Art21, in partnership with the CHANEL Culture Fund, launched its new "IRL/url" documentary series with a celebratory event at New York's Roxy Cinema. The series profiles eight contemporary artists—including Neïl Beloufa, Jacky Connolly, and Sara Cwynar—who navigate the blended realms of physical and digital creation. Art21's executive director emphasized the urgency of capturing this moment, as artists grapple with rapid technological advances, particularly in AI.
Van Cleef & Arpels has capitalized on the growing secondary market for vintage jewelry through its Heritage Collection, launched in 2007. The collection offers around 150 curated 20th-century pieces, authenticated and restored by the maison, allowing clients to buy directly from the jeweler rather than through auction houses like Sotheby's, Christie's, and Artcurial, which sold over €120 million in Van Cleef jewels in 2024.
The City of Santa Monica is launching its first municipal art gallery, the Santa Monica City Gallery, located within the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The space will debut on April 10 with an inaugural exhibition titled “Case Study: Adapt,” which features architectural models developed by USC Architecture students in collaboration with professional firms. The opening event will include remarks from California for the Arts Executive Director Julie Baker and a commendation for State Senator Ben Allen.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has rebranded itself as the Philadelphia Art Museum, a change announced on Wednesday. The museum worked with branding studio Gretel, known for clients like the Museum of Modern Art and Crystal Bridges Museum, to develop a new name, logo, custom typography, website, and visual identity. Director and CEO Sasha Suda stated the rebrand aims to place Philadelphia front and center and make the institution more collaborative and future-focused.
Art Dubai has announced a significantly scaled-back "special edition" of its 20th-anniversary fair, set for May 14–17 at the Madinat Jumeirah venue. The fair was postponed and reformatted due to the US-Israel war in Iran, which caused major logistical disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and spiked oil prices, hampering air travel in the UAE. It will now feature only 50 exhibitors, a reduction of nearly 60% from the originally planned 120.
May’s art guide highlights several exhibitions across Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, including "The Future of Female" at the Dayton Society of Artists, a juried show exploring women-identifying artists' perspectives; "At This Moment" at the Main Library's 2nd Floor Gallery, reflecting on contemporary life; "Teresa Olavarria: Lichen" at The Contemporary Dayton, featuring works in vitreous enamel and bronze; and a color-themed collaborative exhibition at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in partnership with Dayton Collaboratory. The guide also features a 35mm film series by photographer Jake Schneider documenting Greenville’s Swinging 8’s Square Dance Club.
Glassblower Jamie Harris describes the grueling experience of working at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn during a New York summer, where temperatures reach the high 90s and he must wear four layers of Kevlar and a helmet while working with 2,000-degree glass furnaces. Harris, who sits on the board of UrbanGlass—the world's oldest artist-access glassblowing studio—shares his strategies for staying cool, including using Gatorade, fans, buckets of ice, and avoiding his largest pieces when possible. He is exclusively represented by Todd Merrill Studio and is known for his award-winning sculptures and Totem lights.
The PinchukArtCentre has opened a new exhibition titled "Still Joy — From Ukraine Into the World" as part of the official parallel program of the 61st Venice Biennale. The show, which opened on May 7 at Palazzo Contarini Polignac and runs through August 1, features works by over 20 international and Ukrainian artists exploring joy as an act of resilience and humanity. Central to the exhibition are testimonies from Hlib Stryzhko, a marine veteran who returned from Russian captivity, which are transformed into sculptural elements. Notable works include a protest performance by Yurii Hruzinov at the Russian pavilion, a video installation of Kyiv rave parties by Malashchuk and Khimei, and installations by Future Generation Art Prize laureates Ashfika Rahman and Zhanna Kadyrova.
Anna Schwartz Gallery, a cornerstone of Australia’s contemporary art scene, will close in December after 40 years in Melbourne. It will be replaced by a new venture, Anna Schwartz Projects, which will focus on occasional, project-based exhibitions, conversations, and events across installation, performance, publishing, and music. The gallery’s stable has included artists such as Shaun Gladwell, Angelica Mesiti, and Marco Fusinato, each of whom represented Australia at the Venice Biennale.
Sydney Contemporary, Australia's largest contemporary art fair, reported A$16m (US$10.5m) in sales for its 2025 edition, marking a fourth consecutive year of decline. The fair, held from 11 to 14 September at Carriageworks, featured 116 exhibitors and nearly 500 artists, making it the largest edition to date. Despite the drop from last year's A$17.5m and A$23m in 2022, founder Tim Etchells remains committed, citing record visitor numbers of 26,440 and a shift in buyer behavior where sales often close weeks after the fair. Notable sales included a A$1.5m painting by Emily Kam Kngwarray, still under consideration by a collector. A new photography section, Photo Sydney, debuted and will return next year.
