A group exhibition titled 'Human Traces: Presence, Absence, and Material Memory' is on view at the Axel Vervoordt Gallery in Antwerp. It features works by four artists—Ida Barbarigo, William Turnbull, El Anatsui, and Bosco Sodi—who explore themes of memory and transformation through material, shifting focus from the human body to its traces.
Mendes Wood DM in Brussels presents 'A Serene Look upon the World,' a group exhibition running from 22 April to 30 May 2026. The show features 22 artists including Lucas Arruda, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lee Ufan, and Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, whose works explore the sublime as a tension between permanence and transformation. The exhibition juxtaposes painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media to evoke moments of pause before the overwhelming, drawing on philosophical ideas from Longinus and Kant.
Alisan Fine Arts is launching a pop-up exhibition titled 'Reimagine The Familiar' at its Alisan Atelier space in Hong Kong, featuring the work of six contemporary artists. The show focuses on the transformation of everyday materials—including books, traditional garments, currency, and street ephemera—into complex artistic vessels. Featured artists such as Xie Xiaoze, Man Fung-yi, and Wu Shaoxiang utilize diverse media like ceramics, metal lattice, and performance to explore themes of censorship, cultural memory, and economic ritual.
The article explores the transformation of cultural travel for artists and art lovers, contrasting the arduous, unknown journeys of historical figures like Eugène Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, and Ella Maillart with today's accessible, curated experiences. It describes how contemporary artists such as Ólafur Elíasson, JR, and Marina Abramović now use travel itself as a medium, creating works that engage with climate change, social issues, and presence. Destinations like the Venice Biennale, AlUla in Saudi Arabia, Naoshima in Japan, and Le Voyage à Nantes are highlighted as hubs where art and travel merge into immersive, sensory experiences.
LOS GRUPOS Y OTRAS REVUELTAS ARTÍSTICAS. REDES Y COLECTIVIDADES EN MÉXICO, 1976-1985
The Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) in Mexico City has launched a major exhibition titled "Los grupos y otras revueltas artísticas," which re-examines the surge of artist collectives in Mexico between 1976 and 1985. Drawing from the Arkheia Documentation Center, the show moves beyond a simple chronological survey to reconstruct emblematic works and document the radical shifts in artistic language that occurred during this era. It highlights key historical moments, such as the 1977 Paris Biennial and the formation of the Mexican Front of Cultural Workers' Groups, while exploring how these collectives navigated urban spaces and institutional boundaries.
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence suffered a significant cyberattack in February, with hackers reportedly stealing access codes, internal maps, CCTV camera information, and the institution's entire photographic archive. The attackers issued a ransom demand to director Simone Verde. In response, the museum moved valuable jewels to the Bank of Italy, sealed emergency exits at the Palazzo Pitti with bricks, and closed a section of the palace, though it attributes some actions to planned renovations and fire-safety compliance.
The Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy proposes a radical departure from traditional filmmaking in his 1925 text, "Simultaneous or Poly-Cinema." He envisions a cinematic experience that moves beyond the static, rectangular screen, suggesting instead curved, spherical, or multi-planar surfaces that can accommodate multiple simultaneous projections. By utilizing rotating prisms and intersecting film strips, Moholy-Nagy describes a system where different narrative threads—such as the lives of multiple characters—can physically overlap and merge, creating a dynamic architectural arrangement of light and movement.
Artist Faig Ahmed will represent Azerbaijan at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with a project exploring the intersections of mystical poetry and quantum physics. Located in the Campo de la Tana, the pavilion aims to create a contemplative space where technology and ancient oral traditions facilitate a personal dialogue for the viewer. Ahmed’s presentation responds to the Biennale’s overarching theme, 'In Minor Keys,' by focusing on subtle, often overlooked phenomena.
Colombo’s skyline has undergone a radical transformation into a forest of glass and steel towers, epitomized by projects like the Lotus Tower and Port City. This rapid urbanization, driven by a state ambition to create a 'world-class city' following decades of civil war, has resulted in the displacement of local neighborhoods and the burial of historical layers under new infrastructure.
A new biography, "Trudeau & Doonesbury: The Cartoonist Who Turned the News Into Art," chronicles the life and career of reclusive cartoonist Garry Trudeau. Journalist Joshua Kendall's work, based on archives and interviews, traces Trudeau's evolution from a Yale student creating the strip's precursor to the creator of a politically potent daily comic that ran for over four decades.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has reportedly removed maps and images from exhibition catalogues on multiple occasions following pressure from its Chinese publisher, C&C Offset Printing. The publisher cited directives from China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), which enforces the Chinese Communist Party's official narratives on sensitive topics like territorial borders.
