The article reports on the 2025 Met Gala, where celebrity guests showcased elaborate, art-inspired fashion on the red carpet. The event, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, featured designs that transformed the human body into living canvases, with many looks referencing the evening's exhibition theme.
Il linguaggio oltre l’umano nel sorprendente Padiglione Polonia alla Biennale di Venezia 2026. L’intervista
The Polish Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale presents "Liquid Tongues," a project by artists Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski, curated by Ewa Chomicka and Jolanta Woszczenko with the collective Choir in Motion. The installation eschews spectacle for a subtle, immersive exploration of language beyond the human voice, incorporating sign language, underwater immersion, choreography, and whale songs to destabilize conventional communication.
The IPER Festival delle periferie returns to Rome's Quadraro neighborhood for its fifth edition, titled "Super Lieux (Super luoghi) Periferie. Storie e geografie." Running until May 31, the festival features conferences, roundtables, study days, talks, exhibitions, and performances. A highlight is "Überlagerungen," a diffuse art review curated by Spazio Y that animates the Quadraro Vecchio district on May 16 with actions, installations, and shows from 4 PM to 11 PM. Participating venues include Spazio Kina, vineria Moggio, and osteria Grandma, with works by artists such as Lucia Bricco, Giulio Cassanelli, Felice Levini, and many others.
At the 2026 Venice Biennale, two seagulls built a nest in front of the Polish Pavilion in the Giardini. Organizers chose to protect the nest with a small fence and a sign, turning it into an unofficial "Nature Pavilion." The birds share incubation duties equally, drawing large crowds who pause to watch their cooperative behavior amid the Biennale's intense geopolitical tensions, including protests against the Russian Pavilion, pro-Palestinian actions, and debates over Israel's cultural role.
Una recensione della Biennale di Venezia 2026 senza nominare neppure un artista
This review of the 2026 Venice Biennale describes an exhibition that overcame dire circumstances—the death of curator Koyo Kouoh early in preparations, losses of key artists, and international political controversies—to deliver a surprisingly joyful and engaging show. Titled "In Minor Keys," the Biennale features a well-conceived, flowing presentation across the Giardini and Arsenale that prioritizes beauty, craftsmanship, and hope over a punitive or documentary tone.
Gli ispettori del Ministero della Cultura in Biennale presentano relazione: il padiglione Russia resterà chiuso
Italian Ministry of Culture inspectors have submitted a report to the Prime Minister's office regarding Russia's participation in the 2026 Venice Art Biennale. The report concludes that Russia did not receive a formal invitation from the Biennale Foundation to participate, nor did it sign the participation agreement—a situation shared by other countries with permanent pavilions. While Russia submitted a project and appointed a commissioner, its pavilion will remain closed to the public due to EU sanctions, though a private vernissage may proceed. The report finds no serious violations that would cancel Russia's participation, but notes critical issues that warranted more caution. The international jury resigned en masse after announcing it would not consider countries whose leaders are accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, including Russia and Israel, and after an Israeli artist threatened a discrimination lawsuit.
An exhibition titled "Arte de la Resistencia" (Art of Resistance) was held from May 13 to May 17 at Free Associates gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Curated by a psychologist who uses the pseudonym Rosa for safety reasons, the show featured artwork created by immigrant children aged 7 to 19, many of whom are affected by deportation, family separation, and ICE enforcement. The pieces, including works like "Adiós Tucson" and "Silencio," express pain, grief, and resilience, with identities kept anonymous to protect the young artists. Proceeds from sales of original works and prints directly benefit the children's families.
Method Delhi is presenting 'Slow Rot', a group exhibition featuring ten contemporary Indian artists whose works explore human fragility, psychological unrest, and the grotesque. The show runs from May 9 to July 3, 2026, at Method's New Delhi space in Defence Colony, with free entry. Participating artists include Aditya Dhabhai, Dhruvi Jain, M. Imran Ahamed, Milan Sharma, Mitali Das, Priyesh T., Revant Dasgupta, Riya Chandwani, Sajid Wajid Shaikh, and Tithi Das, working across painting, sculpture, and mixed media.
Thousands of artists, cultural workers, and protesters marched through Venice on May 8, 2026, one day before the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale, to protest the Israeli genocide in Gaza and Lebanon. The strike, organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), led to the closure of approximately 27 of the Biennale's 100 national pavilions, with signs reading "We Stand with Palestine." The Israeli pavilion remained closed and guarded by armed police, who clashed with protesters. Meanwhile, the European Commission threatened to suspend €2 million in EU grants to the Biennale Foundation over its decision to allow Russia to participate, citing incompatibility with EU sanctions and the invasion of Ukraine.
