Exhibition | Haegue Yang, 'Leap Year' at Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Hayward Gallery in London is presenting 'Leap Year', the first major UK survey of internationally celebrated artist Haegue Yang. The exhibition spans Yang's career from the early 2000s to the present, featuring key works from her Light Sculptures and Sonic Sculptures series alongside three new commissions. Yang's practice incorporates a vast range of media—from paper collage and performative sculpture to immersive sensory installations—using household and industrial objects such as drying racks, light bulbs, metal-plated bells, and hanji (Korean paper) to explore themes of labour, migration, and displacement.

Recommissioned Rebels

The exhibition "Monuments," co-organized by The Brick and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), features ten former Confederate monuments removed from public spaces across the American South. Highlights include Kara Walker's reconfigured "Unmanned Drone" (formerly Charlottesville's Stonewall Jackson monument), Richmond's toppled Jefferson Davis statue, and a graffitied Matthew Fontaine Maury statue. Co-curator Hamza Walker explains the show began after the 2015 Charleston church shooting and gained urgency following George Floyd's murder in 2020, involving complex negotiations with city governments and stewards to secure the politically charged pieces.

MOCAD Reopens with New Exhibitions from Detroit Artists

Detroit's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAD) has reopened after an eight-month closure for construction, unveiling four new exhibitions as part of its 2026 Spring Exhibition and 20th anniversary. The renovations include a new HVAC system, educational space, and windows that allow passersby to see inside. The building has been renamed the Julia Reyes Taubman Building in honor of the late co-founder, whose family contributed $1.8 million toward the $3 million first phase. Mayor Mary Sheffield toured the exhibitions at an April 23 media preview, praising the museum's role in community healing and access. Featured exhibitions include "Olayami Dabls: Detroit Cosmologies," the first retrospective of the artist's nearly 50-year career, showcasing his evolution from figurative acrylics to abstract collage.

What else is happening

Was sonst noch geht

Ahead of the Gallery Weekend Berlin (May 1–3), the city is buzzing with parallel exhibitions that extend far beyond the official gallery circuit. The fourth edition of the Sellerie Weekend opens over 75 independent Off-Spaces from April 30 to May 3, featuring performances, curated tours, and a kickoff event with artist Sophia Süßmilch at the Spoiler project space. The Paper Positions art fair returns to Tempelhof Airport (April 30–May 3) with 70 international galleries specializing in works on paper, including artists like Annegret Soltau, Una Ursprung, and Stefanie Moshammer. Meanwhile, the art initiative House presents the group show "Gravity Ease Contract" in the Berghain heating plant hall (May 1–24), curated by David Douard, with works by Susan Philipsz, Julia Scher, and others. Finally, collectors Karen and Christian Boros unveil "Berlin Bunker #5" in their bunker-turned-museum, featuring recent acquisitions by Pol Taburet, Sung Tieu, and Jill Mulleady.

Wohin am Checkpoint Charlie?

The article covers the Berlin Gallery Weekend, highlighting a cluster of exhibitions around Checkpoint Charlie. It features light art, political sculpture, textile experiments, and spatial interventions. Among the participants is Galerie Max Goelitz, which presents James Turrell's light installation series "Small Elliptical Glass 'First Cause'" (2024) at its Berlin space in Rudi-Dutschke-Straße, as part of the "Perspectives" section.

Frieze New York Diary: celeb sightings and a swag-filled party

Frieze New York's VIP preview at the Shed drew celebrities including CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, artist and REM singer Michael Stipe, and actress Sharon Stone. A party in Tribeca celebrated the upcoming Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis, featuring a custom scent by artist Emma McCormick Goodhart. Highlights include a musical performance by Oglála Lakȟóta artist Kite and a special Look Book photo studio capturing art-world figures like collector Beth Rudin DeWoody and Frieze London director Eva Langret.

What not to miss at the 2026 Venice Biennale

The article highlights five standout pavilions and installations at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Florentina Holzinger's Austrian pavilion features extreme, nude performances including a woman submerged in a urine-purified tank, drawing police attention. Sanya Kantarovsky presents eerie paintings and a Murano glass sculpture in a historic palazzo. Gabrielle Goliath's 'Elegy'—a hypnotic mourning performance for women killed in violence—was banned by South Africa but staged with London's Ibraaz. Carrie Schneider's 1.5km photographic curl in the Arsenale references Chris Marker's 'La Jetée'. Lydia Ourahmane's delicate sculptural show uses materials sourced from Venice, including a bead curtain made by inmates.

