‘Was she going to an appointment, maybe even a romantic one?’: ASA’s best phone picture

ASA, an anonymous photographer, captured a candid iPhone X image in Bastia, Corsica, during the summer of 2018. The photograph shows a woman walking through strong sunlight, reduced to a silhouette against burned facades. ASA waited patiently for the right passerby, later imagining the woman might be heading to a romantic appointment, though they emphasize the work is about shape, movement, and contrast rather than identity.

Winners of LCE photographer of the year 2026 – in pictures

The London Camera Exchange has announced the winners of its 2026 Photographer of the Year competition, which received nearly 14,500 entries across 14 categories. The overall winner is UK-based retired teacher Sophia Spurgin for her spontaneous portrait 'Fish Eyes,' capturing a fisherman in Hoi An, Vietnam. Other category winners include Colin Page, Dikye Ariani, and Brooke Shaden.

New book shows why physical maps have an important role to play in our digital world

Professor James Cheshire spent three years cataloging forgotten maps in a University College London storage room, resulting in the book 'The Library of Lost Maps.' The volume presents 96 historically significant maps, ranging from a pre-atomic bomb Hiroshima map to a Victorian geological survey of India, highlighting their physical fragility and hidden stories.

reddit rart drama prints hayden williams

A controversy erupted on the Reddit forum r/Art after Brooklyn-based digital artist Hayden Clay Williams posted his work *Clear Boundaries* (2025) and mentioned in a comment that prints were available. This violated the subreddit's strict anti-self-promotion rules, leading a moderator to permanently ban Williams and delete all his past posts. Williams shared the exchange on X, where it gained 11 million views, sparking widespread backlash. Users spammed the forum with the word "print" and pressured the moderators, who eventually resigned en masse, leaving the subreddit frozen and without new posts for a week.

Vantaa Art Museum Artsi's exhibition Empathy explores the multilayered nature of emotion, power, and connection

The Vantaa Art Museum Artsi has launched "Empathy," a multifaceted exhibition exploring the psychological, social, and technological dimensions of emotional connection. The show features diverse works that examine how facial expressions and gestures communicate feelings, while also addressing the power dynamics of who is allowed to tell their story. A central highlight is Ali Akbar Mehta’s immersive installation, which utilizes an archive of 30,000 video clips and XR technology to analyze how digital algorithms and visual overexposure to violence affect human compassion.

Angela de la Cruz Breaks the Frame

The art world is witnessing a significant shift toward the 'one-work exhibition,' a format that rejects the traditional gallery model of high-volume displays in favor of singular, immersive encounters. By isolating a single masterpiece or installation, institutions are encouraging 'slow looking' and recasting the act of viewing as a deliberate spatial experience. This trend serves as a direct response to the digital age's relentless pace and the overwhelming 'glut' of contemporary visual culture.

Open Studios event in Fish Hoek and Clovelly: A celebration of local art

The inaugural Open Studios Fish Hoek and Clovelly (OSFHC) launched on October 3, showcasing the artwork of 19 local artists across 15 studios in the South African coastal communities of Fish Hoek and Clovelly over the weekend. A large-scale art installation was placed in the front windows of the 97-year-old family-run department store AP Jones to promote the event. Participating artists include Susan Didcott, Marlise Keith, Sue Kaplan, Yda Walt, Mandy Johnston, and organizer Lauren Shantall, with works ranging from sculpture and paint pieces to textile art and live material burns.

Palmer Museum unfolds contemporary exhibition on the ancient medium of paper

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State has opened a new exhibition titled "Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper," running from June 7 to July 27. The show features nine contemporary Japanese artists—Hina Aoyama, Eriko Horiki, Kyoko Ibe, Yoshio Ikezaki, Kakuko Ishii, Yuko Kimura, Yuko Nishimura, Takaaki Tanaka, and Ayomi Yoshida—who transform traditional handmade washi paper into textured two-dimensional works, sculptures, and installations. The exhibition explores paper's versatility through techniques like layering, weaving, and folding, highlighting its connection to the natural world.

Il duo di artisti internazionali Gawęda/Kulbokaitė sono a Roma per la prima volta con una mostra su identità e percezione

The international artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė present their debut exhibition in Rome, titled "Spit and Image," at the Basement gallery. The show, on view until July 10, 2026, features sculptures, installations, and videos that explore identity construction in the digital age, using mirrors, fragmented bodies, and olfactory elements. Works like "Yield (twinning)" (2025) and "Spit and Image 1 and 2" (2025) evoke surveillance, metamorphosis, and duplication, while the Slavic vampire figure of the upiór serves as a metaphor for fluid, non-binary identities.

