What Holds Us Together?

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents 'Maren Hassinger: Living Moving Growing', the most comprehensive retrospective of the American artist's career, spanning over five decades. The exhibition features sculpture, performance, installation, and moving-image works that explore themes of transformation, care, and interconnectedness, using materials such as wire rope, tree branches, newspapers, and plastic bags. It includes key works from the 1970s to the present, with performances, workshops, and recreations of ephemeral installations, on view until 29 November 2026.

RARE ESSENCE: Colour and Cloth

New York-based artist Eric N. Mack has transformed the Speed Art Museum's Gheens Court into an immersive textile-based installation titled 'RARE ESSENCE'. The exhibition, presented as part of the museum's Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, features found fabrics, garments, and everyday materials that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, architecture, and fashion. Mack's work activates the museum space through color, texture, and drape, creating a dynamic environment that invites visitors to navigate shifting relationships between body, space, and material.

Leila Babirye: The Architecture of Belonging

Leilah Babirye presents a new body of work at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, centered on the concept of a queer wedding. The exhibition features sculptural figures made from discarded materials such as chains, bicycle gears, rubber tires, and salvaged debris, combined with carved wood and ceramics. These figures—brides, grooms, attendants, and guardians—form a ceremonial landscape that celebrates LGBTQ+ lives and chosen community. Babirye, who fled Uganda after being outed as gay, transforms these materials into regal, intimate, and defiant portraits that evoke both celebration and protection.

Tracing the Body Through Dust and Memory

South African artist Igshaan Adams presents 'Unsettling Dust: The Body’s Archive' at the Guggenheim Bilbao, an immersive exhibition that merges weaving, choreography, sculpture, and social history. The show features monumental woven tapestries derived from collaborative dance performances between South African and Greek dancers in Athens, transforming the gallery into a living archive of movement and memory. On view from 5 May to 1 November 2026, it is part of the museum's in situ series.

Zanzibar: Mapping Memory Through Sound and Colour

Lisson Gallery in London presents 'Zanzibar' (1999–2023), a collaborative installation by artists Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska. The exhibition reunites Himid's abstract diptychs from 1999 with Stawarska's eight-channel soundscape composed in 2023, creating an immersive meditation on loss, migration, and belonging. Himid's geometric canvases depart from her signature figurative style, evoking fragments of Zanzibar, the East African archipelago where she was born, and memories of her migration to London after her father's death. Stawarska's sonic composition weaves archival recordings, Taraab music, opera, and spoken text through the gallery space, guiding viewers through overlapping histories and imagined geographies.

She was one of the most powerful women in the art world. Three works from her collection could sell for nearly $150 million

This article details the historic sale of three major artworks from the private collection of the late Agnes Gund, the former president of the Museum of Modern Art and a renowned philanthropist. The sale, held at Christie’s in New York, featured works by Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, and Joseph Cornell that had long resided in Gund’s private residence. The highlight of the evening was Rothko’s 1964 painting 'No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe),' which set a new auction record for the artist at $98.4 million, contributing to a total of $150.8 million for the three pieces.

NEW ZEALAND PHOTOGRAPHER FIONA PARDINGTON REPRESENTS AOTEAROA AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

New Zealand photographer Fiona Pardington (born 1961, Auckland) is representing Aotearoa at the 61st Venice Biennale with her exhibition *Taharaki Skyside*, on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026, at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion. The show features large-scale portraits of taxidermied birds from museum collections across New Zealand and Australia, focusing on endemic species including the extinct huia and whēkau. Curated by Felicity Milburn and Chloe Cull, the exhibition is presented by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

"Destruction Does Not Create Memory; It Remains in Memory." The Largest Exhibition of Jorge Tacla Arrives in Sharjah

«LA DESTRUCCIÓN NO CREA MEMORIA; PERMANECE EN LA MEMORIA». LA MAYOR EXPOSICIÓN DE JORGE TACLA LLEGA A SHARJAH

The Sharjah Art Foundation is presenting "Time the Destroyer Is Time the Preserver," the largest solo exhibition to date dedicated to Chilean artist Jorge Tacla (b. 1958). Featuring over 170 works spanning four decades—including paintings, drawings, notebooks, and a large-scale installation—the show is organized into eight chapters that confront hierarchies of human suffering, challenge false binaries between victim and perpetrator, and reveal connections between disparate acts of structural violence. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi and Abdulla Aljanahi, the exhibition takes its title from a T. S. Eliot verse and offers a transversal reading of Tacla's practice, which explores memory, historical violence, and resistance through imagery of exile, state violence, war, social protest, and catastrophe.

