The Unbearable Strangeness of Being

South African artist Cinga Samson makes his New York debut at White Cube with "Ukuphuthelwa," an exhibition of haunting, large-scale oil paintings. The works feature figures with distinctive white pupils engaged in enigmatic rituals within dark, crepuscular landscapes. Drawing from the isiXhosa concept of spiritual alertness during sleeplessness, Samson’s compositions blend the palpable with the unearthly, often depicting scenes that feel choreographed yet remain stubbornly illegible to the Western gaze.

What Makes a Good Protest Sign?

The article's main feature is a guide on creating effective protest signs for the upcoming No Kings protest, compiled by comic artist Steven Weinberg with input from artists, writers, and curators including Hyperallergic's Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. It offers practical advice for crafting visually and rhetorically powerful signs that challenge authority.

A Visual Journey Through 150 Years of the Legal Aid Society

A Visual Journey Through 150 Years of the Legal Aid Society

The New York Historical Society has unveiled a special exhibition, "Delivering Justice: 150 Years of The Legal Aid Society," chronicling the history and impact of the nation's largest public defense provider. The display features archival photographs, newspaper clippings, and artwork that trace the organization's evolution from its 1876 founding as a small office aiding German immigrants to its modern role in landmark cases, including its defense of Attica prison uprising leaders and a recent lawsuit against brutality at Rikers Island.

kaws victory counterfeit art lawsuit

Artist Brian Donnelly, known as KAWS, won a $900,000 damages award from a U.S. District Court on May 2 against Dylan Joy An Leong Yi Zhi and two Singapore-based companies, the Penthouse Theory and the Penthouse Collective, for counterfeiting replicas of KAWS's signature "Companion" figure, toys, skateboards, and artworks. The court also ordered the defendants to stop producing the knockoffs, with KAWS's attorney Aaron Richard Golub calling it a significant international case that can now be enforced globally, including in Singapore.

34 Of The Best London Art Exhibitions To See In May 2026

The article highlights 34 of the best London art exhibitions to see in May 2026, focusing on three major shows: the V&A's 'Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art', the first UK exhibition dedicated to designer Elsa Schiaparelli; Tate Modern's 'Tracey Emin: A Second Life', the largest retrospective of the YBA artist's 40-year career; and the Design Museum's 'NIGO: From Japan with Love', a retrospective of Japanese creative NIGO spanning over 700 objects. These exhibitions showcase fashion, contemporary art, and street culture, with the V&A show running until November, Tate Modern until August, and the Design Museum until October.

Expanded Vocabulary: Revisiting Deborah Kass’ Studio

The article recounts the author's visit to Deborah Kass's Brooklyn studio, which she shares with her wife, artist Patricia Cronin. The visit was prompted by logistical issues related to the author's exhibition "Social Minimalism" (2025). During the visit, the author and Kass revisited themes central to Kass's work over three decades: the exclusion of women from art history, Jewish identity, queer voice, lesbian subjectivity, and postwar American art. The conversation also touched on Kass's series including the Warhol Project, Feel Good Paintings, No Kidding, and the large painting/sculpture installation "Everybody" (2019), which was recently featured in a conversation between Kass and Titus Kaphar in Interview magazine.

39 Kid-Friendly Exhibitions & Museums In Singapore, Including FREE Museums & Art Installations

Singapore is currently hosting a wide array of kid-friendly art exhibitions and museum installations across major cultural venues. Key highlights include the immersive 'Van Gogh Inside: Love Vincent' at Parkview Square, David Hockney’s 'Bigger & Closer' at the newly opened IMBA Theatre, and various interactive digital experiences at the revamped Keppel Centre for Art Education. These offerings range from high-tech multimedia nature zones like Exploria to traditional art museum settings tailored for younger audiences.

The 21 best art galleries to explore in Australia to get lost in

This comprehensive guide highlights the 21 premier art institutions across Australia, ranging from major state museums to specialized private galleries. The selection features iconic venues such as the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, which houses the world’s largest collection of Indigenous art, and David Walsh’s subversive Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania. The list serves as a roadmap for navigating the country's diverse artistic landscape, including contemporary Chinese art at White Rabbit Gallery and significant Aboriginal works at the Araluen Arts Centre.

