The Metropolitan Museum of Art will acquire the Neue Galerie's Fifth Avenue building and its collection of 20th-century Austrian and German art, starting in 2028. The collection was built by cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder, who founded the Neue Galerie in 2001.
The Weyburn Art Gallery in Saskatchewan is presenting a dual exhibition running through the end of June, featuring two complementary shows. The first, 'Omentum: A look into the Indigenous Experience of the 21st Century- Exhibition Series, 2019' by Nehiyawak-Métis artist John Brady McDonald, comprises ten paintings that address themes such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, cultural appropriation, residential school legacies, and the murder of Colten Boushie. Each painting was personally named by an influential Indigenous figure, including Isaac Murdoch, Rosanna Deerchild, and Dr. Evan Adams. The second exhibition draws from the City of Weyburn’s Permanent Collection, showcasing works by Indigenous artists Michael Lonechild, Ken Lonechild, and Mike Keepness, which explore identity, place, and memory.
The article reviews Carole Harris's solo exhibition "This Side of the River" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), curated by Abel Gonzalez Fernandez. The show features twenty fiber pieces and archival materials spanning from 1966 to the present, tracing Harris's creative evolution and her responses to Detroit's social and urban changes. It highlights early works like "Potpourri" (1976) and "Black Jack" (1976) from her 1977 debut at Gallery 7, a Black Power-era space founded by Charles McGee, and later pieces such as "Down the Road a Piece" (2003) that mark her shift toward improvisational, abstract compositions.
Syracuse-born artist Peter McGough hand-painted a custom Michael Kors gown worn by Anne Hathaway to the 2026 Met Gala. The dress, a strapless black Mikado silk ball gown with a plunging neckline and high-leg slit, features intricate Grecian patterns inspired by the Met's urns and statues, including a goddess with a dove on the back. McGough, a former classmate of Michael Kors at the Fashion Institute of Technology, painted directly on the silk and wool gown over a week using three layers of fabric paint. The design aligns with the gala's 'Fashion Is Art' dress code and references John Keats' poem 'Ode on a Grecian Urn,' also tying into Hathaway's upcoming film 'The Odyssey.'
The Akron Art Museum is presenting "Transfiguration: Rachel Libeskind and the Tiffany Window," an exhibition centered on a 137-square-foot stained glass window crafted by Frederick Wilson of Tiffany Studios in 1917. The window, originally installed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, was rescued after a 2018 fire destroyed the church. Developer Tony Troppe purchased the property in 2022, and Whitney Stained Glass Studio restored the panels. New York-based artist Rachel Libeskind created accompanying works that reframe the window as art rather than a devotional object, with the show running through July 5.
The New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut will present "John Hitchcock: We are Defined by the Beat" from May 16 to November 29, 2026, marking the artist's first mid-career retrospective. John Hitchcock, an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma with Comanche and Northern European ancestry, has spent over three decades transforming the sonic and cultural rhythms of his homeland into a distinct visual language. The exhibition explores his integration of visual and sonic forms across printmaking, neon, textiles, sound, video, and installation, featuring series such as "Flatlander" (2011-18), "Bury the Hatchet" (2019-2020), "Blanket Songs" (2022-2023), "Soundscapes" (2021-2024), and "Celebration" (2025). Hitchcock's work pays homage to his ancestors, confronts histories of Indigenous displacement and trauma, and celebrates community, resilience, and survival, drawing on the sounds and landscapes of his ancestral home in Medicine Park, Oklahoma.
The article details the making of 'Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice,' a collateral event at the 61st Venice Biennale curated by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA). The exhibition features two Hong Kong-based artists—established media artist Ng and emerging artist Angel Hui—whose works explore the poetic rhythms of everyday life in Hong Kong, engaging with the Biennale's theme 'In Minor Keys' by Koyo Kouoh. The selection process involved nominations from local tertiary institutions and professional art organizations, with over 200 artists considered before Ng and Hui were chosen.
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has opened a new exhibition titled 'Mother,' curated almost entirely from its existing collection. The show traces the experience of motherhood from the 15th century to the present, beginning with a juxtaposition of Giovanni Toscani's Madonna and Child and a 1998 birth mat by Elizabeth Birritjama Ngalandjarri. Co-curators Sophie Gerhard and Katharina Prugger organized the exhibition around the 'life cycle' of a mother, covering themes from matrescence to loss. It features works by artists including Kate Just, Kyra Mancktelow, Destiny Deacon, and Hannah Brontë, with a strong emphasis on First Nations perspectives and fiber arts.
Performance art pioneer Marina Abramović, now 80, has opened a major exhibition titled "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, making her the first living woman to receive such a show at the institution. The exhibition, running until October, features interactive "transitory objects" like crystal structures and minerals, alongside re-enactments of her iconic works including a performance with her late partner Ulay. In an interview with Reuters, Abramović discusses her shift from being the subject of her work to focusing on audience participation, a realization she had after her landmark 2010 performance "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA.
