Under pressure, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale will exclude Russian and Israeli pavilions from the awards

Sous pression, le jury de la 61e Biennale de Venise exclura les pavillons russe et israélien du palmarès

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and running from May 9 to November 22, 2026, has been embroiled in political controversy after organizers decided to reinstate the Russian pavilion, which had been excluded since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Under pressure from the European Commission, which threatened to suspend a €2 million grant, the jury announced it will exclude artists from the Russian and Israeli pavilions from winning prizes, citing that leaders Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity. The Russian pavilion will remain closed to the public but open for VIP press previews, while the Israeli pavilion stays open to the public. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has refused to attend the opening ceremony in protest.

Gerd Harry Lybke, from artist’s model to gallery founder in East Germany showing in Mallorca

Gerd Harry ‘Judy’ Lybke, the founder of the influential German gallery Eigen + Art, is making his debut at the inaugural Art Cologne Palma Mallorca. Lybke, who began his career as a nude artist's model in East Germany before opening an underground flat-gallery in 1983, reflects on the evolution of the art market from a socialist system defined by censorship to the modern capitalist landscape. For this fair, he is presenting a diverse roster ranging from New Leipzig School star Neo Rauch to emerging talent Maja Behrmann, with works priced between €2,000 and €20,000.

The Biomorphic Sculptures of Alma Allen in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale (Amid Controversy)

Le sculture biomorfiche di Alma Allen nel Padiglione USA alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026 (tra le polemiche)

Alma Allen, a self-taught American sculptor, has been selected to represent the United States at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with the exhibition "Call Me the Breeze." The pavilion, curated by Jeffrey Uslip, will feature site-specific biomorphic sculptures that explore the concept of "elevation" through a hybrid creative process combining pre-industrial carving and hand-modeling with advanced robotic sculpting. Works will incorporate local American materials such as walnut burl, Cantera green volcanic rock, and Yule marble from Colorado, and the pavilion is tied to America250, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

art cologne palma mallorca 2742154

A new art fair, Art Cologne Palma Mallorca, is launching in April 2026 at the Palau de Congressos in Palma de Mallorca. The fair is an expansion of the historic Art Cologne fair and will feature 88 galleries and non-profits from 20 countries, with a strong emphasis on local Mallorcan galleries.

Palma: The Conference of the Palm Trees. Artist Mehdi-Georges Lahlou and curator Virginie Puertolas-Syn.

French-Moroccan artist Mehdi-Georges Lahlou opened his first solo exhibition in Singapore and Asia, curated by Virginie Puertolas-Syn. The exhibition, conceptually linked to the 12th-century Sufi poem 'The Conference of the Birds,' uses the palm tree as a central motif to explore themes of displacement, colonial history, and constructed landscapes.

SOBO Art Gallery's Young Creatives Showcase to open Oct. 2

SOBO Art Gallery in Orlando will host the Young Creatives Showcase on October 2, featuring artwork by high school and college students. The showcase, co-founded by Victoria Pestrichello, Branton Urbieta, and Fritz-Lee Saint Paulin, includes a collaborative piece that artists have been building together, as well as individual works in various media such as photography, pencil, and acrylic. Pestrichello, a UCF student, contributed handprints to the collaborative Dalmatian painting, while her own abstract piece, "Conosci il nemico? Do you know your enemy?", was inspired by negative news coverage.

Journeys Onward: NYC Veteran Art Exhibit

The Salmagundi Club in New York City is hosting "Journeys Onward: Military Veterans’ Experiences," a veteran-curated exhibition featuring art and written works by military veterans, active-duty service members, and their families. The show includes contributions from Citadel cadets, alumni, and faculty, as well as Marine Combat Artists Michael D. Fay and Michael L. Reynolds. The exhibition is free and open to the public through July 25, 2025, with a special reception for Citadel alumni and friends on July 16.

[minna|منا]of u at Participant Inc. and SALMA SARRIEDINE

The gallery Participant Inc. in New York presented a dual exhibition titled '[minna|منا]of u' featuring the work of artist Salma Sarriedine. The show ran from February 1 to March 22, 2026, and was curated by Ridikkuluz. The exhibition documentation consists of 25 images, with photos credited to Studio Kukla.

Art among the wreckage: An artist brings new life to a long-abandoned pier

Artist George McCalman is preparing to launch his interactive exhibition “A March Through Time” on November 22 at Pier 29 in San Francisco. The exhibition is housed within a curtained-off section of the 122,000-square-foot pier, which McCalman describes as a timeworn space that reflects his belief that the past and present are intertwined. He has worked for nine years from a studio in an Outer Sunset home, a stripped-down, weathered building owned by architect Douglas Jacuzzi and ceramicist Georgia Hodges, which embodies a philosophy of material purity and reverence for process. The studio itself is filled with projects in various stages, including the 155 portraits of Black pioneers that make up his book “Illustrated Black History.”

