Art News. Vasari Codex

article culture schedule May 15, 2026 visibility 9 link 4 artists

From men on dog leads to public breast-fondling, Valie Export’s art demanded a total feminist revolution

Valie Export, the pioneering Austrian feminist artist known for her provocative and confrontational performances from the 1960s onward, is the subject of a reflective essay by writer and academic Hettie Judah. The article revisits Export's radical works such as *Hyperbulia* (1973), where she crawled naked through electrified wires; *From the Portfolio of Doggedness* (1968), in which she led a man on a dog lead through Vienna; and *Action Pants: Genital Panic* (1969), where she walked through a cinema with exposed genitals. Judah draws on her own interviews with Export, who died in 2023, and discusses the artist's manifesto demanding that women use art to reshape consciousness and achieve liberation.

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article culture schedule May 14, 2026 visibility 11 link 3 artists

'A work of conceptual art': Belmond launches new Art Deco-inspired train dining car

On 15 May, Belmond's British Pullman will debut a new private dining car named Celia, originally built in 1932. The carriage's interior has been designed by film director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, production designer Catherine Martin, who created an Art Deco-inspired aesthetic featuring burl veneers, marquetry, stained glass, and their signature rich red. The couple invented a backstory for the car's namesake, a fictional 1930s Shakespearean actress, aiming to immerse guests in a narrative experience reminiscent of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This follows Belmond's previous collaborations with Wes Anderson and artist JR, as part of its strategy under LVMH ownership to commission high-profile creative figures for its heritage trains.

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gavel restitution schedule May 11, 2026 visibility 15 link 6 artists

The Founders of Open Restitution Africa (ORA) on Their New Open Data Platform

On March 31, the research initiative Open Restitution Africa (ORA) launched the ORA Open Data Platform, a database providing information on the restitution of African artifacts and ancestral remains. Developed over six years by ORA’s all-woman, pan-African team, the site uses case histories and AI-powered tools to offer practical insights into the return process, available in French and English. It presents 25 case histories spanning 200 years, using data visualizations, essays, and interactive tools to help individuals and communities develop their own restitution strategies. ARTnews interviewed founders Chao Tayiana Maina and Molemo Moiloa about the project's origins and goals.

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article news schedule May 8, 2026 visibility 13 link 3 artists

Fire erupts at San Francisco's Vaillancourt Fountain during its dismantling

A fire broke out at San Francisco's Vaillancourt Fountain on May 4, 2025, as construction crews used torches to dismantle the 1971 Brutalist structure, igniting debris inside its steel tubes. The San Francisco Arts Commission confirmed the fire was quickly extinguished with no major damage, but the incident has raised concerns about safety protocols, as workers were reportedly not wearing protective gear against potential lead or asbestos exposure, and no public warnings were posted. The dismantling proceeded after a California appeals court denied a request from the local coalition Friends of the Plaza to halt the removal, which the city justified citing asbestos and structural risks.

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article news schedule May 8, 2026 visibility 19 link 15 artists

Venice Biennale strike sees more than 15 pavilions temporarily or partially close

On 8 May, more than 15 national pavilions at the Venice Biennale temporarily or partially closed in a coordinated strike organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA). The protest opposes Israel’s participation in the event, which organizers say normalizes what they call genocide and exploits precarious labor. Participating countries include Austria, Lebanon, Slovenia, Egypt, Poland, and the Netherlands, whose artist Dries Verhoeven stood outside his shuttered pavilion with a Palestinian flag. Some pavilions, like Japan’s, remained open but suspended interactive elements. The strike follows earlier controversies, including the resignation of the prize jury and an open letter demanding the Israeli pavilion’s cancellation.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 7, 2026 visibility 16 link 2 artists

The Most Provocative Performance in Venice

Florentina Holzinger, a performance artist known for extreme feminist works involving nudity, bodily fluids, and physical endurance, is representing Austria at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a pavilion titled “Seaworld Venice.” Opening May 9, the installation transforms the Austrian Pavilion in the Giardini into an underwater theme park and a functioning sewage treatment plant, where audience urine collected from portable toilets is cleaned and recycled into the tanks. The work explores themes of the human body, ecology, and Venice’s own struggles with sinking infrastructure and mass tourism.

