Dries Verhoeven on Representing the Netherlands at the 61st Venice Biennale

Dries Verhoeven will represent the Netherlands at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026) with a new work titled *The Fortress*, installed in the Dutch Rietveld Pavilion in the Giardini. The 25-minute performance piece transforms the sunlit pavilion into a darkened bunker, featuring a raw vocal composition using only false vocal cords. Verhoeven describes the work as a meditation on transition and self-preservation, reflecting a Western society caught between its enlightened self-image and a dark vision of the future. The piece responds to geopolitical unrest outside the Biennale grounds and is designed to be melancholic and confrontational, contrasting with the main exhibition's theme, *In Minor Keys*.

Miet Warlop on Representing Belgium at the 61st Venice Biennale

Miet Warlop, the artist representing Belgium at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026), discusses her plans for the Belgian Pavilion in the Giardini in an interview with ArtReview. Her installation, inspired by the Belgian motto 'L'union fait la force' ('unity makes strength'), aims to create a space between a workspace, exhibition, and performance that brings people together in introspection. She cites time spent with Venice's artistic communities, including students at the Accademia, as influential, and notes that her work engages with the Biennale's theme 'In Minor Keys' by incorporating minor-key music to evoke nuanced, introspective emotions.

The Interview: Gabrielle Goliath

Gabrielle Goliath, a South African artist, created the performance work "Elegy" in 2015 after hearing a father mourn his daughter, Ipeleng Christine Moholane, who was raped and murdered. The piece features seven operatic women sustaining a single note in relay for an hour, evolving over a decade into a series of iterations that address systemic violence and grief. In January 2026, South Africa's Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, cancelled Goliath's presentation of the latest version of "Elegy" at the 61st Venice Biennale, which was to include tributes to victims in South Africa, Namibia, and Gaza, including journalist Hiba Abu Nada. Goliath refused to alter the work, took legal action, and will now show it independently at the Chiesa di Sant'Antonin in Venice, while the official South African Pavilion will remain empty for the first time since 2011.

Rafał Zajko Is Hatching a Plan

Rafał Zajko's exhibition 'The Egg Egg' at Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, Poland, brings together 50 works from the past decade across two floors of a former power station, organized into nine 'acts'. The show features modular installations like 'Funny Games' (2025), a set of pastel-colored platforms on wheels with ceramic reliefs, and monumental sculptures such as 'Sisyphus' (2025), a suspended ceramic bobbin evoking textile factory tools. Performances by Agnieszka Szczotka, including 'Song to the Siren' (2026), activate works like 'Amber Chamber III Echo' (2025), blending archaism, futurism, and themes of labor and technology.

Long Live the King?

Sam Jacob's essay in ArtReview uses the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film 'EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert' (2026) as a springboard to explore the cultural and technical implications of digital restoration. The film, a spinoff from Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis biopic, draws on 59 hours of previously unseen footage from Elvis Presley's 1970 and 1972 Las Vegas performances, recovered from Warner's Kansas salt-mine archive. Using Peter Jackson's Park Road Post technology—including Machine Assisted Learning (MAL) for demixing audio and video—the damaged, fragmented material has been digitally scanned, reconstructed, and enhanced to 4k resolution with 12-channel sound, presented in IMAX cinemas.

Sasaoka Yuriko’s Violent Puppeteering

The Shiga Museum of Art is hosting "Paradise Dungeon," a comprehensive exhibition of Sasaoka Yuriko’s video and sculptural works. The show traces the artist's career from her 2011 response to the Tōhoku earthquake to her latest large-scale installations, characterized by a "grotesque" aesthetic involving marionettes with digitally superimposed human faces. Her work utilizes mediated artifice—including fairground-style soundtracks, repurposed toys, and violent puppetry—to explore themes of consumption, sacrifice, and the dehumanizing nature of digital observation.

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Language of the Dispossessed

A major retrospective of artist and writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha highlights her pioneering work in feminist conceptual art, focusing on videos and performances that explore displacement, language, and the violence of cultural hegemony. The exhibition, born from recent reassessments of her legacy, reconstructs the image of an artist whose brief career anticipated contemporary struggles with nationalism and identity.

