visionary Hildegard of Bingen. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective, the pavilion spans two Venetian venues—the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice—and features new sound works by 24 artists, musicians, and poets including Brian Eno, Patti Smith, FKA Twigs, Meredith Monk, and Jim Jarmusch. The title is borrowed from the final work of German director Alexander Kluge, who died in March 2026, and his monumental film installation forms a core part of the exhibition.

MKFA Awards Grants: Supporting innovation and community engagement

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts (MKFA) has announced the recipients of its 2026 Infinite Expansion Grants (IEG), awarding funding to nine contemporary arts organizations across Los Angeles County. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the grant program, with six of the nine organizations receiving MKFA funding for the first time. The grantees include Art in the Park, Clockshop, and Color Compton, among others, each undertaking projects that explore themes of place, memory, diaspora, and community resilience through exhibitions, installations, and public programming. The grants were selected by a jury of five arts professionals including Tiffany Barber, Jibz Cameron, Justen Leroy, Jenny Lin, and Rodrigo Valenzuela.

And the (Senior Show and URECA Art Exhibition) Winners Are …

The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University hosted the opening reception of the ninth annual combined Senior Show and URECA Arts Exhibition on April 29, drawing about 300 attendees including students, faculty, staff, university leaders, and local museum curators. The Senior Show, a nearly 50-year tradition, features works by senior studio art majors and minors, while the URECA exhibition highlights undergraduate research-based art selected by faculty. This year's exhibition is noted for its diversity in subject matter and materials, from chalk painting to digital media, and runs through May 22.

Vibrant Victorian-Era Transparencies Illuminate a Host of Microscopic Creatures

Osh Gallery in London is exhibiting 'The Hudson Transparencies,' a collection of 58 original illustrations by Charles Thomas Hudson, a 19th-century educator and amateur scientist. Created for his lectures, these large-scale transparencies (37.8 by 29.5 inches) combine painted paper and perforated pinholes to depict microscopic creatures such as rotifers, algae, protozoa, and marine organisms. When back-lit, the dark, seemingly unfinished images transform into vivid, detailed visions of life invisible to the naked eye, showcasing the intersection of Victorian-era optical innovation and scientific discovery.

ECUADOR UNVEILS KANUA IN THE CANALS OF VENICE

Ecuador has unveiled "Kanua: listening practices," a public program for its pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, launching on May 8 with solar-powered boat tours through Venice's canals. Developed by the anticolonial film collective Tawna in collaboration with the Kara Solar Foundation and curated by Manuela Moscoso, the project features six intimate boat journeys with discussions on extractivism, aqua-feminism, and territorial resistance, involving artists such as Carolina Caycedo, Mariana Castillo Deball, and Tabita Rezaire. The initiative reactivates Tawna's floating Amazonian film festival, which originally brought cinema to remote communities in Ecuador via a solar-powered boat.

À Florence, une touriste poursuivie pour avoir endommagé la fontaine de Neptune

In Florence, Italy, a 28-year-old tourist is being prosecuted for damaging the historic Neptune Fountain during a bachelorette party on the night of April 18-19. She allegedly climbed the monument on Piazza della Signoria after a dare from friends to touch the statue's intimate parts, causing an estimated €5,000 in damages to the horses' legs and a decorative frieze. This follows a similar incident in September 2023, when a 22-year-old German tourist caused €5,000 in damage to the same fountain while posing for photos.

“Not for Sale”: Jingyi Yu’s New Exhibition Questions What Happens When Art Stops Trying to Be Useful

Photographer and curator Jingyi Yu, who earlier this year served as sole juror for the group exhibition "New Year, New [Me]ntal Issues" at A Space Gallery, now presents a new exhibition titled "Not for Sale," co-curated with Qi Ling and opening May 24. The show features work selected from an international open call that received nearly one hundred submissions from artists across the United States, China, Korea, and Europe, including London-based artist and animator Marian Obando. The exhibition centers on pieces made without strategic intention or commercial ambition—private, impulsive, or emotionally driven works that were never intended for public circulation.

Photographer Walter Pfeiffer: ‘Everyone else my age is already in an asylum’

Swiss photographer and artist Walter Pfeiffer, now in his late 70s, is the subject of a profile in which he discusses his daily life, his love for Marlene Dietrich, his disdain for rude people, and his habit of wearing the same clothes every day. The article offers an intimate glimpse into his personality and creative philosophy.

