India is returning to the Venice Biennale after a seven-year hiatus with a national pavilion in the Arsenale. The presentation, titled 'Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home,' will feature five artists: Alwar Balasubramaniam (Bala), Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Asim Waqif, and Skarma Sonam Tashi. The exhibition is curated by Amin Jaffer and is backed by India's Ministry of Culture and two cultural institutions.
Manuel Rabaté, the inaugural director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi since 2016, has been appointed as the first chief executive and director of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in New Delhi. He will step down from his current role on March 7 and join the Indian museum in the first half of this year.
Chicago-based artist Jan Tichy has created a new exhibition titled 'Darkness' at Michigan State University's Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The project is the result of a nearly nine-month collaboration with four MSU labs, most prominently the Department of Entomology, where Tichy worked with researchers and students to incorporate insects and scientific methods like blacklight sampling into the artwork.
The Wisconsin Artists Biennial exhibition opens at the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend from February 7 to April 19, featuring 52 works by 50 Wisconsin artists. Selected from nearly 500 artists who submitted over 1,200 entries, the show was juried by Nicole Jacquard, Taylor Jasper, and Melissa Oresky. The biennial awards $10,000 in cash prizes, including the MOWA Prize of $5,000 and a solo museum exhibition. An opening party on February 7 includes a reception, juror talk, and award presentation.
A long-lost portrait of Robert Burns by Henry Raeburn, painted in 1803, has gone on public display for the first time at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, just in time for Burns Night on 25 January. The painting resurfaced in a house clearance in Surrey and was auctioned in Wimbledon in March 2025 with a guide price of £300–£500; collector and Burns enthusiast William Zachs purchased it for £68,000 after a tense bidding war, gambling on the Raeburn attribution. Experts including Patricia Allerston and Duncan Thomson have since confirmed the work is authentic, and it is now exhibited alongside Alexander Nasmyth's 1787 portrait of Burns.
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) is presenting *Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings*, the first survey of the late conceptual artist’s work in over two decades. Running from January 24 to April 19, the exhibition draws on BAMPFA’s substantial holdings of Cha’s art and archives, showcasing her multidisciplinary practice—including concrete poetry, mail art, textiles, ceramics, performance, and film. Curator Victoria Sung, alongside curatorial associate Tausif Noor, aims to de-emphasize Cha’s best-known work, *Dictée*, and instead highlight the fluidity of her process, revisiting themes across different media from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. The show features a recreation of her 1980 film *Exilée*, documentation of performances such as *Réveillé dans la Brume* (1977), and early ceramics and textiles never before shown publicly.
The Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill will open two new exhibitions on January 30, 2026. "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men" presents introspective portraits of male students from Durham School of the Arts, exploring masculinity through photography and audio interviews. "Color Concentrated: A Salon-Style Show from the Robertson Collection" reimagines modernist works from the museum's collection in a dense, single-wall installation inspired by 19th-century Parisian Salons.
The 47th Annual Valley Visual Art Show has opened at the Carbondale Arts Gallery in Colorado, running from January 23 through February 26, 2026. Featuring 75 local artists, including Judy Fox-Perry, Marilyn Lowey, and Linda Halloran, the exhibition showcases a diverse range of works such as Fox-Perry's marble sculpture "In Good Hands," Lowey's surrealist-inspired photograph, and Halloran's kiln glass flowers. The show marks the first Carbondale Arts exhibit of the year and provides a platform for artists to experiment and present new creations.
The Countway Library at Harvard Medical School is hosting a closing ceremony for the art exhibition "Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to our Foremothers in Gynecology" on January 21. Developed by the Resilient Sisterhood Project, the multimedia exhibition highlights the exploitation of enslaved Black women—Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy—in the origins of modern gynecology, focusing on experiments by Dr. J. Marion Sims in the 1840s. The event will feature speakers including artists Jules Arthur, Dr. Michele David, Michelle Hartney, and others, along with community organizers.
Eleven artists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Art & Design explore the relationship between people and place in a new exhibition at Krannert Art Museum. Titled “Another Place: Storymaking the Entangled Prairie,” the show opens January 29 and runs through July 2, featuring sculpture, installation, photography, printmaking, video, and performance. Curated by art history professor Terri Weissman, the exhibition is tied to the Humanities Research Institute’s 2025-26 theme “Story and Place.” Works include Ryan Griffis’s multimedia project on the Illinois River Valley, Stephen Signa-Avilés’s wearable sculptural assemblage “The Recollector,” and Melissa Pokorny’s prairie-inspired installation.
Two museum exhibitions, one at Americas Society in New York and another at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, are reframing perceptions of Amazon civilizations by centering the artistic and cultural traditions of the region's Indigenous peoples. The New York show, "Amazonia Açu" (on view through April 18, 2026), features works by artists including Sara Flores, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, PV Dias, and the film collective Colectivo Tawna, blending mediums and challenging Western distinctions between art and craft. The Paris exhibition, "Amazônia – Indigenous Creations and Futures" (through January 18), presents the Amazon as a culturally rich, inhabited ecosystem rather than a pristine wilderness.
