Francis Alÿs at MAMU: A Global Portrait of Childhood Through Play

The Banco de la República has opened a new exhibition at the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU) in Bogotá titled "Francis Alÿs, juegxs de niñxs 1999–2025." Featuring 27 video works from the Belgian-born, Mexico-based artist's long-running series documenting children's games worldwide, the show opened on April 23 at El Parqueadero and the second floor of MAMU. Curated by Cuauhtémoc Medina and Virginia Roy, the exhibition includes footage from Afghanistan, India, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Colombia, where a new work filmed in the Amazon with the Arara community is featured.

Why Jaume Plensa’s New Exhibition at Denver Botanic Gardens Is a Must-See This Summer

Spanish artist Jaume Plensa has opened a major exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens, titled *Jaume Plensa: A New Humanism*, which includes both outdoor sculptures and indoor gallery works. The show features iconic pieces like the 11-foot-tall steel sphere "Self-Portrait with Music" and a retrospective spanning from 2002 to the present, including portrait heads, a door inscribed with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and letter-based sculptures. Plensa describes the hybrid setting as a first for him, where children interact freely with the art.

“Lighting” exhibition by Mohamed Abdalla Otaybi at Swailam gallery is not to be missed

This article is a roundup of art exhibitions and cultural events in Cairo, Egypt, spanning multiple venues and dates. It highlights a photographic project titled "New Cairo, Do You Love Me?" by Judi Yassin and Tia Khalil at the American University in Cairo, which documents the disconnect between the promised luxury of New Cairo and its dehumanizing reality using 35mm black-and-white film. Other featured events include painting exhibitions by Osama Nashed and Alaa Hegazi at Dai, Mahmoud Hamdi's "Journey to the Core" at Difaf, the immersive "Beyond Van Gogh" experience at District 5, the permanent collection at Al-Fustat Centre for Ceramic, and the Empower Her Art Forum at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Some of DAM’s never-before-exhibited photos on display in new show

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) has opened a new photography exhibition titled "What We’ve Been Up to: People," featuring 60 never-before-exhibited photographs from its collection. The show includes works by renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Graciela Iturbide, Dorothea Lange, Tina Modotti, and Andrea Modica, with images spanning from 1929 to 1999. The exhibition aims to highlight the behind-the-scenes work of curators—acquisitions, research, conservation—while offering the public a chance to see fresh acquisitions and overlooked treasures.

Vancouver exhibition explores global climate futures through art

The Vancouver Art Gallery, in partnership with Canada's National Observer, will open "Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change" on May 10, 2026. The exhibition, co-created by publisher Linda Solomon Wood and curator Eva Respini, features over 35 international artists including Ed Burtynsky, Huma Bhabha, Jean Shin, Clarissa Tossin, and Josh Kline. Works explore climate change through photography, sculpture, installation, and film, avoiding a doom-and-gloom tone in favor of poetic and thought-provoking approaches.

Philadelphia Museum welcomes Rocky statue with new exhibition | Daily Sabah

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is opening a new exhibition titled "Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments," which explores the cultural and artistic significance of the Rocky Balboa statue that sits at the museum's steps. Guest curator Paul Farber organized the show, which spans over 2,000 years of boxing imagery and includes works by Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol. The exhibition marks a shift in the museum's long-standing ambivalent relationship with the statue, which was originally placed on the steps during filming of the "Rocky" movies and later relocated before returning in 2006. After the exhibition closes in August, the statue will be permanently installed at the top of the museum's steps for the first time.

Ulysses Jenkins (1946–2026), A Black Radical Imagination

The article is a personal tribute by curator Erin Christovale to the late artist Ulysses Jenkins (1946–2026), chronicling their decade-long friendship and collaboration. Christovale recounts how she first encountered Jenkins's video work at the William Grant Still Arts Center in Los Angeles, and how a conversation with Otolith Group's Kodwo Eshun led to her curating Jenkins's work. She describes key moments including Jenkins's video "Planet X" (2006) about Hurricane Katrina, his 1979 work "Two-Zone Transfer" featuring Kerry James Marshall in blackface masks, and the 2021 retrospective "Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation" co-curated with Meg Onli at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, which later traveled to the Hammer Museum and Julia Stoschek Foundation.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Appoints Essence Harden as Senior Curator

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco has appointed Essence Harden as senior curator, effective May 18. Harden currently serves as curator of Expo Chicago and has organized the Focus section of Frieze Los Angeles since 2024, roles they will continue with YBCA's support. An independent curator, Harden recently co-curated the 2025 Made in L.A. biennial at the Hammer Museum and previously held positions at the California African American Museum, Orange County Museum of Art, Art + Practice, Museum of the African Diaspora, and Oakland Museum of California. A Bay Area native, Harden's hiring marks a homecoming.