Derrick Adams to Install Monumental Portrait of Koyo Kouoh in Venice During the Biennale

Artist Derrick Adams will install a monumental banner version of his collage "Heavy is the head that wears the crown" (2026) on the facade of the Palazzetto dello sport Giobatta Gianquinto in Venice, near the Arsenale, during the Venice Biennale. The work features a portrait of the late curator Koyo Kouoh, artistic director of the 2026 Venice Biennale, with the word "JOY" radiating golden rays above her head. The tribute was conceived by curator Francesco Bonami, who had invited Kouoh to serve on the Golden Lion jury for his 2003 Biennale, and developed after a studio visit with Adams.

Has a new Banksy statue just appeared in central London?

A new statue has appeared on Waterloo Place in central London, bearing the signature of elusive street artist Banksy. The artwork depicts a suited man carrying a large flag that covers his face, stepping off a plinth, and blends with nearby bronze and granite monuments. Sightings were first reported on Wednesday 29 April, but how and when the statue was erected in this busy intersection remains unknown. Banksy has not yet posted the work on his Instagram account, his usual method of authentication, though crowds have already gathered.

New Jersey Father and Daughter Plead Guilty to $2 M. Counterfeit Art Scheme

Two New Jersey residents, Erwin Bankowski and his daughter Karolina Bankowska, pleaded guilty to running a counterfeit art scheme that funneled over 200 fake works into the legitimate market between 2020 and 2025. The pair consigned forgeries attributed to artists including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Banksy, and Luiseño artist Fritz Scholder to galleries and auction houses across the United States, defrauding buyers of at least $2 million. They fabricated ownership histories, forged gallery stamps and certificates of authenticity using antique books and aged paper, and now face up to 20 years in prison plus restitution.

Francois Boisrond prend de la hauteur

French artist François Boisrond, a key figure of the 1980s Figuration libre movement, presents his new series "Ouvrages d'art" at Galerie Maïa Muller in Paris. The series reinterprets monumental architecture—including the Millau Viaduct, the Pont de Normandie, Mont Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame, and the Eiffel Tower—using drone-sourced images. Boisrond employs a new liquid acrylic technique that creates a matte, flat finish, producing works that appear hyperrealistic from a distance but dissolve into impressionistic or pixelated abstraction up close. The exhibition, extended through May 16, 2026, features large-format paintings priced between €25,000 and €50,000.

Montclair Art Museum Names Kate Kraczon Chief Curator

The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) has appointed Kate Kraczon as its new Chief Curator, effective June 15, 2026. Kraczon, a nationally respected curator with over two decades of experience, joins MAM from Brown University, where she served as Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator of the David Winton Bell Gallery. At Brown, she oversaw a program of more than 7,000 works and developed partnerships with major institutions including the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Her previous roles include Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, where she organized over 30 exhibitions.

Raghu Rai, pioneering Indian photographer, 1942–2026

Raghu Rai, the pioneering Indian photographer and photojournalist, has died at age 84. Over his career, he produced more than 30 books covering subjects such as Tibetan exile, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and Sikhs in India. His most famous work documented the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster, first for India Today and later for Greenpeace, resulting in the book *Exposure: A Corporate Crime* and exhibitions that toured Europe, the US, and Bangladesh. Rai began his career at The Statesman in 1966, joined India Today in 1982, and became a member of Magnum Photos in 1977 under the patronage of Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972 for his coverage of the 1971 India-Pakistan War and the plight of Bangladeshi refugees.

Maddy Inez’s Mystic Ceramics Tell the Hidden Stories of Ancestral Plants

Ceramist Maddy Inez, daughter of artist Alison Saar and granddaughter of assemblage pioneer Betye Saar, creates hand-built biomorphic ceramic sculptures inspired by mysticism and ancestral knowledge. Her works have recently grown in scale, reflecting a deepening exploration of hidden stories tied to ancestral plants.

May 2026 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists

Colossal's May 2026 opportunities roundup lists multiple open calls, residencies, and grants for artists worldwide. Featured opportunities include the Scenerium 2026 Art Award (deadline May 7), the Hopper Prize offering $4,500 and $1,000 artist grants (deadline May 12), and the SaveArtSpace Billboard Art Open Call curated by Gigi Chen (deadline May 7). Other listings include the YICCA Art Prize, CIFRA Award, Cass Art Prize for the U.K. and Ireland, Sunshine Coast National Art Prize in Australia, an opportunity to get published in Artistonish magazine, and the Abbey Mural Prize.