Glasgow-based painter Michael Fullerton is presenting a two-part exhibition that critically examines the politics of portraiture. The first section features 11 oil portraits of male asylum seekers he lived alongside while working as live-in staff at the Hilltop Hotel in Carlisle. These works, painted in a traditional style, depict the men with care against ambiguous landscapes, deliberately restricting personal information to names and origins, highlighting their status within systems of power.
Artists Niquu Eyeta and Ghizlane Sahli are featured in a dual presentation titled ‘House of Galleries (Volume 11),’ showcased by the gallery Sakhile&Me. The exhibition creates a dialogue between Eyeta’s organic compositions, which utilize plant pigments and clay, and Sahli’s intricate 'alveoli' structures made from silk and repurposed plastic. Both artists emphasize the concept of material as a living archive, focusing on themes of ecological consciousness, ritualistic repetition, and the reanimation of discarded matter.
Industrieträume der DDR
The exhibition "Robotron – Arbeiterklasse und Intelligenz" has opened at the Hartware Medienkunstverein (HMKV) in Dortmund, following its initial run in Leipzig. Centered on the history of the GDR’s largest computer manufacturer, the show features 20 artistic positions including photography, film, and sculpture, alongside a significant five-meter oil sketch by Socialist Realist painter Werner Tübke. The presentation bridges East and West German industrial histories by juxtaposing state-commissioned propaganda with progressive, unofficial works by artists like Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and A.R. Penck.
Curator, collector, and entrepreneur Lukas Amacher, in partnership with developer David Simon, has launched CONTXT, an A.I.-powered chatbot platform designed for art exhibitions. The software allows visitors to ask questions about artworks via a chat interface, with answers sourced directly from an institution's curated materials like catalog essays and curator notes, rather than generic internet searches. The platform is currently being tested in a public preview with bitforms gallery.
Au Grand Palais, le Festival du livre de Paris met la bande dessinée à l’honneur
The Festival du livre de Paris returns to the Grand Palais from April 17 to 19, 2026, marking a continued transformation from a massive trade fair into a curated cultural event. This year’s edition features 450 publishers and places a significant emphasis on comic books (BD), highlighted by two thematic exhibitions on the Balcon d’Honneur and a dedicated youth village. The program also includes a culinary-themed nocturne and the "Cabaret Extra!" performance series produced in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou.
« 36 Clics du mont Fuji » : le photographe Julien Rocheblave réinvente les mythiques estampes d’Hokusai
French photographer Julien Rocheblave has completed a contemporary photographic reimagining of Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic print series, "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji." By locating the exact geographical vantage points used by the ukiyo-e master in the 1830s, Rocheblave captures the sacred mountain through a modern lens, juxtaposing Hokusai's original compositions with the realities of 21st-century Japan. The project, titled "36 Clics du mont Fuji," has been compiled into a book and will be showcased at the Rencontres d’Arles via Fisheye Gallery.
Thai artist and filmmaker Chantana Tiprachart has been awarded the 2026 Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant by the Han Nefkens Foundation. The prize provides $15,000 for the production of a new moving-image work over a nine-month period, which will subsequently tour several international institutions including the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai and Nottingham Contemporary. The jury selected Tiprachart for her ability to locate social and political narratives within quiet, everyday spaces, praising her commitment to reflection in an era of information overload.
Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa has launched his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Pace Gallery, titled "Photon Camp." The show features 20 new works from his renowned "PixCell" and "Prism" series, which utilize glass beads and light refraction to transform everyday objects—ranging from taxidermied animals to consumer electronics—into pixelated, magnified sculptures. The artist operates out of Sandwich, a sprawling Kyoto-based creative hub housed in a former sandwich factory that employs a team of 50 across art, design, and architecture.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is set to inaugurate its long-awaited David Geffen Galleries with a gala and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long horizontal structure spans Wilshire Boulevard and features a single-level exhibition space elevated 30 feet above the ground. The inaugural installation, curated by a team of 45, moves away from traditional chronological and geographical silos in favor of thematic, interconnected narratives that reflect the diversity of modern Los Angeles.
The Albuquerque Museum is hosting a retrospective of Chicana artist Delilah Montoya, titled "Delilah Montoya: Activating Chicana Resistance." The exhibition's centerpiece is "Detention Nation," an immersive installation created in collaboration with the Sin Huellas Artist Collective that simulates the conditions of ICE detention centers. The work features cyanotype images of detainees on prison cots, chain-link fencing, and displays of meager government-issued personal items alongside the official National Detainee Handbook.