A new exhibition titled 'Not A Pretty Landscape' opens at Kaleider Studios in Exeter from January 31 to February 1, featuring 15 artists who present contemporary and unconventional views of the South West, deliberately avoiding traditional coastal and rural landscapes. Curated by Exeter-based artist Claire Le Day, the show emerged from an open call with no rules or experience requirements, only the condition that no pretty landscapes be submitted. Artists keep 100% of their profits, and most will be present to meet visitors and manage sales. Featured artists include Jo Beer, whose portraits have been recognized by the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Iranian galleries have closed or altered their hours as nationwide protests, sparked by economic turmoil and a crashing currency, escalated into violent unrest. The protests began on 28 December among bazaar traders and spread to artists and gallerists, with many shutting their doors or canceling exhibitions, some under public pressure. A government-imposed internet and communications blackout on 8 January has severely limited information, though one gallerist speaking anonymously described the closures as a unified act of solidarity across society, not merely a response to safety concerns. The gallerist noted that the economy is in its worst condition, with basic necessities unaffordable and even bubble-wrap prices fluctuating wildly. Another gallery founder confirmed that all projects are on hold, and staging exhibitions risks public backlash. Instagram account Galleryinfo.ir faced online criticism for promoting exhibitions during the crisis, while Bavan Gallery reversed its initial stance of "resilience is an art form" and announced it would hold no exhibitions.
The Marietta Cobb Museum of Art (MCMA) in Georgia is presenting its first juried exhibition focused exclusively on wood art and woodworking, titled "Georgia Wood Artists: A Juried Exhibition." Curated by Madeline Beck, the show features works selected from over 150 submissions by artists living in Georgia, including Arnold Abelman, Jody Pollack, Abraham Tesser, Thomas Williams, and Doug Pisik. The exhibition highlights a range of techniques such as carving, woodturning, marquetry, intarsia, joinery, and epoxy woodworking, and runs from January 10 to March 22, 2026.
The Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) in Finland is opening a new permanent gallery dedicated to Tove Jansson, the illustrator of the Moomins. The Tove Jansson Gallery will open on 13 February, spanning three exhibition halls, with the inaugural exhibition inspired by Jansson’s book *Comet in Moominland* and running through 24 January 2027. The gallery aims to showcase Jansson's art diversely and introduce new perspectives on her as both a Helsinki-based and international artist.
Elizabeth Goldring’s new biography of Hans Holbein the Younger takes a documentary-focused approach, prioritizing archival evidence over visual analysis. The book examines Holbein’s life (1497/8–1543) through chronological chapters, using inventories, correspondence, and other records to correct long-held assumptions and propose new theories about his work. Goldring’s detective work includes identifying the green curtain in Holbein’s portrait of Sir Thomas More as a reference to the sitter’s role as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and suggesting that a lost painting of the More family was given to Erasmus as a gift.
The British Museum in London is opening a major exhibition titled 'Hawai‘i: a Kingdom Crossing Oceans' (15 January–25 May), accompanied by a catalogue featuring over 150 works from ancient Hawaiian treasures to contemporary pieces. The show explores the historical and cultural ties between Hawaii and the UK, highlighting objects such as an 18th-century feather cloak gifted to a British captain, portraits of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu from their 1824 London visit, and a crested helmet. The catalogue includes an inventory of the entire Native Hawaiian collection at the British Museum, the largest outside Hawaii.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has announced its January 2026 schedule, headlined by the special exhibition "Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection," running through January 25. The month-long program includes a wide range of free events such as Kimbell Kids Drop-In Studios, docent tours, lectures like "Women of a Certain Age" by Jessica L. Fripp, film screenings including "Destination: Ancient Rome," family festivals, sensory-friendly hours, and guided tours of the museum's iconic buildings designed by Louis I. Kahn and Renzo Piano.
Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, has been knighted in the UK New Year Honours list for 2026, recognized for his services to museums. Other art-world figures honored include curator Ekow Eshun (OBE), art historian Marcia Pointon (OBE), cultural heritage expert Janet Blake (OBE), Jo Quinton-Tulloch of the National Science and Media Museum (OBE), Susan Bowers of the Pilgrim Trust (MBE), and Hilary McGrady of the National Trust (CBE).
The Arlington Museum of Art (AMA) presents the Annual Juried UTA Student Exhibition from October 30, 2025, through February 22, 2026, featuring 27 graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). The exhibition was juried and curated by Clare Milliken, Assistant Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, who selected works across bronze, blown glass, painting, photography, sculpture, and video art. UTA painting faculty Benjamin Terry coordinated the show for the second year, noting a shift toward introspective, material-focused works compared to last year's politically charged selections.
