Go figure – when Barnaby Barford took over the Wallpaper* fashion pages

Barnaby Barford is marking 20 years of collaboration with David Gill gallery through the exhibition 'We Are Where We Are', featuring 35 ceramic sculptures and large-scale drawings. The show includes a new work titled 'Ascension'. To celebrate, Wallpaper* magazine revisits its November 2007 issue, in which Barford took over the fashion pages, dressing his found porcelain figurines in designer labels such as Missoni, Versace, Gucci, Christian Dior, and Prada, photographed by Theo Cook with fashion styling by Sophie Dean and Sébastien Clivaz.

Egypt Unveils a Hidden Tomb of 3,500-Year-Old Coffins at Luxor’s Abu el-Naga

An Egyptian archaeological mission excavating at the Abu El-Naga necropolis near Luxor has uncovered a cache of ten well-preserved painted wooden coffins hidden in the courtyard shaft of the tomb of Baki. The coffins span multiple periods, including the 18th Dynasty, the Ramesside period, and the Late Period, with inscriptions naming individuals such as Merit, a chantress of the god Amun, and Padi-Amun, a priest in the Temple of Amun. The team also discovered the tomb of a purification priest named A-Shafi-Nakhtu, decorated with funerary scenes, and a burial site containing over 30 mummified cats from the Ptolemaic Period. The discoveries were announced by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, with the excavation season beginning in November 2025.

Faith Art Prize

Christian Art has launched the Faith Art Prize, a rebranded international award formerly known as the Laudamus Award, celebrating contemporary art that engages with faith, prayer, and the sacred. The prize offers a total fund of £30,000, including a £25,000 first prize donated by John J Studzinski CBE, and is open to artists worldwide working in any medium. Up to 100 shortlisted works will be exhibited at Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral Hall from 9–13 November 2026, with a People's Choice Award of £5,000 selected by public vote. The exhibition coincides with the Christian Art Conference 2026 at the QEII Centre, London.

PFW breaks ground on new fine arts gallery

Purdue University Fort Wayne’s College of Visual and Performing Arts broke ground on the Dorothy and Paul Shaffer Fine Arts Gallery, a $1.3 million project. The ceremony took place at the university’s Visual and Performing Arts Building, with donor Dorothy Shaffer in attendance and remarks from campus leaders and faculty. The gallery is expected to open in November 2027.

Brushes at the ready: entries open for Redland Art Awards

Entries have opened for the 2026 Redland Art Awards, a biennial contemporary painting prize coordinated by Redland Art Gallery in Queensland, Australia. The competition is open to all Australian artists, offering a total prize pool of $30,500, including a $20,000 acquisitive first prize. The lead judge is curator and arts writer Alison Kubler. The awards, which began in 1981 as a local prize by Redland Yurara Art Society, will culminate in a finalist exhibition from November 2026 to January 2027.

Investigators search again for stolen Celtic gold treasure

Ermittler suchen erneut nach gestohlenem Kelten-Goldschatz

More than three years after the theft of a Celtic gold treasure from the Kelten Römer Museum in Manching, Bavaria, investigators are conducting a new search for the missing loot. Four perpetrators were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in July 2025, but only a small portion of the stolen gold coins was recovered. Now, based on new intelligence, Bavarian state police are searching the property of the main suspect and his partner in Plate, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, using X-ray and radar technology. They believe 411 gold coins and a gold casting ingot—about three kilograms of gold—are professionally hidden there, along with cash from other burglaries. The suspect's partner is under investigation for money laundering for allegedly offering to help sell the gold.

NRW will Verbot für Handel mit Holocaust-Dokumenten

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is introducing a legislative bill to ban the commercial trade of personal Holocaust documents and artifacts, such as letters from concentration camps, Gestapo cards, and yellow stars. The initiative follows international outrage over a planned auction in Neuss in November 2025, which was halted at the last moment; around 460 objects from that auction were transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The bill, to be presented at the Bundesrat session on May 8, aims to prohibit the sale of items directly linked to Nazi victims, while exempting museums, archives, and research institutions.

Hong Kong Exhibition Opens at 61st Venice Biennale, Showcasing Local Artists' Work

Hong Kong officials, led by Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law, inaugurated the Hong Kong Exhibition at the 61st Venice Biennale on May 8, 2026. For the first time, the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is collaborating with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) to present works by local artists Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui in a Collateral Event running through November 2026. Law also attended the Chinese Pavilion opening and met with the Italian ambassador and the rector of Ca' Foscari University.

I’M SO ATL Campaign to Turn Atlanta Into ‘Living Art Gallery’ Ahead of Summer 2026

The I’M SO ATL public art campaign is launching in May 2025 to transform Atlanta city parks into a "living, breathing art gallery" through large-scale installations, leading up to the ARTlanta Festival of Culture in Piedmont Park from August 7–9, 2026. Organized by spokesperson Yamileth Jaramillo, the initiative includes an open call for 1,000 artists, partnerships with Atlanta Parks and Recreation and other city agencies, and a social media campaign inviting residents to share what "I'm so ATL" means. Art will remain on display through November 2026.