Dahiye, il quartiere di Beirut che non esiste quasi più. Nelle foto di un artista italiano

Italian photographer Armando Perna (born 1981 in Reggio Calabria) has documented Dahiye, a southern suburb of Beirut known as Hezbollah's stronghold, using a digital camera hidden inside a car and controlled remotely via Bluetooth. His project, initiated in 2013 and exhibited in 2017 at the Fondazione Pino Pascali in Polignano a Mare (Bari), creates a street-view-style mapping of a neighborhood that has been heavily bombed by Israeli forces, most recently in the past weeks. The work was promoted by Planar gallery, founded by Antonio Ottomanelli, with Perna and Anna Vasta as part of the #showcase project.

Annual photo show at MacNider Museum showcases local talent

The Charles H. MacNider Art Museum in Mason City, Iowa, has opened its 46th Annual Cerro Gordo Photo Show in the Center Space Gallery, sponsored by the Safford and Lena Lock Photo Endowment Fund. Sixty-two entries were submitted by residents of Cerro Gordo County and students at North Iowa Area Community College, with 36 photographs by 20 artists selected for exhibition. An opening reception and awards ceremony will be held on May 7, 2026, with cash prizes including $125 for Best in Show. The exhibition runs through July 11, 2026, and admission is free.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Ultimate 2026 Guide for Travelers

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is drawing record crowds in spring 2026 with its latest exhibitions, including newly restored ancient artifacts. The article, written by travel editor Elena Müller, positions The Met as a top cultural destination for American travelers, highlighting its location on Manhattan's Upper East Side, its Beaux-Arts architecture, and its proximity to Central Park. It also covers the museum's founding in 1870, its expansion into a neoclassical landmark on Museum Mile, and its role as a cornerstone of New York's cultural landscape.

A Theatre Group of Exiled Belarusian Artists Arrive in Venice, With an Exhibition That Shows What Repression Feels Like

The Belarus Free Theatre, an exiled underground theater group, will stage its first official collateral exhibition at the 61st Venice Biennale, titled “Official. Unofficial. Belarus.” The show, held in the historic La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia, features site-specific paintings, a sound installation, and large-scale sculptures that aim to immerse visitors in the experience of repression under authoritarian rule. This marks only the fifth time Belarus has been present at the Biennale, and the first time it appears not as a state but as a self-governing cultural body, challenging the official narratives of nations like Russia.

Mexican Cultural Workers Denounce Pedro Reyes Sculpture at LACMA

A group of nearly 80 Mexican cultural workers, including artists, critics, and academics, has signed an open letter denouncing the display of Pedro Reyes's sculpture "Tlali" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The colossal lava stone head, unveiled earlier this month at LACMA's new building, echoes a controversial 2021 public commission by Reyes that was scrapped by Mexico City's government after protests from feminist and Indigenous advocates. The signatories accuse LACMA of ignoring the previous activism against the artist's work in Mexico, calling the museum's decision to legitimize a new version of the polemic sculpture "deceiving." Reyes has not responded to requests for comment.

Pussy Riot Shows Art by Russia’s Prisoners in New Protest Exhibition

Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova co-curated "Resistance Imprisoned," a protest exhibition at Ritsch-Fisch Galerie in Strasbourg, France, featuring artwork created by people currently or formerly imprisoned in Russia, including Ukrainian civilians. The show opened April 19 and runs through May 31, timed to coincide with the first month of the Venice Biennale, which opens May 9. Works include a pen sketch by Lyudmila Razumova, a photojournalist arrested for anti-war graffiti in 2022 and serving a seven-year sentence, alongside pieces by other political prisoners and Ukrainian POWs. The exhibition aims to highlight the human cost of Russia's war and its participation in international cultural events.

Meet the Canadian artists heading to Venice Biennale

Five Canadian artists have been selected for the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, titled *In Minor Keys*, which opens to the public next Saturday. The participants are Abbas Akhavan (featured in the Canada Pavilion), Manuel Mathieu, Rajni Perera, Marigold Santos, and one additional artist. The exhibition is the first Biennale curated by a Black woman, Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, who died suddenly in May last year after a cancer diagnosis, just six months after her appointment. Despite her death, the Biennale proceeded with her plans, with her team completing the work.