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article news schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 21 link 2 artists

Gabrielle Goliath Discusses Her Canceled South African Pavilion as She Shows New Work in a Venice Church

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s planned pavilion for the South Africa Pavilion at the Venice Biennale was canceled by culture minister Gayton McKenzie, who deemed it “highly divisive.” Despite the cancellation, Goliath has installed her work, a multi-screen iteration of her ongoing performance series *Elegy*, at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, half a mile from the Giardini. The new piece mourns victims of atrocities including South African femicide, the Herero and Nama genocide, and the death of Gazan poet Hiba Abu Nada, killed by an Israeli airstrike. Goliath stated that McKenzie explicitly demanded removal of the Palestinian content while deeming the other subjects acceptable.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 17 link 2 artists

Abbas Akhavan Transforms the Canada Pavilion Into a Greenhouse, Daring Viewers to Leave Behind Their Preconceptions

Artist Abbas Akhavan has transformed the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale into a functioning greenhouse for his exhibition "Entre chien et loup." The pavilion now houses a 6,000-gallon pool containing giant Victoria water lilies, with modifications including grow lights, water misters, a new ventilation system, and structural reinforcements to support the 25-ton water tank. The installation evokes Victorian-era Wardian cases and London's Crystal Palace, but Akhavan emphasizes that his interest in the lilies began intuitively, not as a commentary on colonialism or empire. The project, developed with curator Kim Nguyen, involved collaboration with Kew Gardens and the Orto Botanico di Padova to cultivate the plants, and the outcome remains uncertain as the lilies may thrive or wither over the exhibition's six-month run.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 17 link 4 artists

With Nearly 30,000 Clay Earth Bricks, Dana Awartani Remakes History in the Saudi Arabia Pavilion

Dana Awartani, a Jeddah- and New York-based artist of mixed Palestinian, Saudi, Jordanian, and Syrian descent, has created the Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale using nearly 30,000 clay earth bricks. The installation, titled "May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones," replicates traditional mosaic motifs sourced from over 20 cultural heritage sites across the Arab world that have been destroyed by human conflict. Awartani emphasizes collaboration, crediting numerous skilled craftsmen—economic migrants to Saudi Arabia—who worked alongside her, and her practice blends formal training at Central St. Martins with Islamic geometry and illumination studies in Turkey.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 16 link 4 artists

Venice exhibition of site-specific films aims to capture the hyper stimulating times we are living in

The Fondazione In Between Art Film presents "Canicula," the third and final exhibition in its Trilogy of Uncertainties, opening on 6 May at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice. Curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, the show features eight newly commissioned site-specific films that explore themes of excess, sensory overload, and geopolitical tension. Works include Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk's "Affirmations" (2026), depicting fictional deathbed testimonies of Russian soldiers, Lawrence Abu Hamdan's "450XL: The Story of a Fugitive Sound" (2026) about a sonic attack in Belgrade, and Maya Watanabe's "Jarkov" (2025-26) reflecting on Arctic ice melt and Pleistocene remains.

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article local schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 19 link 4 artists

Salisbury Cathedral restores stained-glass treasure by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris

Salisbury Cathedral has completed a two-year restoration of a stained-glass window designed by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. The 6.5-metre "Angels" window, depicting ministering and praising angels, was carefully removed in February 2024, cleaned, and fitted with protective glazing and oak frames. Head glazier Sam Kelly, who began as an apprentice at the cathedral 40 years ago, led the project alongside colleagues Vicky Pearce, Kate Kersey, and Alfie Durrant. Lost details were restored on backing glass rather than the original surface, and the window will be rededicated at an evensong service on 7 May.

