Guide to cultural festivals in Italy in early June 2026: Maiolica, Sottocasa, Torcularia Book, White Carrara, Flore, Roma Summer Fest, la Prima Estate

Guida ai festival culturali in Italia di inizio giugno 2026: Maiolica, Sottocasa, Torcularia Book, White Carrara, Flore, Roma Summer Fest, la Prima Estate

A series of cultural festivals kick off in early June 2026 across Italy, including the Festival della Maiolica in Savona and the Albisola area (June 5-7), Sottocasa Festival in Ravenna (June 12-21), Torcularia Book Festival in Langhirano (June 5-7), White Carrara in Carrara (June 5-August 30), and Attraversamenti Multipli in Rome (June 11-20). These events span ceramics, social art projects, knowledge festivals, marble urban design, and multidisciplinary performances, often set in historic or natural landscapes.

The trolls come indoors as a Danish recycling artist stages his first museum exhibit

Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo, known for creating nearly 200 wooden troll sculptures hidden in natural settings across 19 countries, is staging his first museum exhibition. Titled "The Garbage Man," the show opens at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art near Copenhagen and runs until November 29. The exhibit imagines a group of mischievous trolls taking over the museum and building a giant human figure from trash as a cautionary tale about waste. Dambo, a former hip-hop artist and poet, began his troll project in 2014 and has since attracted millions of online viewers and an estimated 5 million annual visitors to his outdoor works.

The Beating Heart of Austin’s Artist-Run Independent Spaces: Five Interviews to Light Your Fire

This article profiles five artist-run independent spaces in Austin, Texas, as part of Glasstire's 25th anniversary series. The author interviews Zac Traeger of the Museum of Human Achievement (MoHA), Tim McCool from GoodLuckHaveFun Gallery, MASS Gallery's Beth Schindler and Ariel Wood, Erin Cunningham and Matt Rebholz from the ICOSA Collective, and Sean Gaulager for Co-Lab Projects. These spaces operate as alternatives to commercial galleries, thriving through community effort and financial uncertainty in a rapidly gentrifying city.

Une femme au balcon pour Carnavalet

The Musée Carnavalet in Paris has acquired a painting by Gustave Surand titled "Vue sur Les Halles ; côté du pavillon de la boucherie" (1890), depicting a woman on a balcony overlooking the now-demolished Les Halles market pavilions. The work was preempted at a Beaussant-Lefèvre auction on June 5 for €15,000 (excluding fees), thanks to sponsorship from the Fondation La Marck.

What Nicolas Winding Refn Learned When He Died and Came Back to Life

Nicolas Winding Refn, the film director known for *Drive* and *The Neon Demon*, premiered his first solo feature film in nine years, *Her Private Hell*, at Cannes and unveiled a new installation, *Satellites II*, alongside video game creator Hideo Kojima at the Hotel Chelsea for Prada Mode New York. The installation, a sequel to their 2025 piece *Satellites*, uses midcentury modern tube televisions to stage a conversation between the two artists, who have never spoken directly due to language barriers. Refn also reveals that he recently underwent heart surgery, dying on the operating table for 30 minutes, an experience that imbued him with a renewed urgency to create.

Tapisserie de Bayeux : une conférence de presse qui confirme toutes nos craintes

A press conference organized by the French Ministry of Culture confirmed plans to transport the Bayeux Tapestry to the United Kingdom, despite ongoing concerns about the risks to the fragile 11th-century textile. Officials including Culture Minister Catherine Pégard, regional president Hervé Morin, and UK special envoy Lord Peter Ricketts celebrated the loan as a success, dismissing critics as unjust. However, the article reveals that key details—such as the Channel crossing via Eurostar tunnel—remain undisclosed, and a test voyage in April failed to address critical unknowns about the tapestry's reaction to vibrations.

L'invité de La Tribune de l'Art n° 31 : Pierre Curie

Pierre Curie, conservateur général du patrimoine et directeur du Musée Jacquemart-André, est l'invité du 31e numéro de La Tribune de l'Art. Il y évoque sa riche carrière dans les musées et le domaine du patrimoine, notamment son passage de quatre ans au Petit Palais, son rôle actuel à la tête du Musée Jacquemart-André (qu'il dirigera encore un an avant de prendre sa retraite), ainsi que son expertise en restauration acquise au C2RMF, le Centre de restauration et de recherche des musées de France, où il a été en charge des peintures.

Raven Chacon: Scores for Coming Storms

Raven Chacon's first solo exhibition at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, "Scores for Coming Storms," runs from May 14 to June 20, 2026, in New York. The show features a layered installation of sonic and visual works, including a large graphite wall drawing, framed ink drawings, a sound installation, and a wall textile. Central to the exhibition is "American Ledger No. 1" (2018), a musical score for percussion and woodwinds that chronicles the origin story of the United States through Indigenous perspectives, alongside other works like "Tiguex" and "Volcano Choir" that map performances across Albuquerque's landscape.