After The Complex: The Dublin Art Scene

The Complex, a major multi-artform venue in Dublin, was evicted from its warehouse building in January 2026 after its lease expired. A public campaign to save it, supported by politicians and cultural officials, failed due to a lack of legal mechanisms to protect grassroots cultural organizations. This closure follows a pattern of similar artist-led spaces folding in Ireland, most recently Ormond Studios.

Behind the 2026 Venice Issue Cover

Frieze magazine has published a critic's guide to the 2026 Venice Biennale, highlighting key installations and pavilions to see in the Arsenale and Giardini. Notable entries include fierce pussy’s posters welcoming LGBTQ+ visitors to Venice and Florentina Holzinger’s water-themed Austrian Pavilion. The article is part of Frieze's coverage of the 2026 Venice Biennale, offering curated recommendations for attendees.

Aki Sasamoto Serves It Hot From the Griddle

Artist Aki Sasamoto has opened a new solo exhibition at Studio Voltaire in London. The show features her signature blend of performance and sculptural objects, with the central motif emerging from a beach-house grill, grounding the work in personal narrative and physical process.

Exhibition | Nyakallo Maleke, 'A Soft Language of Distance' at Bode, Berlin, Germany

Johannesburg-based artist Nyakallo Maleke presents her solo exhibition, 'A Soft Language of Distance,' at Bode in Berlin. The show features an expanded practice of drawing that incorporates textiles, wax paper, and intricate stitching to explore themes of movement, memory, and spatial experience. Maleke, who was recently named the recipient of the 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, utilizes these unconventional materials to create a tactile vocabulary that bridges the gap between intimate gesture and architectural form.

art kye christensen knowles young artist

Kye Christensen-Knowles, a 32-year-old figurative painter based in New York, is featured in Cultured's 2025 Young Artists list. A recent solo exhibition at Lomex in New York showcased his range, from unnerving contemporary society portraits to epic science-fiction scenes. His work is also on view in a group show at the Warehouse, a private museum in Dallas. In an interview, he discusses his readymade work "Painting" (2019–23), a studio rug covered in accumulated paint, and cites influences such as Vito Acconci and Louise Bourgeois.

parties artists and mothers gala wsa

Over 250 supporters gathered at downtown creative hub WSA on Sunday for the first annual gala of the nonprofit Artists & Mothers, a sold-out fundraiser for the organization’s hallmark $25,000 childcare grants supporting artists with children under three. The event featured interactive installations by Ei Arakawa-Nash, Lisa Alvarado, and Maia Ruth Lee, performances by DJ Cardamami, Sophie Becker, Zeena Parkins, and others, and was attended by co-founders Julia Trotta and Maria De Victoria, incoming First Lady of New York Rama Duwaji, numerous artists, curators, patrons, and gallerists.

serpentine summer party pavilion cate blanchett

The Serpentine Summer Party took place in London's Kensington Gardens, drawing a glamorous crowd to celebrate Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum's 25th Anniversary Serpentine Pavilion, titled "A Capsule in Time." Co-hosted by actor Cate Blanchett, the event featured musical performances by Caroline Polachek and GALLiVANTER, along with exhibitions by Giuseppe Penone and Sir Peter Cook. Notable attendees included Serpentine Board Chairman Michael Bloomberg, Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, CEO Bettina Korek, and a host of celebrities and cultural figures.

Once a dairy barn, now a free contemporary art museum

A 125-year-old dairy barn converted into a contemporary art museum will open May 1 in Indianapolis's Garfield Park neighborhood. The Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), founded by Big Car Collaborative co-founders Jim Walker and Shauta Marsh, spans 40,000 square feet and includes six exhibition spaces, 18 artist studios, five storefronts for creative businesses, a performance space, a cafe, and a culinary arts area. The museum will be free to the public, with its inaugural exhibition featuring Puerto Rican painter Ivelisse Jiménez in the Jeremy Efroymson Gallery. CAMi aims to offer a welcoming, barrier-free environment—no security guards, no stern signage—and will focus on paying artists to create work rather than acquiring a permanent collection.

