Before Language: An Interview with Song E Yoon at Biennale Arte 2026

Song E Yoon's exhibition "Songs Across Time" at Spazio 996/A in Venice, presented as a Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, pairs her Song E Code with Frédéric Bruly Bouabré's Bété alphabet. In an interview with Kun Sok, Yoon discusses how her work uses dots, intervals, and repetition to create a visual language that exists before conventional meaning, emphasizing bodily encounter, sensation, and the productive role of misreading.

International Friendship Park, at the western end of the U.S.-Mexico border, is focus of new art exhibition

A new art exhibition titled “Occupy Thirdspace III: The Park” opens at San Diego’s Central Library, focusing on International Friendship Park, a state park at the western end of the U.S.-Mexico border. Co-curated by Sara Solaimani and Natalia Ventura, the show features three artist collectives—Las Comadres, Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS), and Friends of International Friendship Park—to visually tell the park’s story. The park opened in 1971 as a meeting place for families divided by the border but has been closed on the U.S. side since 2020, while remaining open on the Mexico side. The exhibition is the third installment in Solaimani’s series exploring Henri Lefebvre’s concept of “third spaces” as symbolic sites that challenge systems of power.

Helena Samarasinghe at Camberwell Space

British-South Asian artist Helena Samarasinghe is presenting her debut solo exhibition, "Reaching, Touching, Shedding," at Camberwell Space in London. The show features a series of vibrant drawings and sculptural cut-out installations that explore the intersections of sport, power, and identity. Developed during her residency as the 2024 Vanguard Prize winner, the works utilize oil, soft pastels, and charcoal to depict brown women engaged in activities like football, wrestling, and athletics, drawing stylistic inspiration from 19th-century Bengali Kalighat painting.

In Kelantan, 'After Monsoon: Tera-Kota' project connects art with local community

The National Art Gallery of Malaysia, in collaboration with Art Matters Trading, launched the 'After Monsoon Project: Tera-Kota' exhibition series from October 24–30 at Pantai Pulau Kundur in Kota Baru, Kelantan. Themed 'Tanah, Tubuh, Tapak' (Land, Body, Site), the site-specific event featured clay sculptures, a community art feast (bekwoh), cultural performances, and a traditional ceramic firing facility (gok), engaging local residents—nearly 90% of whom practice traditional crafts like batik, pottery, and weaving—alongside students from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.

On Parkinson’s: Three Artists’ Journeys- Kristin Rehder, C. David Thomas, and Torrance York

The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University is hosting an exhibition titled "On Parkinson’s: Three Artists’ Journeys" from October 20 to December 11, featuring works by Kristin Rehder, C. David Thomas, and Torrance York. Each artist uses photography and printmaking to explore their personal experiences with Parkinson’s disease: York’s "Semaphore" project uses metaphorical photographs to document her diagnosis in 2015; Thomas’s "FINDING PARKINSON’S, Doing Battle with My Brain" combines MRI scans, selfies, and lithographs; and Rehder’s "TREMOR" employs a slow shutter to transform her body’s tremors into creative energy.

Explore Luxembourg’s open-air urban galleries

The article explores the street art scene in Luxembourg, highlighting cities and towns like Esch-sur-Alzette, Leudelange, Koler, and Ettelbruck where murals and graffiti adorn buildings, schools, and even waste bins. It traces the movement's origins to the 1980s hip-hop-inspired rebellion, when graffiti was illegal and artists like Sumo, Spike, Stick, Dan Sinnes, and Alain Tshinza emerged. Today, urban art is embraced as a tool for social cohesion and expression, with projects like Kufa's Urban Art Esch in Esch-sur-Alzette featuring over fifty murals by international artists. The article also notes techniques such as grid systems, projections, and reverse graffiti, exemplified by Klaus Dauven's 2023 tribute on the Vianden dam.

Pavilions of the Venice Biennale go on strike

Pavillons der Venedig-Biennale werden bestreikt

Cultural workers and participants of the Venice Biennale went on strike on Friday, protesting Israel's participation in the art exhibition. Organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) alongside several cultural groups and Italian grassroots unions, the 24-hour walkout led to the closure of several national pavilions on the final preview day. A rally was planned near the Arsenale grounds. The strike aims to oppose the "normalization of genocide in culture" and poor working conditions at the Biennale, following an earlier open letter signed by over 230 artists and curators demanding the exclusion of the Israeli pavilion. Israel is represented by sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, who opposes cultural boycotts and advocates for dialogue. The Biennale's leadership has distanced itself from the strike, emphasizing adherence to regulations and support for freedom of speech and pluralism.

