Currents of the 61st Biennale: Inside Venice’s Flow of Art and Power

The 61st Venice Biennale jury, composed of five curators—Solange Oliveira Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi—resigned on April 30th amid internal tensions over decisions that conflicted with the late Koyo Kouoh's curatorial vision. The jury had previously stated it would refrain from considering countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Filipino artist Jon Cuyson prepares to present his installation at the Philippine Pavilion, featuring works shipped 60 days before geopolitical conflict escalated, navigating unstable maritime routes. His project includes the film series "Sea of Love (Dagat ng Pag-ibig)" and a new fourth film, "Sea of Echoes," exploring themes of migration, queer experience, and ecological resilience through mussels as non-human protagonists.

Media Artist Transforms Climate, AI Data into Immersive Art

Media artist Kang Lee-Yeon delivered an immersive lecture at the TED 2026 main stage in Vancouver, using a 30-meter screen to visualize climate change and AI data. She then opened her solo exhibition 'Illumination' at Fondation Fiminco in Paris for the 140th anniversary of Korea-France relations, while also debuting works at Milan Design Week and the Loop Plus media art fair in Busan. Her projects include 'Passage of Water', created with Google and NASA, which translates satellite data into an immersive experience about Earth's freshwater crisis.

Nat Faulkner’s New Exhibition Revels in the Alchemy of Photography

British artist Nat Faulkner has opened a new solo exhibition titled 'Strong Water' at Camden Art Centre, exploring themes of transformation, alchemy, and photographic processes. The show features works that incorporate light-sensitive chemicals like iodine, sculptures, and photographic prints, including a large-scale photograph of scrap metal printed on collaged paper. Faulkner, who won the Emerging Artist Award at Frieze in 2024, describes his studio-darkroom as a collaborative 'machine' that produces works through indirect interventions.

Humid Traces

Humid Traces, curated by Federico Pérez Villoro, is an exhibition at an unnamed New York venue that examines how bodies of water are weaponized as borders amid climate change and extreme weather. The show features international artists—including Dele Adeyemo, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Zishaan A Latif, Caio Reisewitz, Susan Schuppli, Marisa Srijunpleang, Studio Folder, and Leonel Vásquez—whose works in installation, sound, photography, video, and data visualization reveal the violent effects of migration-control technologies and water's material memory.

Studio DRIFT brings kinetic sculpture to life in their first solo exhibition in Spain

Studio DRIFT, the Dutch artist duo founded by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, presents their first solo exhibition in Spain at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC). Titled *Amplitude / Meadow*, the show runs from July 12 to October 19, 2025, and features two major kinetic installations: *Amplitude*, a choreographed network of glass tubes that sways in response to invisible energies, and *Meadow*, an upside-down garden of robotic flowers that react to human presence. The works blend art, technology, and nature to create immersive environments that explore biological patterns and human connection.

When Art Meets Nature

The Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery Singapore have jointly organized "When Art Meets Nature," a children's art exhibition running from July 2 to November 9, 2025, at the Taoyuan Children's Art Center. Featuring five artists from Taiwan and Singapore, the show presents interactive installations, audiovisual works, and immersive environments centered on ecology, sustainability, and the human-nature relationship. Artists include Zul Mahmod, Chen Po-I, Hsu Yenting, Tan Zi Xi, and Soh Ee Shaun, with works inspired by local waterways, forests, and indigenous ecological wisdom.

In Venice, famous street artist JR completely wraps a historic palazzo with an installation

A Venezia il famoso street artist JR avvolge completamente un palazzo storico con un’installazione

Street artist JR has wrapped the historic Palazzo Ca' da Mosto in Venice—now the Venice Venice Hotel—with a large-scale installation timed to the 61st Venice Biennale. The project, titled "Il Gesto," reinterprets Paolo Veronese's 1563 masterpiece "The Wedding at Cana" as a contemporary fresco featuring 176 people from the Refettorio Paris community kitchen. Inside the palazzo, an immersive installation combines photographic portraits, reflective surfaces, and audio recordings to create a layered narrative. A monumental tapestry woven by Giovanni Bonotto and the Fondazione Bonotto, made from recycled plastic, wool, cotton, and washi paper, extends the work into a durable, contemplative form.