Art Museum to Showcase Alumnus John Thompson in Manhattan Exhibition

The Syracuse University Art Museum presents “John Thompson ’72: Infinite Variation” at the Bernard and Louise Palitz Gallery in New York City through Sept. 29. The exhibition features works spanning Thompson’s entire career, from his student days at Syracuse to his most recent prints, highlighting his distinctive approach to printmaking. Unlike traditional printmakers who create new matrices for each print, Thompson re-uses existing matrices as building blocks, recombining and reimagining them across compositions—a method rooted in the experimental studio culture he encountered at Syracuse. The show emphasizes his sustained observation of nature, particularly gardens, grasses, stalks, and ponds.

Key art fairs Kiaf, Frieze to open in September

Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul will both take place in September 2026 at the COEX convention center in Seoul. Kiaf runs from September 2–6 with 175 galleries from 18 countries, including 20 first-time participants, and has appointed fashion designer Jung Ku-ho as its first outside creative director for its 25th anniversary. Frieze Seoul, in its fifth edition, runs September 2–5 with over 125 galleries from 30 countries, about 70 percent from the Asia-Pacific region, and features a curated section by three independent curators.

Exhibition | Antone Könst, 'Antone Könst: Subjects' at Each Modern, Taipei, Taiwan

Antone Könst presents 'Antone Könst: Subjects' at Each Modern gallery in Taipei, Taiwan. The exhibition showcases the artist's exploration of figuration and abstraction through a series of paintings that examine the human form as both subject and object.

Inside Yinka Ilori’s ‘Joy Through Resistance’, a powerful meditation on faith, family and diasporic resilience

Yinka Ilori presents his first solo gallery exhibition in London, titled 'Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best', at Cristea Roberts Gallery. The show features new paintings, prints, sculpture, and an immersive sound installation that explores the roots of joy through themes of migration, faith, family, and diasporic resilience. Ilori draws on his Nigerian heritage and childhood memories of his parents' experiences as immigrants, particularly the role of the church as a site of community and resistance.

Exhibition | Mark Corfield-Moore, 'Swan Song' at Kate MacGarry, London, United Kingdom

Mark Corfield-Moore presents 'Swan Song', a solo exhibition at Kate MacGarry in London, United Kingdom. The show features new works by the artist, exploring themes of finality and transformation through painting and mixed media.

Contessa Gallery Dicusses David Drebin & ‘The Magic of You’

Contessa Gallery owner Contessa Tscherne discusses the gallery's long-standing relationship with artist David Drebin and his upcoming exhibition "The Magic of You," opening June 13 at the gallery's flagship location in Southampton. The exhibition features a curated selection of Drebin's photographs exploring desire, ambition, beauty, fantasy, and human connection, including the cover image "Shimmering Danger" from his Superstar Series.

Exhibition | Ravelle Pillay, 'Revisitations' at Goodman Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Ravelle Pillay's solo exhibition 'Revisitations' is on view at Goodman Gallery in London, United Kingdom. The show presents a new body of work by the artist, exploring themes of memory, history, and personal narrative through visual art.

Exhibition | Federico Herrero, 'Caimitos' at Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Germany

Federico Herrero's exhibition 'Caimitos' is on view at Sies + Höke gallery in Düsseldorf, Germany. The show presents new works by the Costa Rican artist, known for his vibrant, abstract paintings that explore color, landscape, and tropical environments.

Where to see artworks in Marin

A comprehensive roundup of art exhibitions and events across Marin County, California, lists dozens of gallery and museum shows opening in June and July 2025. Venues include Continuum Fine Art Gallery, Bolinas Museum, Art Works Downtown, and Gallery Route One, featuring photographers like Nico van Dongen, painters like Saif Azzuz, and sculptors like Ian Collings. The article provides dates, locations, and reception details for each exhibition.

Solange Knowles Just Curated a One-of-a-Kind Soundtrack to the Art World

In an Ozempic-Suffused Scene, Brontez Purnell Embraces Being a ‘Fake Skinny Bitch’

Brontez Purnell, in a personal essay for Cultured's "Indulgence" issue, reflects on gluttony and his experience with weight-loss drugs. After a diabetes diagnosis, he began taking Mounjaro in 2024, losing 64 pounds in a month, then switched to Ozempic after losing insurance. He grapples with body dysmorphia, shifting gay beauty standards, and the moral implications of using GLP-1s, ultimately questioning whether Ozempic is a form of "elevated anti-gluttony."

The Laziness Canon: Helen Molesworth on Artists Who Made Great Work by Doing Nothing

In this essay for Cultured's "Indulgence" issue, curator and critic Helen Molesworth reflects on the sin of sloth, exploring how laziness has inspired significant works of art. She cites artists like Lee Lozano (General Strike Piece, 1969), Robert Barry (Closed Gallery, 1969), Tom Marioni (The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art, 1970), and Marcel Duchamp (Étant Donnés, 1946–66), who embraced idleness or redefined labor as art. Molesworth also discusses Mierle Laderman Ukeles's "maintenance art" (1970–73), which elevated domestic work to art, and references Paul Lafargue's 1883 tract The Right to Be Lazy.