Two Illinois high school seniors, Dashiell Speir and Hazel Anderson, received substantial art-school scholarship offers after participating in the Illinois High School Art Exhibition's northern regional show. Speir, a student at Downers Grove North High School, was offered $524,000 in scholarships, while Anderson, from Central High School in Burlington, received $372,000 in offers. Speir plans to attend the College of DuPage before transferring to a four-year school, and Anderson intends to enroll at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Collegium has presented the installation *Yo, vos y la luna* by Brazilian artist Tunga (1952–2016) for the first time in Europe. The work, part of the Sarina Tang collection, was previously shown at MALBA in Buenos Aires and MAM in São Paulo. It is now installed in the Iglesia de San Miguel de Arévalo in Ávila, Spain, where it will be on view until 18 October 2026. The piece incorporates stones, mirrors, glass, plaster, resin, suspended structures, and a fossilized tree trunk, with sensory elements including dripping amber essence and bronze finger fragments.
In Romagna c’è discussione attorno all’eredità artistica del Ventennio fascista
Recent developments in Romagna, Italy, have sparked debate over the artistic legacy of the Fascist era. The 102-meter-long Flight Mosaics at the former Aeronautical College in Forlì are now open to the public, and the Conad-Città di Forlì Auditorium, converted from a former GIL cinema, will inaugurate on May 13, 2026. Regional President De Pascale has announced initial funding to secure the Colonia Varese in Cervia, a Rationalist masterpiece, while long-awaited consolidation work has begun on the Casa del Fascio in Predappio, Benito Mussolini's birthplace. A 2010 plan to turn the Casa del Fascio into a cultural center documenting Fascism has stalled due to political changes and bureaucratic hurdles.
A Savona c’è un nuovo festival di cultura contemporanea che mira a far dialogare la tradizione con le ricerche più emergenti
A new contemporary culture festival called Brucia has launched in Savona, Italy, with its zero edition running from May 9 to 17, 2026. Organized by the under-30 association Fiammiferi, founded by Teresa Raineri, the festival transforms the Fortezza del Priamàr and Teatro Chiabrera into a diffuse laboratory of artistic practices, including performances, concerts, exhibitions, workshops, and meetings. A highlight is the solo show [Çigae] by artist Gaia De Megni, curated by Gabriele Cordì, which explores themes of return and belonging through a Ligurian lens, featuring her film 'La tigre e i gabbiani' (2019).
Sotheby's will hold a live auction of Modern and Contemporary Art at Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan on May 27, 2026, featuring major Italian post-war artists. Highlights include works by Lucio Fontana, Giorgio Morandi, Carla Accardi, Alighiero Boetti, Emilio Vedova, Salvo, Piero Dorazio, and Tancredi, many appearing at auction for the first time. Key lots include Fontana's "Concetto Spaziale, Attese" (1965-66, estimate €700,000-1,000,000) and a Yves Klein monochrome from 1959.
A new exhibition titled "Dante Ferretti. Con i miei occhi" has opened at the Musei di San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome, celebrating the legendary Italian set designer and costume designer Dante Ferretti. Curated by Raffaele Curi, the show runs until July 19, 2026, and features a collection of Ferretti's sketches, charcoal drawings, and collages that served as the foundational visual ideas for films by directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Tim Burton. The exhibition presents these preparatory works not merely as production tools but as autonomous works of art, tracing Ferretti's visual genealogy from Renaissance painters like Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio to contemporary cinema.
Archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered 153 Spanish and British muskets and rifles, along with an iron cannon, in the Síis Já cenote beneath the 16th-century former convent San Bernardino de Siena in Valladolid, Mexico. The weapons were likely discarded by the Yucatecan government during the early years of the Caste War of Yucatán (1847-1901) to prevent them from falling into Maya rebels' hands. The site also yielded Maya ceramic pieces and 18th-century Chinese porcelain, and INAH reported debris and pollution affecting the cenote.
Brenda Zlamany returns to her ancestral village near Pollino National Park in Italy, where she paints in a converted sausage factory and grows her own olives. The 336th installment of Hyperallergic's 'A View From the Easel' series profiles her studio life in a remote, car-free village that her grandfather left as a cobbler 100 years ago.
Die 10 besten Venedig-Filme
Monopol magazine has published a ranking of the ten best films set in Venice, timed to coincide with the opening of the Venice Art Biennale. The list includes titles such as Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "The Honey Pot" (1967), and Kenneth Branagh's "A Haunting in Venice" (2023), highlighting how the lagoon city serves as a central character in action films, comedies, and love dramas.