A Roma una mostra celebra il leggendario scenografo e costumista Dante Ferretti

A new exhibition titled "Dante Ferretti. Con i miei occhi" has opened at the Musei di San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome, celebrating the legendary Italian set designer and costume designer Dante Ferretti. Curated by Raffaele Curi, the show runs until July 19, 2026, and features a collection of Ferretti's sketches, charcoal drawings, and collages that served as the foundational visual ideas for films by directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Tim Burton. The exhibition presents these preparatory works not merely as production tools but as autonomous works of art, tracing Ferretti's visual genealogy from Renaissance painters like Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio to contemporary cinema.

Un ciclo di mostre è allestito sotto terra in un ipogeo del quartiere Pigneto a Roma

A family of entrepreneurs acquired an ancient bar in Rome's Pigneto neighborhood in 2020, inheriting a Roman-era hypogeum dating back to the 1st century BC. Originally a pozzolana quarry, later a wine cellar and WWII air-raid shelter, the space beneath the historic bar Necci dal 1924 reopened to the public on March 12 as an exhibition venue. It now hosts "Sottoforma," a cycle of three exhibitions curated by Donatella Giordano and Agatha Jaubourg that explore the theme of the invisible through contemporary art. The first exhibition features works by Eva Marisaldi, Enrico Serotti, and Luca Vitone, running until March 31, followed by shows with Iginio De Luca and Liliana Moro in April, and José Angelino and Elena Bellantoni in May 2026.

Pro Arts Jersey City presents A Margin of Influence: Artists and the books that inform them

Pro Arts Jersey City presents "A Margin of Influence: Artists and the books that inform them" at ART150 Gallery from May 8-31, 2026. Curated by Raymond E. Mingst and Arthur Bruso, the group exhibition features ten artists—including Agnieszka Wszolkowska, Alvin Quiñones, Brad Terhune, Dorie Dahlberg, Elliot Appel, Hank Yaghooti, Josephine Barreiro, Laura Lou Levy, Nanette Reynolds Beachner, and Peter Delman—who explore how books shape their creative practice. The show runs weekends with an opening reception on May 8.

Art Week holdovers: Here are some exhibits you can still catch in Miami

Miami Art Week has concluded, but several exhibitions remain on view for locals to enjoy. The article highlights shows at venues including Collective 62, El Espacio 23, Fifth & Biscayne Micro Gallery, KDR Gallery, Spinello Projects, and Locust Project, featuring artists such as Tara Long, Susan Kim Alvarez, and Jennifer Basile. These exhibitions range from text-based art and photography to large-scale installations, with closing dates extending through early 2026.

house of griffins ancient rome restoration 2737121

The House of Griffins, an ancient Roman residence on Rome's Palatine Hill dating back to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C.E., is opening to the public on March 3 after a major restoration. Discovered by archaeologist Giacomo Boni in the 19th century, the domus features vivid frescoes, mosaic floors, and a stucco lunette with griffins. The Colosseum Archaeological Park led the restoration in 2024, reinforcing structural integrity and conserving wall paintings. Visitors cannot access the underground chambers directly; instead, they will experience a real-time, remote tour via a livestream narrated by a guide with a video camera.

hard truths curator invisibility 1234760488

The article, presented as an advice column by consultants Chen & Lampert in ARTnews, addresses two anonymous letters from art-world professionals. The first letter is from a curator at a major museum who feels underpaid, invisible, and constrained by an ethics policy that prevents freelance work, while colleagues at smaller institutions enjoy more freedom. The second letter is from a veteran graphic designer and illustrator, active since the 1960s, who laments losing commercial clients to younger, cheaper talent using AI and smartphones. The consultants respond with sharp, critical advice: they tell the curator to consider collective action with colleagues to push for institutional reform, and advise the designer to leverage their legacy and experience rather than accept obsolescence.

Collaborative art exhibition at Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art and Design explores the weight and wonder of ordinary things

A new collaborative exhibition titled *Tension & Tenderness: The Domestic Surreal* has opened at Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The show unites artists Michael Pfleghaar and Lisa Walcott, who explore the hidden forces within everyday domestic life. Pfleghaar’s paintings blend queer-coded interiors and still-life scenes with abstract elements, while Walcott’s kinetic sculptures repurpose household objects like brooms and drying racks to evoke gravity, breathing, and tension. The exhibition is curated by KCAD Exhibitions Director Michele Bosak and runs through November 15 in the KCAD FLEXgallery.

