protect stonehenge from future development wiltshire council 2643386

Wiltshire Council has launched a public consultation on a new planning document aimed at protecting Stonehenge from future development, less than a year after the controversial A303 tunnel project was canceled. The draft supplementary planning document, created with input from Historic England, the National Trust, and the English Heritage Trust, will guide decisions regarding the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site, with a public comment deadline of June 17 and potential adoption in October 2025.

Stitches in time: the artist chronicling the DRC’s blood-soaked history in tapestry

Lucie Kamusekera, an 82-year-old artist in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, creates embroidered tapestries on tobacco sacks that chronicle the country's violent history. Born in 1944 and taught sewing by Italian nuns, she began documenting contemporary conflicts after witnessing a military truck filled with corpses. Her more than 70 works depict events from the colonial Belgian Congo era to the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the second Congo war, as well as personal tragedies including her husband's murder by rebels. Despite ongoing danger from rebel offensives, she continues to stitch from her home studio, training her children and great-granddaughter to carry on her work.

Reaching for the stars: enduring symbols of Soviet science – in pictures

Photographer Eric Lusito documents Soviet-era scientific institutes across former USSR states in his book "Soviet Scientific Institutes," published by FUEL. The photo essay captures decaying facilities and enduring equipment at locations including the Institute of Radio Astronomy in Kharkiv, Ukraine; the Byurakan astrophysical observatory in Armenia; the Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi, Georgia; and the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute in Kazakhstan, among others.

Ada: My Mother the Architect review – illuminating profile of brilliant builder balances work and family

Architect-turned-filmmaker Yael Melamede directs a documentary portrait of her mother, Israeli architect Ada Karmi-Melamede, who co-designed the Supreme Court of Israel building in Jerusalem in the early 1990s with her brother Ram Karmi and later created Ben Gurion Airport. The film explores Karmi-Melamede's architectural philosophy of "architecture of the ground and of the sky," her departure from her brother's brutalism, and a painful family split when she left her husband and children in New York after being denied tenure at Columbia University.

‘It’s a huge, futuristic space with massive skylights’: Ali Zolghadri’s best phone picture

Ali Zolghadri, a Tehran-born fine art photographer, captured a composite image of the central atrium of the Iran Mall in Tehran—the world's largest shopping mall—which was shortlisted in the creative category of the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards. The photograph, taken four months before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, depicts the mall's futuristic architecture with sweeping curved lines, metallic surfaces, and massive skylights, and includes a lone passerby to emphasize scale. Zolghadri emphasizes that his process involves manual editing in Photoshop without AI, blending three frames and removing unnecessary elements to construct meaning.

Australian photographer wins at world photography awards with ‘barefoot volcanologist’ image

Australian photographer Elle Leontiev has been named the Open Photographer of the Year at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards. Her winning image, titled 'Barefoot Volcanologist,' features Phillip Yamah standing on a lava bomb at Mount Yasur in Vanuatu. Leontiev captured the surreal portrait under challenging technical conditions, relying entirely on autofocus beeps after her camera screens shorted out due to volcanic activity.

Binoculars, selfies and epic leaps: Grand National meeting 2026 – in pictures

Award-winning photographer Tom Jenkins captures the high-stakes atmosphere of the 2026 Grand National meeting at Aintree. The photo essay documents the dramatic physical feats of the horses, including falls at the notorious 'Chair' fence, alongside the vibrant social culture of the spectators, from the high-fashion 'Style Awards' on Ladies’ Day to the rain-soaked crowds of the final day.

Week in wildlife: an ostrich on the lam, a tortoise crossing a road and surfing seals

The Guardian’s weekly wildlife roundup showcases a diverse array of animal behavior captured by photographers globally. Highlights from this collection include an ostrich sprinting down a Thai highway after escaping a cafe, seals lounging on a surfboard in Ireland, and migratory birds returning to the thawing Songhua River in China.

A missing wolf and a Sydney sunset: photos of the day – Thursday

The Guardian’s picture editors have curated a selection of global photographs capturing significant moments from Thursday, April 9, 2026. The collection spans a wide range of subjects, including a dramatic sunset at Milk Beach in Sydney, environmental concerns over a widening faultline in the Swiss Alps, and political activities involving leaders in Scotland and Italy. It also documents somber events, such as the funeral of Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Wishah in Gaza.