The Animals We Are. The New Metamorphosis of the Apartment-Showroom Casaornella in Milan

Gli animali che siamo. La nuova metamorfosi dell’appartamento-showroom Casaornella a Milano

Interior designer Maria Vittoria Paggini has unveiled the 2026 edition of Casaornella, her apartment-showroom in Milan's Via Conca del Naviglio 10, during Design Week. Titled "L'animale sociale" (The Social Animal) with the subtitle "Nessuno mi può giudicare" (Nobody Can Judge Me), the space is completely restructured each year. For this edition, Paggini removed all doors to create a fluid, open-plan layout, using curtains for privacy. The project explores themes of authenticity and human relationships in the digital age, inspired by Italian pop songs from Mina to Luigi Tenco, which form the exhibition's soundtrack.

Tugboat Printshop Marks 20 Years of Making Meticulously Crafted Woodblock Prints

Tugboat Printshop, founded by Valerie Lueth, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The studio specializes in meticulously hand-carved woodblock prints, often using up to five distinct blocks layered with colorful ink to create detailed images of flora and fauna. Editions are typically limited to around 100 prints. To mark the milestone, the shop is offering a limited-time discount on original woodcut prints, and Lueth continues to share behind-the-scenes images on Flickr and Instagram.

NICOLÁS GÓMEZ ECHEVERRI: “LA TRASCENDENCIA DEL MUSEO ES VULNERABLE A LA IMPOSICIÓN DE MODAS POR PARTE DEL ALGORITMO”

Nicolás Gómez Echeverri, director of the Unidad de Artes y Otras Colecciones at the Banco de la República de Colombia, reflects on the challenges facing museums in Iberoamérica in an interview published for International Museum Day. He oversees institutions including the Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia (MAMU), the Museo Botero, and the Casa de Moneda. Gómez Echeverri describes the museum as a "radar" that captures decentralized artistic practices and integrates them into collective narratives, while emphasizing the need for mediation, public debate, and long-term cultural projects amid economic constraints and the pressures of digital immediacy.

art cosmos odessa azion app

Tech entrepreneur Andy McCune launched Cosmos, a digital platform designed for artists and creatives, starting in 2021 after selling his previous company Unfold to Squarespace. Originally a Pinterest-like tool for mood boards and visual inspiration, Cosmos was named one of Apple’s 25 apps of 2025 after its public launch last summer. The platform has since evolved to address creators' needs, introducing tools that ensure proper image credit attribution, enabling collaborative mood boards, and allowing users to block AI-generated content from their feeds. To celebrate the rollout of its next phase, Cosmos commissioned a short film starring Odessa A’zion, directed by Aidan Cullen, with an exclusive preview and interview with McCune.

‘Digital Meets Creativity’ – Seminar & Exhibition featuring Korean Media Artists at UNESCO

UNESCO hosted a seminar and exhibition titled 'Digital Meets Creativity' on September 12, 2016, at its headquarters in Paris, featuring Korean media artists Han Ho and Byeong Sam Jeon. The exhibition, 'Technology in Contemporary Art,' showcased works that blend digital technologies with artistic practice, including Han Ho's holographic and LED installations and Jeon's interactive video and kinetic pieces. The event was part of 'KOREA-UNESCO week' and included remarks from UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Korean Ambassador Byong Hyun Lee, and Assistant Director General Francesco Bandarin.

Christmas magic on display as Greenock Art Club return with winter exhibition

Greenock Art Club has opened its winter exhibition at Stables Studios in Gourock, showcasing over 100 artworks from around 50 members. The exhibition, which opened the previous weekend, continues on Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30, featuring paintings, handmade crafts, jewelry, and Christmas decorations available for purchase. Featured artists include Lana Zukevych, a 22-year-old Ukrainian member who joined earlier this year, alongside club secretary Arlene O'Donnell and trustee Catherine Soulier.

A World Reshaped by A.I. Needs Museums More Than Ever

The New York Times article argues that as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms society, museums have become more essential than ever. It contends that museums offer a crucial counterbalance to the speed and abstraction of AI by providing spaces for slow, embodied, and critical engagement with history, culture, and human creativity. The piece emphasizes that museums are not just repositories of the past but vital institutions for fostering the kind of deep thinking, empathy, and perspective needed to navigate an AI-driven world.

