An anonymous artist collective known as The Secret Handshake has installed a provocative 12-foot-tall guerrilla statue in Washington, D.C., titled 'KING OF THE WORLD.' Located near the U.S. Capitol, the monument depicts Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein recreating the iconic 'Titanic' film pose, accompanied by ten banners and a plaque satirizing their historical friendship.
The Grolier Club, a private members-only society for bibliophiles on New York's Upper East Side, has opened a free public exhibition titled "Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen," tracing Jane Austen's legacy through rare books, letters, and archival material. Organized over three years by three club members—Mary Crawford, Janine Barchas, and Sandra Clark—the show draws entirely from their personal collections, charting Austen's rise from relative anonymity to literary canonization.
Syria's Ministry of Culture briefly published details of artifacts stolen from the Damascus National Museum, including six Roman-era marble statues of Venus and gold ingots, only to delete the post hours later. The theft occurred on Sunday night and was discovered Monday morning when a broken door was found. International media reported the theft citing anonymous sources, and the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) confirmed an investigation but provided no further details. The museum, which houses thousands of antiquities, had reopened in January after closing during the civil war and the fall of the Assad regime.
A thief or group of thieves broke into the Oakland Museum of California's off-site storage facility on October 15, stealing more than 1,000 objects including six Native American baskets, 19th-century scrimshaw, daguerreotypes, modernist metalwork jewelry, and historic memorabilia. The museum initially withheld details to aid the Oakland Police Department and FBI Art Crime Team investigation, but later released a statement calling it a crime of opportunity rather than a targeted theft.
Shinsuke Sakimoto, CEO of luxury reseller Valuence Holdings, revealed himself as the buyer of a Hermès Birkin bag that sold at Sotheby’s Paris for €8.6 million ($10 million). The handmade black leather bag, originally commissioned in 1984 for actress Jane Birkin by then-Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas, had been in a private French collection since its last auction in 2000. Sakimoto, previously anonymous, told the Khaleej Times that winning the bag was a personal milestone and a defining moment for his company.
Egyptologist Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, a lecturer at Sorbonne University, discovered hidden cryptographic messages on the Luxor Obelisk in Paris's Place de la Concorde. During the pandemic, he noticed unusual hieroglyphs while walking past the 3,000-year-old monument. After scaffolding was erected for renovations ahead of the 2024 Olympics, he obtained permission to study the obelisk up close, becoming the first person in over a century to climb it. He identified seven crypto-hieroglyphs—encoded messages using puzzles and wordplay—that only a few experts can read. These inscriptions, set to be published in the journal ENiM, reveal that Pharaoh Ramses II used the obelisk as a propaganda tool to assert his divine right to rule, targeting the intellectual elite who approached the Luxor Temple by boat.
Serpentine has launched "I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT," a new online game and critical thinking tool by artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. Available from May 21, 2026, on web and mobile platforms, the project extends the world of Brathwaite-Shirley's acclaimed "THE DELUSION" and explores polarization, identity, and social connection beyond the gallery. Developed with nonprofit Beyond Code Collective and supported by Glass Castle Foundation, the game places players in a post-apocalyptic universe where they encounter fictional characters and make decisions that shape narratives and determine multiple endings, drawing on real-world materials from news cycles, social media, and community testimonies.
Saudi Arabia's national pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale features a new installation by Saudi-Palestinian artist Dana Awartani titled "May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones." Curated by Art Jameel's director Antonia Carver and assistant curator Hafsa Alkhudairi, the work comprises over 29,000 handmade clay bricks arranged in intricate mosaics referencing 23 threatened cultural heritage sites across the Arab world, including Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. The installation, which took more than 30,000 labor hours with 32 artisans, has become a crowd favorite since the biennale opened on May 9.
South African artist Gabrielle Goliath inaugurated an off-site Venice exhibition with a public poetry reading after her official presentation at the South African Pavilion was canceled. The performance, part of her ongoing series *Elegy* (2015), features seven singers sustaining a single tone for an hour as a mourning ritual. The work addresses femicide, rape culture, and the killing of Palestinian civilians, and includes new video and sound installations lamenting specific victims: South African teenager Ipeleng Christine Moholane, Nama women killed during Germany’s colonization of Namibia, and Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada. The South African Department of Sport, Arts and Culture rescinded Goliath’s invitation in January, deeming the work “related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.” Goliath unsuccessfully challenged the decision in South Africa’s high court, and the exhibition now runs throughout the Venice Biennale outside the official program before traveling to London in October.
The Surrey Art Gallery in British Columbia is presenting a new exhibition titled "In the Shadow of the Pavilions: Expo 86 and Contemporary Art," running from April 18 to June 7, 2026. The show features over 50 artists, including a project by Michael de Courcy who took 1,700 photos of Expo 86 visitors, and works by Henri Robideau, a self-described 'Gianthropologist' who photographed giant roadside attractions across Canada in the 1980s.