Wagner comes alive in Milan. Not only at the theater but also in these two exhibitions

A Milano rivive Wagner. Non solo a teatro ma anche in queste due mostre

Two exhibitions dedicated to Richard Wagner's Ring cycle have opened at Milan's Teatro alla Scala, coinciding with a new production of the Ring des Nibelungen and the centenary of the first Scala staging of the tetralogy in 1926. The Museo Teatrale alla Scala presents "La rivoluzione del Ring – Visconti Ronconi Chéreau," curated by Giovanni Agosti with design by Studio Margherita Palli, while the Ridotto dei palchi "A. Toscanini" hosts "Risonanze Wagner – Visioni intorno al Ring," curated by Gianluigi Colin and Mattia Palma, featuring contemporary paintings by four women artists—Antonella Benanzato, Flaminia Veronesi, Chiara Calore, and Federica Perazzoli—each reinterpreting one of the four operas.

Colnaghi, world's oldest gallery, to open Saudi Arabian outpost

Colnaghi, the world's oldest surviving art dealership founded in 1760, will open a new outpost in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following a deal worth 10 million Saudi riyals (around £2 million) with the Saudi private equity firm Sarat Investment Holding. The gallery, which specializes in Old Masters, antiquities, and pre-20th century art, already has locations in London, New York, and Madrid. The opening date has not been announced, but the move marks the first time an Old Master gallery has entered the Saudi market, a surprising development given that most art sales in the kingdom focus on Modern and contemporary works.

NEYRA PÉREZ: RETURN TO ROEBIRI

NEYRA PÉREZ: RETORNO A ROEBIRI

Neyra Pérez, an Iskonawa artist, presents her exhibition "El retorno del Roebiri" at the Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma in Lima, Peru, running until May 9, 2026. The show features her distinctive kené designs, which she creates using natural materials like yakuchapana resin and virgin clay on raw canvas, fixed through sunlight and river washing. The works reference Roebiri, a mountain in the Amazonian Sierra del Divisor that was the ancestral territory of the Iskonawa people, from whom they were displaced in the late 1950s by missionaries and the military. Since 2018, Pérez has been part of a cultural revitalization effort led by anthropologist Carolina Rodríguez to recover these traditional designs and practices.

Frank Fluegel Gallery at Art Cologne Palma Mallorca 2026

Frank Fluegel Gallery will participate in the inaugural edition of Art Cologne Palma Mallorca in 2026. The gallery, based in Nuremberg, will present a curated selection of contemporary art at the new Spanish fair.

Withdrawing from Intense Labor: 'Quiet Quitting' Discussed in a Milan Exhibition

Sottrarsi al lavoro troppo intenso. Si parla di ‘quite quitting’ in una mostra a Milano

Artist Niccolò de Napoli explores the phenomenon of "quiet quitting" in his solo exhibition, "I’m here, but not entirely yours," hosted at Studio Lombard DCA in Milan. The exhibition, produced by PROGETTO LUDOVICO, utilizes the unconventional setting of a strategic consultancy firm to showcase works that critique modern labor expectations. Key pieces include a blue neon sign mimicking corporate aesthetics, a sound installation referencing the 1983 film "Vieni avanti cretino," and monochromatic cases made of switchable glass that obscures itself as viewers approach, symbolizing the withdrawal of the self from the workplace.

Pittsburgh’s ALMA | LEWIS art gallery expands

The ALMA | LEWIS art gallery in Pittsburgh is expanding its physical footprint. The gallery, which focuses on contemporary art by Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists, is moving to a larger, more prominent location in the city's East Liberty neighborhood.

Frame Work: Soul Studio exhibition celebrates artists with special needs

The Janice Charach Gallery in Bloomfield Hills is hosting "A Little Bit of Light," an exhibition featuring works by approximately a dozen artists with special needs. The collection, which includes painting, woodworking, and digital arts, was created through Soul Studio, a program under the nonprofit Friendship Circle that provides studio space and career development for neurodivergent creators. Inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the show emphasizes personal expression and the visibility of artists who are often marginalized.

Art gallery opening: Allegheny Alumni art exhibit

An art gallery opening at Allegheny College featured an alumni art exhibit on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. Two students were photographed admiring the display, which included an acrylic on canvas piece by Janos Cseh (class of 2015) and a work titled "Alterations of real time" made of acrylic yarn and monks cloth by Josie Freeman (class of 2020). The event was covered by student opinion editor Milo Watson.

Alma Allen’s US Pavilion Is One of the Emptiest Shows at the Venice Biennale

Alma Allen represents the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a subdued, apolitical exhibition inside the US Pavilion. The show features roughly 25 sculptures—mostly in bronze, wood, and stone—many titled "Not Yet Titled," and deliberately avoids overt political messaging. This marks a stark departure from the previous two US pavilions, curated by Simone Leigh (2022) and Jeffrey Gibson (2024), which directly confronted colonialism and empire. The Trump administration’s call for proposals explicitly asked for work that "reflects and promotes American values," and Allen’s presentation has been criticized as safe, unremarkable, and lacking the incisive edge of contemporary American art.