Sculptural works by emerging artists win Baloise Art Prize

The Baloise Art Prize has been awarded to London-based artist Rhea Dillon and Lebanese Canadian artist Joyce Joumaa for their presentations in the Statements section of Art Basel. Dillon, represented by Soft Opening gallery, exhibited *Leaning Figures*, a series of wall-mounted sculptures made from resin mixed with molasses and Jamaican soil, replicating cut-crystal plates. Joumaa, shown with Montreal’s Galerie Eli Kerr, presented *Periodic Sights*, an installation of repurposed fuse boxes illuminated with photographs of everyday scenes from Beirut and Tripoli, addressing Lebanon’s energy crisis. As part of the prize, Dillon’s work was acquired by the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) in Frankfurt, and Joumaa’s by Mudam Luxembourg.

New dealer-run fair aims to fill gap left by Design Miami

A group of 11 mostly French galleries, led by Charlotte Ketabi-Lebard of Parisian gallery Ketabi Bourdet, have launched Maze Design Basel, a new dealer-run design fair to fill the gap left by the cancellation of Design Miami Basel. The fair is held in the 19th-century Elisabethenkirche church next to Basel's Kunsthalle, with stands arranged throughout the nave, mezzanines, chancel, pulpit, and clerestory. The vernissage on June 16 was playful and relaxed, with sales reported by all exhibitors and about 1,000 guests attending the preview.

‘Maintenance Artist’ Highlights Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Radical, Caring Approach to Public Art

A new documentary titled 'Maintenance Artist,' premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, profiles New York City artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who has served as artist-in-residence at the city's Department of Sanitation since 1977. The film traces her radical practice, which began with her 1969 'Manifesto for Maintenance Art' and includes performances like 'Touch Sanitation Performance' (1980), where she shook hands with all 8,500 sanitation workers, thanking each for keeping the city alive. Ukeles' work elevates overlooked labor—trash collection, street-cleaning—as a form of public art.

Together in doom: tense paintings of social ills feature at Tefaf New York

VIPs attended the opening of Tefaf New York at the Park Avenue Armory on 8 May, where a surprising number of dark, oppressive works stood out amid the usual luxury offerings. Highlights include Anne Imhof's entire stand at Sprüth Magers, featuring her painting *Untitled* (2024) showing figures holding hands before an atomic bomb (sold for €250,000), Fernando Botero's *El Nuncio* (1987) critiquing clerical power, Paula Rego's *The Bullfighter's Godmother* (1990-91) exploring dominance and loss, and George Grosz's interwar depictions of Berlin's social decay.

Hollis Taggart to open gallery on New York’s Lower East Side for emerging artists

New York dealer Hollis Taggart is opening a second gallery location on the Lower East Side, named Hollis Taggart Downtown, dedicated to emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. The inaugural exhibition, "Boundless," opens May 17 and features ten artists including Osamu Kobayashi, Katherine Boxall, Kelly Worman, and Joanne Greenbaum. The space, at 109 Norfolk Street, is a partnership with longtime employees Paul Efstathiou and Eleanor Flatow. The move comes as the gallery nearly doubled its Chelsea space in 2023, despite a market downturn.

Local art advisors launch pop up art exhibit in Rancho Santa Fe village

A pop-up art exhibition titled 'This is Now' has opened in a long-vacant storefront in Rancho Santa Fe village, curated by the Ryan Campbell Garrett Art Advisory. The show features works by notable artists including Ed Ruscha, Hugo McCloud, Lynne Drexler, and Sam Gilliam, and will run through April 25. The exhibition aims to revitalize the space and engage the local community, with a successful opening reception held on March 29.

In love with trees, sculptor Lélia Demoisy elevates nature through hybridization

Amoureuse des arbres, la sculptrice Lélia Demoisy sublime la nature par l’hybridation

Lélia Demoisy, a French sculptor born in 1991, creates hybrid works that blend wood with animal elements, such as a yew wood sculpture covered in fox fur or a suspended skeleton made from naturally curved thuya branches. She lives in a small village in the Yvelines region, where she works with wood and metal herself, often sourcing materials locally, and recently participated in the Maif pour le vivant committee as the only artist on the jury.

Anne-Claire Legendre: 'Restoring serenity and transparency to the institution'

Anne-Claire Legendre : « Redonner de la sérénité et de la transparence à l’institution »

Anne-Claire Legendre has been appointed to succeed Jack Lang as president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris. A French diplomat, Legendre aims to restore confidence in the institution through governance reform, increased transparency, and a new strategic plan following an external financial audit.

Outsourcing Museum Reception: A Booming Model

Externaliser l’accueil dans les musées, un modèle en plein essor

French museums are increasingly outsourcing front-of-house services, including ticketing, reception, and crowd management, to specialized private firms. This trend, which gained momentum with the opening of the Musée du quai Branly in 2006, allows public institutions to focus internal resources on core missions like conservation and curation while utilizing flexible, external labor for high-traffic operations. The market for these cultural services in France is projected to reach approximately €50 million by 2025.

A young but already highly competitive profession

Un métier jeune mais déjà très concurrentiel

The museum visitor services sector in France is undergoing rapid professionalization as specialized outsourcing firms compete for lucrative contracts. Companies like Marianne International, Pénélope, and City One—originally rooted in corporate reception and event management—are now managing front-of-house operations for major institutions including the Palais de Tokyo, MuCEM, and the Musée d'Orsay. This shift reflects a broader trend of museums treating visitors as customers and seeking the high-volume staffing expertise found in the corporate world.