Check out these art exhibits on display in Boulder, Longmont

A comprehensive roundup lists dozens of art exhibitions currently on view in Boulder, Longmont, and Lafayette, Colorado, spanning venues from commercial galleries and nonprofit art centers to libraries and museums. Featured shows include "Tres Voces, Un Corazón" at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring three members of one family—Sylvia Montero, Tony Ortega, and Cipriano Ortega; "We Choose Earth" by Jorge Vinent at Ana’s Art Gallery; and "Black Futures in Art – Genome Speaks What Erasure Cannot Silence" at the Collective Community Arts Center. Other highlights include "Threaded Narratives" by the Colorado South Asian Artist Group, "Unfinished" by Lewis TallBull at the Dairy Arts Center, and "Boulder Eats! Traditions Along the Front Range" at the Museum of Boulder.

Lowry Hill Gallery Exhibition: Kirsten Tradowsky, “Annemarie’s Vision”

Lowry Hill Gallery is hosting an exhibition titled “Annemarie’s Vision” featuring the work of artist Kirsten Tradowsky. The show is presented in partnership with Minnesota Women's Press, highlighting Tradowsky's artistic exploration of vision and narrative.

LR Vandy tells stories of labor, movement, and collective resistance through rope sculptures

British artist LR Vandy presents 'Rise' at Yorkshire Sculpture Park's Weston Gallery, featuring rope sculptures that appear caught mid-motion. The exhibition includes works like 'A Call to Dance,' a monumental maypole form, and explores themes of tension, labor, and movement through maritime fibers sourced from her studio at Chatham Dockyard. The sculptures climb walls, loop through pulleys, and collapse onto the floor, evoking both architectural strength and delicate fragility.

Carole A. Feuerman | Miniature Serena (with Blue-Green Tube) (2021) | For Sale

Carole A. Feuerman's sculpture "Miniature Serena (with Blue-Green Tube)" (2021) is being offered for sale. The work is an oil on resin piece with 24K gold leaf cap, table-top scale, measuring 10 x 17 x 8 inches, from a variant of 10. Feuerman, born in 1945, is an American sculptor and author credited with co-founding the Hyperrealist movement in the late 1970s, known for figurative works of swimmers and dancers. Her public sculptures have been displayed globally, including at Central Park, the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Venice Biennale, and the State Hermitage Museum. She has received multiple awards, including the Medici Award, and her works are in the permanent collections of 31 museums and owned by notable figures such as Steven A. Cohen, former President Bill Clinton, and Dr. Henry Kissinger.

'Significant' at D Lan Galleries, Melbourne on 14 May–27 Jun 2026

D Lan Galleries is presenting 'Significant', a major exhibition of secondary-market Australian First Nations art, running from 14 May to 27 June 2026 across its spaces in Melbourne, Sydney, and New York. The show features the Carey Lyon and Jo Crosby Collection, including rare early Papunya paintings from 1971–1972, such as Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi's 'Man Dreaming 1972' and Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa's 'Honey Ant Travelling Dreaming 1971', alongside later works by Emily Kam Kngwarray, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, and Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu.

Exhibition | Kelly Akashi, 'Heirloom' at Lisson Gallery, 508 West 24th Street, New York, United States

Kelly Akashi presents her first exhibition with Lisson Gallery in New York, titled 'Heirloom,' featuring a new body of work that explores loss, grief, and absence through sculpture. The exhibition includes bronze, Corten steel, flame-worked glass, and carved stone pieces, many inspired by her garden and personal artifacts like an inherited stone ring and her grandmother's lace tablecloth. It coincides with her participation in the 2026 Whitney Biennial and a commission for John F. Kennedy International Airport's New Terminal One.

Acclaimed Wilkes Artist Ward Nichols dies

Ward Hampton Nichols, a celebrated artist from North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, died on May 5 at the age of 95 at the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, surrounded by his children. A few weeks before his passing, a celebration of his life, legacy, and art was held at the Wilkes Art Gallery. Nichols, born in 1930 in Welch, West Virginia, taught himself to draw as a child and later served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean conflict, where he designed a NATO shoulder patch and co-founded a shipboard newspaper. After his service, he pursued a lifelong passion for art, painting until January of this year, and was also an avid aviator and sports car enthusiast.

Exhibitions Coming to Houston Institutions in Summer 2026

Art museums and institutions across the Greater Houston area are opening a series of new exhibitions for summer 2026. Highlights include the Czech Center Museum Houston's solo show of travel photography by Clarice Marik Snokhous; Art League Houston presenting Marisol Valencia's installation "No Longer, Not Yet" and Juvana Soliven's "Subject to Surviving"; Houston Center for Photography featuring Simon Silva's "Madre Patria"; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston launching the first survey of Mary Ellen Carroll's work; and the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University hosting Masako Miki's first Texas exhibition.

