A permanent gallery dedicated to the work of artist Ruth Asawa will open in San Francisco this spring. Located within the Minnesota Street Project in the Dogpatch neighborhood, the gallery's inaugural exhibition, "Ruth Asawa: Untitled," is scheduled to open on May 9th, managed by her family foundation, Ruth Asawa Lanier Inc.
The City of Krakow dismissed Adam Budak as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) on May 16, citing improper performance of duties related to work organization and team management. Budak, who took the helm last summer, was replaced by acting director Grzegorz Kuźma, formerly the museum's deputy director, and will be officially terminated when his contract ends June 30. The dismissal followed an internal investigation spurred by a complaint signed by thirty-seven MOCAK staffers. In response, artists and curators including Paulina Olowska, Sabine Breitweiser, Alison Gingeras, and Candice Breitz signed a petition demanding Budak be heard, while several artists withdrew from MOCAK's 2026–27 programming.
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has announced a shortlist of six finalists for a public monument honoring jazz singer Billie Holiday, to be installed outside the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens. Among the top contenders are British sculptor Thomas J. Price and Bahamian conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, whose proposals include abstract bronze forms and a mirrored column, respectively. Other finalists are La Vaughn Belle, Nikesha Breeze, Nekisha Durrett, and Tanda Francis, all of whom consulted with Holiday scholars and family members to develop their designs.
The May 19 evening sales at Sotheby’s and Phillips generated a combined $419.1 million, signaling a potential recovery in the contemporary and modern art market. Sotheby’s brought in $303.9 million—60% more than the previous year—led by a record-breaking $48.4 million Matisse, while Phillips achieved $115.2 million, more than double its 2025 sales. Both auctions saw high sell-through rates, with 98% and 100% of lots sold respectively. Notable lots included a $42.6 million Picasso, a $29.4 million van Gogh drawing, and strong performances by female artists like Lee Bontecou, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler.
The Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, England, has received a £91.2 million donation from politician and philanthropist Lord David Sainsbury, one of the largest gifts ever made to a UK museum. The funds will support a major refurbishment of the Grade II* listed building, originally designed by Norman Foster, including the conversion of the south cafe terrace into a sustainable space and the installation of photovoltaic panels. The museum was founded in 1973 through a donation from Lord Sainsbury’s parents, Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury, who also commissioned Foster to design the gallery.
Christie’s generated $1.1 billion in back-to-back evening sales on May 18, driven by record-breaking prices for major artworks. The top lot was Jackson Pollock’s 1948 drip painting *Number 7A*, which sold for $181.2 million with fees, tripling the artist’s previous auction record. Other highlights included Constantin Brancusi’s *Danaïde* (ca. 1913) at $107.6 million, Mark Rothko’s *No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)* (1964) at $98.4 million, and Alice Neel’s *Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia)* (1967) at $5.7 million. The sales featured works from the collections of S. I. Newhouse and Agnes Gund.
Trevor Paglen, an artist and geographer known for exploring surveillance technology, has been named curator of the third edition of Art Basel's 'Zero 10' digital art initiative, set to debut at Art Basel in Switzerland. He will co-curate the program with digital art strategist Eli Scheinman, featuring twenty exhibitors under the theme 'The Condition,' which examines life saturated by digital media and AI. The presentation will include works such as Hito Steyerl's 'Green Screen' (2023) and pieces by pioneering digital artist Vera Molnar.
Thousands of protesters marched through Venice to demonstrate against Israel's presence at the Venice Biennale, leading many national pavilions to close in solidarity. Pavilions from Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and over a dozen other countries shut fully or partially, with some displaying signs reading "We Stand with Palestine." The Israeli pavilion remained closed for its exhibition opening, and armed police clashed with protesters. The main exhibition, curated by Koyo Kouoh, stayed open initially but the Arsenale closed by late afternoon with riot police outside. The 24-hour strike, organized by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) and Italian activist groups, was described as the largest protest in Biennale history.
Giorno Poetry Systems (GPS), the New York-based nonprofit founded in 1965 by artist John Giorno, has announced the twelve inaugural recipients of its new need-based grant, the Treat a Stranger grants. Each recipient receives an unrestricted grant of $4,545 to cover daily expenses like food, housing, health care, and emergencies. The grants are a relaunch of GPS's AIDS Treatment Project grants from 1984–1994, and are named after Giorno's mantra, “Treat a complete stranger with the same compassion you would treat a lover or a good friend.” Winners are selected by a rotating anonymous jury of LGBTQIA+ artists, poets, and musicians through a multi-meeting nomination and voting process.