Nei grandi capolavori della storia dell’arte si sorseggia una celebre birra belga. Il video

Stella Artois, the Belgian beer brand, has launched a campaign called "The Artois Probability" that uses an algorithm to analyze historical paintings and calculate the likelihood that the beer depicted in them is actually Stella Artois. Developed in 2023 by the agency GUT in collaboration with the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, the campaign examines variables such as the painting's year, geographic location, glass type, and liquid color, cross-referencing them with the brand's archives. The campaign includes works by artists like Manet, Brueghel, and Brouwer, and aims to make viewers think of Stella Artois whenever they see a beer in a painting.

At the 2026 Biennale, the Bulgarian Pavilion Transforms into a Political Laboratory to Explore the Present

Alla Biennale 2026 il Padiglione della Bulgaria si trasforma in laboratorio politico per esplorare il presente

The Bulgarian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, housed in the Sala Tiziano of the Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, has been transformed into a speculative political laboratory by The Federation of Minor Practices. Curated by Martina Yordanova, the project features an all-female group of artists—Veneta Androva, Gery Georgieva, Maria Nalbantova, and Rayna Teneva—whose four films serve as "signals" exploring tensions around ecology, media systems, disinformation, and collective responsibility. The pavilion is conceived as a research headquarters from the near future, open until November 22, 2026.

Guide to cultural festivals in Italy at the end of May 2026: Spring Attitude, Aura, Buongiorno Ceramica!, URBAPHONIA, CYFEST

Guida ai festival culturali in Italia di fine maggio 2026: Spring Attitude, Aura, Buongiorno Ceramica!, URBAPHONIA, CYFEST

A guide to cultural festivals in Italy at the end of May 2026 highlights several events across the country, including Spring Attitude in Rome (May 29-30), Aura Festival in Palermo (June 1), Hypermaremma in Maremma (through September 30), Emulsioni in Ferrania (May 22-24), and Caorle Sea Festival in Caorle (May 23-June 7). These festivals cover diverse themes such as electronic music, club culture, analog photography, ceramics, media art, street art, and outdoor practices, often set in historically or culturally significant locations like La Nuvola in Rome, the Palazzina Cinese in Palermo, and an ex-film factory in Ferrania.

The Italian Way of Symbolism in the Exhibition at the Fondazione Magnani-Rocca

La via italiana del Simbolismo nella mostra alla Fondazione Magnani-Rocca

The Fondazione Magnani-Rocca in Mamiani di Traversetolo, Parma, recently made headlines due to a dramatic theft targeting its permanent collection. Despite the incident, the museum's temporary exhibition spaces remain unaffected, and the show "Simbolismo in Italia" (Symbolism in Italy), curated by Francesco Parisi, continues without disruption. The exhibition aims to update critical discourse on Symbolism, a movement that spread across Europe from the 1880s to the early 1900s and arrived in Italy with a distinct, often tradition-rooted character. It features works by artists such as Cesare Saccaggi, Giulio Aristide Sartorio, and Adolfo Wildt, organized into thematic sections exploring literary sources, mythological landscapes, and the dual nature of femininity.

Working in Art: Opportunities from Museo Novecento, Giudicesse 2030, Premio Combat and Fondazione Club Silencio

Lavorare nell’arte: opportunità da Museo Novecento, Giudicesse 2030, Premio Combat e Fondazione Club Silencio

This article from Artribune compiles five current job and grant opportunities in the Italian art world. It highlights a crowdfunding campaign by Museo Novecento for Agnese Galiotto's artwork "Sogni" in Empoli, an open call for the fourth edition of the Giudicesse 2030 residency for filmmakers and video artists in Sant'Antioco, a call for artists using AI from Associazione culturale 360° Creativity Events for PARMA 360 Festival, a paid internship at Blob Art ETS for Premio Combat in Livorno, and a search for a project manager by Fondazione Club Silencio ETS.

Architectures, Projects and Visions: The Story of Santa Maria della Scala Goes on Show in Siena

Architetture, progetti e visioni. La storia del Santa Maria della Scala va in mostra a Siena

The Fondazione Antico Ospedale Santa Maria della Scala in Siena has launched a new regeneration project for the historic complex, 40 years after it ceased functioning as a hospital. The foundation, led by president Cristiano Leone and director Chiara Valdambrini, commissioned Luca Molinari Studio to analyze the original design by Guido Canali and coordinate a collaborative masterplan involving three international architecture firms: LAN Architecture, Odile Decq with Pangalos Feldmann Architectes, and Hannes Peer Architecture. An exhibition titled "Santa Maria della Scala. Architetture, progetti e visioni" will open on May 30, 2026, curated by Luca Molinari, showcasing the architectural plans and visions for the site.

