Going clubbing in Ibiza this summer? Then you're going to be in a giant art gallery

A new art exhibition called the Culture Collective has been installed across three of Ibiza's biggest nightclubs—Hï Ibiza, Ushuaïa Ibiza, and [UNVRS]—featuring over 70 international artists. The season-long show, organized by London-based art platform W1 Curates in partnership with The Night League, includes monumental murals, marble sculptures (such as Nazareno Biondo's life-size Vespa and Fiat 500), and works by street artists like PichiAvo and VHILS, running from late April to mid-October.

Carole Harris’ Origin Story in “This Side of the River” at MOCAD

The article reviews Carole Harris's solo exhibition "This Side of the River" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), curated by Abel Gonzalez Fernandez. The show features twenty fiber pieces and archival materials spanning from 1966 to the present, tracing Harris's creative evolution and her responses to Detroit's social and urban changes. It highlights early works like "Potpourri" (1976) and "Black Jack" (1976) from her 1977 debut at Gallery 7, a Black Power-era space founded by Charles McGee, and later pieces such as "Down the Road a Piece" (2003) that mark her shift toward improvisational, abstract compositions.

Art Gallery Shows in Bangkok to Check Out in May

A roundup of art gallery exhibitions in Bangkok for May 2026 highlights four shows: 'The Fourth Decade of the Bualuang Paintings' at The Queen's Gallery, featuring 141 works by 52 Thai artists from the Bualuang painting contests; 'New Beginning' at ART Space by MOCA Four Seasons, a group show with artists from Japan and Thailand exploring renewal; 'Museum of Monsters' at River City Bangkok, a solo exhibition by artist FAHFAHS (Napath Kuntaruck) confronting hidden memories; and 'Beneath the Horizon Line' at Art Jewel Gallery, Siam.

From gunshots to gilded plates: Who are the real hooligans of the art world?

Alex Burchmore reviews 'The Hooligans,' an exhibition that explores the Maoist concept of hooliganism in the context of contemporary Chinese art. The show features works by artists like Xiao Lu, who famously fired a gun at her installation during the 1989 'China/Avant-Garde' exhibition, as well as Zhu Yu and He Yunchang, known for incorporating human body parts and surgical procedures into their art. The exhibition contrasts these transgressive acts with more market-friendly works, such as Zhu Yu's gilded plate paintings and Hu Yinping's commercial-style figurines, highlighting the tension between artistic rebellion and commercial success.

L'excellent rapport de la commission d'enquête sur la sûreté des musées est paru

A French parliamentary commission of inquiry into museum security, initiated by Alexandre Portier (president) and reported by Alexis Corbière, has published its findings. The report, unanimously adopted across party lines, includes forty recommendations and is notably critical of the Louvre's management under director Laurence des Cars, accusing her of neglecting security priorities and causing significant delays in the museum's master plan. The commission validated earlier criticisms by La Tribune de l'Art, describing the Louvre as an "État dans l'État" (state within a state) and estimating that twenty to twenty-seven months were lost due to postponed decisions.

The Sports Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg. Here’s What Else to Expect From the 2028 Olympics.

Los Angeles is preparing a comprehensive Cultural Olympiad for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, led by LA28 senior vice president Dwayne Jones and executive director Nora Halpern. The program will feature free sports movie screenings, live music, food experiences, art installations, community events, and special exhibitions at local museums. Sixteen local artists have been commissioned to create posters honoring the games, with a dedicated gallery exhibition planned for July 2027. A new digital calendar and mapping tool will help residents and visitors navigate the cultural offerings, and institutions like LACMA, the LA Philharmonic, and the Museum of Latin American Art have already expressed support.

Fátima González Doesn’t Want You to Shy Away From Asking Your Art Questions

Fátima González, founder of Mexico City-based gallery Campeche, recounts her journey from working the front desk at Kurimanzutto to opening her own gallery. After earning a graduate degree at the School of Visual Arts in New York and returning to Kurimanzutto in sales, she left in February 2020, just before lockdown. During the pandemic, she planned her gallery, found a space in one day, and opened with a group show of all-women artists from Mexico City. Campeche is now making its Frieze New York debut.