More than 30 exhibitions on display in May at art centers from Marco Island to Sarasota

More than 30 exhibitions are on display in May at art centers across Southwest Florida, from Marco Island to Sarasota. Venues like Art Center Sarasota host shows featuring member, regional, and nationally renowned artists, including the "North Sarasota County Schools Spring Art Show" with over 1,500 student artists, solo exhibitions by Anja Palombo and Cat Tesla, and the "Architects Who Art" show co-curated by Morris Hylton III.

Studio Visit: Ding Yi on his major Venice exhibition ‘Cosmotechnics’

Artist Ding Yi, known for his decades-long dedication to the cross motif in abstraction, is preparing for his major Venice exhibition 'Cosmotechnics' at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia. The show, running from 9 May to 22 November 2026, features key archival works alongside a new series of twelve black-and-white basswood relief paintings and two stone steles carved with his signature cross pattern. Ding Yi reflects on his artistic journey, which began in 1988 at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, and his shift from strict geometric grids to more intuitive, cosmic-inspired compositions.

Birmingham Museum of Art to unveil new Black American art exhibition

The Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) announced it will unveil a landmark exhibition titled "Roll Call: Two Hundred Years of Black American Art" in September 2026. The show features 99 works drawn entirely from the museum's permanent collection, tracing two centuries of Black artistic production. Organized in four thematic sections—The Ground We Stand On, Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility, What Freedom Feels Like, and In the Heart of It All—the exhibition highlights the museum's history of collecting Black art, which began in 1971 and now includes over 1,000 works by 250 Black artists. The exhibition coincides with the museum's 75th anniversary and runs from September 26, 2026 to January 17, 2027.

Museum diplomacy in action at ICOM UK 2026: museums in a changing world

ICOM UK hosted its 2026 annual conference in Oxford, bringing together delegates from over 20 countries to explore the theme of 'Museum Diplomacy.' Keynote speaker Dr. Sascha Priewe of the Aga Khan Museum and ICOM Canada framed the current geopolitical moment as a 'GZERO World,' where no country is willing or able to lead globally, and discussed how sanctions, export controls, and shifting alliances are straining international museum collaborations. Sessions featured case studies from the Science Museum Group and International Arts & Artists, emphasizing that trust and networks, not grand gestures, are essential for enduring partnerships.

"Transformations" Art Exhibit at Wilton's browngrotta arts Explores Inventive Uses of Materials in Art

Wilton gallery browngrotta arts will present "Transformations: Dialogues in Art and Material" from May 9-17, 2026, a Spring exhibition exploring how artists transform materials such as clay, silk, steel, bark, seaweed, bamboo, and horsehair. The show features nearly three dozen international artists, including Kiyomi Iwata, John McQueen, Marian Bijlenga, Toshiko Takaezu, and Kay Sekimachi, whose works demonstrate what curator Glenn Adamson calls "material intelligence"—a deep understanding of material properties and possibilities. Co-curator Tom Grotta notes that artists often start with the same material yet arrive at remarkably distinct outcomes, revealing how artistic vision reshapes substance itself.

Gala Porras-Kim: Future spaces replicate earlier spaces

Gala Porras-Kim presents her first exhibition at kurimanzutto in Mexico City, titled "Future spaces replicate earlier spaces," running from April 11 to June 13, 2026. The show brings together works that examine how museums and conservation institutions reclassify objects removed from their original contexts, using reconstruction and resituating to explore their spatial, material, and temporal conditions. Central to the exhibition is the installation "The motion of an alluvial record" (2024), which recreates the humid marshland atmosphere of the Yucatán Peninsula inside the gallery, contrasting with the controlled climates of museums. Other works include drawings replicating wall decorations from the Techinantitla complex in Teotihuacan, which were fragmented and sold on the black market, and graphite drawings of objects by artist Brígido Lara, whose "original interpretations" of Totonac ritual clay objects were mistakenly catalogued as Pre-Hispanic artifacts in major museums.

5 Artists to See at Converge 45

New York curator Lumi Tan has organized the 2026 Converge 45 triennial in Portland, Oregon, titled "Here, To You, Now." Running from August 27 across more than 15 venues, the triennial prioritizes performances and time-based artworks over traditional gallery exhibitions, featuring both local and visiting artists. Tan, whose background includes stints at the Kitchen, Luna Luna, and Frieze New York, selected five standout artists: Lex Brown (presenting an operatic video and installation), Trisha Baga (a 3D video installation about AI and parenting), Rose Salane (archival works involving Princess Diana’s shoes), and Linda K. Johnson (a choreographer mapping Portland’s dance network).