The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) has announced a 24-hour strike for Friday, May 8, coinciding with previews of the 2026 Venice Biennale, alongside a protest rally organized by local group Biennalocene and Italian trade unions. Earlier this week, sixty artists staged a sonic protest at the Giardini entrance to draw attention to the plight of those affected by genocide and war in Palestine and elsewhere. The Latvian pavilion has also encouraged attendees to wear a design by artist Krišs Salmanis reading “Death in Venice – Russia go home!” Meanwhile, dissident artists Pussy Riot stormed the Russian pavilion waving Ukrainian flags, and the entire 2026 Biennale jury resigned after the decision to exclude countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court from competing for top prizes.
Anish Kapoor has publicly condemned the inclusion of the United States in the upcoming 61st Venice Biennale, calling for its exclusion due to what he describes as the country's 'abhorrent politics of hate and its incessant warmongering.' In an interview with The Guardian, Kapoor praised the five-person jury that resigned en masse after refusing to consider Israel and Russia for the event's top prize, both nations having been accused by the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity. Kapoor's remarks come amid the ongoing US war with Iran under the Trump administration, and he previously threatened to sue the Trump administration over a photo taken at his Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago.
The American Arts Conservancy (AAC), an organization founded last year by the Trump administration, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This comes amid widespread controversy and calls to exclude the US, Russia, and Israel from the event. The AAC website solicits donations starting at $100, claiming a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to restore America's artistic presence abroad. The US government has already contributed $375,000, but the State Department says the total exhibition cost far exceeds that amount. This year's pavilion will feature sculptor Alma Allen, after Barbara Chase-Riboud and William Eggleston declined to participate.
A new report from Artnet reveals that online-only auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips, Bonhams, and Artnet Auctions generated $423.9 million in 2025, an 8% increase from 2024. The average price of artworks sold online also rose 8.6% to $14,309, with some platforms like Fair Warning finding success through hyper-specific sales, such as one centered on Andy Warhol’s 1974 portrait of Brigitte Bardot. Christie’s reported that 63% of new buyers made their first purchase online in 2025, where the average price point was $22,700.
A father-daughter duo from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski (50) and Karolina Bankowska (26), pleaded guilty to creating and selling over 200 counterfeit artworks falsely attributed to artists including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Fritz Scholder, and Banksy. They admitted to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresentation of Native American-produced goods, defrauding buyers out of at least $2 million. The pair fabricated provenances and collection histories, forged gallery stamps, and attempted to auction the works for up to $160,000 each. They each face up to 20 years in prison.
The Vancouver Biennale has appointed Brazilian artist and documentary filmmaker Marcello Dantas as senior curator for its 2027–29 edition. Dantas, currently art director at the immersive museum Ster Ik in Tulum, Mexico, recently cocurated the 2024 iteration of Saudi Arabia's Desert X AlUla with Maya El Khalil. He has previously organized exhibitions for artists including Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Shirin Neshat, and Bill Viola, and curated a project by Vik Muniz for the 2013–15 Vancouver Biennale. Dantas plans to shape the event by addressing the city's corporate real estate development alongside its First Nations and colonial history, exploring themes of displacement and belonging.
A unique set of fifteen mirrors custom-made for fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé sold at Sotheby’s for $33.5 million, setting a new auction record for the artist Claude Lalanne. The gilt bronze, copper, and mirrored glass mirrors, created between 1974 and 1985, were originally displayed in the couple’s Paris apartment and were purchased from the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg.
Art Basel has announced the thirty-three winners of its 2026 Art Basel Awards, recognizing individuals and institutions across nine categories. The winners include prominent artists like Arthur Jafa, Julie Mehretu, and Barbara Kruger, as well as institutions such as The Brick in Los Angeles and the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. A new jury member, Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, was also added for this edition.
Organizers of the British Art Show have unveiled the theme and artist list for its tenth edition, titled "A Chorus of Strangers." Curated by Ekow Eshun, the quinquennial exhibition will launch in Coventry on October 2, 2025, before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead through 2028. The show features a diverse roster of contemporary artists including Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur, Alvaro Barrington, and Precious Okoyomon, organized around three conceptual pillars: psychological, sociological, and ecological.