Tuan Vu | Nhat Binh (2026) | Art & Prints

This article presents the artwork "Nhat Binh" (2026) by Vietnamese Canadian artist Tuan Vu, offered through Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. The painting, executed in oil and oil stick on linen, measures 35 2/5 × 29 1/2 inches and is a unique, hand-signed work accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. The listing includes details about the artist's background, his immigration to Canada as a refugee, his shift from engineering to full-time art practice in 2021, and his exhibition history including a solo show at Simard Bilodeau Contemporary in 2023 and subsequent shows in Berlin, London, New York, and across Canada.

Katie DeGroot: The Arboreal Life

Katie DeGroot's exhibition "The Arboreal Life" at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in New York (April 2–May 9) presents tree paintings that anthropomorphize branches into human-like figures. Works such as "Chit Chat" (2026) and "Family Matters" (2025) depict trees leaning, gesturing, and tangling in ways that suggest intimate relationships, arguments, and familial bonds. DeGroot, who moved from New York City to a farm in upstate Fort Edward, began using fallen branches as models after lacking human subjects, developing compositions that emphasize color, texture, and the interplay of fungi and lichen. Her use of opaque and translucent watercolors balances natural observation with poetic interpretation.

What We Saw at Buffalo Prescott’s 'Vernal 2026'

Buffalo Prescott’s Detroit headquarters is hosting 'Vernal 2026,' a spring-inspired contemporary arts exhibition running through June 27, with a public opening on May 22. The exhibition features works by resident artists including Jessica Wildman Katz, Halima Afi Cassells, Cyrah Dardas, Sara Nickleson, and Tony Printz, alongside metro Detroit and international artists. Highlights include Katz's botanical rabbit sculpture 'Kindling,' Cristina Umaña's whimsical 'Mesa De Centro' (a stack of white tables with human-like limbs), and Amelia Burns's photographic diptych 'Evil Eye' and 'Evil Eye Transmuted onto Organza, 2026,' which explores contemporary American culture through collage.

Vhils: the street artist presents his exhibition “L'interstice” at the Danysz Gallery in Paris

Portuguese street artist Vhils, also known as Alexandre Farto, presents his latest solo exhibition titled "L'interstice" at the Danysz Gallery in Paris from May 22 to June 20, 2026. The exhibition features works crafted from materials sourced in the capital, including fragmentary posters, metal structures from political billboards, subway doors, and ceramic tiles, exploring Paris as a "fragmented experience" centered on public transport and daily transitions.

'Intersection: Kisho Kakutani and Kosuke Harasawa' at Whitestone Gallery, Hong Kong on 16 May–4 Jul 2026

Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong presents 'Intersection', a duo exhibition featuring Japanese artists Kisho Kakutani (b.1993) and Kosuke Harasawa (b.1997), running from 16 May to 4 July 2026. Kakutani's works capture bright, humid mornings with frosted, detailed depictions of beaches and cityscapes, while Harasawa focuses on rain-soaked Hong Kong night scenes populated by ghostly figures with transparent umbrellas, blending nostalgia with urban transformation.

2026 Future Fair: Everything You Need To Know About the Art Fair Before It Opens Next Month

Future Fair, a contemporary art fair focused on community and emerging talent, will hold its sixth edition at Chelsea Industrial in New York from May 14 to 16, 2026. The fair brings together nearly 70 exhibitors, including brick-and-mortar galleries, artist-run initiatives, and collaborative platforms from nine countries, with nearly half hailing from the New York tri-state area. Highlights include the return of the Pay-It-Forward Fund, which allocates 15% of annual profits as grants to participating galleries and dealers, and a VIP preview day on May 13.

Exhibition | Celeste Rapone, 'Hyperarousal' at Esther Schipper, Esther Schipper Berlin, Germany

Esther Schipper Berlin presents 'Hyperarousal', Celeste Rapone's first exhibition with the gallery, featuring three new paintings that explore the intersection of sensuous stimulation and nervous tension. The works depict female protagonists in narratively dense, ambiguous scenes that allegorize millennial angst, using techniques like alla prima painting and color-based formal constraints. Key pieces include 'While Waiting' (2025), showing a figure with pepper spray and a digital camera, and 'Den' (2026), where intertwined figures follow a self-defense tutorial on an iPad.

Suman Dey’s new solo in Kolkata gives form to the abstract notions around us

Artist Suman Dey presents his second solo exhibition, titled *Chance, Remains of Another Time*, at Emami Art in Kolkata. The show features large-scale works on wood and other materials that explore abstract notions of memory, time, and nature through fragmented forms, textures, and narrative. Key pieces include a series of frames capturing everyday surface textures and a work titled *Journey* that uses boat shapes to depict transformation. The exhibition runs until May 9.