Georgia foster teens have created a traveling art exhibit called the See Me project, sponsored by the nonprofit Georgia Appleseed, which has collected roughly 50 paintings, poems, and sculptures since 2023. The young artists, many first-time participants, explore themes of healing, hope, family, and belonging, often signing their works anonymously. The exhibit has been displayed at the Georgia Capitol, universities, community centers, and law firms, with artists paid $250 for their contributions.
Teresa Tyszkiewicz's exhibition "Stories That Tell Themselves" at Profile Foundation in Warsaw showcases the Polish artist's process-driven practice spanning video, performance, and relief-like paintings made with pins, nails, metal plates, ropes, and fabrics. Curated by Bożena Czubak, the show highlights Tyszkiewicz's use of the body as a medium—often naked and immersed in organic materials—to explore emotions, intuition, and unconscious desires, as seen in works like the 1980 film "Grain." The artist, who began her career in the late 1970s alongside Polish neo-avantgarde filmmakers but rejected their conceptual tendencies, developed a tactile, laborious approach that invites sensory engagement.
The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta hosted its 39th Annual Spring Into Art Gala on April 13, drawing hundreds of attendees. Over 150 regional artists submitted more than 300 original works for the region's most prominent art exhibition, which remains on display through June 10. Cash prizes totaling $6,000 were awarded across four categories, with Joe Morgan winning Best of Show for his painting "Lobster Lottery." The exhibition was curated by Madison Caldwell, and admission to the galleries is free.
The Arts Council of Wales has announced a 19-strong team of early-career artists, curators, and students who will travel to Venice this summer to support Wales' presence at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, running from May 9 to November 22, 2026. As part of the Invigilator+ programme, participants will spend at least one month in Venice acting as ambassadors for the Wales in Venice exhibition, an official collateral event. The exhibition, titled Sownd, is led by artists Manon Awst and Dylan Huw, jointly organized by Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen and Oriel Davies in Newtown, with Steffan Jones-Hughes as Curator and Catherine Spring as Exhibition Project Director. The invigilators include Lily Tonkin Wells, Robert Oros, Ophelia dos Santos, Grace Springer, Cerian Wilshire Davies, Megan Evans, Howl Hubbard, Temeka Davies, Llyr Evans, Chloe Goodwin, Abby Pouslon, and Niamh O'Dobhain, while student team members come from Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Wales Trinity St David, Wrexham University, and Aberystwyth University.
The Briscoe Western Art Museum’s 25th anniversary Night of Artists (NOA) Exhibition and Sale achieved a record-breaking $2.345 million in sales during its opening weekend. The event, held in San Antonio, saw 72% of the featured contemporary Western artworks sold immediately, including high-value pieces by Gladys Roldán-de-Moras and Todd Connor. Several prestigious honors were awarded, including the "Cowboy Bob" Museum Purchase Award, which secured Morgan Weistling’s portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody for the museum’s permanent collection.
The exhibition of Michaelina Wautier’s work introduces audiences to a long-overlooked master of the 17th-century Baroque period. Born in Mons around 1614, Wautier operated within the elite circles of the Spanish Netherlands, sharing a studio with her brother Charles and securing patronage from the court of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. Despite her technical brilliance and ability to navigate complex historical and religious subjects, her name remained largely absent from the art historical canon until this recent reappraisal.
Photographer Rania Matar has opened a new exhibition at the Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University. The show features her work focusing on the lives, resilience, and resistance of women and girls in Lebanon, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Alexander Goudie's painting *The First Drink*, a key illustration from his celebrated series based on Robert Burns' poem *Tam o' Shanter*, will be auctioned at McTear’s Scottish Contemporary Art Auction in Glasgow on February 26. The oil painting, estimated at £10,000–£20,000, depicts the poem's protagonist resting beside his horse Meg and is being sold by an anonymous vendor who has owned it since it was commissioned in the late 1990s.
The Faizi Rahmeen Art Gallery in Karachi, Pakistan, remains unfinished over 35 years after its inception, despite being initiated during the tenure of former MQM Mayor Dr. Farooq Sattar. Construction of the ground-plus-three-storey structure was completed by 1992 at an estimated cost of Rs80 million, but work stalled after the launch of "Operation Clean-Up" against the MQM and the dissolution of the local government. A brief revival in 2007 only saw installation of glass panels and floor tiling; core civil works are only 70% complete, and key systems like electrical, mechanical, revolving stage, and sound system are still pending. The site, formerly the residence of renowned author Atiya Begum and artist Faizi Rahmeen, was donated to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in trust with the explicit intention of establishing an art gallery. KMC's Culture, Sports and Recreation office now operates from the property, but the gallery itself remains stalled due to lack of political priority for arts and culture.
Victor Kossakovsky's new documentary *Architecton*, opening in US theaters on August 1, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film is a silent, drone-shot meditation on the destruction of the built environment, showing war-ravaged buildings in Ukraine, earthquake ruins in Turkey and Lebanon, and the violent process of stone being blasted for concrete. It contrasts modern structures that collapse within decades with ancient buildings that still stand, and features architect Michele di Lucchi as a quiet voice for thoughtful, enduring design. The film's score is by Russian expatriate composer Evgueni Galperine.