In Tuscany a new festival brings contemporary art to agricultural estates with exhibitions and artist residencies

In Toscana una nuova rassegna porta l’arte contemporanea nelle aziende agricole con mostre e residenze d’artista

The first edition of CARMI.CO 2026 – Carmignano Contemporanea will take place from May 15 to 24, 2026, in the Carmignano area near Prato, Tuscany. The festival features five exhibitions and five artist residencies hosted by local wineries and agricultural estates, alongside talks, workshops, and studio visits. Exhibitions are staged at venues including the Rocca di Carmignano, Museo Archeologico di Artimino, and Museo delle Maioliche di Bacchereto, with works by artists such as Marco Bagnoli, Qiu Yi, Gola Hundun, Rachel Morellet, Fargo, Marco Ulivieri, Serena Fineschi, and others. Residencies take place at Tenuta di Capezzana, Colline San Biagio, Tenuta Le Furre, Tenuta di Artimino, and Fattoria Il Grumolo, involving artists Max Magaldi, Ronaldo Fiesoli, Vittorio Cavallini, Graziano Riccelli, and Gola Hundun.

Mafalda meets Pimpa. In Rome, the dialogue between two authentic comic icons: interview with the curators

Mafalda incontra Pimpa. A Roma il dialogo tra due autentiche icone del fumetto: intervista ai curatori

A new exhibition in Rome titled "Mafalda & La Pimpa" brings together two iconic comic strip characters for the first time. Created by Quino (1964) and Altan (1975) respectively, Mafalda and Pimpa represent different approaches to childhood: Mafalda critically questions adult society, while Pimpa explores a gentle, wonder-filled world. The show runs from May 14 to July 11 at the Instituto Cervantes, featuring over 120 original strips and plates, and is organized in collaboration with ARF! Festival and other partners. Curators Stefano Piccoli and Daniele Bonomo designed the exhibition to highlight both the contrasts and surprising analogies between the two beloved figures.

What Did Mozart’s Life Look Like?

An exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum, titled "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg," presents a curated journey through the composer's life and career. The show features well-preserved ephemera, including Mozart's childhood violin, original sketches for the opera "The Magic Flute," and personal letters that reveal his scatological humor, alongside portraits of his patrons.

Interview with Nina Wakeford of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Intervista a Nina Wakeford del Padiglione Svizzero alla Biennale di Venezia 2026

Nina Wakeford, artist and curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, discusses the pavilion's project "The Unfinished Business of Living Together." The exhibition draws on two Swiss television broadcasts from 1978 and 1984—Telearena and Agora—in which gay, lesbian, and trans individuals spoke on national television. Rather than treating these as historical artifacts, Wakeford and her team (Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, and Yul Tomatala) reactivate them as points of tension, creating a multimedia environment that explores unresolved issues of coexistence, visibility, and social difference.

Curiosities at the 2026 Venice Biennale: the Tanzania Pavilion is full of Italian artists

Curiosità alla Biennale di Venezia 2026: il Padiglione della Tanzania è pieno di artisti italiani

The Tanzania Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life of a Nation," features a significant number of Italian artists alongside Tanzanian voices. Curated by Lorna Benedict Mashiba and Martina Cavallarin, the exhibition is housed across the Gervasuti Foundation, Palazzo Canova, and Supernova in Cannaregio. It includes works by 14 Italian artists such as Alice Andreoli, Christian Balzano, and Silvia Canton, as well as artists from Europe and Asia, while centering the practices of Tanzanian artists like Turakella Editha Gyindo, Lazaro Samuel, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, and Amani Abeid.

The Syrian Pavilion returns to Venice after the fall of the regime. The interview

A Venezia torna il Padiglione della Siria dopo il crollo del regime. L’intervista

The Syrian Pavilion returns to the Venice Biennale after the fall of the regime, marking the country's first participation since 2024. The pavilion, curated by artist Sara Shamma, is housed in the former refrigerated warehouses of Santa Marta at the Iuav University of Venice and runs until November 22. It features an installation inspired by the ancient funerary towers of Palmyra, combining painting, architecture, light, sound, and scent to explore cultural heritage and the restitution of looted antiquities.

Alphabet of bread and love for animals. Uri Aran's exhibition at the Museo Madre in Naples

Alfabeto di pane e amore per gli animali. La mostra di Uri Aran al Museo Madre di Napoli

Uri Aran's solo exhibition at the Museo Madre in Naples, curated by director Eva Fabbris, explores language, communication, and connection through a range of works including video, sculpture, and an edible alphabet made of bread. The show, titled "Untitled (I love love)" after a video work, invites viewers into a space where meaning is fluid and inclusive, challenging rigid linguistic structures. Key pieces include the video "Untitled (I love you)" (2012), where Aran addresses plastic animals, and "Untitled (Bread Library)" (2025), a bread alphabet that visitors can rearrange to create new messages.