Shokkan at the ROM considers the sense of touch in Japanese art

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto presents "Shokkan," an exhibition curated by Akiko Takesue that explores the Japanese concept of touch in art. Despite the challenge of displaying tactile experiences behind glass, the show succeeds by featuring historic Japanese works—such as kimonos, tea bowls, ukiyo-e prints, and netsuke—alongside contemporary pieces by artists like Issey Miyake, Tabaimo, Makiko Hattori, and Emma Nishimura. Interactive stations allow visitors to handle replicas and less valuable objects, including samurai swords, scrolls, and netsuke, to physically engage with the theme.

The best galleries in Colombo for art and design lovers

The article highlights the best galleries and cultural spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which is emerging as a vibrant cultural hub in Asia. It features established venues like the Sapumal Foundation, founded by painter Harry Pieris, the Barefoot Gallery, and the Colombo National Museum, alongside newer spots such as the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka and Millennium Art Contemporary. Notable artists mentioned include Tilak Samarawickrema, Chamila Gamage, and the historic '43 Group, which includes George Keyt and Lionel Wendt. The article also spotlights Radicle, Colombo's newest gallery, which recently hosted Priyantha Udagedara's solo exhibition "Terra Nullius."

New exhibition brings rare Charles Russell artwork to Fort Worth

The Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will open a new exhibition titled "Russell’s Retreat: Summers at Glacier National Park" on May 2, 2026. The show focuses on Charles M. Russell’s life and work at his summer home, Bull Head Lodge, and features objects borrowed from museums and private collections, many displayed in Fort Worth for the first time. Highlights include the landscape painting "Storm Over Lake McDonald" (1906), birchbark paintings, and a replica of gnome figures Russell made from moss and twigs.

Troublemakers and Prophets: Elizabeth Allen and Other Visionary Artists

Compton Verney in Warwickshire is staging a major exhibition titled "Troublemakers and Prophets: Elizabeth Allen and Other Visionary Artists," running from 28 March to 31 August 2026. The show reintroduces Elizabeth "Queen" Allen (1883–1967), a self-taught British artist who created intricate patchwork artworks inspired by the Apocrypha and biblical visions, using scraps of fabric, buttons, and sequins. Despite achieving success in her lifetime, Allen fell into obscurity; the exhibition pairs her work with thematically related contemporary artists to contextualize her legacy.

A Struggle Between Artist and Machine

Ein Ringen zwischen Künstler und Maschine

Mario Klingemann, a pioneer of AI art, presents "Conflict of Interest," a pop-up exhibition at Sleek Art Space in Berlin during Gallery Weekend. Curated by Anika Meier and produced in collaboration with Art on Tezos, the show features works that challenge the flood of AI-generated imagery. Klingemann displays mundane landscape photographs from private slides, a series called "Weapons of Mass Distraction" where he disrupts an AI algorithm's image generation, and a haunting 2020 video in which AI-generated faces morph to music. The exhibition makes visible the struggle between human control and machine logic.

Where did the great artist Joseph Beuys live? The comic story by Gianluca Costantini

Dove viveva il grande artista Joseph Beuys? Il racconto a fumetti di Gianluca Costantini

In the summer of 2022, the author visited Düsseldorf and discovered that Joseph Beuys's former home at Drakeplatz 4 in Oberkassel was for sale, but the city's cultural department declined to purchase it. Beuys lived and worked there from 1961 until his death in 1986, using the space as both a residence and studio. The article recounts the intimate details of family life there, including how Beuys painted the main room white for his wife Eva's photography, and how the family navigated the blend of private life and artistic practice. Two years later, the Brunhilde Moll Foundation acquired the house and opened it to the public, though it was closed for renovations when the author returned. The house now displays about sixty works from Beuys's creative period and will host artist residencies and events.

Sahar Khoury, RJ Messineo at The Green Gallery

The Green Gallery in Milwaukee is presenting a two-person exhibition featuring works by artists Sahar Khoury and RJ Messineo, running from April 10 to May 16, 2026. The show includes 31 images documenting the exhibition, with no videos or text descriptions provided in the press release.

Calls for Artists: May 2026

Burnaway's May 2026 Calls for Artists roundup lists multiple opportunities with deadlines in early May. These include the Joan Mitchell Center's call for figurative works, the Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography for Gulf Coast photographers, the Center for Craft Teaching Artist Cohort offering $10,000 grants to mid-career craft artists, the Hopper Prize grants totaling $13,000, residencies at The Studios of Key West and Trillium Arts, and the National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund. Each opportunity has specific eligibility, fees, and deadlines ranging from May 3 to May 18, 2026.

