'Ley Lines' a colourful, new community art exhibition created with local Redbridge residents launches this week at SPACE Ilford Gallery in East London

A new community art exhibition titled 'Ley Lines' has launched at SPACE Ilford Gallery in East London. The exhibition features 3D-printed and scanned artworks created by local Redbridge residents during a series of workshops led by artist Tadhg Charles. The interactive installation is designed to be tactile and accessible, with works displayed at various heights and formats to engage a wide audience, including children and people with disabilities.

Here are the exhibits honoring Black art and culture during Miami Art Week

During Miami Art Week 2025, multiple exhibitions and events are spotlighting Black art and culture. Highlights include the Point Comfort Art Fair + Show at the Historic Ward Rooming House, themed "Life & Times of Frederick Douglass," with a special installation hosted by former NBA star Alonzo Mourning. Soul Basel returns to Historic Overtown with exhibitions at the Center for Black Innovation and the Black Archives Lyric Plaza, featuring Marcus Blake's "In Art We Trust." The Art of Transformation showcase in Opa-locka explores "At the Edge of Entanglement," while Revolt Art Fair returns for its second year at Ice Palace Studios with over 50 Black artists. Additionally, historian Nadege Green's installation "The Power of Her Hands: Black Washerwomen in Early Miami" is on view at YoungArts Gallery.

Lisa Jarrett: Tenderhead

Lisa Jarrett's first solo museum exhibition in Oregon, "Tenderhead," opens at an unspecified venue on May 21, 2026. The show features new works and site-responsive installations that explore Beauty Supply stores and salons as critical intersections of Black life, migration, and diaspora. Jarrett uses materials like pink kanekalon hair, pigment prints, foam rollers, and lace, treating the Beauty Supply as her art supply store and a living archive of memory and community.

Chiang Mai, Bangkok transform into open-air galleries once again

The Galleries' Nights 2025 returns to Chiang Mai and Bangkok, transforming both cities into open-air galleries. The event, presented by the Embassy of France, will showcase over 200 artists across more than 80 galleries—Chiang Mai on November 1-2 and Bangkok on November 21-22. This 12th edition marks the 340th anniversary of Franco-Thai diplomatic relations and is adapted in tribute to HM Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother for her contributions to traditional arts and craftsmanship. The program highlights gender equality in the arts with support from the French organization Aware, and features free transport options including traditional red trucks in Chiang Mai and electric tuk-tuks in Bangkok. The closing ceremony will be held at Jim Thompson Art Center on November 23, with a performance by choreographer Jitti Chompee.

University Libraries to host exhibition of artist Karen Blessen’s journals

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries will host an exhibition titled “The Muck, the Seeds, the Weeds, the Blossoming: The Journals of Karen Blessen,” featuring 24 personal journals donated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic artist and UNL alumna. Opening September 18 and running through February 2026 on the second-floor link of Love Library, the show marks the first public display of Blessen’s journals, which span 2013 to 2022 and offer intimate insight into her creative process, personal struggles, and artistic strategies. The exhibition team includes Camilo Sanchez, curator of exhibitions at the International Quilt Museum, who designed the installation.

Chronicles from the Studio. 130 years of Vasil Zahariev – artist, teacher, researcher

The Regional Historical Museum – Sofia is opening an exhibition titled "Chronicles from the Studio. 130 years of Vasil Zahariev – artist, teacher, researcher" on July 17, 2025, running through November 30, 2025. The show marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Bulgarian graphic artist Vasil Zahariev, featuring original works, personal belongings, documents, and photographs from his archive. Zahariev was also a lecturer and rector at the Academy of Arts, and a researcher of Bulgarian Renaissance art.