The Formal Consistency of Marcos López

LA CONSISTENCIA FORMAL DE MARCOS LÓPEZ

The Fundación Larivière in Buenos Aires is hosting a major retrospective of Argentine photographer Marcos López, featuring over 200 works spanning from 1975 to 2025. The exhibition highlights López’s distinct visual language, characterized by the high-saturation color palette of his 'Pop Latino' series and his rejection of traditional black-and-white documentary photography. His work is defined by deliberate staging, using artificial backdrops and theatrical props to create images that function as allegorical documents of Latin American identity.

Monopol Gives Away 5 x 2 Tickets for Photo Exhibition at Museum Rietberg

Monopol verlost 5 × 2 Tickets für Foto-Ausstellung im Museum Rietberg

The Museum Rietberg in Zurich is presenting the exhibition "Fast ein Paradies" (Almost a Paradise), which critically examines colonial-era photography as an instrument of power. The show juxtaposes historical photographs with contemporary artworks that recontextualize this material, featuring artists like Sasha Huber, Sammy Baloji, Raphaël Barontini, and Andrea Chung, who intervene in the archival images to challenge colonial narratives and restore agency to the subjects.

Into the Open

Ins Offene

The Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung is presenting a comprehensive survey of female Bauhaus photographers at the Museum für Fotografie in Berlin. The exhibition highlights how these artists utilized avant-garde techniques and unconventional perspectives to document a rapidly changing world, featuring works that span from the innovative interwar period to the post-war era, such as Elsa Thiemann’s 1950s captures of the Wannsee lido.

Once a Year: Shock Trauma!

"Ein Mal im Jahr: Schock-Trauma!"

Artist Nik Nowak is exploring the "Sound Horeg" phenomenon in East Java, Indonesia, where massive DIY loudspeaker systems are mounted on trucks and boats for extreme mobile discos. These parades, characterized by towering walls of speakers and intense bass, represent a global evolution of sound culture influenced by social media rather than traditional folklore. Nowak's research into these unregulated, high-tech spectacles has culminated in a new body of work featuring sculptures and photographs.

Manet Under the Magnifying Glass

Manet à la loupe

A new documentary film titled 'Le Monde dans un tableau : les lampes de Manet' offers a detailed investigation into Édouard Manet's final major painting, 'Un bar aux Folies Bergère'. The film features an eclectic mix of interviewees, from a Folies Bergère lighting technician to a Shintō monk and a Tokyo print editor, weaving together art history and broader historical context around the iconic work.

La Rocabella : une résidence d’artistes paradisiaque qui croise les disciplines près de Toulon

La Rocabella, a Belle Époque villa near Toulon, France, has been transformed into an interdisciplinary artist residency by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, co-founder of Criteo. Built in 1898 by architect Hans-Georg Tersling, the estate now hosts ceramic sculptors, comic artists, documentary filmmakers, and musicians in two-month sessions, with themes like 'Les Gardiennes de la mer' linking their work. The residency, funded entirely by Rudelle, aims to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration in a serene Mediterranean setting.

Under pressure, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale will exclude Russian and Israeli pavilions from the awards

Sous pression, le jury de la 61e Biennale de Venise exclura les pavillons russe et israélien du palmarès

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and running from May 9 to November 22, 2026, has been embroiled in political controversy after organizers decided to reinstate the Russian pavilion, which had been excluded since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under pressure from the European Commission, which threatened to suspend a €2 million grant, the jury announced it will exclude artists from the Russian and Israeli pavilions from winning prizes, citing that leaders Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The Russian pavilion will remain closed to the public but open for VIP press previews, while the Israeli pavilion stays open to the public. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has refused to attend the opening ceremony in protest.

The true story of the Caravaggio theft by the Sicilian Mafia behind the Arte series 'The Caravaggio Conspiracy'

La véritable histoire du vol du Caravage par la mafia sicilienne derrière la série « Le Complot Caravaggio » sur Arte

The theft of Caravaggio’s 'Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence' from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo remains one of the world's most notorious unsolved art crimes. Stolen in October 1969 by professional thieves who cut the massive three-meter canvas from its frame, the masterpiece has been missing for over 50 years. Investigations have long pointed toward the Sicilian Mafia, with various theories suggesting the work was displayed at secret summits, hidden in Switzerland, or tragically destroyed.