Director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum to depart in October

Janne Sirén, director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, will step down in October after 13 years leading the institution. The museum announced his departure on April 29, noting that the board will begin a search for a new director this summer. Sirén oversaw a transformative period including a $230 million campus expansion completed in 2023, designed by OMA and Shohei Shigematsu, which added a new building and reconnected the grounds. During his tenure, the museum's collection grew, staff expanded from 62 to nearly 200, the endowment rose from $31.3 million to $79.3 million, and annual visitors reached 340,000. He also launched a public art department, the Innovation Lab, and the AKG Nordic Art and Culture Initiative.

The Last Interview with the Great Artist Georg Baselitz on the Occasion of His Exhibition in Florence

L’ultima intervista al grande artista Georg Baselitz in occasione della sua mostra a Firenze

Georg Baselitz, the German artist born in 1938, is the subject of a major retrospective titled "Avanti!" at the Museo Novecento in Florence, featuring 170 works including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures, with a strong focus on his graphic output. The exhibition, curated by Sergio Risaliti and Daniel Blau (Baselitz's son and an artist himself), spans three floors and traces the evolution of Baselitz's practice, culminating in a dialogue with the work of Italian artist Ottone Rosai. The show is accompanied by a prequel exhibition honoring the 120th anniversary of Villa Romana, where Baselitz once held a fellowship, and will be followed by another exhibition at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice in May, which together with the Florence show form the artist's testament. Artribune published Baselitz's last interview in its new bimonthly issue.

È morto a 88 anni il grande artista tedesco Georg Baselitz

German painter Georg Baselitz, known for his expressionist works that confronted the horrors of Nazi Germany, died on April 30, 2026 at age 88. Born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938, he grew up amid World War II rubble and became a pioneering, anti-conformist figure of the post-war era, famously inverting his images to force viewers to reconstruct meaning. A major exhibition, 'GEORG BASELITZ – AVANTI!', had just opened on March 25 at the Museo Novecento in Florence, focusing on his graphic works and his ties to the city. Another show, 'Georg Baselitz. Eroi d’Oro', was set to open May 6 at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice during the 61st Venice Biennale, featuring large recent paintings and portraits of his wife Elke.

The New Exhibitions of the Pinacoteca Agnelli and the New Public Works on the Lingotto Park-Track: The Photos

Le nuove mostre della Pinacoteca Agnelli e le nuove opere pubbliche sulla pista-parco del Lingotto: le foto

The Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin has launched a new exhibition program that includes the first major institutional retrospective in Italy dedicated to Swiss photographer Walter Pfeiffer, titled "In Good Company," running until September 13, 2026. Curated by Nicola Trezzi and Simon Castets, the show features over 100 photographs from the 1970s to today, blending iconic and unseen works that explore queer eroticism, everyday artifice, and collaborative image-making. Concurrently, the museum presents "Modigliani sottopelle. Quattro capolavori" as part of its "Beyond the Collection" series, placing four masterpieces by Amedeo Modigliani—including a loan from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and works from the Centre Pompidou—in dialogue with the permanent collection. Curated by Pietro Rigolo and Beatrice Zanelli, the exhibition takes an interdisciplinary approach combining art history, diagnostics, and scientific research, using an algorithm to analyze canvas weaves and propose a new dating for the iconic "Nu couché" acquired by Giovanni and Marella Agnelli in 1960.

What the tenth edition of Art Monte-Carlo fair in the Principality of Monaco will be like

Come sarà la decima edizione fiera Art Monte-Carlo nel Principato di Monaco

Art Monte-Carlo, the boutique art fair in the Principality of Monaco, celebrates its tenth edition from April 29 to May 1, 2026 (preview April 28), under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II. The fair will host 26 international galleries of modern and contemporary art at the Grimaldi Forum, moving to new spring dates and coinciding with the Monaco Art Week (April 27–May 1). Newcomers include Italian gallery Secci, Mitterrand from Paris, A&R Fleury, Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Fabienne Levy, Giovanni Martino Projects, Lee & Bae, Ritsch-Fisch Galerie, and Monegasque galleries Hartford Fine Art – Lampronti Gallery and M.F. Toninelli Art Moderne. Returning exhibitors include Almine Rech, Cortesi, Galleria Continua, Suzanne Tarasieve, Semiose, Van de Weghe, Voena, and Wilde. A curated section features a collective exhibition titled "Earthly Delights," curated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera and inspired by Luis Buñuel, centered on a functioning bar as a conceptual and physical space. The fair also includes a public program and talks with figures such as photographer Juergen Teller, auctioneer Simon de Pury, and collector Batia Ofer, and has moved under the influence of Informa Prestige, the luxury division of events company Informa.

Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair Returns May 7–10

Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair (LAABF) returns to ArtCenter South Campus in Pasadena, California, from May 7 to 10, 2026. The fair will feature 250 exhibitors, including international artists, publishers, and booksellers, alongside programs such as talks and panels in The Classroom, music and performances on The Stage, and special Project Spaces presentations by groups like Archivos Desviados, Bread & Puppet Press, and Getty. An Opening Night celebration on May 7, co-organized with Orange Radio & Homebody, will include live music by sonrisita and Mia Carucci, a limited edition ticket by Amia Yokoyama for the first 500 guests, and a new collaborative artist edition by Deanna Templeton and Ed Templeton.

Museum Exhibitions Opening This Summer in Central Texas

Museums across Central Texas are opening a slate of summer exhibitions, including the Blanton Museum of Art's "Art in Every Corner: The Works Progress Administration (1935-1943)," featuring prints and paintings by Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Dorothea Lange. The San Antonio Museum of Art will present "Microhistories of the Andes" with Andean artifacts, while the McNay Art Museum hosts "Garden Party: Nature on Paper" with works by René Magritte and Winslow Homer. Women & Their Work in Austin will showcase "MARK," a group drawing exhibition by 25 Texas women artists.

Maine: A Force Within American Art (1890-2026) At Farnsworth Art Museum

The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, has opened a year-long exhibition titled "Maine: A Force Within American Art (1890-2026)" in honor of America's 250th anniversary. The show presents 150 works across media, highlighting the state's artistic legacy from the late 19th century to the present. It features leading modernists such as Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Charles Demuth, and Georgia O'Keeffe, who found inspiration in Maine's landscapes, as well as contemporary artists like Theresa Secord. The exhibition is curated by Jaime DeSimone and Francesca Soriano, in collaboration with multiple institutions including the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art Opens New Innovative Exhibition Space

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened its new David Geffen Galleries, a landmark building designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The structure features floor-to-ceiling windows, spans Wilshire Boulevard 30 feet above the Miracle Mile, and houses galleries organized around maritime trade routes. The museum celebrated its inaugural events with a gala and ribbon-cutting, opening to the public on April 20, 2026. The new space displays over 155,000 art objects from the permanent collection, spanning ancient civilizations to contemporary works.

The Newest Docent at This Historic Italian Palace Is a Robot

Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy, has introduced a four-foot-tall robot named R1 as a docent for its Baroque collection. The robot, developed by the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) under Project Convince with €4 million in EU funding, guides visitors through the former royal apartments, narrating the history of the House of Savoy and detailing paintings, tapestries, and furniture. R1 can interact with visitors via LED eyes, answer questions, and autonomously navigate the museum's first floor, though it cannot climb stairs. It has been learning on the job since 2025, completing 30 tours in December 2025, and uses corrective software to relocalize itself if lost.

Converge 45 announces list of artists for 2026 edition

Converge 45, a city-wide triennial based in Portland, Oregon, has announced the title and list of participating artists for its 2026 edition. The 10th edition, titled 'Here, To you, Now,' will take place from August 27–30 across 16 venues. Curated by Lumi Tan, the event draws inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin's 1985 novel 'Always Coming Home,' emphasizing impermanence and spontaneous dialogue. The exhibition will feature works by 28 artists, including Trisha Baga, Gerald Clarke, and Rose Salane, among others.

Towering homage to Bamiyan Buddhas rises over Manhattan’s High Line

A new public sculpture by Vietnamese American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has been installed on the High Line Plinth at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Titled "The Light That Shines Through the Universe" (2026), the 27-foot-tall sandstone monument pays homage to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the 6th-century colossi destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The work features carved sandstone forms with two monumental steel hands cast from melted-down artillery shells sourced from Afghanistan, making gestures of fearlessness and compassion. It will remain on view through autumn 2027 and is accompanied by monthly lectures and meditation sessions.

Museum Night, Photomobiles… 10 outing ideas for the month of May

Nuit des musées, Photomobiles… 10 idées de sorties à faire au mois de mai

Beaux Arts Magazine presents a curated list of ten cultural outings across France for May 2026, highlighting events such as the Nouveau Printemps festival in Toulouse directed by Rossy de Palma, the Interstice festival in Caen focusing on emerging art and technology, the L'art est dans le pré festival in Troyes featuring contemporary art in rural villages, an immersive installation at the Musée d'Orsay tied to the Renoir exhibition, and the Cœurs-Volants kite festival in Essonne where architecture students create flying artworks. Other suggestions include outdoor art trails, heritage site sports programs, and literary festivals in Épinal and Seine-Maritime.

