40 Years Later, Houston's FotoFest Keeps Its Edge

Houston’s FotoFest is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a massive retrospective titled "Global Visions: FotoFest at 40," featuring over 450 artists from 58 countries. Founded by Wendy Watriss and Frederick Baldwin after a transformative trip to the Rencontres d'Arles, the biennial was established to combat American parochialism by introducing international photography to the U.S. The current iteration spans multiple venues, including the Sawyer Yards Galleries and Project Row Houses, showcasing the festival's history of thematic curation ranging from Russian Pictorialism to contemporary Arab media.

Big Crisis, Small Gestures

Große Krise, kleine Gesten

The article reviews the second edition of the Klima Biennale Wien, which opened in early April in Vienna. It notes that while the biennale aims to address the urgent triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, its execution falls short. The exhibition features symbolic works such as a beached whale, a broken boat, and a compostable SUV sculpture, but these motifs feel repetitive and lack the necessary impact. The author contrasts these with historical precedents like Menashe Kadishman's 1978 Venice Biennale installation and Joseph Beuys' "7000 Eichen" (1982), arguing that the themes of nature and sustainability are not new, only the urgency has intensified.

The Narrow Corridor of Normality

Der schmale Korridor der Normalität

Artist Beate Gütschow reflects on Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 16th-century engraving "Spes" (Hope), which she encountered during a visit to the Kunstmuseum Basel. The artwork depicts a personified figure of Hope standing amidst a chaotic scene of shipwrecks and flooding, symbolizing the necessity of maintaining focus and action even in the face of overwhelming disaster.

Art Paris: A Better Result Than Expected

Art Paris, un bilan meilleur que prévu

The 28th edition of Art Paris concluded with stronger-than-expected sales despite a sluggish start and a volatile global climate. Featuring 165 galleries, the fair solidified its position as a key regional event for French collectors, offering a price range typically between €10,000 and €40,000. While mega-galleries like Almine Rech participated with accessible works, the fair also welcomed newcomers like Esther Schipper and In Situ-Fabienne Leclerc, who reported positive results across various media including ceramics, photography, and painting.

Saint Louis’s Counterpublic Triennial Reveals Artist List for Third Edition

The Counterpublic Triennial has unveiled the artist list for its third edition, titled "Coyote Time," scheduled to run from September 12 to December 12 in Saint Louis. Curated by a five-member international team, the exhibition features forty-seven artists and collectives, including prominent figures like Glenn Ligon and Rebecca Belmore alongside local Saint Louis practitioners. The triennial will feature nearly fifty commissions, with a significant focus on site-responsive works installed along the Mississippi riverfront and the Gateway Arch.

RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series 2025–27

The Hayward Gallery in London, in partnership with the RC Foundation in Taiwan, has announced a new exhibition series for its HENI Project Space running from October 2025 to March 2027. The series features five solo exhibitions by artists Val Lee, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Kulpreet Singh, Musquiqui Chihying, and Andrius Arutiunian, each exploring themes ranging from political violence and surveillance to climate change, ritual, and alternative cosmologies. The exhibitions are curated by a team including Yung Ma, Rachel Thomas, and others.

Queer Horizon: “Spectrosynthesis Seoul” at Art Sonje Center

The fourth edition of "Spectrosynthesis," Sunpride Foundation's exhibition series dedicated to LGBTQ+ art in Asia, opens at Art Sonje Center in Seoul. Curated by Sunjung Kim and Youngwoo Lee, the show unfolds in two parts: "The Two-Sided Seashell" and "Tender: Invisibly Visible, Unlocatably Everywhere," featuring works by artists including Sin Wai Kin and Young-Jun Tak. The exhibition engages with queer theory, particularly José Esteban Muñoz's concept of queerness as a horizon of potentiality, and responds to South Korea's recent political turbulence, including the 2024 martial law declaration and presidential impeachment.

London’s V&A launches webpage exploring provenance of its objects

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has launched a dedicated digital hub to document the provenance of its collection, specifically addressing objects acquired through violence, coercion, or looting. The initiative includes detailed research on controversial items such as the Maqdala material from Ethiopia, Asante Regalia from Ghana, and imperial Chinese jade. This transparency effort coincides with International Provenance Research Day and aims to provide public accountability regarding the museum's colonial-era acquisitions.

