Image of Family Torn by ICE Wins World Press Photo of the Year

American photojournalist Carol Guzy won the 2026 World Press Photo of the Year for her image "Separated by ICE," which captures a tearful family torn apart by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after an immigration court hearing in New York amid President Trump's broader crackdown. The contest, established in 1955, selected 42 global winners from over 57,000 photographs submitted by nearly 3,800 photographers across 141 countries. Finalists included Saber Nuraldin's "Aid Emergency in Gaza" and Victor J. Blue's "The Trials of the Achi Women," while other winners addressed displacement, war, and environmental crises.

Russia and Israel cannot win any prizes at the next Venice Art Biennale 2026. The jury takes a stand

Russia e Israele non potranno vincere nessun premio alla prossima Biennale Arte di Venezia 2026. La giuria prende posizione

The international jury for the 61st Venice Biennale, led by Solange Farkas, has unanimously declared it will not consider countries whose leaders are currently accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. This means Russia and Israel are excluded from competing for the Golden Lion awards, including Best National Participation and Best Artist. The jury's statement, published on e-Flux Notes, emphasizes the Biennale's historical role as a platform connecting art with contemporary urgencies and acknowledges the complex relationship between artistic practice and state representation.

And the (Senior Show and URECA Art Exhibition) Winners Are …

The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University hosted the opening reception of the ninth annual combined Senior Show and URECA Arts Exhibition on April 29, drawing about 300 attendees including students, faculty, staff, university leaders, and local museum curators. The Senior Show, a nearly 50-year tradition, features works by senior studio art majors and minors, while the URECA exhibition highlights undergraduate research-based art selected by faculty. This year's exhibition is noted for its diversity in subject matter and materials, from chalk painting to digital media, and runs through May 22.

Diego Gualandris “Floralia” at ADA, Rome

Diego Gualandris presents "Floralia" at ADA gallery in Rome, an exhibition that explores themes of growth, nature, and human intervention through a poetic lens. The show features works that evoke the cycle of life and decay, using floral motifs to reflect on the fragility of existence and the tension between natural processes and external forces.

À Florence, une touriste poursuivie pour avoir endommagé la fontaine de Neptune

In Florence, Italy, a 28-year-old tourist is being prosecuted for damaging the historic Neptune Fountain during a bachelorette party on the night of April 18-19. She allegedly climbed the monument on Piazza della Signoria after a dare from friends to touch the statue's intimate parts, causing an estimated €5,000 in damages to the horses' legs and a decorative frieze. This follows a similar incident in September 2023, when a 22-year-old German tourist caused €5,000 in damage to the same fountain while posing for photos.

Commentary: This year's Met Gala proved one thing: The real devil who wears Prada is Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary co-chairs and sponsors of this year's Met Gala, sparking widespread protests and calls for boycotts. Guerrilla activist group Everyone Hates Elon plastered New York with anti-Bezos signage, and activists placed 300 bottles filled with fake urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to highlight Amazon workers' bathroom break complaints. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined his invitation, and the absence of celebrities like Meryl Streep and Zendaya fueled speculation about a boycott, though representatives denied any coordinated protest. Despite the controversy, the gala proceeded with many attendees and is expected to raise more than last year's $31 million for the Costume Institute.

Holocaust Museum LA will reopen as part of the new $70-million Goldrich Cultural Center

Holocaust Museum LA, the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the United States, will reopen after a 10-month closure as part of the new $70-million Goldrich Cultural Center in Pan Pacific Park. The 70,000-square-foot campus, debuting June 14, doubles the museum's original footprint and includes three pavilions, a 200-seat theater, exhibition galleries, a rooftop garden, and a Holocaust-era boxcar. The center is named after the late Jona Goldrich, a Holocaust survivor and co-founder of the museum, and was designed by architect Hagy Belzberg.