Hyeree Ro: What Bears

Hyeree Ro is preparing for the 2026 Venice Biennale, where she will present the work "Bearing (2026)" as part of the Korean Pavilion, titled "Liberation Space: Fortress/Nest." The article follows Ro in her temporary Brooklyn studio, where she works with salvaged objects and materials that migrate across multiple works over years—such as a sheet of organza purchased in 2023 that later appeared in "Niro (2024)" and "Carry (2025)" before being repurposed as the pavilion's fabric walls. Her practice is defined by a nomadic, accumulative material logic: objects enter without a fixed destination and gain meaning through repeated reuse.

M’barek Bouhchichi: Hands That Remember

Moroccan artist M’barek Bouhchichi presents 'Les mains des poètes' at Foundation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar, running until 17 October 2026. The exhibition stems from a residency in Madagascar where Bouhchichi collaborated with local artisans—blacksmiths, weavers, ceramists, and musicians—to create works that resist singular authorship. Central to the show is the revival of sorabe, the Arabico-Malagasy script, treated as an embodied, gestural practice rather than fixed writing.

‘Rostos da Imigração’: Faces That Refuse Silence

Photographer Alfredo Cunha presents 'Rostos da Imigração' at the UCCLA gallery in Lisbon, a photographic exhibition featuring portraits of individuals from lusophone communities. The series resists anonymity and aestheticization, instead focusing on the lived experiences of migrants in contemporary Portugal. The exhibition is on view until 20 May 2026.

The Order of Symbolism, Signs and Sensibility

The Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio) is hosting a major retrospective titled 'Rubem Valentim: a ordem do sensível,' featuring approximately 180 works spanning four decades. Curated by Raquel Barreto and Phelipe Rezende, the exhibition showcases Valentim’s unique fusion of modernist abstraction with the spiritual symbols of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cosmologies. The presentation includes paintings, reliefs, and sculptures, culminating in monumental works like 'Templo de Oxalá.'

‘We Are Here’: Queer Presence and Memory in African Art

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art has opened 'Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,' an exhibition curated by Kevin D. Dumouchelle and Serubiri Moses. Developed through years of direct dialogue with LGBTQ+ artists across Africa and its diaspora, the show foregrounds self-representation and community, ensuring artists defined the terms of their inclusion. It features contemporary works alongside historical precedents, creating a continuum of queer presence in African art history.

From Minor Keys to Uproar: The Crisis of the Venice Biennale

DE LAS MINOR KEYS AL ESTRUENDO: LA CRISIS DE LA BIENAL DE VENECIA

The 61st Venice Biennale is engulfed in a structural crisis, marked by geopolitical tensions over the inclusion of Russia (amid its invasion of Ukraine) and Israel (amid the Gaza genocide). The Biennale Foundation, led by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, defended their participation on legalistic grounds, sparking outrage from over 200 artists, curators, and cultural workers who demanded Israel's exclusion, aligning with Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA). The international jury, chaired by Solange Farkas and including Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi, resigned collectively on April 30 after deciding not to award prizes to countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court arrest warrants. This led to the cancellation of the traditional Golden and Silver Lions, replaced by audience-voted "Visitor Lions," with awards deferred until November. The European Commission suspended a €2 million subsidy over Russia's participation, and Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli notably skipped the May 9 opening.

Christopher Columbus Statue Is Installed on White House Grounds

A replica statue of Christopher Columbus has been installed on the grounds of the White House, specifically outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. This new installation replaces a statue of the explorer that was toppled by protesters in 2020.

Highland Park’s North Figueroa Bookshop teams up with Homeboy Art Institute

North Figueroa Bookshop in Highland Park has partnered with Homeboy Art Academy to present an exhibition titled "Visualizing the Future" in the bookstore's expanded gallery space. The show features photography, cyanotype, and graphic arts by artists aged 18 to 25, including works depicting street scenes, landscapes, and portraits. The May 9 opening included music from Music Heals and food vendors, with artists and community members in attendance. The exhibition was curated by Sophia Cervantes, an artist and student at El Camino College, who aimed to provide a professional platform for young creators.

