UK’s Hepworth Wakefield announces new co-directors

The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire has appointed Olivia Colling as executive director and Laura Smith as artistic director, filling the leadership void left by former director Simon Wallis, who departed last summer to lead the Royal Academy of Arts. Colling, who joined the gallery in 2015, previously oversaw commercial income and capital projects, while Smith, who arrived in 2022, has focused on expanding the collection and curated a Helen Chadwick retrospective in 2025; her upcoming exhibition features the late Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee.

After a turbulent period of reorganisation, the 18th Istanbul Biennial favours futurity over futility

The 18th Istanbul Biennial, titled "The Three-Legged Cat," has opened after a turbulent period of reorganization. Curated by Christine Tohmé, the biennial unfolds over three years instead of the usual two, featuring 47 artists—only six from Turkey, with many from the Middle East. The exhibition spans eight venues, including a former cone factory and a French orphanage, and includes works such as Naomi Rincón-Gallardo's video installation on opossum resilience and Khalil Rabah's site-specific intervention with oil barrels and saplings. The biennial's budget was raised from €2m to €6.5m, mostly funded by Koç Holdings, following controversy over the initial appointment of curator Defne Ayas, which was rejected by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), leading to Tohmé's eventual selection.

‘It’s a dream vessel for me’: Defne Ayas appointed new director of the Van Abbemuseum

Defne Ayas has been appointed director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, replacing Charles Esche, who held the post for two decades. Ayas, previously director of Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam and co-curator of major biennials including the 13th Gwangju Biennale, will take over ahead of the museum's 90th anniversary in 2026. She describes the role as a "dream vessel" and emphasizes the museum's commitment to decolonization, social engagement, and accessibility.

Cameron Art Museum partners with Cucalorus on new cinema series

Cameron Art Museum (CAM) in Wilmington, North Carolina, has announced a new film series called CAM at the Movies, produced in partnership with the Cucalorus Film Foundation. The series will take place at Jengo’s Playhouse and feature screenings paired with live conversations with artists, curators, and cultural leaders. The lineup includes three films: "Legacy" (June 26), a short film about the United States Colored Troops; Andy Warhol's "Flesh for Frankenstein" (August 28); and "Always Looking: Titus Brooks Heagins" (December 11), a documentary about the photographer's work. Each screening will be accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, curators, and museum staff, connecting the films to CAM's current exhibitions.

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artmix is a party built for repeat collectors and first-time buyers

Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) is hosting its annual Artmix fundraiser on May 8, 2026, a fast-paced evening featuring a silent auction of works by 100 regional artists. The event includes a VIP preview with early access, champagne, and a guided tour, followed by a general admission party where bidding runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets range from $150 for members to $300 for VIP access, with proceeds supporting BMoCA's exhibitions and education programs.

From fossils to fine art: top sales at Frieze Masters London

Frieze Masters London opened with notable sales including a 68-million-year-old Triceratops skull priced at £650,000, sold by dealer David Aaron to a private collector. Other strong sales included small drawings by Alexandre-Louis Leloir from Charles Ede, priced between £150 and £10,500, with twenty sold on opening day. Berry Campbell sold four paintings by Janice Biala, priced $18,000 to $55,000, and Stephen Friedman Gallery sold five works by Anne Rothenstein to private collectors. Hauser & Wirth reported the only seven-figure deals, while a €7.5m Rubens painting remained unsold.

Oodles of Art Shows to Ogle Over This Fall

Santa Barbara's fall 2025 art season offers a diverse array of exhibitions across museums and galleries, from contemporary printmaking at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to Impressionist masterworks at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Highlights include John Comer's seascapes at Santa Barbara Fine Art, David Florimbi's retrospective at the new Separate Reality gallery, and a joint show by Joan Rosenberg-Dent and Sarita Reynolds at Art & Soul Gallery. The California Nature Art Museum also celebrates its 25th anniversary with a solo exhibition by founder Patti Jacquemain.

In Pictures: The Highlights of the 2026 Venice Biennale

En images : les grands moments de la Biennale de Venise 2026

The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by Koyo Kouoh, opened on May 9, 2026, at the Arsenale and Giardini venues. Kouoh, who died suddenly in May 2025 at age 57, conceived the event as a counterpoint to global noise and fury, inviting visitors to slow down and tune into minor tonalities. The exhibition features works addressing colonial memory, slavery, and Gaza, with a team of four curators executing her vision. Highlights include Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons's tribute to Kouoh and Toni Morrison, Hala Schoukair's installation, and Gabrielle Goliath's "Elegy," alongside collateral shows like the Dries van Noten Foundation at Palazzo Pisani Moretta and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's "Still Joy – from Ukraine into the World."