New exhibits start at Public Works Art Center

The Public Works Art Center in Summerville, South Carolina, opens five new exhibitions on May 21 with a reception from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The shows include "GODBODY: THE FEMME," a group exhibition celebrating Black women artists; Amy Stewart's "Intersections" exploring interconnectedness; Nick Cerrato's "Our Society Needs To…" featuring abstract works created with his feet; Sarah Mitchell's "Wildlife in Wool" with needle-felted animals; and the Summerville Artist Guild's annual "All Members Show." During the reception, guild members will create collaborative paintings for sale to benefit the Summerville Rocks Scholarship Fund.

Pinakotheke Cultural Opens Spacious New Gallery in São Paulo

Pinakotheke Cultural, founded by Max Perlingeiro in Rio de Janeiro in 1979, will open a new, significantly larger gallery space in São Paulo on May 16. Located on Rua Minas Gerais in the Higienópolis neighborhood, the venue nearly doubles the size of the gallery's previous São Paulo outpost. The inaugural exhibition, "Surrealisms: Art Beyond Reason," curated by Max Perlingeiro and Tadeu Chiarelli, will feature approximately one hundred works by sixty artists from Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean, offering a comprehensive overview of the surrealist movement.

Young artists show at The Fraser Art Gallery

Fifty-one students from Wallace Consolidated Elementary School and Tatamagouche Regional Academy displayed their artwork in a group show at The Fraser Art Gallery in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. The exhibition featured individual and class projects, including a collage inspired by the Artemis II moon flyby and a sculptured monster garden. The opening reception included remarks from gallery president Jackie Robertson, who thanked volunteers and sponsor PharmaChoice, and noted the importance of early art exposure.

Local artist featured in exhibition in Italy

Medicine Hat artist Poul Nielsen, 78, is exhibiting his work in Venice, Italy, as part of the exhibition 'Anima Mundi (Rituals)' held in conjunction with the Venice Biennale. Nielsen, who has shown his art in around 100 solo and collaborative exhibitions across decades, began his international career with a show in Copenhagen in 2000 and has since exhibited in England, the United States, and China. His current series, 'Atmospheric Possibilities,' was started around 2015 after his retirement from teaching at Medicine Hat College, where he helped develop a pioneering program merging fine art and graphic design.

❤️ Atlanta, with love

This article from Rough Draft's Sketchbook newsletter highlights two Atlanta-focused art stories. Painter Carlos Solis, who left Venezuela for Kennesaw nearly two decades ago, curates "In the Beginning," a group exhibition opening May 9 at the Hudgens Center's Fowler Gallery in Duluth, featuring 15 artists from around the world who now call Georgia home. Separately, designer and illustrator George F. Baker III, originally from Nebraska and shaped by Detroit, was commissioned by the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs to create the key art for the 49th annual Atlanta Jazz Festival, and he discusses how the musical souls of both Detroit and Atlanta influenced his design.

Curatori e allestitori ci raccontano la grande mostra dedicata a Franco Vaccari a Bolzano

A major retrospective exhibition titled "Feedback. Gli ambienti di Franco Vaccari" has opened at Museion in Bolzano, Italy, dedicated to the late artist Franco Vaccari (1936–2025). The show features over twenty immersive environments, historical works, and recent video experiments drawn largely from the museum's permanent collection and the Franco Vaccari Archive of Visual Writing. Curated by Frida Carazzato and Luca Panaro in collaboration with Fosbury Architecture, the exhibition explores Vaccari's cross-disciplinary practice spanning photography, writing, and participatory installation art.

Mafalda meets Pimpa. In Rome, the dialogue between two authentic comic icons: interview with the curators

Mafalda incontra Pimpa. A Roma il dialogo tra due autentiche icone del fumetto: intervista ai curatori

A new exhibition in Rome titled "Mafalda & La Pimpa" brings together two iconic comic strip characters for the first time. Created by Quino (1964) and Altan (1975) respectively, Mafalda and Pimpa represent different approaches to childhood: Mafalda critically questions adult society, while Pimpa explores a gentle, wonder-filled world. The show runs from May 14 to July 11 at the Instituto Cervantes, featuring over 120 original strips and plates, and is organized in collaboration with ARF! Festival and other partners. Curators Stefano Piccoli and Daniele Bonomo designed the exhibition to highlight both the contrasts and surprising analogies between the two beloved figures.