“Conspiracies” Aby Warburg Institute / London by Frank Wasser

The exhibition “Conspiracies” at the Warburg Institute in London, curated by Larne Abse Gogarty, brings together works by Hannah Black, Caspar Heinemann, Sam Keogh, and Shenece Oretha alongside panels from Aby Warburg’s Bilderatlas Mnemosyne. Through sculpture, drawing, collage, installation, and sound, the show resists the idea that conspiracy can be solved by exposure or critique, instead constructing unstable relations between historical images, speculative narratives, and material processes. Key works include Heinemann’s drawings reimagining Ted Kaczynski as “Theodora” and Keogh’s large-scale collage referencing medieval tapestries and surveillance systems.

December Exhibitions

Les Yeux du Monde presents 'GROUNDING,' the final show of 2025 featuring new oil paintings by Annie Harris Massie that explore light, memory, and place through landscapes and botanical studies of her Lynchburg, Virginia surroundings. Other December exhibitions include Randall Stoltzfus's 'To Hold The Light' at Angelo Jewelry, Judith Ely's paintings at Botanical Fare, and 'All That Glitters' by Natalie Darling at C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery. The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA hosts three shows: 'Haiti’s Time' from the Sullivan collection, 'In Feeling: Empathy and Tension Through Disability,' and 'The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa.' The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection features works from the Spinifex Arts Project and Robert Fielding, while the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center presents 'Finally Remembered: The Black Patriots of Central Virginia.'

We're transforming an empty Sunderland shop into an art gallery to celebrate city's creativity

A collective of artists in Sunderland, England, is transforming the former Sweet Home Alabama shop on Fawcett Street into a new art gallery called Twenty-Four North East (24NE). Led by Sunderland artist Ken Devine, along with Graham Bowes, Darren Timby, and others, the group has leased the unit and is renovating it with donated paint from Albert's Place. The gallery will operate as a permanent independent retail fine art gallery, funded and run by the artists themselves, selling original artworks with zero commission. It is set to open on November 20 with a winter exhibition and will be open Wednesdays to Saturdays for shows, classes, workshops, and art sales.

Fabian Perez Gallery Showcases 20 Artists in Neo-Emotionalism Exhibition

Fabian Perez Gallery in Los Angeles is hosting the Neo-Emotionalism Group Exhibition, featuring 20 artists working in painting, photography, and sculpture. The show, running through May 23, centers on feeling and memory, with artists like Shaylen Nelson, Awadé Wade, James Smith, and Martinos Aristidou presenting works that explore personal and cultural narratives. Nelson, an Afrocentric Realism painter, uses Black figures and music to place culture within traditional painting, while Wade’s piece "Abstract Love" draws on a Prince song and uses a tree as a symbol of life and transition.

Choe Vio's solo exhibit at Seoul's Page Gallery explores time as an interactive experience

Seoul-based painter Choe Vio has launched a new solo exhibition titled “Time Interface” at Page Gallery in Seongsu-dong. The show, which marks the artist's first solo presentation in four years, features new paintings and a central interactive installation titled “137 Silent Observers.” This centerpiece invites visitors to move stones on an aluminum plate, triggering a process where the changes are recorded at specific intervals and eventually translated into video and painting.

Emerging Sabah artist debuts solo show at Wei-Ling Gallery

Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur presents 'Trilogy: The Lightseeker', the debut solo exhibition of 25-year-old Sabah-born multidisciplinary artist Iwadh Mahadi. The show, running from Tuesday to November 1 at Wei-Ling Contemporary, is the latest output of the gallery's WLG Incubator programme, launched in 2020 to support emerging Malaysian artists through mentorship and dialogue. Iwadh, who works in bamboo mosaics, frottage, and printmaking under a self-described 'conceptual naturalism', developed the exhibition over seven months under the guidance of established artist Choy Chun Wei, with additional mentorship from British artist Adam Chodzko and gallery director Lim Wei-Ling.

Exhibition | Lin Zhipeng, 'LIN ZHIPENG (NO. 223): Relationship Duplicates' at DE SARTHE, Hong Kong

DE SARTHE gallery in Hong Kong presents 'Relationship Duplicates', the second solo exhibition by Beijing-based photographer Lin Zhipeng (No.223). The show, on view from May 16 to June 27, explores the tactile, intimate dimensions of human relationships through large-scale photoprints, a smartphone installation, and curated collages. Lin redefines 'duplicates' as supplements that extend relationships rather than mere copies, using nudity and physicality to counter the alienation of digital connectivity.