Nancy Holt review – cosmic thrills as the universe’s hidden power is unleashed

The Guardian reviews a major UK exhibition of land artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014) at Goodwood in West Sussex, the largest show of her work to date. The exhibition features two large outdoor installations—Ventilation System, a metallic tubular structure resembling building lungs, and Hydra’s Head, six concrete pools arranged like the Hydra constellation in a chalk quarry—alongside indoor photographs, diagrams, and light works. The review praises the cosmic scale and bodily connection of the outdoor pieces but finds the indoor works less effective at conveying Holt’s themes of universal vastness and interconnectedness.

Nine Artists on the Gardens They’ll Never Forget

Nine artists, including Hiroshi Sugimoto, Irene Neuwirth, and Umberto Pasti, share personal reflections on unforgettable gardens from around the world. Each contributor describes a specific garden that left a lasting impression, ranging from historic estates to wild natural landscapes, highlighting the sensory and emotional impact of these spaces.

The southernmost contemporary art fair in Italy is about to debut in the town of Fiuggi

Sta per debuttare nella cittadina di Fiuggi la fiera d’arte contemporanea più a sud d’Italia

A new contemporary art fair called ArteFiuggi is set to debut in September 2026 in Fiuggi, a small town in Lazio, south of Rome. Organized by Nicola Monti, son of renowned dealers Pio Monti and Liliana Maniero, the fair aims to become the southernmost art fair in Italy. It will be held at the Fiuggi Convention Centre, designed by Studio Valle and previously host to the 2024 G7, and will offer included hospitality for exhibitors at two local hotels.

In Naples, an International Exhibition to Map Instability and Deactivate Borders

A Napoli una mostra internazionale per mappare l’instabilità e disattivare i confini

The exhibition "Atlante" at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples, curated by James Lingwood, brings together works by eight international artists—Igshaan Adams, Teju Cole, Luigi Ghirri, Emma McNally, Claudio Parmiggiani, Anri Sala, Tatiana Trouvé, and Akram Zaatari—to challenge traditional cartographic representations. Through maps, drawings, textiles, and photographs, the show interrogates the ideological and political assumptions embedded in mapping, reframing the Mediterranean not as a border but as a connective space, and exposing the instability and power asymmetries underlying historical worldviews.

This 17th-Century ‘Supercomputer’ Could Set a New Auction Record

A rare 17th-century Mughal astrolabe, crafted in Lahore in 1612 by brothers Qa'im Muhammad and Muhammad Muqim, is heading to Sotheby's London on April 29 with an estimate of £1.5 million to £2.5 million ($2 million to $3.4 million). Weighing nearly 20 pounds and measuring the diameter of a large cooking pot, it is one of only two known astrolabes by these makers—the other resides in the National Museum of Iraq. Commissioned by Aqa Afzal, a Safavid-born deputy governor of Lahore, the instrument lists 94 cities, 38 stars, zodiac signs, and includes quadrants for trigonometry and solar calculations, blending Islamic and Sanskritic astronomical traditions.

How LACMA Is Centering Curation Around Cross-Cultural Exchange

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opened its new David Geffen Galleries on April 19, featuring a groundbreaking installation organized around four bodies of water—the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea—rather than by country of origin or chronological sequence. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long single-level space holds 2,500 to 3,000 objects, with 45 curators collaborating to arrange works from vastly different cultures and centuries together, allowing visitors to meander without prescribed pathways.

Artists take a satirical look at the financial crisis in a new London show

Three emerging artists—Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison, and Jasmine Gregory—present a multi-media exhibition titled 'Genuine Fake Premium Economy' at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). The show satirically examines the societal and economic fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, using works that critique capitalism, inheritance, and art-world stereotypes. Gregory repaints Patek Philippe ads to expose class structures, Bliss films a fictional art fair that blurs reality and fiction, and Ellison creates lightboxes for a fictional private bank, manipulating corporate language and philosophy.

Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum Welcomes World Cup Fans in 2026

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City has introduced a new exhibition, "Personal Best," designed to welcome international visitors during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The exhibition blends fine art and athletics, connecting the global sporting event with Kansas City's cultural scene. The museum offers free general admission, making it an accessible attraction for soccer fans attending six matches at Arrowhead Stadium starting June 16, 2026.

‘Out of the middle’: Asian Art Museum director sees contemporary Korean art coming into its own

Dr. Lee So-young, the first Korean American director of a major U.S. art museum, discussed the rising global prominence of contemporary Korean art during an interview in Seoul. She was visiting with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to celebrate the cities' 50th anniversary of sister-city ties and to promote an upcoming retrospective on Korean abstract artist Ha Chong-hyun at the Asian Art Museum in September. Lee, who previously curated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard Art Museums, noted that Korean art has shifted from traditional focus to contemporary work, with museums and collectors increasingly engaging with dynamic artists from Korea.