VARINIA BRODSKY ZIMMERMANN: “ENTIENDO AL MUSEO COMO UN CAMPO DE REVERBERACIÓN”

Varinia Brodsky Zimmermann, director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Chile, is interviewed as part of a series on contemporary museums in Latin America. She describes the museum as a "field of reverberation" that amplifies social, cultural, and political questions without reacting mechanically to demands. The conversation covers structural challenges facing public museums in Chile, including budget precarity and suspended exhibition projects, and Brodsky advocates for more permeable, horizontal, and sustainable institutions that maintain critical depth while engaging diverse communities.

MANUEL SEGADE: “PRESERVAR LA COMPLEJIDAD DEL MUNDO ES UNA DE LAS TAREAS FUNDAMENTALES DEL MUSEO”

Manuel Segade, director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, is interviewed as part of a series for International Museum Day. He discusses the museum's role as a space historically tied to critique, conflict, and negotiation with tradition, emphasizing the need to preserve the world's complexity. Segade advocates for institutions that can speak on multiple levels, from introductory lectures to para-academic research, and stresses transforming internal structures toward more horizontal and interdependent models.

Im Auge des Orkans

Chinese artist Shuang Li presents a new film installation at Kunsthalle Basel, inspired by her research on tornadoes in the American Midwest. Between March and June, she and her film crew chased storms across Arkansas and Oklahoma, drawing parallels between the unpredictability of extreme natural forces and the behavior of digital algorithms.

A View From the Easel

Daniel Correa Mejía, an artist based in Berlin, Germany, shares his studio practice in the 341st installment of Hyperallergic's series "A View From the Easel." He describes working in the same shared studio for thirteen years, where he paints for about four hours daily, starts one new work each week, and surrounds himself with seeds, family photographs, and music that puts him in a painting trance. The studio, on the ground floor with a door to the street, is shared with two other artists and a writer, and he lives on the same street, making the space feel like an extended home.

Prolific Armenian Painter Haroutiun Galentz is Making a Comeback Across Europe

Haroutiun Galentz (1910–1967), a 20th-century Armenian modernist painter and survivor of the Armenian Genocide, is experiencing a resurgence of interest across Europe. A new English-language monograph, *Haroutiun Galentz: The Form of Colour*, was published by Skira last fall, with launch events in Paris and at the Nuhad Es-Said Pavilion for Culture in Beirut. In May, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice hosted a dedicated conference on his work, curated by Silvia Burini and organized by the Centre for Studies in Russian, Central Asian and Caucasian Art (CSAR), in collaboration with the Armenian Arts Council and Skira. The conference brought together scholars to discuss exile, memory, and modernity in Galentz’s oeuvre, which draws from his early training in the Beaux-Arts system and his time in Beirut, where he became a central figure in modern painting.

Humboldt Forum gets 18 tree species from three climate zones

Humboldt Forum bekommt 18 Baumarten aus drei Klimazonen

Five years after its opening, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin is planting 18 different tree species from three climate zones around its premises, including Japanese cherry blossoms and North American autumn foliage. The trees are meant to evoke the travels of naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Three tree islands and several seating areas are planned to create a restful space while contributing to sustainable urban development. Sponsors can adopt a tree of their choice.

The War Against Imagination

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) placed Savneet Talwar, director of its graduate art therapy program, on leave after she asked students to create a mock therapeutic treatment plan for a queer Arab woman who feared retaliation under the Trump administration for supporting pro-Palestine protests. The article, published by Hyperallergic, frames this as an example of authoritarianism curbing imagination in democratic society, and contrasts it with the Obama Presidential Center, which opens on Juneteenth and embodies a vision of pluralism and civic hope. Additional news includes the defacement of a painting by Clarence Heyward at the Houston Museum of African American Culture and the furlough of all staff at the International African American Museum due to financial challenges.