Belfast’s murals are an open-air gallery of history and art

Belfast's murals, long used as tools of political expression and territorial marking during the Troubles, are gradually changing. Research shows that three-quarters of the most intimidatory murals in the loyalist Shankill area have disappeared since 1998. Newer murals commemorate figures like Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, while non-sectarian artistic murals—including tributes to murdered journalist Lyra McKee—are appearing across the city. However, some paramilitary-linked murals persist, and a 2024 incident saw a wall in north Belfast rebuilt and its threatening imagery repainted, reflecting ongoing tensions and the complex politics of 'conflict transformation' funding.

The new chief curator of Uzbekistan’s Centre for Contemporary Art is bringing insights from London to the youth of Tashkent

Sara Raza has been appointed as the first artistic director and chief curator of Uzbekistan’s Centre for Contemporary Art Tashkent (CCA), a restored 1912 tram depot that is currently undergoing expansion by French architecture firm Studio KO. Raza, who was born in London and grew up in New York, is a former curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and has curated festivals in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. She took up the post in January and has already launched a programme of artist residencies in refurbished traditional Uzbek mahallas, while the CCA’s reopening has been delayed from 2025 to 2026.

Q&A with Sarah Koff, an environmental artist with an exhibition at AVA Gallery

Sarah Koff, a woodblock printmaker and environmentalist based in New Hampshire, discusses her exhibition “Object Permanence” at AVA Gallery in Lebanon, which runs from July 11 to August 9. Koff, a 2024 Juror Recognition Award winner from the Alliance for the Visual Arts Gallery, creates intricate prints that explore local environmental issues, such as invasive species like Japanese Knotweed and chemical pollution. She describes her slow, tactile process of woodcutting and her commitment to non-toxic printmaking through her work with Zea Mays Printmaking.

'Strange Mirror.' Needham native, former engineer, preps for first solo art exhibition

Latika Sridhar, a Needham native and former design engineer, is preparing for her first solo art exhibition titled "Strange Mirror," opening May 9 at Established Gallery in Brooklyn. The show features work she has created over the past two years since leaving her engineering career to focus on painting, following a fine arts summer intensive at the Pratt Institute. Her art explores themes of internal complexity, human emotion, and her own mental health journey, with the exhibition running for a month.

Artist Day at Flanders Nature Center May 9

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust in Woodbury, Connecticut, will host Artist Day on Saturday, May 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Van Vleck Sanctuary. Artists, craftspeople, and photographers are invited to create work en plein air on the sanctuary's 200-acre grounds, which include woodlands, meadows, ponds, and historic buildings. The event is free and requires pre-registration. Participants may later be eligible to exhibit their work in Flanders’ 5th Annual Exhibition of Art in October at the Van Vleck Gallery.

Art Exhibits: What's on display in the Fort Wayne area

This article is a local arts calendar listing current and upcoming exhibitions in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. It highlights new shows such as "Grounded in Light" featuring Julie Wall at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, "Summer Selections" of student work at Purdue University Fort Wayne's Visual Arts Gallery, and "Archetypes" by printmaker Chuck Sperry at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Also listed are ongoing exhibitions including the "46th National Print Exhibition" at Artlink, a tribute to late ceramic artist Tom Sherbondy at Ruth Koomler Art Gallery, and several other shows at venues like the Orchard Gallery, Allen County Public Library, Garrett Museum of Art, and Honeywell Center.

Underground Railroad stop in New York threatened by real-estate development

A hidden chute within the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan, identified as a rare surviving stop on the Underground Railroad, is threatened by a planned real-estate development next door. The two-foot-square vertical passage, concealed behind a built-in dresser, was built in 1832 by abolitionists Joseph and Susanna Brewster to shelter Black fugitives escaping slavery. The museum's western wall, which contains the hideaway, adjoins a one-story garage slated for demolition to make way for a commercial building, prompting the museum team to oppose the development due to risk of structural damage.

Art Collectors Bet on Known Quantities Amid Market Reset

The Impressionist and Modern art category became the most lucrative market segment in 2025, generating $4.7 billion in sales—a 29.5% increase from 2024—as collectors favored established names amid a cautious market. The $10-million-plus bracket surged 68.6% to $1.5 billion, while the number of lots sold hit a decade high of 122,213. Postwar and contemporary art ranked second with $4.1 billion, but its average price per lot dropped to a decade low of $23,027. Old Masters saw a 41.2% rise to $708.6 million, partly driven by the Thomas A. Saunders III collection at Sotheby’s, though that sale fell short of estimates. Ultra-contemporary art continued its four-year decline, falling 26.5% to $229.9 million, with average prices tumbling 72.4% from their 2021 peak.