A giugno 2026 a Pietrasanta apre il Museo Igor Mitoraj. Opere dell’artista ma anche mostre

The article announces the opening of the Museo Igor Mitoraj in Pietrasanta, Italy, scheduled for June 6, 2026, after several years of delays. The museum is the first space entirely dedicated to the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, who died in 2014 and was known for transforming Tuscan marble into works blending classical forms with fragmented, contemporary themes. Designed by OBR, Politecnica, and Studio Lumine, the museum results from collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Pietrasanta, and the artist's heirs, united in the Fondazione Museo Igor Mitoraj. Frank Boehm, director of the foundation, envisions the space as a research-oriented center that will engage with different artistic languages and contemporary issues, not limited to Mitoraj's work alone.

The Paradox of Contemporary Art: The World Is Violent, but the Works Are Correct and Inoffensive

Il paradosso dell’arte contemporanea: il mondo è violento, ma le opere sono corrette e inoffensive

The article examines a paradox in contemporary art: as the world grows more violent and chaotic, art has become increasingly 'correct,' morally irreproachable, and inoffensive. The author argues that over the past fifteen years, artworks have been judged primarily by their moral and identity credentials, with curators acting as moral gatekeepers and censors. This shift coincides with a period when geopolitics, history, and public behavior have spiraled out of control, creating a strange compensatory dynamic where art is expected to be perfectly controlled and polite while reality grows brutal.

Delicacy as Resistance. Interview with the Curator of the Turkey Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

La delicatezza come resistenza. Intervista alla curatrice del Padiglione Turchia alla Biennale di Venezia

For the 2026 Venice Biennale, the Turkey Pavilion, commissioned by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will present "A Kiss on the Eyes" by artist Nilbar Güreş, curated by Başak Doğa Temür. The exhibition takes its title from a Turkish expression conveying affectionate closeness without intrusion, and features a mix of new productions and earlier works spanning sculpture, installation, painting, and works on paper and fabric. In an interview, curator Temür explains that the project avoids a retrospective or didactic approach, instead creating a spatial rhythm of approach, pause, and slight withdrawal, where intimacy, politics, irony, and fragility press against one another.

L’antica certosa vicino Siena dove il disegno è diventato una performance condivisa. Il report

The third edition of the De Linea Art Festival took place on May 2-3 at the Certosa di Pontignano near Siena, Italy. Curated by Matteo Marsan and Riccardo Guasco, the event transformed the historic monastery into a living laboratory of drawing, illustration, and performance. Nine illustrators—including Marina Marcolin, Francesco Poroli, Elisa Macellari, Gianluca Folì, Ale Giorgini, Gloria Pizzilli, Matteo Berton, Giovanna Giuliano, and Daniele Caluri—participated in a week-long residency, producing works inspired by the site and the festival's theme "Crepe e spiragli" (Cracks and Glimmers), a contemporary interpretation of a Leonard Cohen quote. Over 500 visitors attended workshops, talks, and shared creative sessions, including a workshop by Fondazione Il Bisonte and performances by actress Daniela Morozzi and graphic poet Alessandro Valenti (Alvalenti).

The exhibition that aims to make you remember the Seventies appears in a former newsstand in Siena

La mostra che punta a farti ricordare gli Anni Settanta spunta in una ex edicola di Siena

The former newsstand in Siena, transformed into an exhibition space by the association Giallo Menta in 2023, opens its seventh artistic intervention. From May 9 to June 20, 2026, artist Luigi Presicce presents a site-specific installation titled "La Mamma," which turns the small architectural space into a scenic device exploring the concept of birth while reappropriating elements of Italian popular culture from the 1970s. The installation simulates an underwater environment, an aquarium where "sea monkeys" live under human gaze, referencing a 1970s pop myth where these fantastic creatures were sold in packets and dissolved in water.

