Alexandra Noel has opened a solo exhibition titled "999" at Derosia gallery in New York. The show features new work created during a period of personal and conceptual transition, as suggested by the artist's reflections on ownership, space, and displacement.
Artist Anna Clegg has opened a new solo exhibition titled "Hustlenomics" at the Schiefe Zähne gallery in Berlin. The show presents a new body of her paintings that engage with the life cycle of images in contemporary culture.
Pour la 61e Biennale de Venise, une quête de beauté malgré un monde troublé
Koyo Kouoh, the Swiss-Cameroonian curator who was set to become the first African woman to direct the Venice Biennale, died suddenly on May 10, 2025, at age 57, just weeks before the opening of the 61st edition she had conceived. Titled "In Minor Keys," the exhibition at the Giardini and Arsenale will proceed posthumously based on her detailed directives, featuring 111 artists including Laurie Anderson, Wangechi Mutu, and Kader Attia, with a focus on beauty, resilience, and radical emotional connection amid global turmoil.
The major retrospective ‘Out of Place’ at ART AFRICA showcases over 200 images by South African photographer Jo Ractliff, spanning four decades of her career. The exhibition traces Ractliff’s evolution from her early 1980s street photography to her mature, atmospheric landscapes that examine the scars of colonialism, apartheid, and regional conflicts in Southern Africa. By focusing on the 'afterlife' of violence rather than the events themselves, the collection highlights her unique ability to capture how history sediments within the physical terrain.
Bristol's Upfest, Europe's largest street art festival, has returned for 2026, transforming the city into an open-air gallery. Organizers say 150 new murals will be created across Bedminster and the city center over 17 days, with five world-renowned artists—Inkie, Insane51, My Dog Sighs, Melo, and HazardOne—redesigning Quakers Friars into Quakers Art Lane. The festival, running until 31 May, includes workshops, walking tours, panel discussions, and interactive spaces, and is expected to draw over 80,000 visitors.
The 2026 Venice Biennale's main exhibition opens this week, curated by Koyo Kouoh—the first African woman to hold the role—who was announced in 2024 but passed away suddenly in 2025. The article highlights six artworks that define her curatorial vision, which connected the international art world to artists and institutions from Africa and the Global South.
Frida Escobedo, a Mexican architect who founded her Mexico City studio at age 23, is profiled as part of Cultured's 2026 CULT100 honorees. She became the youngest architect to win the Serpentine Pavilion commission and is set to debut her biggest project yet in 2030: the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new modern and contemporary wing. The article presents a Q&A format covering her influences, including architect Lebbeus Woods, her views on patience and imagination, and her reflections on career challenges such as protecting her time.
The article is a critical review of Daniel Heller-Roazen's new book, 'Far Calls: On Omens, Slips, & Epiphanies.' It examines the book's central thesis, which explores the historical and philosophical concept of a 'spiritual ear'—the interval between speaking and hearing where language escapes its intended meaning, giving rise to omens, slips of the tongue, and epiphanies. The review traces Heller-Roazen's genealogical investigation from ancient divinatory practices to modern psychoanalysis, highlighting his argument that linguistic accidents hold prophetic potential.
A View From the Easel
Artist Lusmerlin, who works between studios in Maryland and Philadelphia, describes a creative process that begins with physical and mental alignment through activities like stretching and singing before painting. Their flexible studio spaces, which open onto a garden, directly influence ambitious projects, including a 28-foot painting titled "The Big Rip" that investigates the theoretical collapse of the universe.
The Senior Art Exhibition 2026 at Colby College Museum of Art's Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art in Waterville showcases capstone projects from 17 graduating studio art majors. The works span painting, photography, printmaking, digital media, and sculpture, created after a yearlong capstone course coordinated by Associate Professor Bradley Borthwick. The exhibition runs through May 23 and includes a catalog with artist statements and critical essays.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington DC is marking the 250th anniversary of US independence with a major exhibition titled "In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness," opening on 14 May. The show displays 250 objects spanning all three floors of the museum, ranging from a Revolutionary War-era gunboat (the Philadelphia) to a Donald Trump "Make America great again" hat. Seventy-six rarely seen objects are concentrated in entry hall cases, while the rest are embedded throughout existing galleries, connected by a "ribbon" design. Director Anthea Hartig frames the exhibition as a commemoration of moments where individuals and communities fought for recognition and identity, pairing each object with an action verb to emphasize democracy as participatory.