A new study by University College London, published in the journal Innovation in Aging, reveals that engaging with arts and culture can slow biological aging at a rate comparable to exercise. Researchers found that attending performances or visiting galleries once a month led to a 3 percent reduction in aging speed, while weekly engagement produced a 4 percent slowdown. Those who participated in the arts at least weekly were biologically at least a year younger than non-participants, outperforming weekly exercisers, who were only six months younger biologically. The study tracked 3,356 adults from 2010 to 2012 using survey data and blood tests, measuring aging via epigenetic clocks that analyze DNA changes.
Bavarian photographer Markus Brunetti, working with collaborator Betty Schöner, has spent over two decades traveling across Europe in a converted firetruck photo lab to capture monumental composite photographs of basilicas, cathedrals, and other ecclesiastical landmarks. Their process involves taking thousands of meter-by-meter shots of each structure over several years, then meticulously layering and arranging them into high-resolution images that correct perspective to create a striking one-point view. Brunetti's current solo exhibition, "Facades IV" at Yossi Milo gallery in New York City, features recent works including "Roma, Basilica di San Pietro" (2007-2026), which required seven visits over nineteen years to complete.
A posthumous exhibition titled "Remembrance: A Tribute to the Work of Dinh Q. Lê" is on view at 10 Chancery Lane in Hong Kong from March 20 to May 23, 2026. Curated by David Elliott, the show features key works by the late Vietnamese artist, including his series of manipulated photographs that slice and weave the iconic 1972 image "The Terror of War" into pixelated grids, alongside pieces like "Skin on Skin Black Mixed No. 9" that critique the influx of Western pornography into Vietnam after internet legalization.
L’intima corrispondenza tra l’artista Maria Lai e lo stilista Antonio Marras è in mostra a Milano
The exhibition "Paso Doble" at Galleria M77 in Milan brings together over 200 works by artist Maria Lai (1919–2013) and fashion designer Antonio Marras, curated by Francesca Alfano Miglietti. The show explores the deep creative and personal dialogue between the two, rooted in a transformative encounter that Marras describes as a turning point in his artistic language. Works range from historical pieces by Lai—including textile books, thread installations, and stone-embedded works—to Marras's own mixed-media creations using humble materials like cardboard, fabric scraps, and pastry trays. The exhibition culminates in collaborative installations such as "Llencols de aigua" (Water Sheets) and "Janas," immersive environments where viewers become part of a silent choreography of memory and imagination.
This is a sales listing for Aude Herledan's bronze sculpture "Black Venus" (2015), an editioned work from her series "Faithful To My African Roots." The piece is offered by 1831 Art Gallery in Paris, with a certificate of authenticity and price available on request. The listing also provides a biography of Herledan, a French-born artist raised in Kinshasa who studied at the École Estienne, Parsons School, École des Beaux-Arts, and École du Louvre, and who has shown at major fairs including TEFAA and Art Paris.
Iris van Herpen's exhibition "Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses" opens at the Brooklyn Museum from May 16 to December 6, 2026, featuring over 140 haute couture creations alongside contemporary art, design objects, and natural history specimens. The show, previewed by designboom, is organized around natural themes from water to planetary scale, with the Dutch designer leading a walkthrough that emphasized her inspirations from micro and macro worlds and her process of turning material experiments into wearable sculptures.
Hong Kong artists Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui are showcasing their works at the 61st Venice Biennale in a collateral exhibition titled 'Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice', curated by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). The exhibition, which opened on May 8, 2026, features five installations across a courtyard and four gallery rooms, including Ng's multimedia pieces inspired by hanging laundry and Hui's works blending traditional Chinese embroidery and handcrafted iron window grilles. This marks HKMoA's first curation at the Biennale.
The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a gallery conversation titled "Life and Death Lessons from Ancient Egypt" on July 20, exploring ancient Egyptian objects and their reflections on mortality and living fully. The event is led by Ashley Arico, associate curator of ancient Egyptian art, and Sam Ramos, director of Gallery Activation, and will take place in Gallery 50 with folding stools provided.
The FOMU photography museum in Antwerp has opened a new exhibition titled 'Families', curated by Anne Ruygt. The show explores the evolving concept of family through historical and contemporary photography, featuring works by artists such as Mous Lamrabat, Cecil Beaton, Omar Victor Diop, Mayara Ferrão, Peter Hujar, Carmen Winant, and Seiichi Furuya. It includes diverse perspectives, from 'hidden mother portraits' and post-mortem photography to AI-generated images of queer Black and Indigenous women, questioning traditional notions of kinship and representation.
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.
On the eve of Mother's Day 2026, an art exhibit titled "The Four Lost Sons" opened at [ART] CONSCIOUS gallery in Arabi, Louisiana. The show features large portraits of four Black men from Louisiana who died in police custody or altercations, created by the pseudonymous artist Walta Focq. The exhibit coincides with the anniversary of Ronald Greene's death, who was beaten and tased by Louisiana State Police in 2019. The mothers of the four men are involved in the project and plan to speak at the opening reception.
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.