Hastings Contemporary has launched its inaugural biennial open exhibition, titled "Odyssey," featuring 151 works selected from over 2,500 submissions by artists across Sussex. The exhibition explores themes of journeying and the local coastal landscape, showcasing a diverse range of media including enamel on aluminium, woodcuts, and ceramics. While the show has been a financial success for the gallery, it has sparked local debate regarding the high volume of rejected entries and the ethics of submission fees.
The Getty Center and the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits have announced major renovation projects and temporary closures in preparation for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The Getty Center will undergo its first significant overhaul since opening 30 years ago, focusing on structural updates, gallery revitalizations, and infrastructure improvements like the tram system. Meanwhile, the Page Museum will embark on a $240 million campus-wide transformation designed by Weiss/Manfredi, which includes a new research center, immersive theater, and modernized exhibition spaces.
Fourteen Korean collectors have formed a collective called Arche II to jointly acquire and display works by world-renowned artists in Daejeon, a city 140 km from Seoul. Their exhibition "Tracing the Unfinished" at the multidisciplinary complex Heredium features 30 works, including 14 jointly owned pieces, by artists such as Le Corbusier, Robert Longo, Olafur Eliasson, David Hockney, Yang Hae-gue, Anicka Yi, and Choi Byung-so. The group, founded in 2017 by business leaders including a radiologist and a former prosecutor, contributes a fixed annual budget to purchase three to five works at major art fairs, focusing on emerging artists rather than established names.
Artist Isabelle “Izzy” Brourman narrowly escaped serious injury while documenting protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. While sketching the scene for her project Starring America News, a masked federal agent fired pepper balls at her at point-blank range; Brourman managed to block the projectile with her wooden drawing board, which was left with a jagged hole. The incident, captured on video by her collaborators Peter Hambrecht and Jeannette Berlin, occurred on the same day a nurse was killed by federal agents during the unrest.
La Francia riapre il suo storico padiglione alla Biennale Arte 2026 dopo i restauri con l’artista Yto Barrada
France will reopen its historic pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) after restoration, with Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971) presenting the immersive textile-based project "Comme Saturne," curated by Myriam Ben Salah. The exhibition uses the "dévoré" technique—acid selectively corrodes fabric—as a metaphor for destruction and creation, featuring a goat-skin kite, a Room of Folds with wool drapery that fades in natural light, a Laboratory inspired by Saturnalia, and a Study Room linked to Barrada's garden of dye plants in Tangier, culminating in the Room of the Devoured where chemically attacked material fragments into an aesthetic of wear and formlessness.
Shopping experience: com’è cambiato il modo di vivere il lusso?
Luxury retail in Milan is undergoing a significant transformation, evolving from simple commercial spaces into 'cultural brandscapes' that blend art, design, and hospitality. Major fashion houses are redesigning their flagship stores to function as urban salons and living galleries, integrating site-specific art installations, historical architecture, and high-end gastronomy to foster community and tangible experiences in an increasingly digital world.
A Pistoia c’è una mostra dedicata al grande architetto e designer Ettore Sottsass
The Fondazione Pistoia Musei has inaugurated a major retrospective titled "Io sono un architetto. Ettore Sottsass" at Palazzo Buontalenti in Pistoia. Curated by Enrico Morteo, the exhibition focuses on a specific thirty-year period from 1945 to 1975, exploring the visionary designer's prolific output before the formation of the Memphis Group. The show features an extensive collection of drawings, paintings, textiles, and iconic design objects, many of which are previously unseen works sourced from the CSAC at the University of Parma.
Aprile 2026 a teatro: guida agli appuntamenti da non perdere in Italia (anche sulla danza)
Italy’s April 2026 performing arts season features a diverse lineup of major theatrical premieres and experimental adaptations. Highlights include the Italian debut of Annie Baker’s Pulitzer-winning 'Circle Mirror Transformation' directed by Valerio Binasco, and a dark comedy by Ariel Dorfman titled 'The Other Side' exploring the absurdity of war. Other notable productions include Armando Punzo’s non-traditional 'Cenerentola' (Cinderella) moving from a high-security prison setting to the Teatro della Pergola, and a dedicated retrospective for Daria Deflorian at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro.
Longtemps menacé, le Palais de la découverte va finalement rouvrir en 2027 après sept ans de fermeture
The Palais de la découverte in Paris will officially reopen in March 2027 following a seven-year closure for extensive renovations. Located in the Palais d’Antin wing of the Grand Palais, the institution faced the threat of permanent closure or relocation to the Cité des sciences due to economic constraints. However, a joint decision by the French Ministries of Research and Culture has secured its future at its historic site, where it will feature a shared entrance with the Grand Palais to foster a unique dialogue between art and science.