A Cross-Cultural Dialogue Unfolds at Anna Laudel

Anna Laudel in Istanbul presents the group exhibition “Concordia Rhapsody,” featuring works by Ardan Özmenoğlu, Beate Passow, Cem Sonel, Thomas Werner, and musician Sinem Altan. All five artists participated in the International Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia Artist Residency Program in Bamberg, Germany, during the 2025–26 period. The show explores creative interactions and cross-cultural dialogue between Turkey and Germany, with works making their Istanbul debut after being created at the residency at the invitation of the German Ministry of Culture.

ARTnews & Artforum Partner to Launch First Ever Art Week in New York

ARTnews and Artforum have announced the launch of New York's first dedicated Art Week, dubbed Art Week NYC, set to run from November 11 to November 14. The four-day event will feature public programming, neighborhood walking tours, artist talks, gallery openings, and a Midtown hub programmed by ARTnews and Art in America. Artforum will partner with galleries on neighborhood-themed openings and offer a day of public programming at the New Museum. The event aims to create a citywide celebration of art, distinct from existing art fairs like Frieze and the Armory Show.

The bird brooch that defied the Nazis: Cartier’s diamond menagerie – in pictures

Cartier is bringing its exhibition of over 350 jewels, including gemstones the size of golf balls, to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne as part of the gallery’s Winter Masterpieces series. The show, which had a sell-out run at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, traces how brothers Louis, Pierre, and Jacques Cartier transformed their grandfather’s small Parisian business into a global jewelry empire, with many pieces inspired by the natural world.

The Trade in Looted Antiquities Endures for One Reason: Demand

A 1997 looting operation at Cambodia's Koh Ker temple complex targeted three ancient statues, which were trafficked through Thailand to Western buyers. One statue was purchased by an American billionaire, another by a London dealer before disappearing into a private collection, and the third was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Two of the three have since been repatriated to Cambodia following investigations into the network of British dealer Douglas Latchford, who allegedly trafficked stolen Cambodian sculptures for decades, often sourced by men linked to the Khmer Rouge.

Liebe, scharf gestellt

The ninth edition of the Fototriennale in Hamburg, curated by Mark Sealy, opens across eleven institutions under the theme "Alliance. Infinity. Love." The exhibition explores alliances, love, and the future of photography, featuring works such as Arlene Gottfried's moving series "Midnight" (1984–2002) documenting a New York performer, Rotimi Fani-Kayode's surrealist photographs from the AIDS crisis, and Eikō Hosoe's experimental series "Killed by Roses" (1961/62) depicting Yukio Mishima. Sealy, director of Autograph in London, positions empathy as a political force, challenging the instrumentalization of art for social cohesion.

International organisations and Lebanese culture ministry issue warnings amidst Israeli capture of Beaufort Castle and strikes on Tyre

Icomos Lebanon, Unesco, and the Lebanese Ministry of Culture have issued urgent warnings after Israeli strikes damaged the ancient city of Tyre, a Unesco World Heritage Site, and Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle, a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The strikes hit Tyre's entrance precinct, administrative buildings, and archaeological warehouses, while Beaufort Castle—captured by Israel on 31 May—has become a flashpoint, with the IDF claiming Hezbollah used it to launch missiles and Lebanese authorities disputing that assertion. Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh formally requested Unesco's intervention to prevent the castle's destruction, and both sites are under Enhanced Protection under the 1954 Hague Convention.

How the Pace Layoffs Went Down—And What Comes Next

Pace Gallery laid off roughly 50 employees and cut about 50 artists from its roster, as first reported by the New York Times just before a company-wide town hall on Thursday morning. CEO Marc Glimcher held a brief Zoom call instead of the usual in-person gathering, where he acknowledged that his own decisions—including rapid international expansion and rising costs—had led the gallery to this point. The cuts affected sales, communications, art resources, operations, and other departments almost evenly, leaving many staffers uncertain about their jobs and reluctant to speak publicly while severance arrangements were finalized.