The Fondazione In Between Art Film presents "Canicula," the third and final exhibition in its Trilogy of Uncertainties, opening on 6 May at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice. Curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, the show features eight newly commissioned site-specific films that explore themes of excess, sensory overload, and geopolitical tension. Works include Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk's "Affirmations" (2026), depicting fictional deathbed testimonies of Russian soldiers, Lawrence Abu Hamdan's "450XL: The Story of a Fugitive Sound" (2026) about a sonic attack in Belgrade, and Maya Watanabe's "Jarkov" (2025-26) reflecting on Arctic ice melt and Pleistocene remains.
A new play by Ojibway playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, *The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light*, dramatizes the massive Norval Morrisseau art forgery scandal in Canada. The story follows an Indigenous art expert named Nazhi, her adopted daughter Beverly, and a journalist whose investigation into Morrisseau forgeries unravels Nazhi’s own identity and status. The play uses Morrisseau’s iconic imagery and the forensic analysis of paint colors to explore the blurred lines between authentic and fake, both in art and in personal identity. It concluded its run at Vancouver’s Firehall Arts Centre on 3 May.
Julien’s Auctions is hosting an online sale featuring over 500 items from the production of the HBO series "And Just Like That…," the sequel to "Sex and the City." The auction includes a wide array of fashion, accessories, and home decor associated with main characters Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes, and Charlotte York-Goldenblatt, as well as new additions like Lisa Todd Wexley. Notable lots include Carrie’s hatbox suitcases, Miranda’s wine-red jumpsuit, and various furniture pieces from the characters' apartments, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the foster care charity You Gotta Believe.
Julien’s Auctions is hosting a massive sale of over 500 props, costumes, and furnishings from the HBO series "And Just Like That…". The auction features iconic items associated with characters Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, and Miranda Hobbes, including a prop Rolex watch engraved for Mr. Big, high-fashion garments, and furniture from the characters' New York apartments. Bidding began online in early April and will culminate in a live two-day event in California at the end of the month.
A Bob Ross painting titled *Authentic Mountain Retreat* is among $1 million in prizes being given away during a live game show hosted by YouTube star MrBeast on the live shopping marketplace Whatnot, airing ahead of the Super Bowl on February 8. The giveaway also includes a Lamborghini Spyder, a Hermès Birkin bag, and a sealed Pokémon Booster Box. The painting, sourced from Minneapolis gallery Modern Artifact, comes as Ross's auction record has surged to $787,900 at Bonhams, driven by renewed market interest.
This week's episode of HBO's *Industry* features a watercolor of Neuschwanstein Castle signed "A. Hitler," reflecting the real-world market for Adolf Hitler's amateur paintings. The show uses the artwork as a symbol of inherited wealth and moral ambiguity, mirroring actual auction sales—such as a 2015 Nuremberg sale where a group of Hitler watercolors fetched roughly €400,000, with one version of Neuschwanstein selling for €100,000 to an anonymous Chinese buyer. These works continue to circulate legally in Germany as long as they omit Nazi symbols.
The article reveals the origin of the infamous 'pig couch' that has appeared in hoax Craigslist ads across the U.S. for years. It is actually a chair titled *Hillhock* (2010), created by fiber artist Pavia Burroughs for her senior thesis at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. The piece, inspired by an illustration from Kit Williams' puzzle book *Masquerade*, is hand-stitched in pink velvet and satin with carved walnut hooves. Since 2015, Burroughs' photo has been used in fake listings, often as part of scams. Twitter user Abigail Rowe first investigated the phenomenon in 2018, uncovering the hoax after responding to a fraudulent ad.
An anonymous artist collective, previously responsible for an eight-foot-tall golden monument of Donald Trump crushing Lady Liberty, has installed a new unauthorized artwork on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. The piece is a life-size, gold-painted television set playing a silent 15-second loop of Trump performing his signature slow-motion dance moves, set against backdrops including campaign rallies and a party with Jeffrey Epstein. The installation, permitted through Sunday, includes a spray-painted gold eagle and a plaque quoting a White House statement criticizing the earlier sculpture. The White House responded with a sarcastic statement from spokesperson Abigail Jackson, claiming the video brings 'joy and inspiration' to tourists.