Gods, emperors and eagles restored in Blenheim Palace roof-rescue mission

Blenheim Palace is nearing the completion of a £12m conservation project, the most extensive in the 300-year history of the UNESCO World Heritage site. Led by Donald Insall Associates, the initiative involved a massive logistical effort, including the construction of 31 miles of scaffolding and a one-acre protective tent to repair rotting timbers, crumbling stonework, and leaking roofs. The restoration also addressed the palace's iconic Baroque skyline, featuring statues of gods, emperors, and a 30-tonne marble bust of Louis XIV.

Milan’s contemporary art credentials further bolstered by arrival of Paris Internationale

Paris Internationale, the influential non-profit art fair, has announced its inaugural Milan edition featuring a lineup of 34 galleries. Scheduled to coincide with Milan Art Week, Miart, and the Salone del Mobile, the fair includes prominent participants such as Jocelyn Wolff, kaufmann repetto, and Sylvia Kouvali. The move signals a strategic expansion for the French organization into a city increasingly recognized for its intersection of art, design, and high-level production.

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.

Islamophobia, motherhood, war and immigration: Indy artists get political

Four Indianapolis-based artists—Salma Taman, Alejandra Carrillo, Bailey Jörk, and Iryna Bondar—are creating work that directly responds to contemporary political and social crises, including the war in Gaza, immigration, and political division. Their art, ranging from Taman's Arabic calligraphy painting promoting forgiveness to Carrillo's digital drawing protesting a migrant detention center, serves as a form of personal and communal expression in a fraught global climate.

Venezia: Melissa McGill. Marea - Art Exhibition Contemporary art in Veneto

Artist Melissa McGill has announced "Marea," a large-scale public art intervention set to debut in Venice's Corte Nova during the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. The project features approximately 100 paintings created on bedsheets, which will be hung from traditional laundry lines spanning the historic street. Developed in collaboration with local residents and students from Università Iuav di Venezia, the installation uses shades of blue and green to mirror the Venetian Lagoon and celebrate the city's enduring community spirit.

REVIEW: The Open: Odyssey at Hastings Contemporary

Hastings Contemporary has launched its inaugural biennial, titled "The Open: Odyssey," featuring over 150 artists with connections to Sussex. Selected from a pool of 2,600 applicants by a panel led by Kathleen Soriano, the exhibition explores themes of marine ecology, migration, mythology, and coastal life. Notable works include Alan Patch’s large-scale hanging of plastic detritus, Kate Howe’s monumental waxed paper installation "The Moving Edge," and Kevin J J Warren’s sculptures made from salvaged fishing nets.

Corals as Living Geology. In Conversation with Julian Charrière by Timothée Chaillou

Julian Charrière has created two new bodies of work, *Chorals* (2025) and *Veils* (2025), in collaboration with Maison Ruinart. The projects are inspired by the Lutetian Sea, which submerged the Champagne region 45 million years ago, and explore themes of deep time, climate change, and the interconnectedness of organic and mineral life. *Chorals* is a permanent sound installation in Ruinart's cellars in Reims, featuring amplified recordings of ocean reefs, while *Veils* comprises wall works and sculptures centered on corals and fading coral imagery. The works travel to art fairs as preludes to the permanent installation.

Review | Raphael, a master of serenity, is the artist we need right now

Art critic Philip Kennicott reflects on the profound psychological impact of Raphael’s Renaissance masterpieces, specifically citing the 'Madonna of the Meadow' in Vienna and the 'Alba Madonna' in Washington, D.C. He describes how these works possess a unique ability to cure 'museum fatigue' and mental clutter, offering a sense of serenity and clarity that feels particularly necessary in the current cultural climate.