‘I rely heavily on instinct’: entertainment mogul Hassan Smith on the art he collects and why

Entertainment executive and art collector Hassan Smith, manager to John Legend and advisory board member for the Atlanta Art Fair, shared insights into his collecting philosophy ahead of Frieze Los Angeles. His extensive collection spans art history from Rembrandt and Picasso to contemporary Black masters like Sam Gilliam, Rashid Johnson, and Deborah Roberts. Smith recently added a large-scale painting by Patrick Eugène to his holdings, noting that he relies on a mix of instinct and professional networking to make quick acquisition decisions.

Watching the Great Form Shatter

Der großen Form beim Zerbrechen zuschauen

Marc Brandenburg, a Berlin-based artist born in 1965, is the subject of a comprehensive survey exhibition titled "20th Century Debris" at the Berlinische Galerie. The show presents his meticulous pencil drawings on paper, which invert light and dark and are viewed under blacklight to create ghostly, dissolving images. Brandenburg's works fragment urban spaces, faces, and everyday objects into shimmering, unstable forms, drawing on photography and photocopying to produce a sense of eerie stillness and motion. The exhibition also includes his first films, tracing his stylistic evolution from early 1990s fragmented portraits to large-scale panoramic works with metallic surfaces.

Gropius Bau öffnet abends länger

The Gropius Bau in Berlin has extended its evening opening hours by one hour, now open until 8 PM (closed Tuesdays), due to high demand for its exhibition of performance artist Marina Abramović. The show, titled "Balkan Erotic Epic," opened two weeks ago and drew long queues from the start. It features both new and older works, including performances where Abramović carved a star into her abdomen or lay in a burning installation until losing consciousness. The exhibition explores eroticism, politics, Balkan folklore, sexual energy, death, the political dimension of the body, and the Yugoslav wars.

The Underrated Architect of the Avant-Garde

Der unterschätzte Architekt der Avantgarde

The Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare in Bolzano is hosting a comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Ilja Sdanewitsch, known as Iliazd, a Georgian-Russian-French avant-garde polymath. The exhibition, titled "Toutité Iliazd. Die Erforschung der Form," showcases his diverse output as a writer, designer, and publisher who viewed the book as a primary art object. The display includes architectural reliefs, textile designs for Coco Chanel, and his significant collaborations with icons like Picasso and Duchamp.

How Alexander Calder Set Sculpture in Motion

Wie Alexander Calder die Skulptur in Bewegung setzte

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has launched a major retrospective titled "Rêver en Équilibre," dedicated to the American sculptor Alexander Calder. Featuring over 300 works, the exhibition traces Calder’s journey from his 1926 arrival in Paris to his invention of the "mobile," a term coined by Marcel Duchamp. The show includes iconic large-scale hanging sculptures like "Rouge triomphant," wire figures from his famous "Cirque Calder," and rarely seen private loans, alongside paintings and jewelry that highlight his engineering background and poetic approach to abstraction.

On Île Seguin, the new art center Large unveils its spectacular building and a first exhibition focused on Renault's history

Sur l’île Seguin, le nouveau centre d’art Large dévoile son bâtiment spectaculaire et une première expo tournée vers l’histoire de Renault

On Île Seguin, the new contemporary art center Large unveiled its spectacular building designed by Catalan firm RCR Arquitectes during a press preview on May 21. The center, backed by real estate developer Emerige and its president Laurent Dumas, will open to the public on October 17. Its inaugural exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, explores the history of the automobile and the island's industrial past as the site of Renault factories from 1929 to 1992, featuring works by 55 contemporary artists including Julio Le Parc, Nina Beier, Thomas Bayrle, Mohamed El Khatib, and Giulia Andreani.