Korean American visual artist Sungmo Cho is returning to South Korea after 14 years to exhibit his 'Along the LOVE Road' series in Seoul and Buyeo. Cho, who moved to New York in 1992, has created over 30 solo shows and 150 group shows across four countries. His works explore themes of migration, memory, and the tension between civilization and nature, with roads serving as a central symbol of both human progress and environmental destruction.
Art House Gallery in Jersey City will present "Playing Favorites," a solo exhibition by artist Bryant Small, curated by Andrea McKenna, from May 2 to May 31, 2026. The show features a selection of Small's most cherished works, many never publicly exhibited before, highlighting his use of alcohol ink on Yupo paper to create luminous, fluid abstract compositions. An opening reception is set for May 2, and an artist talk on April 17.
The 5th Floor in Tokyo is hosting "Stilllive Documents 2019–2025," a retrospective exhibition running from May 14 to June 7, 2026, that reviews the activities of the performance platform Stilllive. The show features unpublished photographs and video materials from 2019 to 2025, presenting them not as mere traces of events but as records of relationships, tensions, and responses that emerged in each moment. Stilllive was founded in 2016 by Yuki Kobayashi and graduates of the Royal College of Art's Performance program, and has held annual events since 2019 at venues including the Goethe-Institut Tokyo. A new performance, "Stilllive 2026," will take place on May 16–17 at BUoY in Senju Nakamachi, Tokyo, connecting past accumulations to future practice.
Amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United States, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art opened an exhibition of anti-war artworks by American artists. The show features pieces by prominent American artists that critique war and violence, drawing local visitors who are engaging with the works despite the political climate of anti-American sentiment in the streets.
Graduating students at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) showcased their artwork in a final exhibition held on May 1, 2026, at Crisp Museum. The show featured a wide range of media including 3D works, prints, paper mache, paintings, cloth, video, quilts, and sculptures. Among the participants were painting BFA major Zachary Ross Mayfield, who presented symbolist works centered on nature and a large self-portrait that took over 200 hours to complete, and senior studio art BFA major Kaylee Shelby, whose sculptures question the ethics and aesthetics of taxidermy and human manipulation of animals.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Sharp Museum is organizing a national juried exhibition titled "Spooks or Spoofs," centered on cryptid-themed art. The exhibition runs from August 11 to December 21, 2026, and welcomes all media except AI-generated images. Artists may submit up to three works, with a requested donation of $5–$10 per entry. The submission deadline is July 1, with jury results announced by July 14. The juror is Jeremy Efroymson, an artist, collector, and amateur cryptozoologist. The museum's curator of exhibits, T. Lance, highlighted local Illinois legends such as Bigfoot, the Big Muddy Monster, and the Enfield horror as inspiration.
The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Missouri, will host a retrospective exhibition titled "The Shape of the Prairie" for American landscape painter Keith Jacobshagen, opening May 16 and running through August 16. The show spans 50 years of Jacobshagen's career, featuring rarely exhibited sketchbook pages alongside finished oil and watercolor paintings that capture the skies and plains of his Nebraska home.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has published an article titled "The Body Is Art." The content appears to focus on the human body as a subject within art, likely exploring representations and interpretations of the body in the museum's collection.
The article reviews 'Costume Art,' an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that explores the intersection of fashion and the human form. It examines how garments and accessories are presented as sculptural objects, highlighting the dialogue between clothing and the body through historical and contemporary pieces.
Artists nationwide are invited to submit original works to a juried exhibition titled "Allegories of a Better World," which will be held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on June 28, 2026. The submission deadline is May 15, 2026. The exhibition is organized in conjunction with the premiere of the documentary film "The Making of America," directed by Monique Linder and produced by OMG Studios in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. Submissions should explore themes such as virtue, moral courage, truth, justice, liberation, reconstruction, memory, history, and cultural healing. Selected works may also be featured in the film.
The Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, is hosting an exhibition titled "The Art of Public Service," featuring self-portraits created by 21 county employees. The works were produced during lunchtime art workshops organized by employment analyst Erika Powell and library administrator Juliet Schiller, who aimed to help participants let go of perfectionism and explore creativity. The exhibit, which runs through September 24, 2026, includes portraits made from diverse materials such as dried chili peppers, burlap, and embroidered saree fabric, reflecting the employees' personal stories and cultural heritage.
An exhibition at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery in Coimbatore showcases around 70 works by five artists of the Kongu Oviya Kalai Kuzhu: V. Rajendhran, Kumanan, Murugesan, Ramamoorthy, and Govindarajulu. The show features a wide range of styles—from realistic animal portraits and textured floral canvases to charcoal sketches of crows and Rajasthani-themed paintings—employing techniques such as knife work, spray painting, and texture painting with clay. Rajendhran’s works focus on textile design, Kumanan presents acrylics and seed-covered sculptures, and Ramamoorthy offers a series of crow sketches. The exhibition is part of the AURORA Series 2026 and runs through May 17.