PHOTOS: 50 years of Surrey Art Gallery, and where it might move

Surrey Art Gallery (SAG) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer, having opened in 1975 at Bear Creek Park in Surrey, British Columbia. The gallery, which offers free admission and parking, is showcasing a 50th-anniversary group exhibition titled "10 and 10: Story of Stories" through August 9, pairing works from its first decade of collecting (1975–1985) with those from the last decade (2014–2024). Director Alison Rajah notes that the gallery holds nearly 2,000 works in trust, including 70 cultural properties recognized as national treasures. However, the gallery has run out of storage space, prompting plans to move to a new Interactive Art Museum (IAM) in Surrey City Centre, a project first proposed in 2017. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke confirmed on June 11 that funding has been allocated and construction could begin within the next year.

Local artist Tony Segal showcases art and bird photography at Stanion yard exhibition in Kettering

Local artist and photographer Tony Segal is hosting a two-day yard exhibition at 17 Grange Road, Stanion, Kettering, Northamptonshire, on the last weekend of June. The event will feature his abstract and contemporary artworks alongside limited edition prints from his bird photography archive, all framed and available for purchase with signed authentication certificates. Free tea and coffee will be offered, and visitors are invited to meet the artist.

NRW will Verbot für Handel mit Holocaust-Dokumenten

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is introducing a legislative bill to ban the commercial trade of personal Holocaust documents and artifacts, such as letters from concentration camps, Gestapo cards, and yellow stars. The initiative follows international outrage over a planned auction in Neuss in November 2025, which was halted at the last moment; around 460 objects from that auction were transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The bill, to be presented at the Bundesrat session on May 8, aims to prohibit the sale of items directly linked to Nazi victims, while exempting museums, archives, and research institutions.

Looking Back to Look Forward

Blick zurück nach vorn

The Museum Rietberg in Zürich is hosting an exhibition that examines the intersection of photography and colonialism. The show highlights how early photographic techniques, introduced to Africa shortly after their invention in 1839, were historically used as tools of power, surveillance, and scientific categorization. By juxtaposing historical archives with contemporary works, the exhibition demonstrates how modern artists are reclaiming and transforming these violent visual legacies.

The Postal Museum recovers its name

Le Musée postal retrouve son nom

The Musée de La Poste in Paris has reverted to its original name, Musée postal, as part of a major rebranding effort. The institution, approaching its 80th anniversary, has introduced a new visual identity and aims to reposition itself within the Parisian cultural landscape, seeking to distance itself from the image of a corporate museum.

Strange Stranger at Timeshare

Contemporary Art Daily presents documentation of the exhibition "Strange Stranger at Timeshare," featuring 35 images and no videos. The page provides a visual record of the show without text descriptions or additional context about the artists, works, or venue involved.

New Art Vault Installation: How to Have a Flying Dream

A new immersive installation titled "How to Have a Flying Dream" by interdisciplinary artist Nancy Dewhurst opens at Gallery One’s Art Vault in Albuquerque, with a reception on May 15. The installation explores the phenomenon of flying dreams through objects, dream journaling, immersive imagery, and a digitized 16 mm film projected onto the ceiling, inviting visitors to engage in dream training exercises.

2026 Downtown Spring Gallery Walk

The Iowa City Downtown District is hosting its annual Spring Gallery Walk, a self-guided tour featuring local art and special exhibitions across various downtown venues. Key participants include the Stanley Museum of Art, which is hosting a grand opening reception for two new exhibitions, and the UI Main Library Gallery, which is presenting a retrospective on conductor James Dixon. The event also features community-created works at the UI Museum of Natural History.

The Space Between. Adam Patrick Grant by Michela Ceruti

Adam Patrick Grant’s artistic practice is rooted in a meticulous and devotional process of observation, transitioning from a background in film to a dedicated focus on oil painting over the last three years. Working from his London studio, Grant utilizes an extensive archive of personal sketches, photographs, and found imagery—such as anonymous postcards and family photos from markets—to capture fleeting moments of intimacy and the unspectacular everyday. His work is characterized by a rhythmic dialogue between the act of walking, the gathering of visual fragments, and the translation of these memories into tender, precise compositions.