In Basel, a Dive into the Great Bath of Colors of Helen Frankenthaler

À Bâle, plongée dans le grand bain de couleurs d’Helen Frankenthaler

The Kunstmuseum Basel has opened a major retrospective of American painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011), a key figure in Color Field painting who is less known in Europe than her contemporaries Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. The exhibition was sparked by a 2024 donation of Frankenthaler's 1963 painting "Riverhead" from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and features around fifty works showcasing her signature soak-stain technique, in which she applied thinned paint to unprimed canvas using sponges, brooms, and scrapers. The show traces her career chronologically, highlighting influences from Old Masters and her physical approach to painting on the floor.

À New York, le Metropolitan Museum of Art absorbe la Neue Galerie et sa collection de Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka…

On May 14, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie in New York announced a historic merger set for 2028. The Neue Galerie, founded in 2001 by billionaire Ronald Lauder in a Fifth Avenue mansion, will become part of the Met under the name The Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie, modeled after the Met's Cloisters. The transfer includes the historic building and a collection of 600 works valued at over $1.5 billion, featuring artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, and Oskar Kokoschka. Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer are also donating thirteen works from their personal collection, and a $200 million endowment fund has been established.

New Art Center and Hidden Gems: A Weekend Full of Surprises in Bruges

Nouveau centre d’art et pépites cachées : un week-end plein de surprises à Bruges

Bruges, the Flemish city known for its medieval charm and UNESCO World Heritage status, has inaugurated a new art center called BRUSK in spring 2026. Located in the museum district, the building designed by Robbrecht en Daem and Olivier Salens features a monumental 350-square-meter fresco by French artist Laure Prouvost titled "The Whispering Walls Rêve," which references the city's past and present. The center also includes a conservation and research facility, with free access to the ground floor. The article proposes a weekend itinerary starting at the Grand-Place (Markt) and highlights Bruges as a hub for contemporary creation alongside its historic treasures.

The Venice Biennale Reaches Full Capacity

La Biennale de Venise fait le plein

The Venice Biennale has reached full capacity, with all exhibition spaces and pavilions fully booked for the upcoming edition. The article reports on the overwhelming demand from participating countries and artists, highlighting the logistical challenges and the record number of national pavilions confirmed for the event.

The Met Gala, an Institution within the Institution

Le Met Gala, une institution dans l’institution

Le Met Gala 2026 took place on Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams. The event raised a record $42 million for the Costume Institute, with celebrities like Madonna and Kendall Jenner attending under the dress code 'Fashion is Art'. The gala also opened the exhibition 'Costume Art', curated by Andrew Bolton, featuring 25 new mannequins with diverse body types.

Au musée Marmottan Monet, la peinture de Giovanni Segantini hisse la modernité au sommet des Alpes

The Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris is hosting the first retrospective in France of Giovanni Segantini (1858–1899), a major but little-known figure of Symbolism. The exhibition traces his career through the lens of his geographical ascent into the Alps, from his early success with "Ave Maria à la traversée" (1886–1888) to his final triptych "La Vie, La Nature, La Mort," which he was working on when he died at age 41. Segantini's divisionist technique, which Vassily Kandinsky considered a precursor to abstraction, is highlighted as a means of expressing a dematerialized vision of the world.

Fascinante artiste des Années folles, Sarah Lipska remise en lumière dans une exposition à Poitiers

The Musée Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, France, is hosting a new exhibition reviving the legacy of Sarah Lipska, a Polish-born artist who thrived in 1920s Paris as a costume designer, decorator, and fashion creator. Once a celebrated figure with her own boutique on the Champs-Élysées, Lipska collaborated with Léon Bakst and designed for the theater, including the operetta 'Annabella' (1922), before falling into obscurity. The museum, which holds the world's largest collection of her work, has built this through decades of acquisitions and a major donation from Lipska's daughter.