Khaled Sabsabi, a Lebanese Australian artist, explores the intersection of spirituality and perception through video and mixed-media installations rooted in Sufism. His work, such as the 18-minute video *Lefke Morning* (2012–18), captures the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order's dawn meditations, using blurred imagery and soundscapes to challenge Islamophobic media tropes and evoke a sense of unity. Sabsabi's practice also draws on hip-hop, which he performed as "Peacefender" in the 1980s, using music to address social issues and support marginalized communities in Western Sydney.
The Amorepacific Museum of Art in Seoul has launched "APMA, CHAPTER FIVE – FROM THE APMA COLLECTION," a major exhibition featuring approximately 80 works from its permanent holdings. Running from April 1 to August 2, 2026, the showcase includes a diverse array of paintings, sculptures, and installations by over 40 influential Korean and international artists. High-profile participants include Kiki Smith, Rose Wylie, Carol Bove, and Gala Porras-Kim, alongside Korean masters such as Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, and Haegue Yang.
Three downtown galleries in New York are currently exhibiting works centered on kittens, puppies, and puppetry, offering an escape from geopolitical conflict and domestic strife. At Chapter NY in Tribeca, Joseph Jones presents a solo show of photorealist pet portraits, including 'White cat with gemstones, 2026,' which dares viewers to engage with the often-dismissed genre of pet portraiture. Further east, Tibor de Nagy gallery hosts 'The Nagy Marionette Company: A 75th Anniversary Exhibition,' celebrating the gallery's origins in puppetry with archival documents and contemporary puppet-inspired art by nearly 20 artists, including Sarah McEneaney and Tabboo!.
Palestinian-American artist Jordan Nassar is preparing for a September exhibition at James Cohan gallery, creating a mosaic based on Roman-Byzantine floor decorations displayed at Tel Aviv's international airport. His new works incorporate darker tones—black, gray, deep red, green, and blue—reflecting the escalating crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. The embroidery pieces are made collaboratively with women in the West Bank, though shipping delays and tariff uncertainties have complicated production.
Diario del Salone – Tag eins
The author begins a daily diary from the Milan Design Week, navigating the sprawling Fuorisalone exhibitions that run parallel to the Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The overwhelming experience prompts a search for genuine innovation amid a sea of installations merging fashion, art, and design, leading to the first lesson of the week: accepting the inevitability of missing out on some events.
In Piemonte le Langhe, il Roero e il Monferrato puntano sempre di più sull’arte contemporanea e il turismo culturale
The Langhe, Roero, and Monferrato regions of Piedmont, Italy, have consolidated their cultural alliance under the name Orma, a unified system launched in 2025 that brings together four existing festivals—Creativamente Roero, Resté, Germinale Monferrato Art Fest, and La collina sale sempre—to offer a widespread contemporary art program across the UNESCO World Heritage territory. In 2026, Orma expands its activities from May to November, involving over 60 municipalities, with new entries like Canelli hosting a site-specific work by Brazilian artist Maria Theresa Alves in partnership with Castello di Rivoli, and projects such as Prospettive / Perspectives with Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Villa Arson. The program includes artist residencies, permanent interventions, and exhibitions, with Resté already underway in the Langhe towns of Diano d'Alba, Montelupo Albese, Rodello, and Cerretto Langhe.
Jersey City officials have announced plans to repurpose the site originally intended for the Centre Pompidou’s North American satellite into affordable housing and community space. Mayor James Solomon, who recently took office facing a $250 million budget deficit, confirmed the city is collaborating with Kushner Real Estate Group on the Artwalk Towers development at 808 Pavonia Avenue. This move effectively closes the chapter on the ambitious French-American cultural partnership that was officially canceled last month.
A new report from Remuseum, an initiative of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art funded by collector David Booth and the Ford Foundation, reveals that American museums are struggling with post-pandemic visitation declines and rising costs, yet they invest less than three percent of their operating budgets on marketing—comparable to mining and construction industries. The report contrasts historical resistance to marketing, exemplified by former Met president William Luers, with the Getty's Harold Williams, who embraced it. Case studies from the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Peabody Essex Museum show how museums can use audience personas to boost attendance, but current spending remains far below the 13.9 to 18.7 percent of revenues that consultant Colleen Dilenschneider says is needed to reach full market potential.
Sotheby's has sold its longtime New York headquarters at 1334 York Avenue to Weill Cornell Medicine, marking the final step in a major real estate transformation. The auction house will lease back floors 7–10 under a long-term lease while relocating its global headquarters to the Breuer Building at 945 Madison Avenue, which opens November 8 with a blockbuster exhibition. Sotheby's also acquired Gantry Point, a 240,000-square-foot complex in Long Island City, in 2023. CEO Charles Stewart stated the sale proceeds will reduce debt and invest in core business.
Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., continued coming to work despite Donald Trump claiming on Truth Social that he had fired her for being a 'strong supporter of DEI.' The White House provided the Washington Post with a 17-point list of grievances against Sajet, including her exhibition of a Trump portrait caption referencing his impeachments and January 6 insurrection, her donations to Democratic causes, and her comments about diversifying the museum. The Smithsonian Institution has not yet responded, and legal experts note Trump lacks authority to fire Sajet, as he does not sit on the Smithsonian board, though Vice President J.D. Vance and the Chief Justice hold ex officio positions.
Contemporary artist David Nott has partnered with LG Gallery+, a digital visual curation service from LG Electronics, to make his work available digitally. His new piece, COLOR RIDDLE VI (2026), created specifically for the collaboration, is accessible via the platform's Artist Collaboration Shelf, allowing users to display it on LG screens.
The New York-based Asian-American art and fashion collective CFGNY has opened a new exhibition, "Puddles into Pond," at the non-profit art space Amant in Brooklyn. The show features an immersive installation with a shaggy fur bridge, kinetic sculptures, and ceramic works, running until August 16. This exhibition is part of a significant season for the collective, which also includes a debut installation at the Whitney Biennial and participation in a group show at Pioneer Works.
Airbnb, in collaboration with Warner Bros., is offering an exclusive overnight experience themed around Emerald Fennell's new film adaptation of *Wuthering Heights*. The stay, located in West Yorkshire, features a meticulously recreated bedroom and dining hall from the movie's Thrushcross Grange set, complete with period furnishings, Yorkshire delicacies, and activities like horseback riding and a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum. The experience is free and available to only three couples for a limited time in late February and early March.
Photographer Eddie Otchere has released a new photozine, "Wu-Tang 4 + 1 More," featuring a decade's worth of previously unseen portraits of the Wu-Tang Clan and other hip-hop artists. The images, captured between 1994 and 2004, document intimate and candid moments with members like RZA, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah, chronicling the group's early years and Otchere's determined mission to photograph each member.
The 61st Venice Biennale jury, composed of five curators—Solange Oliveira Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi—resigned on April 30th amid internal tensions over decisions that conflicted with the late Koyo Kouoh's curatorial vision. The jury had previously stated it would refrain from considering countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Filipino artist Jon Cuyson prepares to present his installation at the Philippine Pavilion, featuring works shipped 60 days before geopolitical conflict escalated, navigating unstable maritime routes. His project includes the film series "Sea of Love (Dagat ng Pag-ibig)" and a new fourth film, "Sea of Echoes," exploring themes of migration, queer experience, and ecological resilience through mussels as non-human protagonists.
On May 4, 2026, celebrities including Emma Chamberlain, Anna Wintour, Nicole Kidman, Kylie Jenner, and Janelle Monae attended the Met Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, celebrating the opening of the "Costume Art" exhibition. The event featured arrivals at the museum and departures from The Mark Hotel, with performances by Joshua Henry, and was captured by photographers Evan Agostini, Andy Kropa, and Jamie McCarthy.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled 'Costume Art,' which explores the intersection of fashion and art history. The installation view, captured by designboom, showcases how garments and accessories are presented as artistic objects within the museum's galleries, blurring the boundaries between costume design and fine art.
Composer Gabriel Prokofiev has opened Prokofiev Studio in Hackney, London, a new gallery dedicated to the abstract art of his father, Oleg Prokofiev (1928-1998). Oleg, son of the famed composer Sergei Prokofiev, created abstract works in the 1950s that defied the Soviet Union’s strict socialist realism doctrine. His career was shaped by his relationship with British art historian Camilla Gray, whom he married in 1969 after hiding his art for a decade; she died two years later. Oleg moved to the UK but believed his abstract works lost until a 1994 return to Moscow revealed they had been preserved. The gallery houses Oleg’s archive, including 1950s abstract artworks, letters, sketchbooks, and sculptures, with an inaugural exhibition titled "Bending Time" reconstructing his 1990s studio in Hackney Wick.
The Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will open a new exhibition titled "Russell’s Retreat: Summers at Glacier National Park" on May 2, 2026. The show focuses on Charles M. Russell’s life and work at his summer home, Bull Head Lodge, and features objects borrowed from museums and private collections, many displayed in Fort Worth for the first time. Highlights include the landscape painting "Storm Over Lake McDonald" (1906), birchbark paintings, and a replica of gnome figures Russell made from moss and twigs.
The Sacramento Fine Arts Center (Sac Arts) is celebrating its 40th anniversary in April 2026. Founded in April 1986 by five independent regional art clubs, including Northern California Arts and Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons, the center began in a former high school building in Carmichael, California. Volunteers cleaned and renovated the space, which is owned by the Carmichael Recreation and Park District. Over the years, the center has expanded with studio spaces, galleries, and a rental gallery, supported by community donations and volunteer efforts. The anniversary year features special events, classes, and a new banner project with 130 submissions for 21 PVC mesh banners.