The Major Exhibitions at LUMA Arles in France: Zaha Hadid, Gerhard Richter and Patti Smith

Le grandi mostre al LUMA di Arles in Francia: Zaha Hadid, Gerhard Richter e Patti Smith

LUMA Arles in France will launch a new exhibition cycle on May 1, 2026, followed by a second series starting July 4. The program, presented by CEO Mustapha Bouhayati and artistic director Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, includes a major show of Gerhard Richter's "Overpainted Photographs" in the Frank Gehry-designed tower, a Zaha Hadid retrospective titled "I Think There Should Be No End to Experimentation" marking the tenth anniversary of her death, and a centennial celebration of the influential art magazine Cahiers d'Art. The exhibitions aim to bridge visual arts with music, performance, and live events, bringing together voices from diverse geographies and disciplines.

Vincenzo Trione's new book aims to redefine the concept of the avant-garde (reviews by his students)

Il nuovo libro di Vincenzo Trione vuole ridefinire il concetto di avanguardia (le recensioni dei suoi allievi)

On March 9, 2026, at IULM University in Milan, Vincenzo Trione presented his new book *Rifare il mondo. Le età dell’avanguardia* (Einaudi, 2025). The event was part of the cultural program *Leonardo alla IULM*, which also featured pages from the Codex Atlanticus on loan from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Trione, a professor at IULM, discussed the book with four of his students: Anna Luigia De Simone, Vincenzo Di Rosa, Anna Calise, and Alessia Scaparra Seneca. The talk, titled "Nessuna parola caratterizza l’arte contemporanea più di avanguardia," explored the concept of the avant-garde, its historical legacy, and its contemporary reactivation through movements, manifestos, collectives, and cultural phenomena.

The evolution of agriculture tells the story of the world in an unmissable exhibition at Fondazione Prada

L’evoluzione dell’agricoltura racconta il mondo in un’imperdibile mostra alla Fondazione Prada

The Fondazione Prada in Milan is hosting "Dash," a comprehensive solo exhibition by Chinese artist Cao Fei that explores the intersection of ancient agricultural rituals and cutting-edge technology. The exhibition features installations like 'Land Ceremony,' where an agricultural drone is treated as a ritualistic rice dragon, alongside VR experiences and documentary films that investigate the automation of farming in China and Southeast Asia.

Why This Storied London Gallery Is Planning Its Future in Paris

Waddington Custot, a cornerstone of London’s art scene, is formalizing its leadership succession as Victor Custot joins his father, Stéphane, as board director. The younger Custot, who transitioned from a career in tech, is now spearheading the gallery’s strategic expansion. Central to this new chapter is a significant move toward Paris, reflecting a broader shift in the European art market landscape following Brexit.

Gala Porras-Kim: Future spaces replicate earlier spaces

Gala Porras-Kim presents her first exhibition at kurimanzutto in Mexico City, titled "Future spaces replicate earlier spaces," running from April 11 to June 13, 2026. The show brings together works that examine how museums and conservation institutions reclassify objects removed from their original contexts, using reconstruction and resituating to explore their spatial, material, and temporal conditions. Central to the exhibition is the installation "The motion of an alluvial record" (2024), which recreates the humid marshland atmosphere of the Yucatán Peninsula inside the gallery, contrasting with the controlled climates of museums. Other works include drawings replicating wall decorations from the Techinantitla complex in Teotihuacan, which were fragmented and sold on the black market, and graphite drawings of objects by artist Brígido Lara, whose "original interpretations" of Totonac ritual clay objects were mistakenly catalogued as Pre-Hispanic artifacts in major museums.

Activist Super-Glues Herself to Display Cabinet at Berlin’s Bode Museum

An activist from the group New Generation staged a protest at Berlin’s Bode Museum by super-gluing herself to a display cabinet containing coins. Dressed as Germany’s Economic Affairs Minister, Katherina Reiche, the protester aimed to criticize the minister's perceived lack of independence from corporate interests. Police successfully removed the activist, and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation confirmed that no museum exhibits were damaged during the incident.

‘They tore up everything’: the wolf hunters of Kyrgyzstan – in pictures

Photographer Luke Oppenheimer traveled to the remote Kyrgyz village of Ottuk in 2021 for a short assignment on wolves preying on livestock, but ended up staying for four years. His project, titled 'Ottuk' and published by Aliens in Residence, documents the lives of shepherds who hunt wolves to protect their herds in the Tien Shan mountains, capturing their ancient way of life, harsh winters, and the legends that shape their community.