ATHICA opens 'Material Archive' exhibition featuring textile art by Amanda Britton, Johanna Norry

ATHICA (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art) has opened a new exhibition titled 'Material Archive,' featuring textile-based artworks by artists Amanda Britton and Johanna Norry. The show explores the use of fabric and fiber as mediums for personal and historical storytelling, presenting works that engage with material culture and archival practices.

Auudi Dorsey: Self Esteem and 2D Surrealism

Artist Auudi Dorsey's recent exhibition, 'What's Left, Never Left,' at the Jonathan Carver Moore gallery in San Francisco, focuses on Black leisure and collective joy through paintings of Lincoln Beach in New Orleans. The works, which depict Black families and community members, use a surrealist visual vernacular to archive and celebrate Southern Black experiences and the building of self-esteem.

Reasoning beyond accounting: here is the first step for a valuation of cultural heritage

Ragionare oltre la contabilità: ecco il primo step per una valutazione del patrimonio culturale

Angelo Argento recently published an article examining the valuation of cultural heritage in light of ongoing public accounting reforms in Italy. The piece moves beyond iconic landmarks like the Colosseum or Uffizi to focus on smaller, territorial assets such as archives, civic museums, and lesser-known archaeological sites, questioning how and whether a specific economic value can be assigned to them. It explores different international approaches—from market-based valuations in Australia and France to symbolic €1 entries in the U.S.—highlighting the global trend toward quantifying cultural heritage.

Santarcangelo Festival 2026: The Village Fills with Performances, Speaking of the Body as a Political Space Under Pressure

Santarcangelo Festival 2026, il borgo che si riempie di performance parlando di corpo come spazio politico sotto pressione

The 56th edition of the Santarcangelo Festival, titled "Deep Pressures," will take place from July 3 to 12, 2026, in the historic town of Santarcangelo, Italy. Curated by Tomasz Kirenczuk in his final year as artistic director, the festival transforms the town into a "city-festival" with over 100 events including performances, concerts, and participatory practices. The program explores the body as a political space under pressure—from geopolitical conflict and colonial legacies to emotional and social tensions. Key works include "In relation to whom?" by Palestinian artists Marah Haj Hussein and Nur Garabli, "When I Saw the Sea" by Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour, and "Homem Novo" by Mozambican artist Yuck Miranda, among others. The festival was presented at Mambo in Bologna, with Kirenczuk emphasizing that the role of the festival is to be unsettling, not reassuring.

Svolta per il Museo del Fumetto che chiuse a Milano: nuova sede in un’ex biblioteca di Monza

The Franco Fossati Foundation's Museo del Fumetto (Comics Museum), which was evicted from Milan due to a €180,000 debt to the city, has found a new permanent home in Monza. The Monza city council approved the foundation's proposal on April 30, paving the way for the renovation of a former library in the Cederna district, which has been abandoned for years. The archive of 500,000 pieces will be temporarily stored in Desio while the Monza building is refurbished with €850,000 from the municipality and additional funds from the foundation.

No, the closed Museum of Comics in Milan has not found a new home in Brianza

No, il Museo del Fumetto chiuso a Milano non ha trovato la nuova sede in Brianza

The Museum of Comics (Museo del Fumetto) in Milan, which suspended operations in June 2025 due to a €180,000 debt to the city, has not found a permanent new home despite online rumors. Instead, the Fondazione Franco Fossati, which runs the museum, has secured temporary storage for its archive in Desio (Monza-Brianza) for up to two years, using spaces granted free of charge by the local municipality. The archive—containing over 500,000 items including publications, original boards, and memorabilia—will be cataloged and preserved there, but the museum itself remains closed to the public.

Closure of Side gallery quayside space in Newcastle sparks social media backlash

Side gallery, a historic venue in Newcastle that has showcased documentary photography and film since 1977, will not reopen at its Quayside location after closing in 2023 due to lost revenue funding from the Arts Council of England (ACE). Managing director Laura Laffler of Amber Film & Photography, which runs the gallery, announced the decision after exhausting all avenues for continued funding, including a failed £1.3 million National Lottery Heritage Fund bid and the collapse of ACE's Grantium platform. The closure has sparked backlash on social media, with some donors to the 2023 #SaveSide crowdfund—which raised £67,278—feeling misled about the funds' purpose.