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rate_review review schedule May 4, 2026 visibility 20 link 2 artists

Rose Finn-Kelcey review – flying puns, smart pranks and prayers for 20p

The Guardian reviews "Rose Finn-Kelcey: House Rules," a posthumous exhibition at the new Arts Collective in Northampton, UK. The show features works by the British conceptual artist (1945–2014), including her 1972 flag installation "Power for the People" at Battersea Power Station, a prayer vending machine titled "It Pays to Pray," and pieces exploring permission, spirituality, and societal restrictions. The exhibition is presented as a homecoming for Finn-Kelcey, who was born in Northampton.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 15 link 6 artists

Oleg Prokofiev’s Lost Trove of Paintings Comes to Light After Decades in Hiding

A trove of abstract paintings and sculptures by Russian artist Oleg Prokofiev, hidden for decades in Moscow after he fled the Soviet Union, has been rediscovered and is now on public display for the first time. Prokofiev concealed the works in the 1950s and 1960s to avoid state persecution—abstract art was banned in the USSR, and his relationship with British scholar Camilla Gray made marriage impossible until 1969. After Gray's death and his move to England, the artworks remained safely stored in Moscow, where he found them intact after the Soviet collapse. The collection, including paintings, sculptures, sketchbooks, and letters, is now exhibited at the newly founded Prokofiev Studio in Hackney, London, established by his four children and curator Anzhela Popova.

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rate_review review schedule May 1, 2026 visibility 22 link 4 artists

Genuine Fake Premium Economy review – brilliantly obnoxious millennial rage at a rigged financial world

The exhibition "Genuine Fake Premium Economy" at a London gallery features works by American artists Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison, and Jasmine Gregory, all born in the mid-1980s. Their pieces—including Bliss's shaky videos of New York's financial district, Ellison's fictional bank advertisements pairing classical paintings with cynical taglines, and Gregory's luxury watch ads stripped of watches—collectively express millennial rage at a rigged financial system and the aftermath of the 2008 crash.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 28, 2026 visibility 13 link 2 artists

TikTok Shop adds ‘fine art’ category—will it disrupt the art market?

TikTok Shop has launched a new "fine art" category within its collectibles section, allowing artists to sell original artworks directly through shoppable videos, photographs, and livestreams. The category debuted with a three-hour live sale by artist Sophie Tea, who created a series of 20 oil paintings titled *Bric-a-Brac* and sold them for £2,800 each. The sale faced technical glitches—items added to baskets were prematurely marked as sold, causing confusion—and required workarounds for TikTok's pricing caps, automatic discounts, and shipping policies.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 23, 2026 visibility 18 link 7 artists

Remembering Napoleon Jones-Henderson, an AfriCOBRA Founding Member Who Imbued Art and Life with Exuberant Energy

Napoleon Jones-Henderson, a founding member of the influential African American artist collective AfriCOBRA, has died. Born in Chicago in 1943, he studied at the Sorbonne and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was mentored by Bauhaus textile artist Else Regensteiner. In 1969, he co-founded AfriCOBRA, becoming known as "the weaver" of the group for his vibrant textile works that incorporated metallic threads and found objects. He later moved to Boston, taught at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and maintained a prolific studio practice in Roxbury for over 50 years, creating works focused on empowerment, Pan-Africanism, and racial justice.

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article local schedule May 22, 2026 visibility 4 link 9 artists

Sumac Cottage in Greensboro, Alabama

Sumac Cottage, a historic 1820s building in Greensboro, Alabama, has been restored and transformed into a community arts space by visual artist Aaron Sanders Head and musician Tim Higgins. The cottage, which was nearly demolished and had only three walls remaining, now hosts workshops, exhibitions, performances, and community events. Its most recent exhibition, “Home Once,” featured a visual installation by Jenna Clark with performances by Clark, Jasper Lee, Sam Herman, and Ryan Brown.

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article news schedule May 21, 2026 visibility 4 link 4 artists

Open Letter in Support of the Artist Asel Kadyrkhanova

An open letter initiated by members of the Kazakhstani and international art community protests the removal of artist Asel Kadyrkhanova's work *Machine* (2013) from the Kazakhstan pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The mixed-media installation, which addresses Stalinist repression through a vintage typewriter, arrest warrants, and red threads, was dismantled on May 5, 2026, reportedly by order of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Culture and Information, just before the pavilion's opening. The artist and curator were allegedly pressured to alter the work beforehand, and the ministry initially cited restrictions from the Italian side, but the Italian Ministry of Defense denied involvement.