Because the Ego Suddenly Dissolves

"Weil das Ego sich plötzlich auflöst"

The art world is facing significant structural and political shifts, highlighted by the merger of Artnet and Artsy which has resulted in mass layoffs, particularly within the Artnet News editorial team and its Berlin operations. Simultaneously, tensions are rising in German cultural policy as gallery owner Rupert Pfab raises concerns over government interference in the Stiftung Kunstfonds jury selection, reflecting a broader climate of unease that includes recent controversies at the Berlinale.

Jenna Sutela on Representing Finland at the 61st Venice Biennale

Jenna Sutela, representing Finland at the 61st Venice Biennale, will present an exhibition titled *Aeolian Suite* in the Giardini pavilion. The work features sound sculptures that engage with wind as both a physical and political force, using meteorological data, wind machines, recorders, a children's woodwind orchestra, and recordings of winds from Venice, Helsinki, and beyond. Sutela explores noise as a creative medium, drawing on the concept of deep listening inspired by artist Pauline Oliveros, and connects her project to the Biennale's theme, *In Minor Keys*, curated by Koyo Kouoh.

Gilles Bloch: "The Museum needs 1.1 billion euros"

Gilles Bloch : « Le Muséum a besoin de 1,1 milliard d’euros »

Gilles Bloch, president of the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris, has issued an urgent call for €1.1 billion in funding to address the critical state of the institution's infrastructure. Ahead of its 400th anniversary in 2026, a diagnostic report reveals that 74% of the museum's 120 buildings are in poor condition, with several galleries currently closed to the public or suffering from inadequate climate control. The requested funds would cover €500 million in emergency repairs to stabilize decaying structures and a further €600 million for long-term modernization and energy efficiency upgrades.

‘We are complicit’: Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger’s immersive Venice Biennale pavilion brings apocalypse to the city

Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger has created 'Seaworld Venice,' an immersive and confrontational installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. The work explores climate change, technology, and a dystopian flooded future, drawing comparisons to the 1995 film 'Waterworld'—though neither Holzinger nor curator Nora-Swantje Almes had seen it. Known for extreme performance art involving nudity, blood, live piercing, and heavy machinery, Holzinger's previous works have caused audience members to faint or require medical treatment. The pavilion marks a significant platform for her radical, hybrid practice that blends theatre, dance, opera, and performance art.

Olafur Eliasson stages public wake for the Great Salt Lake in Utah

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson presented 'A symphony of disappearing sounds for the Great Salt Lake,' a large-scale multimedia installation in Salt Lake City’s Memory Grove Park. The work featured a three-story luminous sphere projecting visuals of wind currents and geothermal light, accompanied by a soundscape of migratory birds, brine flies, and frogs. Commissioned by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the ten-day public event served as a creative wake for the rapidly receding lake.

Venice Bound? Here’s All the News You Need to Know About This Year’s Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale is embroiled in geopolitical controversy over Russia's return to the event in 2026, which has sparked widespread backlash. Nearly 10,000 artists and cultural leaders signed an open letter opposing Russia's participation, and the European Union withdrew €2 million in funding for the 2028 edition. Leaked emails reveal Biennale officials worked with Russian pavilion commissioner Anastasia Karneeva to circumvent EU sanctions, while Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli plans to boycott the opening week. Meanwhile, activists continue to push for Israel's removal from the Biennale, though Israel will be accommodated in the Arsenale this year.

This French Castle Is Crowdfunding Its Own Restoration

The Château de Chambord, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the second-most visited castle in France, has launched a €30 million ($35 million) crowdfunding campaign to fund urgent structural restorations. Decades of flooding and drought in the Loire Valley have severely compromised the foundations of the François I Wing, leading to warped walls and a 2023 incident where 20 visitors fell through a collapsing floor. Director General Pierre Dubreuil has initiated a three-phase plan to shore up the masonry, modernize accessibility, and create new educational facilities.