The New York Times reports a significant resurgence in print interior design magazines, with titles like Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, and House Beautiful experiencing substantial growth in advertising pages and newsstand sales. This revival is occurring despite the broader print media downturn and a shift towards digital content consumption.
The New School in New York City plans to lay off 15 percent of its full-time faculty and staff by June. This follows a months-long conflict with faculty and a reported $48 million deficit, with the university previously offering voluntary separation packages to 40% of staff.
Copenhagen-based designer Helle Mardahl has launched a new hand-blown glass collection for Design Within Reach (DWR). The collection includes barware, serving dishes, vases, and lamps in a palette of rhubarb, plum, coconut, and creamy melon, inspired by Scandinavian and American design traditions and Mardahl's heritage as the daughter of an architect.
A curated selection of notable art exhibitions opening across the United States in April is highlighted. Key shows include Pat Oleszko's inflatable sculptures at New York's SculptureCenter and the annual 'The Photography Show' in New York.
The Miguel Hernández University in Elche, Spain, presents "Vientos del pueblo. Voices of Exile and Resistance," a group exhibition curated by Mónica Sotos. Inspired by Miguel Hernández's poem "Vientos del pueblo," the show features Argentine artists Ježik and Costa alongside Eugenio Merino, Gloria Oyarzábal, Ricardo Calero, Óscar Seco, Pierre Valls, and María Rosa Aránega. Through photography, video, installation, drawing, and archival works, the exhibition examines violence, borders, exile, and colonial legacies, challenging dominant power narratives.
TAILOR, the vertical newsletter from Artribune exploring the intersections of art and fashion, returns on Sunday, May 17, 2026. The upcoming issue focuses on "Science Fashion," an event held from May 13 to 15 at the MACRO – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, curated by Dobrila Denegri, which investigates relationships between fashion, science, and new technologies. The newsletter also examines the rapid spread of the non-color white in fashion and design as a response to pandemic, crisis, and geopolitical tensions, offering analytical content for professionals, students, and enthusiasts.
The Torre Grimaldina, a medieval tower in Genoa's Palazzo Ducale, has reopened after extensive restoration and safety upgrades funded by Italy's PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan). Built in the late 13th century as a symbol of municipal power, the tower later served as a prison for political dissidents, including Risorgimento patriots and anti-fascist activists, as well as the violinist Niccolò Paganini. The restoration has preserved historic graffiti and inscriptions left by inmates, while reopening the tower's belvedere offering panoramic views of the city.
A Roma è nato un nuovo spazio culturale che lavora sulla memoria della città (anche attraverso le cartoline)
A new cultural space called URBS has opened in Rome's Testaccio district, founded by architect Andrea D'Antrassi in collaboration with Giovanni Colombara. The space debuted in 2024 as "The Smallest Museum by URBS," a 20-square-meter venue housing over 1,600 historical postcards of the city, creating a visual archive spanning different eras. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, such as the current show "Not Mine, Not Yours" by Iranian artist Mehrdad Shadrooh, curated by Barbara Blasi, which draws from a family video-photo archive covering over eighty years of history. A commercial space has also been opened in Trastevere.
La Colombia degli Anni ’70 arriva a Milano con una mostra che pare un film
Ever Astudillo (Cali, 1948–2015) is the subject of a new exhibition at Velo Project in Milan, titled "Latin Fire." The show brings together photographs and drawings from the 1970s and 1980s, capturing the Colombian city of Cali as a silent theater of anonymous, often isolated figures. The installation also features kinetic sculptures by filmmaker Virgilio Villoresi (Fiesole, 1979), creating a dialogue between Astudillo's still images and Villoresi's fragile, hypnotic movement. The exhibition runs until May 16, 2026.
In una mostra a Napoli è possibile perdersi senza urgenza in un equilibrio instabile. La recensione
The exhibition "A Gentle Collapse," curated by Marta Ferrara at Andrea Nuovo Home Gallery in Naples, explores the contemporary psychic state through a spatial and perceptual construction. Featuring works in photography, painting, engraving, and installation, the show creates a sense of instability, with meaning emerging gradually through shifts between familiar and altered forms. Artists include Dorottya Vékony, Matteo Silverii, Flora Villaumié, and Zoë Pelikan, whose works engage with themes of genetic engineering, serial accumulation, and subtle disorientation across two gallery levels.
Fare varietà nella Roma contemporanea: la storia della Conventicola degli Ultramoderni su Sky Arte
On Sunday, May 3, Sky Arte will premiere the documentary "Ultramoderni," which chronicles the rise of the Conventicola degli Ultramoderni, a unique artistic collective in Rome. Founded by Sior Mirkaccio and Madame de Freitas, who met in 2011, the group operates from a small hidden venue in the San Lorenzo district, blending music, cabaret, burlesque, and contemporary variety shows with a retro-futuristic aesthetic. The documentary, filmed in their Roman space, features interviews with the duo and excerpts from their performances, tracing how they built a diverse community of enthusiasts around their reinvention of past traditions.