Jorge Nava | Untitled (2022) | Art & Prints

This article presents Jorge Nava's 2022 painting "Untitled," an oil-on-linen work measuring 180 × 180 cm, offered by Arma Gallery in Madrid. Nava, a Spanish artist born in Gijón in 1980, studied at the University of the Basque Country and Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee under Professor Katherina Grosse. His career includes participation in international fairs such as ARCO, CIRCA in Puerto Rico, Scope Art Fair in New York, and Photo Miami Art Basel, as well as exhibitions at Alzueta Gallery and the Barjola Museum. His work belongs to collections including the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation and private collections across Europe and North America.

Exhibition | Jens FÄNGE, 'Antechamber' at Perrotin, New York, United States

Perrotin New York presents 'Antechamber,' an exhibition of over twenty new paintings by Swedish artist Jens Fänge. The works feature distorted, labyrinthine interiors populated by people, animals, and mannequins, using layered materials like oil, vinyl, linen, and burlap to create compositions that blur the line between figuration and abstraction. Recurring motifs such as doors, windows, halos, and locusts shift meaning across the show, which draws inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales and Nathanael West's surrealist novels.

Turkish artist Nilbar Gures brings defiance to 61st Venice Biennale

Turkish artist Nilbar Güneş will represent Türkiye at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) with her exhibition "A Kiss on the Eyes" in the Arsenale's Türkiye Pavilion. Güneş, born in Istanbul in 1977 and educated at Marmara University, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and the University of Applied Arts, works across photography, film, painting, performance, and mixed media. Her practice draws on personal biography to address societal issues, and she has shown internationally at venues including Osmos in New York and Vortic Art in London.

Henry Moore at Kew Gardens — a startling, stunning summer meeting

The Financial Times reports on the largest-ever outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore's sculptures, held at Kew Gardens in London. The show presents a startling and stunning summer meeting between Moore's monumental modernist works and the botanical landscape, offering visitors surprising new perspectives on the artist's oeuvre.

The Long-Awaited Reopening of the Musée Bonnat

La réouverture attendue du Musée Bonnat

After fifteen years of closure, the Musée Bonnat (now renamed Bonnat-Helleu) in Bayonne, France, has finally reopened. The closure was initially due to structural problems, including collapsing skylights and leaks, and even before that, much of the collection had been inaccessible. The renovated museum now features a new extension built from a former school, housing the public reception area, an exhibition space, a courtyard with a café terrace, and storage. The galleries display the museum's full holdings, including Rubens sketches, terracottas from the Paul Cailleux collection, and works by Léon Bonnat himself.

The Politics of In-action: Review of In-action: Viennese Actionism and the Passivities of Performance Art

Caroline Lillian Schopp's new book *In-action: Viennese Actionism and the Passivities of Performance Art* (2025) offers a revisionist history of Viennese Actionism, a movement retroactively named in 1970 by Peter Weibel and Valie Export. Schopp introduces the term "in-action" to describe a politics of artistic action that emphasizes intimacy, hesitation, and vulnerability rather than the violent or liberatory extremes typically associated with the movement. She expands the canon to include women artists such as Anna Brus, Hanel Koeck, and Ingrid Wiener, and reexamines the work of Rudolf Schwarzkogler, whose death was mythologized as a suicide by self-castration but was actually a fall from a window. Through close readings of photographs, Schopp argues that Schwarzkogler's performances were characterized by passivity and "in-sincerity," challenging the dominant narrative of actionism as aggressive or heroic.

Yves Klein Research Grant 2026: A Funded Residency for Emerging Scholars

The Yves Klein Foundation has launched its first Research Grant for 2026, offering a CHF 6,000 stipend and a one-week funded residency in Paris to emerging scholars under 35 who hold a PhD or postdoctoral degree. The program invites original research projects that deepen understanding of Yves Klein’s work, ideas, and legacy, with access to archives and scholarly guidance provided. Applications are due by 15 June 2026, with selection based on originality, scientific quality, and feasibility.