Why the art market should finally be on LinkedIn

Warum der Kunstmarkt endlich auf LinkedIn sollte

The article argues that the art market's heavy reliance on Instagram for communication and sales is misguided, suggesting that LinkedIn offers far greater potential for business-to-business transactions and professional networking. It critiques the art world's preference for Instagram's visual focus, noting that LinkedIn's professional environment and targeting capabilities are better suited for discreet, high-value art sales.

An Anthology on Time

Une anthologie sur le temps

The publishing house Citadelles & Mazenod has released a new anthology titled "Écrire le temps. De l’Antiquité à nos jours" (Writing Time: From Antiquity to the Present Day). Edited by Pascal Dethurens, the 480-page volume compiles a vast array of literary sources on the concept of time, from ancient thinkers to contemporary writers, and pairs these texts with a wide variety of artistic representations.

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.

Atmosphere is the star in new exhibition at James Cope Gallery

James Cope Gallery has unveiled a new exhibition where the primary focus shifts from individual subjects to the evocative power of atmosphere. The presentation prioritizes mood, lighting, and spatial resonance, inviting viewers to engage with the sensory qualities of the environment rather than traditional narrative structures.

Refreshing Turn to Craft at AIPAD’s Photography Show

The AIPAD Photography Show, a major fair dedicated to fine art photography, took a refreshing turn by emphasizing craft and handmade processes. The event featured a notable shift away from purely digital and commercial photography, highlighting works that incorporate traditional techniques such as cyanotypes, photogravures, and hand-applied color. Galleries presented pieces that blurred the line between photography and other media, including mixed-media works and artist books, reflecting a growing interest in the tactile and artisanal aspects of the medium.

What Oototol’s Art Reveals about Indonesian History

Tara Anne Dalbow explores the emerging trend of 'one-work exhibitions,' where galleries and museums dedicate an entire show to a single masterpiece. This format encourages 'slow looking,' a meditative practice that prioritizes deep engagement and spatial experience over the rapid-fire consumption of images typical of the digital age.

Scholars and curators share museum practice cases at Beijing symposium

A symposium for young scholars and curators was recently held at Beijing's Culture Palace of Nationalities, moderated by a council of museums with ethnic content from the Chinese Museums Association. Ten speakers from museums, cultural institutions and universities, both on-site and online, presented case studies and ideas under the theme "Bridge, Symbiosis," focusing on the research and exhibition of China's ethnic cultures. The event coincided with International Museum Day, when many museums and art spaces opened their doors to the public, with exhibitions and events held throughout the week to encourage more time at museums.

The power of fandom

The art world is increasingly grappling with the rise of 'fandom' culture, where the intense, collective energy of online communities and pop-culture enthusiasts is reshaping traditional institutional engagement. This shift sees museums and galleries moving away from purely academic or elitist frameworks to embrace the participatory and often commercial power of dedicated fan bases.

Can Video Art Rewire South Korea’s Global Image?

The rise of the 'one-work exhibition' is transforming the traditional museum experience by focusing an entire show on a single object. These minimalist presentations prioritize 'slow looking' and spatial immersion, forcing viewers to engage deeply with a lone masterpiece rather than scanning through a crowded gallery of multiple works.

Photography Is…

The article 'Photography Is...' from Glasstire is a conceptual piece that presents the title as a prompt, leaving the definition of photography open-ended. The text consists solely of the title and source, functioning as a minimalist statement or an invitation for reader interpretation.

New York State Museum begins $150m modernisation project

The New York State Museum in Albany has launched a comprehensive $150 million modernization project funded by the state. Led by new director Jennifer Saunders and supported by Governor Kathy Hochul, the initiative includes infrastructure upgrades, the formation of a visioning task force, and a plan to double the number of annual major exhibitions. The project aims to update the museum's aging displays with more interactive technology and contemporary narratives, beginning with a Barbie retrospective and an upcoming exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Over a Hundred Thousand Images Later: Dan Kane, a Retrospective

The South Dakota Art Museum will present "Over a Hundred Thousand Images Later: Dan Kane, a Retrospective" from June 28 to September 28, 2025. The exhibition showcases the career of Dan Kane, a South Dakota-born photographer who has lived in Berlin for decades, featuring his analog black-and-white photographs that explore the male nude and South Dakota landscapes. Curated by Hunter O'Hanian, the show includes works from 1987 onward and is supported by anonymous and named sponsors.