Street Artists Take On Monumental Infrastructure in ‘Impossible’ Photos

Photographer Joseph Ford collaborates with street artists like Antonyo Marest, Alex Senna, and MadC on his 'Impossible Street Art' series. The artists create trompe-l'œil interventions on Ford's photographs of massive infrastructure sites, which he then documents on an easel placed in front of the actual location, creating the illusion of monumental, site-specific street art.

elizabeth king louise bonnet swiss institute show interview

The Swiss Institute in New York has opened a new exhibition titled “De Anima,” pairing sculptor Elizabeth King and painter Louise Bonnet. Curated by director Stefanie Hessler, the show explores the boundaries between the living and the lifelike, featuring King's intricate automata and stop-motion films alongside Bonnet's large-scale oil paintings of fleshy, gestural figures. The artists, introduced by Hessler at an opening last year, discovered a shared fascination with involuntary bodily movements—twitching eyes, clenched jaws—and the invisible labor of artistic craftsmanship.

The Hands That Feed: New Art Exhibit at Museum Highlights Farm Workers - The Source Weekly

The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, has unveiled a new solo exhibition titled "Miguel Almeida: Las Manos que dan de Comer" (The Hands That Feed). Featuring large-scale murals, hand-painted animations, and a ten-foot-tall cutout figure surrounded by actual soil, the installation explores the daily lives and human stories of farm workers in the American West. Almeida, a first-generation Mexican American artist based in Boise, draws from his own family history of agricultural labor to create vibrant, contemporary works influenced by skateboarding culture and Mexican folk traditions.

Insight: Conserving Across Exhibitions

The Denver Art Museum is hosting a public insight session focused on the specialized work of its conservation department. Conservators will present behind-the-scenes details regarding the treatment of artworks and objects prepared for several major exhibitions, including the mid-century modern showcase "Space Is the Place" at The Kirkland and the textile-focused "Conversation Pieces."

On View in the RSM Art Gallery: The Gleanings by Joetta Maue

RSM Gallery is presenting "The Gleanings," a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Joetta Maue featuring photography, installation, and embroidery. The show runs from October 16 to November 25, 2025, with an artist talk and opening reception on October 16 and a Reading Room Event on November 4 where visitors are invited to share books and excerpts. Maue's work explores the sublime within everyday life, focusing on overlooked fragments, ephemeral light, and the traces of the body across space and time, with embroideries that transcribe her research notations and a large wall installation titled "Sojourn" mapping geographies of artist residencies.

yuko mohri tunes into the unseen energies connecting people and objects

Japanese artist Yuko Mohri has created an exhibition where decomposing fruit powers electronic systems, and visitors move through the installations, becoming part of the circulation of energy within the show. The work explores the unseen energies connecting people and objects, blending organic decay with technological interactivity.

The Art of Performing Maintenance

This article explores the work of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who in 1969 wrote her "Manifesto for Maintenance Art" after experiencing a crisis of meaning following the birth of her first child. She proposed that routine maintenance tasks—like cleaning, cooking, and laundry—could be redefined as art when performed in public, particularly in museums. The article traces her early exhibitions at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, where she swept and mopped as performance, and her later projects interviewing passersby on New York City sidewalks and embedding herself in a Manhattan office building, where she invited workers to declare their maintenance tasks art.

In Antwerp, as photography show asks 'What is a normal family?'

The FOMU photography museum in Antwerp has opened a new exhibition titled 'Families', curated by Anne Ruygt. The show explores the evolving concept of family through historical and contemporary photography, featuring works by artists such as Mous Lamrabat, Cecil Beaton, Omar Victor Diop, Mayara Ferrão, Peter Hujar, Carmen Winant, and Seiichi Furuya. It includes diverse perspectives, from 'hidden mother portraits' and post-mortem photography to AI-generated images of queer Black and Indigenous women, questioning traditional notions of kinship and representation.