Il primo maggio parte una nuova uscita di Pax. Le anticipazioni della newsletter sul turismo culturale (abbonatevi)
The article previews the upcoming May 1st issue of Pax, a newsletter by Artribune focused on cultural tourism. It highlights a feature on Italy's colorful villages, explaining how bright colors historically aided sailors and fishermen, and how white facades served hygienic purposes. The issue also covers off-the-beaten-path destinations like Bolsena, which recently opened a contemporary art space in Palazzo Cozza Caposavi, and explores slow tourism practices such as barefooting, discussed with its founder Andrea Bianchi. Additional content includes a roundup of cultural initiatives from Berlin to Naples, Budapest's Citadella reopening, and the Sussex forest's Winnie-the-Pooh centenary.
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.
The international artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė present their debut exhibition in Rome, titled "Spit and Image," at the Basement gallery. The show, on view until July 10, 2026, features sculptures, installations, and videos that explore identity construction in the digital age, using mirrors, fragmented bodies, and olfactory elements. Works like "Yield (twinning)" (2025) and "Spit and Image 1 and 2" (2025) evoke surveillance, metamorphosis, and duplication, while the Slavic vampire figure of the upiór serves as a metaphor for fluid, non-binary identities.
In Casamassella, in the heart of Salento, Red Lab Gallery's residency program has produced "Chiedete al vento, all’onda, alla stella, all’uccello," a project by artists Agata Ferrari Bravo and Thomas Michael Saccuman with an intervention by Flavio Favelli, curated by Leonardo Regano. The centerpiece is a large bird-cart, a hybrid sculpture and performative device made from papier-mâché, fragments of festive lights, and objects collected from the local area, designed to be disassembled and reactivated. Favelli's installation transforms decommissioned luminarie into a suspended environment that amplifies the work's ambiguous, almost ritualistic quality.
Lavoro nell’arte: opportunità da Accademia Belle Arti Catania, MADRE Napoli, Camera Austria, Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Several prominent Italian and international cultural institutions have launched open calls for professional roles, residencies, and artistic competitions. Key opportunities include the search for a new director at the MADRE Museum in Naples with a three-year contract, a social media manager position at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and various residency programs for photographers and designers at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania and Camera Austria in Graz.
Di testamenti e di trasfigurazioni. Intervista alla poeta Silvia Righi
Italian poet Silvia Righi discusses her latest collection, *Ex voto suscepto*, published by Pungitopo as part of the Remedia series. The book originated from a narrative concept involving the arrival of God's daughter on Earth and features a unique interdisciplinary collaboration with artist Mattia Barbieri, who provided China ink illustrations. The interview explores the collection's focus on the decaying body, the fluidity of the lyrical 'I', and the intersection of poetic language with visual art.
Treviso è una città dipinta. La Fondazione Benetton racconta tutto nelle sue ricerche
The Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche has unveiled the results of its decade-long multidisciplinary project, "Treviso urbs picta," which documents the extensive history of frescoed facades in Treviso, Italy. Spanning the 13th to the 21st centuries, the initiative has produced a comprehensive database of 614 buildings, a scholarly publication, and a topographical map. The project includes a digital archive featuring professional photography and historical mapping to track the evolution and current state of the city's unique painted architecture.
Il dolore che non si vede: il racconto del manicomio nell’ultimo film di Alessandro Bencivenga
Director Alessandro Bencivenga’s new film, L’invisibile filo rosso, debuted out of competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, offering a poignant look at the Pergine Valsugana psychiatric hospital in the 1950s. Based on extensive archival research, the narrative follows a young nurse from Ischia who witnesses the hidden horrors and human dignity within the asylum. The film features a notable cast including Massimo Bonetti, who portrays the real-life figure Giovanni Giulio Anesini, and Ornella Muti as Ida Dalser, the persecuted first wife of Benito Mussolini.
Collezionista di design e moto ha aperto un museo dedicato alla Vespa Piaggio a Milano: esemplari unici di 80 anni fa
Former Ikea executive Stefano Biffi has transformed a 700-square-meter former tire workshop in Milan into "My Vintage," a private museum and event space housing one of the world's most significant collections of Piaggio Vespa scooters. The venue features rare specimens from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, including original 1946 models displayed without kickstands to reflect the muddy road conditions of post-war Italy. The space is designed to be a sustainable cultural hub, offering guided tours alongside rentals for events, film shoots, and ceremonies.