Au Louvre, l’ambitieuse restauration du cycle de Marie de Médicis

The Louvre Museum in Paris is undertaking an ambitious restoration of Peter Paul Rubens's monumental cycle of 24 paintings depicting the life of Marie de Médicis. The project, which will take four years and cost €4 million funded by the Société des Amis du Louvre, begins this autumn with the paintings being restored in situ in the Médicis Gallery. The gallery will close in May to prepare the space as a restoration workshop, where two teams of 10–15 restorers will work simultaneously on cleaning, relining, and filling gaps. The last major restoration of the cycle dates to the 1950s, and recent diagnostics revealed yellowed varnish, discordant repaints, and flaking paint layers that risk irreversible loss.

The INHA library will remain open in August

La bibliothèque de l’INHA restera ouverte en août

The National Institute for Art History (INHA) has announced that its library, located in the Labrouste Room in Paris, will remain open throughout the month of August. This decision breaks from the traditional summer closure common among major French academic and research institutions, ensuring uninterrupted access to one of the world's largest collections of art history resources.

Croissant, pigeon… At Nothing Serious gallery, artist Paa Joe transforms Parisian clichés into pop coffins

Croissant, pigeon… À la galerie Nothing Serious, l’artiste Paa Joe transforme les clichés parisiens en cercueils pop

Ghanaian artist Paa Joe has transformed iconic Parisian symbols into vibrant "fantasy coffins" for his solo exhibition, "From Paa Joe to Paaris," at Galerie Nothing Serious. The show features 25 large-scale sculptures, including a Café de Flore cup, a croissant, a Renault 4L, and a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé, all handcrafted in the tradition of Ga burial customs. Created alongside his son Jacob Tetteh-Ashong, these works reinterpret French clichés through a playful yet surreal lens, marking the gallery's return after a four-year hiatus.

In Paris, the Catacombs reveal a transformed route after five months of work

À Paris, les Catacombes dévoilent un parcours métamorphosé après cinq mois de travaux

The Catacombs of Paris have reopened to the public following a comprehensive five-month renovation aimed at modernizing the visitor experience. The upgrades include a completely redesigned lighting scheme, a more welcoming entrance hall capable of hosting small exhibitions, and a high-tech spatialized audio guide that utilizes radio-style storytelling to narrate the site's history.

JR to cover Paris’s Pont Neuf in homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

French artist JR has begun installing a monumental trompe-l’oeil work titled *La Caverne du Pont Neuf* (2026) on Paris’s Pont Neuf, transforming the city’s oldest bridge into an immersive cave. The project reimagines the bridge as a limestone quarry cave, referencing the stone from which the bridge and many Parisian buildings were constructed. The work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s iconic *The Pont Neuf Wrapped* (1985) and will be visible both day and night throughout the summer.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude artwork to be presented for the first time ever at Gagosian.

An unrealized work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, recently discovered in Christo's atelier, will be presented for the first time at Gagosian in London. Titled *Air Package on a Ceiling*, the installation features a 52-foot-long, 33-foot-wide inflated form wrapped in rope, softly illuminated from within to resemble half a cloud protruding from the ceiling. The piece is realized from the original 1968 model and preparatory drawings and collages.

Chanel to open major Lina Lapelytė commission at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof.

Lithuanian interdisciplinary artist Lina Lapelytė will present a large-scale sonic installation and performance titled "We Make Years Out of Hours (2026)" at Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof — Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, opening May 1st during Berlin Gallery Weekend 2026. The work is the second iteration of the Chanel Commission, with performances scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays through January 10, 2027, and a public preview on April 30th.

Massive Buddha sculpture by Tuan Andrew Nguyen opens on New York’s High Line Plinth.

Vietnamese sculptor and visual artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has unveiled a 27-foot-tall sandstone Buddha sculpture titled *The Light That Shines Through the Universe* (2026) on New York's High Line Plinth, at the intersection of 10th Avenue and 30th Street. The monumental work is the newest commission for the elevated park's public art program and will remain on view for the next 18 months.

National Gallery receives $116 million donation to send its collection around the U.S.

The National Gallery of Art has received a $116 million endowment from the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation to permanently fund its nationwide loan program, 'Across the Nation.' This gift, the largest to endow programming in the institution's history, was made to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.