A group of nine young artists, all alumni of the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai, have formed a collective called Continuum and will present their first exhibition, 'Between Becoming & Being,' starting May 15 at Lalit Kala Akademi. Initiated by artist couple Preethi Umapathy and Prithiviraj, the show features works in painting, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics by Deepika, Ganesh, Jagath Ravi, Padmapriya, Prithiviraj, Preethi, Ramesh, Saran Mathi, and Sarath Kumar, exploring themes of identity, aspiration, human existence, and lived experiences.
Sri Lankan artist Shanaka Kulathunga presents 'Silent Stories,' a solo exhibition opening May 21–28, 2026, at the CCA Building, Bikaner House in New Delhi, India. Curated by Archana Khare-Ghose, the show features acrylic and oil paintings that explore memory, everyday life, and Sri Lanka's rural landscapes. The exhibition also marks the launch of a dedicated publication on the artist's practice, bringing together works that blend figuration and landscape to capture human emotion and social dynamics.
Renowned Victoria artist and philanthropist Tanya Bub is presenting a new exhibition titled "Wild Art for the Big of Heart" at the Gage Gallery in Victoria’s Bastion Square from May 12th to 31st. The show features dozens of sculptural works made from driftwood, wire, and paper, with prices ranging from $30 to $8,000. Twenty-five percent of all sales will go to the charity of the buyer’s choice, with 10 local charities benefiting, including Broken Promises Rescue, Elder Carl Olsen — Goldstream / SELE₭TEȽ Watershed, CNIB Victoria, Georgia Strait Alliance, Mustard Seed, Rainbow Haven, Soap for Hope, The Thinking Garden, Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association, and Voices in Motion. The exhibition also includes three weeks of talks, performances, and interactive events in partnership with the charities.
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.
Die Mokka-Milch-Eisbar eröffnet wieder auf der Karl-Marx-Allee
The iconic Mokka-Milch-Eisbar, a legendary ice cream café from East Berlin's DDR era, is reopening on Karl-Marx-Allee after a heritage-sensitive renovation. The pavilion, built in the early 1960s as part of the second construction phase of the boulevard, was famously celebrated in a 1969 DDR pop song. New operators Natacha and Alexander Neumann are launching the venue under the name "Mokka Milch" as a restaurant, café, and bar, with an opening celebration on Wednesday. The building's distinctive yellow-tiled facade and large glass windows have been preserved under strict heritage guidelines, overseen by the state monument office.
Hua Wang and Emanuel Heim are presenting their dual exhibition "Natural Inversions" in Berlin, curated by John Silvis. The show features abstract queer painting, sculptural installations, and explores themes of perception, materiality, and transformation. An artist talk moderated by Monopol editor Sebastian Frenzel accompanies the exhibition, where the artists discuss transhumanism, artificial intelligence, spirituality, and how technology is reshaping our understanding of being human.
From May 3 to June 28, 2026, Art Studio La Marina gallery in Pietrasanta hosts "Anteprima," a solo exhibition by Italian artist Beppe Madaudo (born Palermo, 1950), curated by Diego Ferrante. The show presents works where animals, human figures, and hybrid forms emerge from layered matter, exploring themes of memory, tension, and transformation. Key pieces include a depiction of the fish St. Peter, whose profile is outlined in red while its interior is built from threads, combustions, and fragments, and two horse paintings on contrasting ash gray and burnt red backgrounds that alter the visual weight of the same silhouette.
Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo, known for creating nearly 200 giant wooden troll sculptures hidden in natural landscapes across 19 countries, is presenting his first museum exhibition. Titled "The Garbage Man," the show opens at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art near Copenhagen and features a new narrative in which mischievous trolls secretly take over the museum, building a giant human figure from trash as a lesson about waste. The exhibition runs from Sunday until November 29 and includes works made from discarded materials like electronics, cardboard, and clothing, some of which would not survive outdoors.
An exhibition titled “Seri: Woman Perspective – Voice of Our Time” at 22Hale Street Heritage Gallery in Ipoh, Perak, brings together 10 women artists showcasing 24 paintings and six ceramic- and clay-based sculptural works. The show explores the psychology of art, emotional expression, identity, and social reflection. A parallel talk, “From Pain to Healing: The Art of Emotional Recovery,” was given by Health Ministry psychology officer Rahilah Abdul Rahim, who introduced the Art Drawing House-Tree-Person (ADHTP) technique and color-based exercises as therapeutic tools for accessing and understanding emotions.