A New Photo Book Sketches a New History of Queer Nightlife—and Where It Might Go Next

Amelia Abraham's new photo book, *Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife* (MACK, 2026), compiles decades of queer nightlife photography by image-makers including Lola Flash, Wolfgang Tillmans, Lyle Ashton Harris, Susan Kravitz, and Mohamad Abdouni. The volume pairs these images with essays and conversations by Legacy Russell, McKenzie Wark, and Brontez Purnell, exploring themes of visibility, risk, and community in spaces from saunas to drag shows to campgrounds. Abraham discusses the book with Cultured, drawing parallels between the camera's lens and the club as vehicles for self-expression and documentation.

Allegories: Marked by Memory

American artist Vaughn Spann presents 'Allegories', a solo exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art featuring four monumental works from his 'Marked Men' series. The show runs until 5 July 2026 and uses abstraction, specifically a recurring X motif, to explore themes of race, surveillance, and collective memory, drawing from Spann's personal experiences of racial profiling.

Ecuador Pavilion: Tawna & Oscar

The article reviews the Ecuador Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, featuring the collaborative work of Tawna & Oscar, specifically the video piece 'Llaki' (2026) by the Tawana Collective. The author describes the pavilion as an emotionally explosive experience that accumulates memory, grief, tenderness, and politics rather than offering a conventional explanatory exhibition. The review highlights how the film resists Western narrative structures, instead inviting viewers to listen and feel its atmosphere, much like rain on different surfaces.

BUENOS AIRES DRESSES UP FOR NODO CIRCUITOS FIVE ART GALLERIES TO VISIT

Buenos Aires hosts NODO Circuitos, a Meridiano program running June 4–6, 2025, that promotes Argentine galleries. Arte al Día highlights five galleries: W Galería presents the Colección Helft, featuring works by Ana Mendieta, Marcel Duchamp, and others; CRUDO opens a new space with the exhibition 'Quiero estar aquí'; Constitución shows Alfredo Dufour's 'Liquidación'; and Pabellón Cuatro presents 'Kokamama' exploring Incan traditions. The event invites audiences to engage with the city's art scene and identity.

Artists create Fifa World Cup posters denouncing presence of US immigration agents

Artists from ten of the eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup have created posters for the 'No Ice in the Cup' initiative, launched on May 6 by the Horizons Project. The campaign aims to protest the potential presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at World Cup matches, using art to mobilize public opposition and protect vulnerable immigrant communities. Each poster incorporates locally relevant themes, with designs by artists including Chris Stewart (Los Angeles), Hana Natsuhara (Seattle), Johann C. Muñoz-Tapasco (Miami), and Cristy Road Carrera (New York). The posters are free to download and remix from the campaign's website.

Dutch Court Sentences Thieves in Explosive Museum Heist

A Dutch court has sentenced three men to 47 months in prison each for stealing Iron Age artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands. The heist occurred on January 25, 2025, when the thieves used explosives to break into the museum during the exhibition "Dacia—Empire of Gold and Silver." They stole three golden spiral bracelets and the Coțofenești helmet, a historic Geto-Dacian battle helmet made of electrum, all of which had been loaned by the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. Two of the artifacts were recovered after a plea deal, but the third suspect rejected the deal, leading to a shorter sentence due to procedural issues.

Listening to Our Queer & Trans Elders

Hyperallergic kicks off its Pride Month series with an interview between Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia and British painter Jamie Nares. Nares, who came out as transgender in 2019 and changed her name in 2024, discusses embracing her identity as a trans woman, finding belonging in New York City, and her evolving artistic practice. The article also reports that Kalshi, a US government-regulated sports betting company, has launched an art market offshoot aimed at democratizing art investment, and that The New School in Manhattan has laid off 19 full-time faculty and 68 staff members due to a $160 million budget deficit.

‘Wear something that makes you feel silly!’ Can Austin Kleon’s tips put the spark back in my life?

Austin Kleon, author of *Steal Like an Artist* and other creativity guides, discusses his new book *Don't Call It Art* in an interview with The Guardian. Kleon, who felt creatively stagnant in his 40s, found renewed inspiration by apprenticing himself to his young sons, Owen and Jules. The book offers exercises and prompts to help adults recapture the playful, fearless creative energy of childhood, drawing on Kleon's own experience of watching his children make art without self-judgment or overthinking.

Hong Kong protests and the erasure of the individual – in pictures

Thadde Comar, a Franco-Swiss photographer, presents his documentary project "How Was Your Dream?" at the Belfast Photo Festival, which runs until 30 June. The work captures the 2019 extradition bill protests in Hong Kong, where over 10,000 people were arrested, focusing on the protesters' use of laser lights, anonymity, and other tactics to resist sophisticated state surveillance and control systems.

‘A soccer ball can bring great joy to two little kids’: Kuanglong Zhang’s best phone picture

Kuanglong Zhang, a resident of Shenzhen, China, captured a photograph of two brothers playing football in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar. Using the telephoto lens on his phone, he composed the image to emphasize the contrast between the children and the yellow painted buildings, creating a balanced and clean composition. Zhang has been named the 2025 Mobile Photography awards’ photographer of the year for this work.