Between Tropes and Treats at NADA New York

The 12th annual New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) fair opened at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan, featuring a wide array of contemporary works. Critic Rhea Nayyar notes that while many booths felt interchangeable due to prevalent trends like zany sculptures, shiny materials, and kitschy vibrancy, several standout pieces offered genuine engagement. Highlights include Elena Roznovan's maternal ephemera embedded in concrete with bondage tape, Kelly Tapia-Chuning's deconstructed serapes addressing colonial violence, and Niniko Morbedadze's folkloric illustrations.

Frieze Taps Art Basel Veteran Frank Lasry as Chief Operating Officer

Frieze has appointed Frank Lasry as its new Chief Operating Officer, effective this June. Lasry joins the organization with an extensive pedigree in the art market, having previously served as COO at Perrotin and managing director at Art Basel, where he was instrumental in launching Art Basel Paris. His career also includes senior leadership roles at major auction houses Christie’s and Phillips, positioning him as a veteran executive with deep operational expertise across multiple sectors of the industry.

$4 Million Picasso painting leads sales at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026.

A 1964 painting by Pablo Picasso, 'Le peintre et son modèle,' sold for approximately $4.05 million at the VIP preview of Art Basel Hong Kong 2026. The sale, conducted by gallery BASTIAN, led a wave of early transactions across various price points and media as the fair opened its 13th edition.

Here Are the Seven Booths We’re Beelining to at NADA’s 2026 New York Edition

The 12th edition of NADA New York is now open through May 17 at the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea, featuring 120 galleries and nonprofit spaces from around the world. The fair emphasizes intimacy and scale, with presentations ranging from wrestling-scene paintings by Ursula Dilley to miniature landscapes stitched onto shirt cuffs by Chang Suyung, alongside collaborations rooted in regional craft traditions and psychedelic excess. Cultured magazine highlights seven must-see booths, including solo shows by Douglas Rieger and Loucia Carlier, and a transatlantic dialogue between Saenger Galería and COHJU.

art miami jarrett earnest nina johnson

Critic and curator Jarrett Earnest has organized a group exhibition titled “Acid Bath House” at Nina Johnson gallery in Miami, running through February 7. The show features photography, sculpture, textiles, painting, and drawings by artists including Juliana Huxtable, TM Davy, and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and is inspired by Earnest's own experience with queer erotic psychedelia. In an interview over breakfast, Earnest discusses the show's themes of pleasure, connection, and glamour, and critiques the contemporary art world's focus on market-driven professionalism.

stefanie hessler parcours section art basel

Stefanie Hessler, director of New York's Swiss Institute, has curated the Parcours section of Art Basel for its second year, choosing the theme "Second Nature." The program, now in its 15th year, integrates site-responsive artworks into Basel's urban fabric, activating local businesses, infrastructure, and public spaces along the left bank of the Rhine. Works include Martha Atienza's three-channel video installation at a shop called Tropical Zone, Sturtevant's "Finite Infinite" (2010) under the Mittlere Brücke bridge, and a 1960s piece by Thomas Bayrle recreating a functional artist shop in a department store. Hessler selected artists whose work engages with patterns and habitual behavior, exploring how repeated gestures become ingrained customs.

A Drawing by Hans Baldung Grien Classified as a National Treasure

Un dessin de Hans Baldung Grien classé trésor national

A 1517 silverpoint drawing by German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung Grien, titled 'Portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger,' has been classified as a French national treasure. The work, which was set to be auctioned at the Hôtel Drouot by Beaussant-Lefèvre, is now subject to an export ban, giving French museums like the Louvre a 30-month window to acquire it.