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article local schedule Apr 24, 2026 visibility 19 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

For the People: Lubbock’s First Friday Art Trail Engages Thousands of Art-Goers Each Month

Lubbock’s First Friday Art Trail (FFAT), now in its 22nd year, has grown from a small gathering of a few dozen attendees to regularly drawing thousands to the downtown arts district each month. In October 2025, the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) distributed 6,000 wristbands before running out. The event features exhibitions, open studios, craft vendors, music, hands-on activities, drinks, and food trucks, with streets closed to traffic and visitors moving on foot or by trolley. The trail began organically in August 2004, spearheaded by artist Steve Teeters of St. Eligius Studio, and was inspired by a First Friday event in Corpus Christi.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 15 link 1 artist

Khaled Sabsabi’s Rocky Road From Australia to the Biennale

Lebanese-Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi was nearly removed from his commission for the Venice Biennale after being accused of supporting terrorism, but was later reinstated. He is now arriving in Venice to present not one but two works at the prestigious international exhibition.

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rate_review review schedule May 15, 2026 visibility 8 link 3 artists

‘My Father’s Shadow’: Now You See Me

Clive Chijioke Nwonka reviews Akinola Davies Jr.'s film *My Father's Shadow* (2025), a semi-autobiographical story of two adolescent brothers traveling through Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian presidential elections. The film, selected for the Cannes Official Selection, employs a metaphysical narrative style rooted in the Nigerian oral tradition, blending literal and spiritual worlds to explore diasporic identity, memory, and cultural preservation.

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article news schedule May 12, 2026 visibility 16 link 7 artists

Somali artists and culture workers express concern over Somalia Pavilion in Venice

Somali artists, cultural workers, and organizations have published multiple open letters and statements expressing concern over the Somalia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The pavilion, announced in March for the 2026 edition, is titled 'SADDEXLEEY' and features Somali-Swedish artist Ayan Farah, Somali-Danish poet and filmmaker Asmaa Jama, and Somali-British writer Warsan Shire, curated by Stockholm-based Mohamed Mire and Italian project manager Fabio Scrivanti. Critics, including the Somali Arts Foundation and the queer collective Warbixinta Cidda, allege that the pavilion was organized without meaningful consultation of artists and organizations based in Somalia, and object to the appointment of an Italian co-curator given Italy's colonial history in Somalia. An anonymous open letter further alleges intimidation and coercive pressure against critics, and demands Scrivanti's removal, calling for a boycott if demands are not met.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 22 link 4 artists

Sung Tieu on Representing Germany at the 61st Venice Biennale

Sung Tieu, who is co-representing Germany at the 61st Venice Biennale alongside Henrike Naumann, responds to a questionnaire from ArtReview about her plans for the German Pavilion. She describes her inspiration as her mother and childhood home, a site built for foreign contract workers in the GDR that later became a refuge for the diaspora. Tieu states that her work relates to the Biennale theme "In Minor Keys" through the lens of Gehrenseestrasse, a concrete record of collective memory. She also expresses skepticism about the Biennale's importance, noting that the German Pavilion's fascist architecture compels artists to work against it, and that national pavilions reveal how much work remains in undoing nationalism.

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article news schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 14 link 3 artists

The Interview: Gabrielle Goliath

Gabrielle Goliath, a South African artist, created the performance work "Elegy" in 2015 after hearing a father mourn his daughter, Ipeleng Christine Moholane, who was raped and murdered. The piece features seven operatic women sustaining a single note in relay for an hour, evolving over a decade into a series of iterations that address systemic violence and grief. In January 2026, South Africa's Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, cancelled Goliath's presentation of the latest version of "Elegy" at the 61st Venice Biennale, which was to include tributes to victims in South Africa, Namibia, and Gaza, including journalist Hiba Abu Nada. Goliath refused to alter the work, took legal action, and will now show it independently at the Chiesa di Sant'Antonin in Venice, while the official South African Pavilion will remain empty for the first time since 2011.