Il Padiglione Italia alla Biennale? “Deve essere uno spazio di possibilità”. Intervista alla curatrice

The article announces Chiara Camoni's project "Con te con tutto" for the Italian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, curated by Cecilia Canziani. The project emphasizes relational and communal practices, rejecting the identity-driven rhetoric of national representation. It stems from a fifteen-year dialogue between artist and curator, incorporating workshops, shared readings, and collaborative works like "La Giusta Misura." The pavilion is conceived as an ecosystem of artworks, texts, and activations rather than a linear exhibition, with a catalog designed as a critical reader.

The Works of Alfredo Pirri for the Very First Exhibition of the Polytropon Arts Center in Tuscany

Le opere di Alfredo Pirri per la primissima mostra del Polytropon Arts Center in Toscana

The Polytropon Arts Center, founded by Greek-born architect Maria Papadaki Badanjak, opens its inaugural exhibition "Quello che avanza" featuring works by Italian artist Alfredo Pirri. The venue, a converted former spinning mill located between Pelago and Pontassieve near Florence, hosts the show through June 21, 2025. The exhibition includes 144 cyanotypes created between 2014 and 2017, along with Pirri's "Arie" series in plexiglass, crystal, feathers, and colors. The show is accompanied by a musical program curated by artistic director Andrea Cavallari, with concerts scheduled for May 17 and June 21. Pirri and Cavallari previously collaborated in 2019 at the Museo Novecento in Florence as part of the "Firenze Suona Contemporanea" festival.

Wagner comes alive in Milan. Not only at the theater but also in these two exhibitions

A Milano rivive Wagner. Non solo a teatro ma anche in queste due mostre

Two exhibitions dedicated to Richard Wagner's Ring cycle have opened at Milan's Teatro alla Scala, coinciding with a new production of the Ring des Nibelungen and the centenary of the first Scala staging of the tetralogy in 1926. The Museo Teatrale alla Scala presents "La rivoluzione del Ring – Visconti Ronconi Chéreau," curated by Giovanni Agosti with design by Studio Margherita Palli, while the Ridotto dei palchi "A. Toscanini" hosts "Risonanze Wagner – Visioni intorno al Ring," curated by Gianluigi Colin and Mattia Palma, featuring contemporary paintings by four women artists—Antonella Benanzato, Flaminia Veronesi, Chiara Calore, and Federica Perazzoli—each reinterpreting one of the four operas.

There are 21 artists supporting the new voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla that set sail from Sicily with painted sails

Ci sono 21 artisti a sostegno del nuovo viaggio della Global Sumud Flotilla salpata dalla Sicilia con vele dipinte

A new humanitarian mission by the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail on April 26 from Augusta, Sicily, with 59 Italian and Spanish boats heading toward Gaza. The flotilla, which follows a first attempt in September 2025 that ended with activists arrested by the Israeli military, aims to deliver humanitarian aid by early May. Twenty-one artists have joined the initiative, called Vele d'Arte, painting the sails of the boats with symbolic artworks. Among the participating artists are Gio Pistone, Antonio Curcio, Escif, Lydia Giordano, Glenda Costa, Millo, Elia Novecento, MP5, Matteo Todeschini, Alleg, Sam3, Okuda, Antonella Santonocito, Fabrizio Foti, Igor Scalisi Palmiteri, Andrea Sposari, and Salvo Ligama. The project was conceived by Carlo Alberto Giardina, who hopes the energy painted on the sails will transform into positive forces.

“Yellow Letters”: arte e politica, libertà e censura nel nuovo film di İlker Çatak

Ilker Çatak's fifth film, "Yellow Letters," premieres on April 30, 2026, distributed by Lucky Red. The story follows Derya and Aziz, a Turkish artist couple whose lives unravel after Aziz, a professor at Ankara University, receives a "yellow letter" terminating his employment. The film, inspired by post-2016 coup purges in Turkey, shifts to Berlin and Hamburg, where the director deliberately avoids mimicking Turkish locations, instead using explicit captions like "Berlin as Ankara" to create a Brechtian alienation effect. Çatak explores how arbitrary state repression fractures personal relationships and moral boundaries, drawing on interviews with artists who faced unjust dismissals.

MOWA hosting new landscape exhibition for America’s 250th

The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend is presenting a new exhibition titled "The American Landscape: Beyond the Horizon" from Saturday through July 19, in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. The show brings together works from MOWA’s permanent collection and select loans, spanning the 19th century to the 2020s, to examine how artists have interpreted Wisconsin’s landscape through painting, photography, and sculpture, highlighting native voices and immigrant narratives.