Joe Macken Spent 21 Years Hand-Assembling a Vast Model of New York City

Joe Macken, a Queens resident, spent 21 years hand-assembling a vast 50-by-27-foot scale model of New York City, completing it in 2025. The model, built from cardboard, glue, and balsa wood, comprises 340 individual sections and is now on long-term display at the Museum of the City of New York in an exhibition titled "He Built This City: Joe Macken’s Model." Visitors can walk around the model and use binoculars to spot familiar buildings and neighborhoods.

Dispatch: Beijing

The article reports on a series of significant shifts in Beijing's art world since 2024. UCCA Center for Contemporary Art faced financial troubles; its director and CEO Philip Tinari ended his 14-year tenure to lead Hong Kong's Tai Kwun. Taikang Art Museum also disclosed leadership changes. Smaller venues like DRC NO. 12 and fRUITYSPACE closed due to lease issues. Independent publishing faces sharp restrictions, and art book fairs are being replaced by cultural-lifestyle merchandise events. Official figures show Beijing lost over a million young residents since 2020 due to soaring living costs and tightening regulations.

Li Yi-Fan: Error and Effigy

Taiwanese artist Li Yi-Fan, born in 1989 and based between Taipei and Amsterdam, creates unsettling digital marionettes using modified game engines and digital puppetry. His pale, chalky figures with uncanny proportions discuss voyeurism, sexual fantasies, philosophy, memes, and computer programming, often resembling the artist himself. Li works a nine-to-five schedule, spends hours on computer games as research, and describes himself as 'probably the most boring artist.' His practice relies on free or subscription software and purchased digital assets, staging what it feels like to make digital art within platform systems and corporate infrastructure.

Georg Baselitz ist tot

German artist Georg Baselitz has died at the age of 88. According to Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, he passed away peacefully on Thursday. Born Hans-Georg Bruno Kern in 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony, Baselitz fled East Germany in 1957 after political repression and academic conflicts. His first solo exhibition in West Berlin in 1963 was shut down due to scandal, and works were confiscated. He became internationally known in the late 1960s for his radical upside-down painting, a signature inversion that destabilized pictorial logic. He also created an extensive sculptural body of work. Key career milestones include representing Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1980 alongside Anselm Kiefer, multiple Documenta appearances, the Praemium Imperiale in 2004, and election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2019. Major late-career exhibitions included "Nackte Meister" at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in 2023.

What We Throw Away Does Not Disappear

Was wir wegwerfen, verschwindet nicht

The Museum Ostwall at the Dortmunder U in Dortmund has opened a new exhibition titled "Müll – die globalen Wege des Abfalls" ("Waste – The Global Paths of Garbage"), curated by Christina Danick and Michael Griff. Featuring around 50 international artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, including two newly commissioned pieces, the show uses art to explore waste as material, motif, and aesthetic strategy. Key works include Kader Attia's "Los de Arriba y Los de Abajo," which addresses power imbalances through the lens of garbage in Hebron, and historical pieces by César Baldaccini, Arman, and HA Schult. The exhibition also highlights contemporary issues such as e-waste, global waste trafficking, and the environmental impact of industrial nations on the Global South.

Venice Biennale, no prize for Russia or Israel

Biennale de Venise, pas de prix pour la Russie ou Israël

The Venice Biennale has announced that neither Russia nor Israel will receive awards at this year's edition. The decision reflects ongoing geopolitical tensions and controversies surrounding the participation of these nations in the prestigious international art exhibition.

Victorien Bornéat : « De l’échec de la démocratisation culturelle est né un sentiment d’exclusion »

Victorien Bornéat has published a manifesto arguing that French cultural democratization policy, rooted in André Malraux's vision of making masterworks accessible to all, has failed. He cites budget cuts by regional presidents Laurent Wauquiez and Christelle Morançais, police raids on bookshops like Violette and Co, and statistical studies showing that working-class audiences still do not spontaneously attend theaters, museums, or opera. Bornéat contends that the policy's emphasis on direct confrontation with canonical works ignored the need for cultural codes and institutional literacy, creating an exclusion that politicians now exploit for electoral gain.

Israel Addresses Venice Biennale Jury’s ‘Boycott’ of Pavilion: ‘A Contamination of the Art World’

Israel’s foreign ministry has condemned a statement by the Venice Biennale jury, in which the five curators declared they would not consider pavilions from countries charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. The jury’s decision effectively boycotts Israel and Russia, whose leaders face ICC arrest warrants. Israel called the move a “contamination of the art world,” while the artist representing Israel, Belu-Simion Fainaru, also denounced the jury for creating a hostile environment. The Biennale’s organizers have distanced themselves from the jury, stating they cannot exclude any recognized state from the exhibition.