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candle obituary schedule Apr 23, 2026 visibility 14 link 2 artists

Shigeo Toya, artist who looked to nature with his wood sculptures, 1947–2026

Shigeo Toya, the Japanese artist renowned for his chainsaw-hewn wood sculptures, has died at age 79. Born in 1947 in a small village in Nagano Prefecture, Toya began his signature Woods series in 1984, carving rough textures into tall lumber and arranging the pieces like a forest. His series Twenty Eight Deaths featured stacked wooden blocks with cavities and burn marks. Toya represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and later exhibited at the Asia Pacific Triennial (1993) and Gwangju Biennale (2000). A major survey of his work was held at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, in 2022–23.

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article local schedule May 7, 2026 visibility 15 link 1 artist

San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain Catches Fire During Controversial Removal

San Francisco's Vaillancourt Fountain, a Brutalist concrete structure at Embarcadero Plaza since 1971, caught fire on Wednesday morning as workers used blow torches to disassemble it. The fire ignited rubber tubing and debris inside the sculpture's cantilevered arms, producing smoke that forced the temporary evacuation of nearby paddle board courts. The fountain is being removed to make way for a $32.5 million redevelopment of the plaza and playground into a five-acre park.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 16, 2026 source 3 sources visibility 14 link 2 artists

M+ in multi-year strategic partnership with Centre Pompidou

M+, Hong Kong's premier art museum, has signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Paris's Centre Pompidou. The agreement, signed on May 15, 2026, by Centre Pompidou President Laurent Le Bon and M+ Museum Director Suhanya Raffel, covers joint curatorial research, exhibition development and sharing, co-commissions and artwork displays, and collection exchange. A major co-curated exhibition will be presented at both venues, with a series of jointly developed exhibitions staged at M+ from 2027 onwards, featuring works from both institutions' collections.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 19, 2026 visibility 6 link 7 artists

Next Episode of Art21’s Art in the Twenty-First Century to Premiere in June

Art21 has announced the premiere of "Human Nature," the next episode of its documentary series *Art in the Twenty-First Century*, set to air on PBS on June 10, 2026. The episode features artists Lenka Clayton, Josh Kline, Delcy Morelos, and Sin Wai Kin, and explores themes of humanity's impact on the environment, social and economic systems, and interpersonal relationships. Directed by Ian Forster and produced by Andrea Chung, the episode will also be available on Art21.org, YouTube, and PBS Digital Platforms, with an advance screening on May 28 at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Robin Williams Center in Manhattan.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 22, 2026 visibility 2 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

The exhibition "The Charm of Flowers" will open in honor of the 290th anniversary of the Rundāle Palace

An exhibition titled "The Charm of Flowers" will open at Rundāle Palace in Latvia to mark the palace's 290th anniversary. It explores the history of exotic garden flowers in Europe, their popularity in the Duchy of Courland-Semigallia, and the symbolic meaning of flowers in 17th- and 18th-century art. The show features works from major European museums including the National Art Gallery named after Boris Voznyatsky in Lviv, Het Loo Palace Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the National Art Museum named after M. K. Čiurlionis. A key highlight is the multimedia installation "Tulipomania" by Dutch artist Joost Agassi, which offers a contemporary take on the 17th-century Dutch tulip mania.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 5, 2026 visibility 14 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

Studio SALES presents Concetto Pozzati. 50 years later exhibition in Rome

Studio SALES in Rome presents "Concetto Pozzati. 50 years later," an exhibition revisiting the artist's 1976 retrospective at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Organized in collaboration with the Archivio Concetto Pozzati, the show focuses on Pozzati's experimental work from the 1970s, featuring four large canvases from the original exhibition alongside works on paper displayed using plexiglass. The pieces, some unseen since 1976, explore mixed techniques like spray painting and screen-printing, highlighting a period when Pozzati moved away from his signature style.

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