Here are the photos of the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (the one full of nude performers that it is forbidden to photograph)

Ecco le foto del Padiglione Austria alla Biennale di Venezia (quello pieno di performer nude che è vietato fotografare)

The Austrian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Seaworld Venice" and curated by Nora-Swantje Almes, features provocative performances by artist and choreographer Florentina Holzinger. The installation includes four distinct nude female performances: a performer acting as a bell clapper on the hour, a female Deposition of Christ scene with three women on a rotating vertical structure, a nude woman riding a jet ski in circles, and a reenactment of Giorgione's Sleeping Venus in a urine-filled tank. The pavilion has become the most talked-about and Instagrammed at the Biennale, drawing long queues despite a ban on photography.

Interview with Nina Wakeford of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Intervista a Nina Wakeford del Padiglione Svizzero alla Biennale di Venezia 2026

Nina Wakeford, artist and curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, discusses the pavilion's project "The Unfinished Business of Living Together." The exhibition draws on two Swiss television broadcasts from 1978 and 1984—Telearena and Agora—in which gay, lesbian, and trans individuals spoke on national television. Rather than treating these as historical artifacts, Wakeford and her team (Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, and Yul Tomatala) reactivate them as points of tension, creating a multimedia environment that explores unresolved issues of coexistence, visibility, and social difference.

Curiosities at the 2026 Venice Biennale: the Tanzania Pavilion is full of Italian artists

Curiosità alla Biennale di Venezia 2026: il Padiglione della Tanzania è pieno di artisti italiani

The Tanzania Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life of a Nation," features a significant number of Italian artists alongside Tanzanian voices. Curated by Lorna Benedict Mashiba and Martina Cavallarin, the exhibition is housed across the Gervasuti Foundation, Palazzo Canova, and Supernova in Cannaregio. It includes works by 14 Italian artists such as Alice Andreoli, Christian Balzano, and Silvia Canton, as well as artists from Europe and Asia, while centering the practices of Tanzanian artists like Turakella Editha Gyindo, Lazaro Samuel, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, and Amani Abeid.

Israeli Pavilion Artist Made Legal Threats Before Venice Biennale Jury Resigned

New reports reveal that Israeli Pavilion artist Belu-Simion Fainaru issued legal threats against the Venice Biennale, alleging antisemitism and discrimination after the awards jury decided to exclude Israel and Russia from consideration due to human rights charges. The jury, which included Elvira Dyangani Ose, Zoe Butt, Marta Kuzma, Giovanna Zapperi, and Solange Farkas, initially stated on April 22 it would not consider nations whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Fainaru filed legal warnings with the Biennale, the Italian Ministry of Culture, and the Prime Minister's office. The jury abruptly resigned eight days later, leading the Biennale to scrap the Golden Lion awards and institute "Visitor Lions" decided by public vote. Reports indicate the Biennale's legal department warned jurors could be personally liable for damages, and Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli promised to promote Fainaru's work.

The Syrian Pavilion returns to Venice after the fall of the regime. The interview

A Venezia torna il Padiglione della Siria dopo il crollo del regime. L’intervista

The Syrian Pavilion returns to the Venice Biennale after the fall of the regime, marking the country's first participation since 2024. The pavilion, curated by artist Sara Shamma, is housed in the former refrigerated warehouses of Santa Marta at the Iuav University of Venice and runs until November 22. It features an installation inspired by the ancient funerary towers of Palmyra, combining painting, architecture, light, sound, and scent to explore cultural heritage and the restitution of looted antiquities.

Interview to discover Theo Eshetu, the only Italian artist at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Intervista per scoprire Theo Eshetu, unico artista italiano alla Biennale di Venezia 2026

Theo Eshetu (London, 1958), the only Italian artist invited to the central exhibition "In Minor Keys" of the 2026 Venice Biennale curated by Koyo Kouoh, is profiled in an interview. Born to an Ethiopian father and Dutch mother, Eshetu trained in the Netherlands and London before settling in Rome in the early 1980s. He discusses his cosmopolitan background, his early struggles with belonging, and how he transformed that into artistic strength. The interview covers his career, his memories of the Roman art scene in the 1980s and 1990s, and his current work presented at the Biennale, including the piece "The Return of the Axum Obelisk" (2010).