London-based painter Stephen Appleby-Barr is presenting his fourth solo exhibition with Robilant and Voena, titled “Mesocosmos,” running from May 23 to July 4, 2025. The show features a new body of work created over two years, blending Old Master techniques with contemporary life and fantasy. Appleby-Barr describes the exhibition as a self-contained universe where drawings, sculptures, and paintings interact, with the aim of allowing each medium to influence the others in unexpected ways. The artist emphasizes ambiguity and the unknown over clear resolutions, inviting viewers to form their own interpretations.
The article explores the conceptual origins of the internet, tracing its development to figures like Douglas Engelbart and Jacques Vallée, whose work blended computing with cosmic and paranormal inquiry. It argues that early internet pioneers were deeply influenced by ideas of remote viewing, extrasensory perception, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, framing the network as a project of cognitive augmentation and alien encounter.
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford has launched a new exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces paired with contemporary reflections from the local LGBT+ community. Members of the Equity Partnership charity collaborated with museum staff to reinterpret 19th-century works by artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, and John Collier through the lens of lived queer experience.
The article presents nine open calls for visual artists to apply to during summer 2025, including the Form Photo Award and the Arte Laguna Prize. The Form Photo Award, organized by Form institution, offers winners free participation in Scope Miami Beach 2025 and publication in Form Magazine, with a €35 submission fee and deadlines through July 30. The Arte Laguna Prize, now in its 20th edition, features an exhibition at the Arsenale Nord in Venice and special prizes including residencies at MoCA Art Residency, BigCi, Artorale, LITIX, and NY20+, with a €97 entry fee and a July 31 deadline.
Alexander Kluge, the influential German filmmaker, writer, and philosopher, has died at the age of 94. A key figure in the New German Cinema movement and a major intellectual heir to the Frankfurt School, Kluge's career spanned law, film, television production, and literature, leaving a significant mark on postwar German culture.
Thirteen high schools from Massachusetts and Rhode Island are preparing installation artworks for the Attleboro Arts Museum's annual High Art exhibition, which runs May 12–18, 2026, under the theme 'Revolutionary Art.' Students from schools including Dedham High School, Hope High School in Providence, and Seekonk High School are creating pieces such as 'Americana' and 'Re-revolution,' with guidance from art instructors like Bridget O'Leary, Delsin Jean-Louis, and Elizabeth Machado-Cook.
Oshorenoya David Francis presents a solo exhibition titled *In Solitude, Fantasies & Becoming* at 1853 Studios in Manchester, running from 15 to 17 May 2026. Co-curated by Obi Nwaegbe and Natasha Virli, the show features new acrylic paintings on canvas and paper that explore themes of solitude, identity, and emotional transformation through expressive figurative compositions. Key works include *Hug*, *Thoughts in Blue*, *Chapters in Atomic Habits*, and *Thy Wish*, each employing bold color, intimate perspectives, and narrative ambiguity to evoke psychological depth.
Art21 will premiere a new documentary film, "Trey Abdella's Miserable Dream," online on December 10, 2025. The film, directed by Andrew Nadkarni, follows the artist as he draws inspiration from Coney Island and American middle-class aesthetics to create mixed-media paintings that blend skilled representation with unconventional materials.
Art21 successfully concluded its Fall 2025 festival season, with its films being screened at multiple international festivals including Artecinema in Italy, Bushwick Film Festival in New York, and others in Massachusetts, New Mexico, and North Carolina. The organization also participated as a sponsor and panelist at DOC NYC, and several of its recent films featuring artists like Sophie Calle, Dyani White Hawk, and Guadalupe Maravilla received recognition.
The Union Hall Gallery in San Diego's Golden Hill neighborhood recently debuted "Gossip," a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring the work of seven local female artists. The opening reception drew over 100 attendees, signaling a strong community interest in local grassroots art initiatives. Additionally, the city is preparing for the upcoming Barrio Logan Art Crawl, a recurring cultural event that highlights the region's creative scene.
Five British museums have been shortlisted for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year, the world's largest museum prize. The finalists are Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham; Chapter arts centre in Cardiff; Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire; Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast; and Perth Museum in Scotland. Beamish, a 55-year-old open-air museum, recently completed its "Remaking Beamish" project recreating a 1950s town with 32,000 community members. Perth Museum opened in March 2024 after a £27m renovation and houses the Stone of Destiny. The winner will be announced on 26 June at the Museum of Liverpool, receiving £120,000, while each of the other finalists gets £15,000.