Alexandria Turns Into an Open-Air Gallery for Contemporary Art Days

Alexandria Contemporary Art Days launches from October 9th to 16th, 2025, transforming the Egyptian city into an open-air gallery. The festival features site-specific works by local and international artists across venues including the French Institute, Behna Warehouse, El Garage Cultural Space, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Highlights include a performance connecting breath and sound by dancer Salma Salem and trombonist Simon Petermann, a drawing-based installation by Mohamed Adel Dessouki, and Tiana Kader's evolving participatory installation 'The House of the Fat Lady'. The programme also includes exhibitions, live performances, workshops, talks, and guided walks such as 'Art on Foot'.

Art Dubai Adapts to Conflict with “Special Edition”

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.

Bones and crystals greet visitors at Marina Abramovic show in Venice

Marina Abramović, the Serbian pioneer of performance art, inaugurated her latest exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, days before the official opening of the Biennale International Art Exhibition. The show features a pile of plaster bones and crystal objects, with guides in white coats encouraging visitors to interact with the crystals to detox from modern technology. Abramović is the first living woman artist to present an exhibition at the Gallerie, which is known for its Renaissance masterpieces.

Fall River museum unveils 'Citadel' art exhibition

The Fall River Museum of Contemporary Art (FR MoCA) has launched "Citadel," a group exhibition featuring nine international artists including Lydia Ourahmane and Kambel Smith. Curated by Cory John Scozzari, the show utilizes diverse media—from sculpture and video to performance—to explore themes of urban movement, geopolitical complexity, and the mechanisms of surveillance and control. The exhibition is set to run through July 19, 2026, with an opening reception and curator-led walkthroughs scheduled for April.

Exhibition | Byoung Cho, 'WHEN SPACE BECOMES PAINTING' at BB&M, Seoul, South Korea

BB&M gallery in Seoul presents "When Space Becomes Painting," a solo exhibition of leading Korean architect Byoung Cho, organized in partnership with Jiyoon Lee of SUUM Project. The show traces Cho's 30-year engagement with space across painting, installation, maquettes, and drawing, exploring how his architectural thinking translates onto canvas. Central to the exhibition is Cho's concept of "mahk," inspired by Korean traditional ceramic maksabal, embracing spontaneity and imperfection as a guiding philosophy. The exhibition shifts from viewing artworks to experiencing them, with paintings that function as performative inquiries into existence rather than static images.

May Art And Culture Calendar: Every Exhibit, Live Performance, And Concert Worth Your Visit

This article is a curated calendar of art and culture events in Delhi and Mumbai for May and June 2026. Highlights include a photography exhibition of Satyajit Ray by Nemai Ghosh at DAG, a documentary photography show by Jyoti Bhatt at Gallery Vayu in collaboration with LATITUDE 28, a candlelight concert tribute to A.R. Rahman at Le Méridien, a group exhibition titled 'Slow Rot' at Method Delhi exploring vulnerability and the grotesque, and a dance performance celebrating Rabindranath Tagore at NCPA.

PinchukArtCentre opens new exhibition at the Venice Biennale

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.

From DJing club nights to gallery walls, Scots artist returns home for major show

Francis Dosoo, a self-taught Scottish artist now based in Vienna, is mounting his first solo show at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) titled "Portrait Of Dorothy Gale." Dosoo began his career in nightlife, running club nights and DJ sets that blended into performance and installation art. His practice spans sound, film, and visual art, with past collaborations including Joanne Dawson, Aniela Piasecka, and Alberta Whittle, and commissions from the Glasgow Film Festival and Edinburgh Art Festival. The DCA exhibition draws on the 1978 film *The Wiz*, reimagining *The Wizard of Oz* with an African-American cast, focusing on star Diana Ross's career and personal life at the time.

Anna Schwartz Gallery, beacon of Australia’s contemporary art world, to close and rebrand

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.