The Lee Kun-hee Collection international tour exhibition, titled "Treasures from Korea: Collecting, Cherishing, Sharing," opened at the National Museum of Asian Art under the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on March 15, 2025. Within one month, it attracted over 15,600 visitors—25% more than comparable past exhibitions—and all museum merchandise sold out within a week, generating approximately 100 million KRW in orders. The show features 330 works selected from over 23,000 pieces donated to South Korea in 2021 by the late Lee Kun-hee, former Samsung Group chairman, including seven National Treasures and fifteen Treasures. Highlights include the Beopgo-dae, which gained viral attention for resembling a character from the Netflix film 'KPop Demon Hunters.'
The Arlington Museum of Art will open a new exhibition in January 2026 titled "Dressed for the Drawing Room: Fashion in Jane Austen’s World," celebrating the author's 250th birthday. The show features costumes and jewelry from the 2005 film adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" and the 2020 film "Emma," loaned from NBCUniversal Archives & Collection, and is presented in partnership with the Jane Austen Society of North America - North Texas Chapter. The exhibition runs from January 9 to March 22, 2026, and is free to the public.
The Denver Art Museum will host the international touring exhibition "DIVAs" from October 2026 to January 2027, making it the only U.S. venue for the show. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the exhibit features over 200 objects including costumes and accessories worn by icons such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, RuPaul, Prince, Tina Turner, and Marilyn Monroe. Highlights include Rihanna's 2018 Met Gala gown by John Galliano for Maison Margiela and Tina Turner's Bob Mackie "Flame Dress" from 1978. The ticketed event will take place in the Hamilton Building.
Denver has been announced as the exclusive US venue for 'DIVA,' a major fashion and iconography exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The show will run from October 4, 2026, to January 31, 2027, at the Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building, featuring over 200 objects and more than 50 costumes worn by legendary performers including Maria Callas, Cher, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, RuPaul, Prince, Tina Turner, and Marilyn Monroe.
The exhibition "Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" opens at The Huntington's Marylou and George Boone Gallery from November 16 to March 2. Curated by E. Carmen Ramos, the show features 60 works by nearly 40 artists and collectives, tracing over six decades of Chicano printmaking as a tool for resistance, community building, and cultural reclamation. The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections—"Together We Fight," "¡Guerra No!," "Violent Divisions," "Rethinking América," and "Changemakers"—and begins with the late 1960s Delano Grape Strike, highlighting how artists used silkscreens, posters, and offset prints to mobilize communities and confront injustice.
The article reports on several major arts and literary prize winners announced in November 2025. Swedish photographer Martina Holmberg won the £15,000 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize for her portrait 'Mel,' with other prizes awarded to Luan Davide Gray, Byron Mohammad Hamzah, and Hollie Fernando. Australian author Helen Garner won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for 'How to End a Story.' The Forward Poetry Prizes named joint winners Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie for best collection, while Bogdan Ablozhnyy received the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Award. Historian Sunil Amrith won the British Academy Book Prize for 'The Burning Earth,' and the Women's Prize for Playwriting announced its longlist.
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth has announced two major exhibitions for 2026. From March 15 to June 28, the museum will host "The Holy Sepulcher: Treasures from the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem," featuring over 60 silver, gold, and bejeweled objects gifted by Holy Roman Emperors and European monarchs to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In the fall, from October 4, 2026, to January 17, 2027, the Kimbell will present "Photography's First Century: Masterworks from the Bibliothèque nationale de France," its first-ever photography exhibition, showcasing more than 150 early images from pioneers like Henri Le Secq, Gustave Le Gray, and Félix Tournachon.
This article compiles a list of open calls, residencies, and grants for artists in November 2025, featuring opportunities such as the Hopper Prize offering $4,500 and $1,000 artist grants, the Biafarin Awards with $4,000 CAD in cash grants and global exposure, and the GLEAM public art exhibition at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Other calls include the Contemporary Reflection exhibition in London, an open call for exhibitions at Municipal Gallery dlr LexIcon in Ireland, the INteriors show at Glen Arbor Arts Center, Sight/Geist film and performance series in New York, and a main gallery commission at Locust Projects in Miami, among others.
Artist Hew Locke's most comprehensive museum exhibition to date, "Hew Locke: Passages," has opened at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven. The show features 49 works spanning nearly three decades, including photography, sculpture, and drawing, and explores themes of empire, identity, and migration. Curated by museum director Martina Droth, the exhibition runs through January and includes key works such as "Veni, Vidi, Vici (The Queen's Coat of Arms)" (2004) and "Koh-i-noor" (2005), which critique British imperial symbols using found objects and textiles.
The Musée du Louvre has acquired its first-ever video work, a piece titled *Les 4 temps (The 4 Seasons)* by Algeria-born artist Mohamed Bourouissa. The work documents the Tuileries Gardens over the course of a year, originally created as 52 weekly videos for the Louvre’s Instagram channel between February 2024 and February 2025. It will be displayed in the Salle de la Chapelle from 22 October to 19 January 2026. Bourouissa also composed the music for the piece by recording the vibrations of the garden’s plants.