Researcher Announcement: The Duke of Morny's Far Eastern Objects Collection

Annonce de chercheur : la collection d'objets extrême-orientaux du duc de Morny

A doctoral researcher at Sorbonne University, Anaïs Veyrac, is publicly seeking information to aid her thesis on the collection of Far Eastern objects assembled by the Duke of Morny (1811-1865). She is asking collectors, enthusiasts, or anyone with relevant correspondence, archives, or testimonies regarding Asian-origin objects that belonged to the Duke to come forward, as the collection was dispersed after his death and lacks comprehensive archival records.

Dancing the Revolution: The Exhibition

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has opened 'Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón,' a major exhibition exploring dance as a political language. It features over forty artists working across installation, video, sculpture, and sound, tracing the cultural trajectories of dancehall and reggaetón from the Caribbean diaspora to global contexts.

Cuzco Time Capsule

Soho Photo Gallery in New York is presenting "Cuzco Time Capsule," an exhibition of 18 black-and-white photographs by Michael Page Miller, taken in 1972 during his travels in highland Peru. The images capture laborers, craftsmen, market vendors, and Quechua people in and around Cuzco, shot with a 35mm Nikkormat and Tri-X film. The show runs from May 20 to June 14, 2026, with each print priced at $600.

‘Night at the Museums’ to feature exhibits April 23, including Old Coaly

Penn State University is hosting its spring “Night at the Museums” on April 23, offering public access to a diverse array of campus collections from 4 to 8 p.m. Organized by the Penn State Museum Consortium, the event features a dedicated trolley service to transport visitors between sites including the Palmer Museum of Art, the HUB-Robeson Galleries, and the Frost Entomological Museum. A highlight of this year's program is the unveiling of a newly updated display for "Old Coaly," a historic mule significant to the university's 19th-century construction.

Spring 2025: 2 minutes with Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe

Rory Fitzgerald Bledsoe, a PhD candidate in media studies, operates the multimodal art gallery Space__Space in East Boulder. Her inaugural exhibition, "Phones are Heavy," concluded in January, and a new show, "Archive Fever Dream," is set to open in March. She previously ran a similar gallery, Space 121, out of her Boston apartment.

Meet the maker behind iconic Pitt public art pieces in the University Art Gallery’s latest exhibit

The University of Pittsburgh's University Art Gallery presents "Earth and Ether: The Art of Lucille and Virgil Cantini," a new exhibition curated by students in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. The show features never-before-seen works uncovered in the Heinz History Museum's archives, alongside pieces from Pitt's collection and the Cantini family, highlighting the artistic partnership of Virgil Cantini—creator of iconic public art on Pitt's campus like "Skyscape" and "Man"—and his wife Lucille, a notable jewelry maker, ceramist, and enameler.

Upper Grand student artists debut work in juried show at county museum

The Wellington County Museum and Archives in Ontario will host the Emerging Insights exhibition, a juried show featuring visual arts students from the Upper Grand District School Board. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Elora Fergus Arts Council and regional high school art departments, opens May 28 with a reception and runs through September 30. Local artists Phil Irish and Eric Montgomery served as jurors, selecting works across various media and styles.

The Mykolaiv Regional Art Museum has shown how it operates during the war

The Mykolaiv Regional Art Museum in Ukraine has adapted to wartime conditions by evacuating part of its collection and packing remaining exhibits with available materials. A research tour offered a behind-the-scenes look at these efforts, as reported by NikVesti. The MyART platform is creating a digital collection of Mykolaiv's cultural heritage, involving the art museum, local history museum, naval museum, central library, observatory, and shipyard museum. The museum, founded in 1914 by Prince Mykola Hedroits, now operates from a building on Velyka Morska Street built in 1904, and staff continue to research its founder's history.