Scotland and Wales will return to the Venice Biennale in 2026 after a years-long pause. Scotland will be represented by the Glasgow-based artist duo Bugarin + Castle, whose work is curated by Mount Stuart Trust and commissioned by Scotland + Venice. Wales will be represented by artist Manon Awst and critic Dylan Huw in collaboration, with support from the Arts Council of Wales. Both countries will participate as official collateral events rather than as national pavilions.
Dutch photographer Paul Kooiker has opened a new exhibition titled '2025' at Acne Paper Palais Royal in Paris, featuring portraits of 42 students from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where he taught photography for 25 years. Commissioned by Acne Studios' magazine offshoot Acne Paper, the show marks the first exhibition in the brand's new permanent gallery space. Kooiker shot the students spontaneously in corridors and classrooms, capturing them in his signature black-and-white style that blends timelessness with a sense of the unsettling, though this project breaks from his usual anonymity by focusing on faces and a specific moment in time.
The New York Times Art section published a primer on three architecturally significant Buddhist stupas (reliquary mounds) located in Nepal, Thailand, and Taiwan. The article highlights the distinct design and cultural importance of each monument, serving as an educational overview for readers interested in Buddhist architecture.
La Colombia degli Anni ’70 arriva a Milano con una mostra che pare un film
Ever Astudillo (Cali, 1948–2015) is the subject of a new exhibition at Velo Project in Milan, titled "Latin Fire." The show brings together photographs and drawings from the 1970s and 1980s, capturing the Colombian city of Cali as a silent theater of anonymous, often isolated figures. The installation also features kinetic sculptures by filmmaker Virgilio Villoresi (Fiesole, 1979), creating a dialogue between Astudillo's still images and Villoresi's fragile, hypnotic movement. The exhibition runs until May 16, 2026.
Gli animali che siamo. La nuova metamorfosi dell’appartamento-showroom Casaornella a Milano
Interior designer Maria Vittoria Paggini has unveiled the 2026 edition of Casaornella, her apartment-showroom in Milan's Via Conca del Naviglio 10, during Design Week. Titled "L'animale sociale" (The Social Animal) with the subtitle "Nessuno mi può giudicare" (Nobody Can Judge Me), the space is completely restructured each year. For this edition, Paggini removed all doors to create a fluid, open-plan layout, using curtains for privacy. The project explores themes of authenticity and human relationships in the digital age, inspired by Italian pop songs from Mina to Luigi Tenco, which form the exhibition's soundtrack.
An exhibition titled "Arte de la Resistencia" (Art of Resistance) was held from May 13 to May 17 at Free Associates gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Curated by a psychologist who uses the pseudonym Rosa for safety reasons, the show featured artwork created by immigrant children aged 7 to 19, many of whom are affected by deportation, family separation, and ICE enforcement. The pieces, including works like "Adiós Tucson" and "Silencio," express pain, grief, and resilience, with identities kept anonymous to protect the young artists. Proceeds from sales of original works and prints directly benefit the children's families.
The Northport Arts Association is hosting its ninth annual Northport Photo Exhibit, launching Memorial Day weekend with a free opening reception on May 23, 2026, at its gallery in Northport, Michigan. The exhibit runs through June 14 and features over 100 framed photographs from professional and emerging photographers across Michigan and beyond, with categories judged on impact, lighting, storytelling, and technical quality. Awards include Best of Show, a new anonymous donor award called 'Dem Der Eyes,' People's Choice, and four category prizes.
Thousands of artists, cultural workers, and protesters marched through Venice on May 8, 2026, one day before the opening of the 61st Venice Biennale, to protest the Israeli genocide in Gaza and Lebanon. The strike, organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), led to the closure of approximately 27 of the Biennale's 100 national pavilions, with signs reading "We Stand with Palestine." The Israeli pavilion remained closed and guarded by armed police, who clashed with protesters. Meanwhile, the European Commission threatened to suspend €2 million in EU grants to the Biennale Foundation over its decision to allow Russia to participate, citing incompatibility with EU sanctions and the invasion of Ukraine.
Museo Afro Casa Silvana in Humacao, Puerto Rico, is hosting 'Dim Light: Afro-Puerto Rican Photography,' the first collective exhibition dedicated exclusively to Afro-Puerto Rican photographers. Featuring ten artists from the island and its diaspora, the show explores themes of spirituality, family, and resistance through a lens of self-representation. The works were previously debuted at the 3rd Black Brazil Art Biennial before returning to Puerto Rico for this landmark presentation.
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, now in its 61st year, has returned to Brighton Museum and Art Gallery on loan from the Natural History Museum. The exhibition runs from 9 May to 6 September and features over 60,000 entries from photographers across 113 countries and territories, judged anonymously on creativity, originality, and technical excellence.