Phillips’ Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art More than Doubles Auction Total from the Previous Year

Phillips’ Evening Sale of Modern & Contemporary Art achieved a total that more than doubled the previous year's auction result, driven by strong demand for works spanning the 19th to 21st centuries. The sale opened with three lots exceeding their high estimates, including record prices for Lee Bontecou's rare 'Untitled' (1985-2001), which set a new record for any two-dimensional work by the artist after nearly five minutes of bidding. Other records were set for Pat Passlof, P.S. Krøyer, and Joseph Yaeger. Top lots included Andy Warhol's 'Sixteen Jackies' ($16.2 million), Claude Monet's 'La Route de Vétheuil, effet de neige' ($9.9 million), and Jackson Pollock's 'Untitled' ($9.2 million). The sale also featured works from The Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr., which achieved a combined $8.4 million, with two Vilhelm Hammershøi works acquired by prominent institutions.

Christie's Hong Kong autumn sale drops 46% from last year but makes Picasso's record in Asia

Christie's 20/21st Century Autumn sale in Hong Kong on 26 September generated $72.6 million, a 46% drop from the same sale last year and roughly flat compared to its March sale. Despite the decline, a Picasso painting, *Buste de Femme* (1944), set a new Asia record at HK$196.75 million ($25.4 million) after a fierce bidding war. Other top lots included Zao Wou-ki's *17.3.63* (HK$85.2 million) and Yayoi Kusama's *Pumpkin [TWAQN]* (HK$34.66 million). The sale marked the first anniversary of Christie's Asia headquarters in the Henderson building. Sotheby's and Phillips also held autumn sales that weekend, with Sotheby's totaling HK$335.7 million and Phillips achieving HK$160 million.

In the heart of Trastevere, an exhibition by an artist paying homage to an ancient Roman goddess

Nel cuore di Trastevere la mostra di un artista che omaggia un’antica dea romana

Diego Gualandris presents 'Floralia,' a solo exhibition at ADA gallery in Rome's Trastevere district, running until May 24, 2026. The show blends painting and music to create a modern homage to Flora, the ancient Roman goddess of spring and fertility. Gualandris displays a series of medium- and small-scale canvases from 2026 alongside a 1970s gramophone playing two original tracks—'The world in a flowerbed' improvised by the artist on piano with saxophonist Francesca Pegurri, his mother. The exhibition also references Hermann Nitsch through works like 'Prinzendorf,' and features playful, erotic botanical compositions that invite viewers to lie down and experience the space through sound and imagery.

Palate Cleansers at Frieze NY

Hyperallergic's coverage of Frieze New York and concurrent art fairs in the city frames the experience as overwhelming yet punctuated by standout works. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia compares the fair to an assembly-line salad, finding reprieve in art that evokes lush canopies, diaphanous portraiture, and ancestral gardens. The issue also includes dispatches from Future Fair, 1-54, TEFAF, NADA, and Independent Art Fair, alongside a tribute to Austrian performance artist Valie Export, who died at age 85, remembered for her radical feminist guerrilla performances that challenged the male gaze.

Finding art in the uncanny aesthetics of MAGA

Spielzeug gallery, founded in 2025 in Bushwick by Evan Karas and Eleanor Hicks, opened a pop-up show titled MAR-A-LAGO FACE on May 13 at a former restaurant on Allen Street in New York. The exhibition critiques the plastic-surgery aesthetics associated with Republican figures like Matt Gaetz, Laura Loomer, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kristi Noem, featuring works by queer, trans, and Latin American artists. The opening blurred the line between exhibition and party, with a DJ, themed drinks, and a bouncer checking bags.

Pixels and paintings: video games return to the V&A

The Victoria & Albert Museum hosted a special Friday Late event in collaboration with the London Games Festival, transforming its historic galleries into a playground for interactive and independent video games. Visitors could play titles like the Bafta-winning 'Thank Goodness You’re Here!' and the comedic 'Sex With Friends' amidst the museum's permanent collection, while live-coding music performances and participatory art projects like 'Robot Karaoke' and 'The Line is the Game' emphasized communal, performative experiences.