Dominique White at Kunsthalle Basel

Dominique White presents her solo exhibition "All Great Powers Collapse from the Centre" at Kunsthalle Basel, running from February 13 to May 17, 2026. The show features a press release, floor plan, and 10 exhibition images documented by photographer Philipp Hänger, with images courtesy of the institution.

There were gardens at King's Leap

King's Leap gallery in New York presents "There were gardens," a group exhibition running from April 3 to May 9, 2026, featuring works by Dara Birnbaum, Gina Folly, Collin Leitch, Chris Marker, Jeff Preiss, Julia Scher, Jason Simon, and Mira M. Yang. The show includes 37 images documented in the Contemporary Art Library, with photography by Stephen Faught.

Resisting Death: Glitches and Ornaments at CASTLE

An exhibition titled "Resisting Death: Glitches and Ornaments" is on view at CASTLE in Los Angeles from March 21 to May 2, 2026. Curated by Oriane Durand, the show features works by artists Ull Hohn, Bod Mellor, and Bruno Pélassy, presenting 22 images and no videos in the documentation.

Reba Maybury at Secession

Reba Maybury presents her solo exhibition "I Come in Peace" at Secession in Vienna, running from March 6 to May 31, 2026. The show features a press release, floor plan, and venue website, documented through 10 images and photographs by Lisa Rastl, courtesy of Secession.

Ethical Managers Make Their Own Rules at Bodenrader

Bodenrader in Chicago is currently hosting a group exhibition titled "Ethical Managers Make Their Own Rules," featuring works by Jessica Diamond, Hélène Fauquet, and Jason Hirata. The exhibition, which runs from March 21 through May 2, 2026, presents a curated selection of contemporary works documented through an extensive digital archive of installation views.

Phillip Lai at Spike Island

The contemporary art space Spike Island in Bristol is hosting a solo exhibition by artist Phillip Lai titled "Rain / Ruin." Running from January 30 to May 10, 2026, the exhibition features a series of sculptural installations and works that engage with the architectural environment of the gallery. The presentation is documented through a comprehensive suite of installation photography by Rob Harris, capturing the spatial relationship between Lai's objects and the industrial character of the venue.

Hunter Foster at Good Weather

Hunter Foster presents a solo exhibition titled "Involition" at Good Weather in Chicago. Running from February 6 through April 4, 2026, the show features a new body of work documented through an extensive series of installation views and a detailed works list.

Christine Tien Wang, Rachel Youn at Night Gallery

Christine Tien Wang and Rachel Youn presented a two-person exhibition titled "Factory Doomscroll" at Night Gallery in Los Angeles. The show ran from February 21 to April 4, 2026, and was documented extensively with 82 installation images.

Stamina at DREI

A group exhibition titled "Stamina" opened at DREI gallery in Cologne, featuring works by artists Stephan Dillemuth, Matthias Groebel, and Julia Scher. The show ran from February 28 to April 4, 2026, and was documented extensively with 41 installation images.

Group Show at Fanta-MLN

A group exhibition featuring works by Alessandro Agudio, Edie Duffy, Gina Folly, Jason Hirata, and Josephine Pryde opened at the Milan gallery Fanta-MLN. The show ran from February 19 to March 28, 2026, and was documented with 20 installation photographs by Roberto Marossi.

An Hoang at Halsey McKay

An Hoang at Halsey McKay

An Hoang has opened a solo exhibition titled "Garden Poems" at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton. The show, running from February 7 through March 29, 2026, features a collection of new works, documented by 33 images in the announcement. This presentation marks a continued collaboration with the gallery, highlighting Hoang's latest artistic developments.

Nora Schultz at Galerie Meyer Kainer

Nora Schultz at Galerie Meyer Kainer

Nora Schultz has opened a new solo exhibition, "Now and The non-watch," at Galerie Meyer Kainer in Vienna. The show, running from January 23 to March 14, 2026, features a collection of new sculptural and installation works documented through 32 images. The presentation is a continuation of Schultz's practice of creating site-responsive pieces that often incorporate industrial materials and explore the mechanics of display.

Aileen Murphy at Deborah Schamoni

Aileen Murphy at Deborah Schamoni

Aileen Murphy has opened a solo exhibition titled "We must go under the wallpaper" at the Deborah Schamoni gallery in Munich. The show, running from January 9 through March 21, 2026, features new works by the artist, documented extensively with twenty installation photographs.