Art Show in London Canceled Over Allegations of Antisemitism from Pro-Israel Group

An exhibition by artist Matthew Collings at Delta House Gallery in London was canceled after UK Lawyers for Israel raised allegations of antisemitism. The show, titled "Drawings Against Genocide," had previously been displayed in Margate, where a review in the Telegraph described the works as "dripping with Jew-hate." One drawing depicted Sotheby's owner Patrick Drahi eating babies alive, while others showed Jews with horns or standing on skulls. Tom Berglund, chairman of Pineapple Corporation, which owns Delta House, said the exhibition was arranged without consultation and expressed hope for resolution in the Middle East. Collings defended the work on Instagram, arguing it satirizes the use of art to whitewash what he called "Zionist atrocity."

es devlin library miami 2722639

Es Devlin's *The Library of Us*, a 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf containing 2,500 books, debuted as a major spectacle during Miami Art Week. Installed on Miami Beach within a circular pool of water, the sculpture invites visitors to step onto a rotating platform, creating shifting social encounters with strangers. By day it towers over the sand, and by night it glows like a beacon. The work also includes an audio track of quotes from the books, some of which have been banned by Florida schools, and Devlin plans to donate all volumes to Miami public schools and libraries after the installation ends.

Markus Brunetti’s Monumental Photos Venerate European Ecclesiastical Landmarks

Bavarian photographer Markus Brunetti, working with collaborator Betty Schöner, has spent over two decades traveling across Europe in a converted firetruck photo lab to capture monumental composite photographs of basilicas, cathedrals, and other ecclesiastical landmarks. Their process involves taking thousands of meter-by-meter shots of each structure over several years, then meticulously layering and arranging them into high-resolution images that correct perspective to create a striking one-point view. Brunetti's current solo exhibition, "Facades IV" at Yossi Milo gallery in New York City, features recent works including "Roma, Basilica di San Pietro" (2007-2026), which required seven visits over nineteen years to complete.

Jes Chen Makes a Knock at the Door Feel Like an Accusation

London-based artist Jes Chen presents "Occupied" (2026), an interactive installation that strips AI technology down to a knock sensor, a screen, and a live AI system. Viewers knock on a door-like interface and receive varied responses—defensive, evasive, or silence—generated in real time. The work draws from Chen's childhood memory of having her bedroom door lock removed, transforming privacy and vulnerability into a behavioral system. Recent presentations at the London Design Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, and Generative Art Conference 2025 have showcased Chen's restrained, psychologically charged approach to AI art.

Art Beat

A roundup of current art exhibitions and calls for work in Taos, New Mexico, highlights shows such as "Nicolai Fechin: Figures, Nature, and Expression" at the Taos Art Museum, "Taos Reimagined: Modernist Experiments in the High Desert," and "Rag Made Quilts" at the Taos Public Library. Other featured venues include 203 Fine Art, Stables Gallery, Revolt Gallery, and the Wheaton Museum of World Artifacts, with openings and deadlines spanning through fall 2026.

The Big Art Loop is transforming SF into an open air gallery over the next three years.

The Big Art Loop has transformed San Francisco into an open-air gallery with nearly 100 sculptures installed along a 34-mile walkable and bikeable path through the city. The project, funded by the Sijbrandij Foundation and founded by Sid and Karen Sijbrandij, features works including R-Evolution at the Ferry Building, Echoes: A Voice from Uncharted Waters by Masaki Omor, Coralée by BJB, Got Framed, Desert Shark, and a double feature by Betsabeé Romero. The loop is designed to be encountered spontaneously in daily life, with no fixed starting point, and has support from Mayor Daniel Lurie.

San Juan’s Artists Are Shaping Puerto Rico’s Cultural Future One Space at a Time

Larissa De Jesús Negrón and other Puerto Rican artists are driving a cultural renaissance in San Juan, with grassroots galleries, collectives, and adaptive institutions redefining how art is produced and shared. This surge follows Hurricane Maria and the pandemic, bolstered by global attention from figures like Bad Bunny and exhibitions such as the 2023 Whitney show "no existe un mundo poshuracán." Art dealer Walter Otero notes that the scene has strengthened through local residencies, fellowships, and Puerto Rican curators in U.S. institutions, while spaces like EMBAJADA, founded by Christopher Rivera and Manuela Paz, reject the white-cube model to engage broader local audiences.