Ari Hodara, a 58-year-old software engineer from Paris, has won Pablo Picasso’s 1941 painting 'Head of a Woman' through a charity raffle. Hodara purchased a single €100 ticket for the '1 Picasso for €100' lottery after seeing an advertisement in a restaurant, eventually beating out 120,000 other participants to claim the work valued at approximately $1.2 million.
Hampshire College, the experimental liberal arts institution in Massachusetts, has announced it will permanently close after nearly sixty years of operation. The college's board cited insurmountable financial pressures and a failure to meet regulatory requirements as the primary drivers behind the decision, noting that progress toward a stable financial foundation fell short of expectations.
The inaugural Medina Triennial has announced its artist lineup for its debut edition running from June to September in Western New York. Featuring 39 participants, the walkable exhibition will showcase site-specific works by international and local figures including Tania Candiani, Lina Lapelytė, and Asad Raza. Installations and performances will be integrated into the town's civic fabric, utilizing non-traditional venues such as a railroad museum, local churches, hospital corridors, and a century-old high school.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has completed a comprehensive three-year, $7 million restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater. The project focused on critical structural vulnerabilities, including moisture degradation of interior finishes, leaking windows and doors, and the installation of a new waterproof roof. Experts addressed specific design flaws inherent to Wright’s original 1935 construction, such as the lack of through-wall flashing and the use of river pebbles in concrete aggregate, which had exacerbated the building's battle against the elements.
Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts has officially appointed Kate McNamara as its John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Director. McNamara, who had been serving in the role on an interim basis since last year, is the founder of the experimental art space ODD-KIN and has held leadership positions at Providence College Galleries, Otis College of Art and Design, and Boston University Art Galleries.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* will headline Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale this November, carrying an estimate of $35–45 million—the highest ever for a Basquiat work from that year. The painting, never before offered at auction, debuted at Annina Nosei Gallery in 1982 and was later shown at documenta 7. It will be publicly exhibited in London, Paris, and New York before the sale, which coincides with the opening of Sotheby's new global headquarters in the former Whitney Museum's Breuer Building.
The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has named the Whitney Museum of American Art as the new philanthropic beneficiary of its annual fair at the Park Avenue Armory. This decision follows the ADAA's abrupt termination of a 30-year partnership with the Henry Street Settlement, a social services nonprofit that relied on the fair's preview gala for approximately $1 million in annual unrestricted funding. The new event, rebranded simply as the ADAA Fair, will direct its gala proceeds toward the Whitney’s educational and artistic programming.
Un dessin de Hans Baldung Grien classé trésor national
A 1517 silverpoint drawing by German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung Grien, titled 'Portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger,' has been classified as a French national treasure. The work, which was set to be auctioned at the Hôtel Drouot by Beaussant-Lefèvre, is now subject to an export ban, giving French museums like the Louvre a 30-month window to acquire it.
The entire jury of the 61st Venice Biennale, presided by Brazilian curator Solange Farkas and comprising four other curators, resigned just nine days before the exhibition's scheduled opening on 9 May 2026. The jury had announced it would not award prizes to countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, a move widely understood to target Israel and Russia. In response, the Biennale's organisers cancelled the prize-giving ceremony and will instead award Golden Lions via a popular vote among ticketholders. The row escalated further when the Israeli representative, sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, accused the jury of discrimination and threatened legal action, prompting intervention from Italy's culture ministry.
Artforum's editors preview twenty-five anticipated institutional exhibitions opening worldwide between May and August. Highlights include "Fade" at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the latest in its career-making "F show" series featuring seventeen emerging artists of African descent; "Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum in New York, showcasing over 180 women designers from Austria's famed atelier; "Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz" at the Hessel Museum of Art, exploring the intersection of Navajo weaving and microchip history; the 59th Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art, with 61 artists spread across Pittsburgh venues; and "Mary Ellen Carroll: How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
Beirut-born artist and composer Tarek Atoui has been selected to create the next Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, running from 13 October 2026 to 11 April 2027. Known for his innovative musical performances with intricately engineered instruments, Atoui will transform the vast space into a multisensory environment exploring sound and vibration. His previous works include performances at Tate Modern's South Tank in 2016 and a presentation at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The announcement comes amid reports that Tate chair Roland Rudd floated offering naming rights to the Turbine Hall for £50m, though a Tate spokesperson called that hypothetical.