Nymphs, mermaids and rosy cherubs: mansion filled with hidden wall paintings makes Victorian Society’s endangered buildings list

A derelict mansion called Parndon Hall, located within the grounds of Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, has been named to the Victorian Society’s annual list of the top ten at-risk buildings in England and Wales. The house, built in 1867, contains a hidden trove of wall paintings by the almost-forgotten Victorian artist Elizabeth Arkwright, who covered walls, ceilings, and doors with nymphs, mermaids, and cherubs—many still concealed under Edwardian whitewash. The building has been used for storage and has sat unoccupied since flood repairs in 2024.

May First Friday: 8 shows to see this month around Missoula

Missoula artist Julia LaTray presents a solo exhibition titled "Animal Pleasures" at Bob's Your Uncle gallery in May, featuring paintings of animals on glitchy, digitized backgrounds alongside lighting and other works. The gallery is only open to the public on dedicated nights, so the exhibition is paired with performances, comedy, and readings on May 1, 8, 15, and 29. Separately, Hanis Coos artist Sara Siestreem brings her major exhibition "Acts of Love, Refusal and Resistance" to the Missoula Art Museum, filling the museum's main galleries with large-scale mixed-media paintings and sculpture, including handmade baskets and ceramic molded versions with gilded flourishes. The museum hosts a First Friday reception on May 1 and a "Coffee and Conversation" with the artist on May 2.

Portland’s Converge 45 Triennial Announces Participating Artists

Portland, Oregon's Converge 45 triennial has announced the participating artists for its upcoming exhibition titled “Here, To you, Now.” Curated by Lumi Tan, the triennial draws inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin's 1985 novel Always Coming Home, which explores the impermanence of spoken language. Featured artists include Trisha Baga, Ricky Bearghost, Aaron Cunningham, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, and sidony o'neal, among twenty-three others, with seventeen new commissions. Venues include Barn Radio, the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Oregon Contemporary, and the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Fondazione Bvlgari Bets on the Venice Biennale: Beyond the Pavilion in the Giardini, an Exhibition at the Biblioteca Marciana

Fondazione Bvlgari scommette sulla Biennale di Venezia: oltre al padiglione ai Giardini, una mostra alla Biblioteca Marciana

Fondazione Bvlgari is making its debut at the Venice Biennale with a collateral exhibition at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, featuring site-specific works by Monia Ben Hamouda and Lara Favaretto. The show runs from May 9 to November 22, 2025, alongside the 61st International Art Exhibition. Ben Hamouda presents 'Fragments of Fire Worship,' neon sculptures in the Vestibule that explore language and cultural heritage, while Favaretto installs the final edition of 'Momentary Monument – The Library' in the Salone Sansovino, inviting public consultation of donated books. Additionally, Bvlgari has a pavilion in the Giardini featuring Canadian artist Lotus L. Kang, as part of a three-edition partnership with the Biennale through 2030.

Cranbrook Art Museum mini-golf returns with free gallery admission

Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills is bringing back its artist-designed miniature golf course, Cranbrook on the Green, starting May 2, 2026. The nine-hole course will be set beside the iconic Triton Pools, blending mini-golf with an outdoor art experience, and each round includes free admission to the museum's galleries.

Exhibition | Tommaso Spazzini Villa, 'The Time That’s Left' at TOTAH, New York, United States

TOTAH gallery in New York presents 'The Time That’s Left', a solo exhibition of works by Italian artist Tommaso Spazzini Villa, opening May 14, 2026. The show expands on his recent large-scale mural on West 45th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, moving from public space to an intimate gallery setting. It features graphite drawings traced across antique book pages—sacred texts, epic poetry, theatre scores—depicting root-like forms that challenge linear language, alongside metal box sculptures with wire, light, and dried leaves that create fleeting shadow dioramas.

A semester of SLAM

The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) hosted two special exhibitions during the past semester: the annual "Art in Bloom" floral exhibition from February 27 to March 1, 2026, and the solo show "Currents 125: Blas Isasi" opening February 6, 2026. "Art in Bloom" pairs 30 permanent collection pieces with ephemeral floral arrangements created by local designers, featuring a centerpiece by New York-based floral designer Rachel Cho. The exhibition has grown from an invitational event with 7,000 attendees to an open call drawing over 30,000 visitors. Isasi's exhibition, titled "The weight of a gaze (is to listen to the sound of a kilogram)," is part of SLAM's "Currents" series and the WashU Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship, incorporating a Chincha Inka balance from the museum's collection alongside sandstone sculptures and aluminum foil pieces.