An Early Winter Gallery Guide

A guide lists galleries in Wellfleet and Provincetown, Massachusetts, that plan to remain open during December, some through New Year's, with winter hours and by-appointment visits. Featured galleries include AMZehnder Gallery, Farm Projects, Jeff Soderbergh Gallery, Left Bank Gallery, Wellfleet Preservation Hall, Alden Gallery, Bakker Gallery, Berta Walker Gallery, Four Eleven Gallery, and Gary Marotta Fine Art, each offering exhibitions of contemporary paintings, ceramics, photography, and works on paper. The Provincetown Art Gallery Association and Provincetown Business Guild are hosting gallery strolls every Saturday in December from 1 to 4 p.m.

Tirzah Garwood's archive of work worth £30,0000 to be sold at auction

Cheffins auction house in Cambridge, UK, will sell the first archive of work by artist Tirzah Garwood to come to the market, in its Art & Design Sale on 22 May. The archive, estimated to fetch around £30,000, includes wood engravings, pencil sketches, and a sketchbook, and has been consigned by the granddaughter of artist Frederick Austin, a friend of Garwood and her husband Eric Ravilious. The sale coincides with the first major retrospective of Garwood's work, "Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious" at Dulwich Picture Gallery, which has helped revive interest in her career.

Venice Biennale’s jury resigns

The entire jury of the 61st Venice Biennale, presided by Brazilian curator Solange Farkas and comprising four other curators, resigned just nine days before the exhibition's scheduled opening on 9 May 2026. The jury had announced it would not award prizes to countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, a move widely understood to target Israel and Russia. In response, the Biennale's organisers cancelled the prize-giving ceremony and will instead award Golden Lions via a popular vote among ticketholders. The row escalated further when the Israeli representative, sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, accused the jury of discrimination and threatened legal action, prompting intervention from Italy's culture ministry.

‘The Generative Universe’: Keith Tyson returns to LA with new exhibition at Hauser & Wirth

Keith Tyson, the Turner Prize-winning British artist, returns to Los Angeles with his first exhibition in the city since 2009, titled “The Generative Universe,” on view at Hauser & Wirth from May 28 to August 16. The show spans 30 years of his career, featuring paintings, sculptures, drawings, and mixed media works that explore generative systems—artworks created through rule-based structures shaped by mathematics, technology, nature, and the artist's own choices. Central to the exhibition is Tyson's early computer program “Artmachine,” which he developed in the 1990s to generate prompts for his own creative process, contrasting with today's AI image generators that respond to human prompts.

India pavilion returns to the Venice Art Biennale 2026 with a bang after seven-year hiatus

India has returned to the Venice Art Biennale with a national pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition, after a seven-year hiatus. The pavilion, titled "Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home," is presented by India's Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre and Serendipity Arts Foundation, curated by Amin Jaffer. It features five artists—Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Skarma Sonam Tashi, and Asim Waqif—whose works explore themes of home, loss, displacement, and cultural memory through materials like soil, thread, bamboo, and clay.

Interview. Max Goelitz

In an interview marking the sixth anniversary of his gallery, Max Goelitz reflects on the founding and evolution of his two-location operation in Munich and Berlin. He discusses how his decade at Häusler Contemporary, where he served as director, prepared him for the unpredictable nature of running his own gallery. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a strategic pivot from international ambitions to a focus on the local German market, which proved unexpectedly sustainable. Goelitz also addresses the current challenges facing galleries, including generational shifts and a more difficult art market, while advocating for an "old-school" reconsideration of what defines a gallery in times of transition.

Art Biennale: artists reject the popular jury

Fifty-two artists and curators, along with sixteen National Participants of the 61st Venice Art Biennale, have withdrawn from the newly introduced 'Lions of the Visitors' (People's Prizes) competition. The boycott follows the resignation of the jury appointed by artistic director Koyo Kouoh, who died in 2025, and is a protest against the inclusion of Russia and Israel in the prize—countries initially excluded by the international jury. The controversy escalated after Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli publicly opposed the Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco's decision to allow Russia's participation, drawing in the European Commission and even Ursula von der Leyen, who warned of potential sanctions violations. The signatories include artists and curators from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, and several other nations.

Flesh and Bones: The Exhibition Turning the Art of Anatomy Into a Cultural Conversation

The exhibition "Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy" at Singapore's ArtScience Museum explores the history of anatomical representation as a cultural construct rather than a universal scientific truth. It juxtaposes Western anatomical atlases from the Renaissance with Chinese meridian (jingluo) systems, featuring works by artist Chiharu Shiota and other historical pieces that reveal how different cultures have visualized the human body through both scientific and spiritual lenses.