Dutch Court Sentences Thieves in Explosive Museum Heist

A Dutch court has sentenced three men to 47 months in prison each for stealing Iron Age artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands. The heist occurred on January 25, 2025, when the thieves used explosives to break into the museum during the exhibition "Dacia—Empire of Gold and Silver." They stole three golden spiral bracelets and the Coțofenești helmet, a historic Geto-Dacian battle helmet made of electrum, all of which had been loaned by the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. Two of the artifacts were recovered after a plea deal, but the third suspect rejected the deal, leading to a shorter sentence due to procedural issues.

French Supreme Court Tears Up Lawsuit Aiming to Halt Bayeux Tapestry Loan to the British Museum

France's highest administrative court has rejected a legal challenge by heritage group Sites & Monuments that sought to block the loan of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum. The court ruled that President Emmanuel Macron's decision to lend the artifact is an act of government inseparable from international diplomacy, and therefore not subject to judicial review. The ruling came two days after a French Culture Ministry report expressed confidence that the fragile tapestry, designated in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, would not be physically threatened by the move.

Chairman of US Commission of Fine Arts Attends ‘Russian Davos,’ Joins Roundtable With Russian Envoy Responsible for Venice Biennale Participation

Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), known as the 'Russian Davos,' becoming the first US official to do so in nearly a decade. He participated in a roundtable titled 'Russia-USA: dialogue of cultures' moderated by Russian cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy, who also coordinated Russia's participation in the 2024 Venice Biennale. Other attendees included actor Steven Seagal, State Hermitage Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky, and Russian culture minister Olga Lyubimova, several of whom have been sanctioned by the EU for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Cook praised Putin and conveyed greetings from President Trump, while Ukrainian drones struck targets near St. Petersburg as the forum opened.

Is the Mega-Gallery Model Collapsing?

Pace Gallery, a leading mega-gallery, announced it will cut its workforce from approximately 250 to 200 employees and drop as many as 50 of its roughly 135 represented artists. This restructuring signals a potential crisis in the mega-gallery model. Separately, Sotheby's will auction a "scandalous" Modigliani nude, estimated at $60 million, from the collection of billionaire Joe Lewis, while the Artnet Price Database reports that Asia's fine art auction market is undergoing a sharp recalibration, with regional price disparities at their widest in a decade.

Divination, Mark Making, Boxing, & Drawing: "Tracey Rose" at Ruby City

Ruby City in San Antonio, Texas, will present a solo exhibition of South African artist Tracey Rose, opening June 6, 2026. The show features the video performance "TKO" (2000), in which Rose repeatedly punches a heavy bag fitted with cameras, alongside a suite of 62 drawings created during her 2000 residency at Artpace. These works, shown together for the first time, explore themes of endurance, identity, vulnerability, and transformation through boxing, gesture, and intuitive mark-making.

After Drawing Women Trapped in Labyrinths for Years, Kyung-Me Painted Herself Free

Kyung-Me, an artist who spent 12 years creating intricate black-and-white line drawings of women trapped in labyrinthine interiors inspired by The Tale of Genji, abruptly pivoted to painting after realizing the work was isolating her. She took a painting class, embraced Sungsook Setton's Asian painting philosophy, and now produces loose, vibrant watercolor-and-ink sunflowers, which will be on view at Bureau gallery in New York this summer.

National Labor Relations Board Rules Buffalo AKG Art Museum Violated Federal Law With Layoff

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the Buffalo AKG Art Museum violated federal labor law by retaliating against union workers when it laid off 13 employees from its Visitor Experience Department in March 2025. On May 28, the NLRB ordered the museum to reinstate the workers with full back pay, citing evidence of retaliation found in hundreds of documents and hours of testimony. The union, Buffalo AKG Workers United, had condemned the layoffs as an effort to eliminate union positions, especially after a job posting for 11 non-union security guards appeared shortly afterward. The museum denied all allegations of union-busting.

Announcing the 2026 McKnight Visual Artist Fellows

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), on behalf of the McKnight Foundation, has announced the six recipients of the 2026 McKnight Fellowships for Visual Artists: Torey Erin, Isa Gagarin, Jay Heikes, Prima Jalichandra-Sakuntabhai, Jovan C. Speller, and Erinn Springer. Each mid-career Minnesota artist will receive a $25,000 stipend, professional development, public recognition, and a residency facilitated by the Artist Communities Alliance. The fellows were selected from 164 applicants by a national panel of jurors including Laura Mott, Michael Rooks, and Edra Soto.