CalArts President Booed During Commencement Speech

California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) President Ravi S. Rajan was loudly booed by students during the school's commencement ceremony on May 15, as they held signs reading “Hold the Admin Accountable” and “Save Our Faculty & Staff.” The protest stemmed from ongoing financial turmoil at the esteemed art school, including a multi-million-dollar budget deficit, significant staff and faculty layoffs, and a decline in enrollment from 1,500 to roughly 1,200. Despite Rajan's attempts to redirect focus to the graduates, the booing persisted, and board chair Charmaine Jefferson unsuccessfully appealed for calm. The incident follows a broader crisis at CalArts, where over 75% of staff sought to unionize in 2024, and faculty held a “Chop from the Top” rally in March against proposed $5 million in cuts.

Israeli organisation threatens legal action against Canadian Museum for Human Rights over Palestine exhibition

The Israeli organization Shurat Hadin has threatened legal action against the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg over its upcoming exhibition "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present," scheduled to open on June 27. The group sent a legal letter to the museum's board and leadership, alleging the exhibition promotes a one-sided narrative that could fuel antisemitism and violate Canadian federal law, and calling for an independent review. The CMHR is reviewing the letter but declined further comment, while supporters like Independent Jewish Voices argue the museum is right to tell the story of the Nakba from the perspective of Palestinian victims.

‘Anger, curiosity and hope’: a planet of protest – in pictures

Matthew Connors' new photo book, *The Axe Will Survive the Master*, compiles 12 years of protest photography from Hong Kong, Cairo, New York, Kyiv, North Korea, and beyond. Published by MACK Books, the work weaves together images from the Occupy movement, the Egyptian revolution, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, the war in Ukraine, and other confrontations with authoritarian power, dissolving geographic boundaries into a single sequence drawn from an archive of 200,000 images.

Art bartering: artists start viral social media trend to fight cost of living crisis

Artists worldwide are using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to barter their artwork for goods and services instead of money, in a viral trend responding to the cost of living crisis. Participants trade paintings for items such as handmade clothes, jewelry, tattoos, accommodation, meals, and professional services like video editing or framing, with some simply inviting offers. Artists like Lin Snow, Oli Fowler, and Andrea Mongenie cite economic pressures and anti-capitalist motivations, viewing bartering as a way to build community and bypass financial systems that leave creatives struggling.

Nazi-looted painting discovered in home of Dutch SS commander's heirs

Art detective Arthur Brand announced the discovery of a Nazi-looted painting, *Portrait of a Young Girl* by Toon Kelder, in the home of the heirs of Hendrik Seyffardt, a notorious Dutch SS commander. The painting was part of the more than 1,100 works plundered from Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker by German occupiers. An anonymous heir, who changed his family name, contacted Brand after learning of his ancestry, expressing shame and demanding the painting be returned to the rightful Jewish owners. The current owner, a relative, claims ignorance of its provenance and says the family is discussing restitution.

Art and Cultural Engagement Can Slow the Pace of Aging: Report

A new study published in the journal *Innovation in Aging* finds that engaging with arts and cultural activities can slow biological aging at a molecular level. Led by Daisy Fancourt of University College London, the research measured participation in four types of activities—participatory arts, receptive arts, visiting heritage sites, and other cultural activities—and used epigenetic clocks to assess aging. Those who engaged at least once a week showed a four-percent slowdown in aging, while monthly engagement yielded a three-percent slowdown.

Israel’s Artist Reportedly Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury’s Resignation

Artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, Israel’s representative at the Venice Biennale, reportedly pressured the exhibition’s organizers before the five-person jury abruptly resigned last week. The jury, tasked with selecting Golden Lion winners, had stated it would not consider nations charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court—applying to Israel and Russia. According to Italian news agency Adnkronos, Fainaru alleged “racial discrimination” and “antisemitism,” threatened to take his claims to the European Court of Human Rights, and the Biennale warned jury members they could be held personally liable for damages. Hyperallergic confirmed the threats of legal action, and a Biennale spokesperson acknowledged the reports were true.

Manhattan D.A.’s Office Returns More Than 650 Looted Artifacts to India

On April 28, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced the return of 657 trafficked antiquities valued at nearly $14 million to India. The items were recovered by the D.A.'s Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Homeland Security Investigations, and formally returned at a ceremony in New York. Among the repatriated pieces are a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara (valued at $2 million), stolen from the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur in 1982; a red sandstone Buddha statue (valued at $7.5 million) smuggled by convicted dealer Subhash Kapoor; and a sandstone Ganesha sculpture looted by trafficker Vaman Ghiya and sold through Christie's by Nancy Wiener, who was later convicted of antiquities trafficking.