Il Padiglione Italia alla Biennale? “Deve essere uno spazio di possibilità”. Intervista alla curatrice

The article announces Chiara Camoni's project "Con te con tutto" for the Italian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, curated by Cecilia Canziani. The project emphasizes relational and communal practices, rejecting the identity-driven rhetoric of national representation. It stems from a fifteen-year dialogue between artist and curator, incorporating workshops, shared readings, and collaborative works like "La Giusta Misura." The pavilion is conceived as an ecosystem of artworks, texts, and activations rather than a linear exhibition, with a catalog designed as a critical reader.

Annalee Davis at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale. Landscape as mourning, archive and resistance in the Barbados Pavilion

Annalee Davis alla Biennale Arte di Venezia 2026. Il paesaggio come lutto, archivio e resistenza nel Padiglione Barbados

Annalee Davis, an artist from Barbados, will represent her country at the 2026 Venice Biennale with an installation titled "Let this be my Cathedral" within the exhibition "In Minor Keys." The work addresses ecological grief, colonial memory, and the possibility of care without erasing conflict, using suspended plants and organic materials to create a threshold where loss, vulnerability, and wonder remain in tension. Davis discusses the influence of curator Koyo Kouoh, whose vision shaped the Biennale, and the importance of research as an integral part of her artistic process.

The Austrian Pavilion at the Biennale brings performances and installations around the Venice Lagoon

Il Padiglione Austria in Biennale porta performance e installazioni in giro per la Laguna di Venezia

Austrian artist and choreographer Florentina Holzinger (Vienna, 1986) will represent Austria at the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale with a project titled "SeaWorld Venice." Curated by Nora-Swantje Almes, the interdisciplinary initiative combines a permanent installation at the Austrian Pavilion with a series of site-specific performances and actions spread across Venice and its lagoon. The project explores the body, water, and the tensions between nature and technology, drawing on mythological and classical imagery populated by aquatic creatures. It includes "Études," performative formats developed by Holzinger since 2020, which activate urban spaces through participatory and immersive experiences, engaging both spectators and citizens.

The 15th-century Ca' Giustinian Faccanon reopens in Venice. It will be a space for exhibitions and events

A Venezia riapre il quattrocentesco Ca’ Giustinian Faccanon. Sarà uno spazio per mostre ed eventi

The historic Ca' Giustinian Faccanon, a rare example of Venetian Gothic architecture in the San Marco district, has reopened in Venice after over a year of restoration work. The 15th-century palace, acquired by entrepreneur Andrea Parisotto, will now serve as a space for exhibitions and events managed by Art Events and Cultural Real Estate Studio. During the 61st Venice Biennale, it will host the Vietnam Pavilion with the exhibition "Arte nel flusso globale" curated by Do Tuong Linh, marking Vietnam's first official participation, as well as a solo show by Korean sculptor Shim Moon-Seup titled "Harnessed From Nature."

Working in Art and Culture: Opportunities from Premio di Pittura Casciaro, Fondazione MUS.E, Comune di Roma, Fondazione Officine Saffi

Lavorare nell’arte e nella cultura: opportunità da Premio di Pittura Casciaro, Fondazione MUS.E, Comune di Roma, Fondazione Officine Saffi

This article from Artribune compiles five current job and grant opportunities in the Italian visual arts and culture sector. It lists open calls for the Premio di Pittura Giuseppe Casciaro (a painting prize with a career award and a solo exhibition prize), a residency program for artists and curators under 36 at Fondazione MUS.E's MAD Murate Art District, an open call for artists on the theme of play by Associazione Circuiti Dinamici, a search by the Comune di Roma for a three-year artistic director for the La Vaccheria cultural space, and a stage (internship) position at Fondazione Culturale Officine Saffi for exhibition programming and project coordination.