Jamea Richmond-Edwards presents her solo exhibition “Another World and Yet the Same” at Hamilton College’s Wellin Museum of Art. The show features her mixed-media works that blend Afrofuturism, historical narratives, and contemporary themes, exploring the intersections of Black identity, spirituality, and the cosmos.
Method Delhi is presenting 'Slow Rot', a group exhibition featuring ten contemporary Indian artists whose works explore human fragility, psychological unrest, and the grotesque. The show runs from May 9 to July 3, 2026, at Method's New Delhi space in Defence Colony, with free entry. Participating artists include Aditya Dhabhai, Dhruvi Jain, M. Imran Ahamed, Milan Sharma, Mitali Das, Priyesh T., Revant Dasgupta, Riya Chandwani, Sajid Wajid Shaikh, and Tithi Das, working across painting, sculpture, and mixed media.
A new artist-led art fair called Fair Play Art Fair will launch in London from October 15–18, 2026, at One Marylebone. Founded by Ryan Stanier, creator of The Other Art Fair, the event offers selected artists free exhibition stands instead of requiring upfront fees, operating on a commission-based model that takes 50% of sales. The fair will run alongside Frieze London and include immersive installations, sound art, dining, and live performances, with a curated selection process overseen by an independent committee.
The Polish Institute in Paris is participating in the 25th edition of Nuit Blanche on June 6-7, 2026, with a program featuring photographer and war correspondent Agata Grzybowska, who will give an artist talk titled "Everyone deserves their own story," followed by a guided tour of an exhibition by Anglo-Polish photojournalist Chris Niedenthal. The event runs from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., offering free access to the public as part of the citywide contemporary art festival.
Hong Kong's Affordable Art Fair (AAF) returns in May with the theme “See Art. Love Art. Own Art.”, featuring 106 local and international exhibitors—up from 98 last year—and artworks priced from HK$1,000 (US$128). The fair, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, aims to make art accessible to new and seasoned collectors alike, with a focus on transactions under US$50,000. Founder Will Ramsay highlights growing confidence in this market tier, citing a report by Affordable Art Fair × ArtTactic that shows 69% of galleries expect sales growth and that art fairs generate 44% of gallery revenues.
Artist and curator Mary Walker presents "10 + 4 + 1: A Collaborative Art Project" at the Cannon Street Arts Center during Piccolo Spoleto from May 22 to May 29. The exhibition pairs ten visual artists—including Linda Fantuzzo, Joe Walters, Lese Corrigan, Hirona Matsuda, Kristi Ryba, Jeff Kopish, Herb Parker, Yvette Dede, and David Higginbotham—into five duos, each combining a 2D and a 3D artist to work outside their usual practice. The project also features four dance companies (Annex Dance Company, Unbound Ballet Project, Collective SC, and Georgia Schrubbe) performing over the weekend, with a family-friendly kickoff and artist reception on May 22.
The Southern Utah Art Guild is hosting a series of free public events in St. George this May, including gallery openings at Arrowhead Gallery and Red Cliff Gallery. Arrowhead Gallery will hold an open house on May 6 featuring a live demonstration by landscape painter Marilyn Rose, a 10% discount on artwork, and opportunity drawings. Red Cliff Gallery launches its “Explosion of Color” exhibit on May 8, showcasing vibrant works from contemporary Guild artists through June 18. Additional community events include CONNECT, a critique session sponsored by the Utah Arts Alliance on May 28, and MEET + MINGLE, a networking gathering on May 12.
Southern Guild, a Cape Town-based gallery, opened a permanent location in New York's Tribeca district on Friday, marking a major expansion for the gallery and a milestone for contemporary African art's international visibility. The inaugural exhibitions feature South African painter Mmangaliso Nzuza's "Ballad of the Peacock" and conceptual artist Usha Seejarim's "Used," both on view until May 17. Co-founder Trevyn McGowan described the 371m² space in a historic cast-iron building as both instinctive and strategic, following the closure of the gallery's Los Angeles outpost, which served as a testing ground for American audiences.
Redland City has announced the inaugural Redlands Coast Gallery and Museum Hop, a two-day cultural event scheduled for May 23 and 24, 2026. Part of the broader Redlands Coast AdventureFest, the initiative features 10 galleries and two museums across the mainland and islands, offering self-drive tours, specialized workshops, and exhibitions of local creative talent and cultural heritage.
Two annual open exhibitions open this week at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, UK. The main Open Exhibition features over 300 artworks by amateur and professional local artists across painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, textiles, and film, with some pieces for sale. Alongside it, the Young Artist Open Exhibition showcases 559 submissions from artists aged 15 and under, submitted by individuals, schools, and community groups. Both exhibitions run from October 10, 2025 to January 11, 2026, with a public programme including artist talks.