Anti-Russia Protests Spread Beyond the Biennale and Into Venice

Protests against the reopening of the Russian pavilion erupted at the Venice Biennale and spread across the city on the second day of the 61st edition. Visual artist Shalva Nikvashvili, who grew up in post-Soviet Georgia, began a silent performance wearing a muzzle-style mask and carrying a chair, holding a sign reading “La Biennale di Venezia” and “violence.” Shortly after, a group of about 20 protesters led by Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova gathered outside the Russian pavilion, chanting against Vladimir Putin, waving Ukrainian flags, and releasing a pink smoke flare. The protests followed the Biennale's decision to allow Russia to participate for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, despite calls from artists and politicians to exclude the country.

'Is This Art?': Mulberry Art Studios' newest exhibition features cryptic art from telephone poles

Mulberry Art Studios in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has launched a posthumous exhibition titled "Is This Art?: The Collected Works of Donald Shoffstall." The show features a collection of photocopied signs and posters that Shoffstall, a local figure who experienced homelessness, stapled to telephone poles throughout the city during the late 20th century. Curated by Steve Sylvester and Jerry Greiner, the exhibition presents these stream-of-consciousness writings and abstract graphic works as significant pieces of outsider art.

Guatemala’s Bienal de Arte Paiz nurtures connections across geography and history

The 24th edition of Guatemala’s Bienal de Arte Paiz, titled "The World Tree" and curated by Eugenio Viola, runs until 15 February across 11 venues in Antigua and Guatemala City. It features 46 artists from 30 countries, with 31 commissioned works, making it the largest and longest edition in the biennial's history. The organizing non-profit, Fundación Paiz, has also created its first permanent exhibition venue, which soft-launched with a performance by Cuban artist Carlos Martiel.

A look inside the ‘Dreamworld’ of surrealism at the Philadelphia Art Museum

The Philadelphia Art Museum opened 'Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100,' a traveling exhibition marking the centenary of surrealism, which originated in France in 1924. The show, curated by Matthew Affron, features about 180 works from the museum's own collection and loans from Europe and the Americas, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Remedios Varo, and Joseph Cornell. The opening occurred the day after the museum's board abruptly fired CEO Sasha Suda, with interim director Louis Marchesano declining to comment on the termination and focusing on the exhibition instead.

Aichi Triennale confronts war, memory and environmental collapse

The sixth edition of the Aichi Triennale, titled "A Time Between Ashes and Roses," opened in Japan in September and runs until 30 November. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, the first non-Japanese artistic director of the triennial, the exhibition confronts themes of war, displacement, memory, and environmental collapse. Works include Kubo Hiroko's tapestry marking the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and a video installation by Palestinian duo Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Al Qasimi explicitly linked the triennial to the situation in Gaza, stating, "Free Palestine," during a press conference. Controversy erupted over the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a separate prefectural initiative pairing Israeli startups with local companies, leading to protests and the resignation of vice chairman Hideyuki Tomita from the organizing committee.

Saodat Ismailova “When the Water Turns to Wind” at Portikus, Frankfurt

Saodat Ismailova “When the Water Turns to Wind” at Portikus, Frankfurt

Uzbek artist Saodat Ismailova has opened a major solo exhibition, "When the Water Turns to Wind," at Portikus in Frankfurt. The presentation features a new, immersive film installation that weaves together ancestral myths, sonic landscapes, and the ecological history of Central Asia, focusing on the region's disappearing rivers and steppes. The work continues her long-term exploration of memory and cultural preservation.

Potatoes Grow on Trees: Hu Yinping Replants Meaning in Making

Beijing-based artist Hu Yinping is presenting three major works in Hong Kong this March, including the installation 'Potatoes Grow on Trees' in the Encounters sector of Art Basel Hong Kong. The works stem from her long-running project 'Hu Xiaofang,' a semi-fictional company that employs women in rural China to create crocheted artworks, redistributing income and visibility to this often-overlooked demographic.

Vibrant Victorian-Era Transparencies Illuminate a Host of Microscopic Creatures

Osh Gallery in London is exhibiting 'The Hudson Transparencies,' a collection of 58 original illustrations by Charles Thomas Hudson, a 19th-century educator and amateur scientist. Created for his lectures, these large-scale transparencies (37.8 by 29.5 inches) combine painted paper and perforated pinholes to depict microscopic creatures such as rotifers, algae, protozoa, and marine organisms. When back-lit, the dark, seemingly unfinished images transform into vivid, detailed visions of life invisible to the naked eye, showcasing the intersection of Victorian-era optical innovation and scientific discovery.