Middletown Arts Center presents Garden State Watercolor Society's Annual Juried Exhibition 2026

The Middletown Arts Center is currently hosting the Garden State Watercolor Society’s 56th Annual Open Juried Exhibition alongside the 8th Annual Art Installation Exhibition. Juried by Joseph Gyurcsak, the main showcase features 64 selected watercolor paintings, while a special installation titled "Revolution as Reinvention" presents 55 miniature works exploring the history of artistic rebellion. The exhibition is open to the public through May 30, 2026, with a digital version available online.

Required Reading

This week's Required Reading roundup from Hyperallergic covers a diverse range of art-world stories. French photographer JR has unveiled "La Caverne du Pont Neuf Paris" (2026), an optical illusion installation that transforms the pathway across the Seine into a black-and-white mountain range cave, paying homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1985 wrapping of the same bridge. Other highlights include architecture scholar Karrie Jacobs investigating a New York waterfront walking initiative for The Nation, curator Tara Contractor writing in Apollo about James McNeill Whistler's use of metallic pigments influenced by Japanese traditions, and Rob Corsini interviewing Amelia Abraham about their new book celebrating photography of queer nightlife for Dazed.

A New Richard Avedon Documentary Lets Him Down

A new documentary titled "Avedon" (2026), directed by Ron Howard, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film offers a conventional tour of the life of famed photographer Richard Avedon, relying on talking-head interviews and behind-the-scenes anecdotes rather than delving into the artistic process or the deeper implications of his work. The review criticizes Howard's approach as hackwork, noting that the documentary misses opportunities to explore Avedon's insights on image culture, his influence on cinema, and the technical evolution of his photography.

"In Minor Keys" Hits All the Right Notes

The 61st Venice Biennale's international exhibition, titled "In Minor Keys," opened with a somber curatorial press conference, as artistic director Koyo Kouoh, who died in May 2024 at age 57, was not physically present. The exhibition features 110 invited participants across the Arsenale and Giardini, including works by Buhlebezwe Siwani, Johannes Phokela, Wangechi Mutu, Ebony G. Patterson, and Kambui Olujimi. Protests marked the opening, with gatherings at the temporary Israeli pavilion and Pussy Riot's presence at the Russian pavilion, while the exhibition itself asks viewers to look closer at overlooked forms of representation and consider innovative models of measuring the world.

Artists Pay Tribute to Koyo Kouoh in Poetry Caravan at Venice Biennale

At the Venice Biennale on May 7, 2026, Cuban artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons led a poetry caravan across seven locations in the Giardini to honor Koyo Kouoh, the late curator of the Biennale's main exhibition "In Minor Keys," who died of cancer at age 57 in 2025. The procession, inspired by a 1999 voyage Kouoh took with nine African poets from Dakar to Timbuktu, featured performances by poets Natalie Diaz, Robin Coste Lewis, Batool Abu Akleen, and Anne Waldman, kora player Saliou Cissokho, and Kouoh's husband, Swiss saxophonist Philippe Mall, who played a composition dedicated to her. The event was organized by a team of Kouoh's assistants and advisers, including Marie Hélène Pereira, who served as stand-in lead of the 2026 Biennale.

Steven Durland, Champion of Performance Art, Dies at 75

Steven Durland, a longtime editor of *High Performance* magazine and a champion of performance art, died on March 11 at age 75 after a brief illness. His life partner, Linda Frye Burnham, confirmed his death in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Durland was born in Long Beach, California, raised in South Dakota, and trained as a ceramic artist with a BFA from the University of South Dakota and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He became deeply involved in performance and mail art, and from 1986 to 1994 served as editor of *High Performance*, a magazine founded by Burnham that featured thousands of artists including Nancy Buchanan, Carolee Schneemann, Paul McCarthy, Suzanne Lacy, and Ulysses Jenkins. Durland also maintained his own artistic practice, creating performances such as "Win Defeat/BID FOR POWER" (1978) and "Death and Taxis" (1982), and produced the micro-newspaper *Tacit*.

Hundreds Protest Israel’s “Genocide Pavilion” at Venice Biennale

On May 6, 2026, the first day of previews at the Venice Biennale, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists led by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) blocked the entrance to the Israeli pavilion, demanding its immediate closure. Protesters waved Palestine flags and banners reading "No Artwashing Genocide" and "No Genocide Pavilion at Biennale," chanting accusations of genocide against Israel. The demonstration temporarily shut down access to Belu-Simion Fainaru's exhibition "Rose of Nothingness" for about half an hour. The protest followed a letter signed by over 200 artists urging the Biennale to exclude Israel, which instead moved the pavilion to an alternative location in the Arsenale due to renovations. Separately, Pussy Riot and FEMEN rallied outside the Russian pavilion, which will only open during preview days due to sanctions. Venice cultural workers plan a 24-hour strike on May 8 in solidarity with Palestinians, potentially disrupting the Biennale's schedule.

Nude Performance at MFA Boston Confronts One of Art’s Oldest Tropes

Artist Xandra Ibarra staged her performance "Nude Laughing" (2014–) at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on April 16, appearing nude except for a breastplate and yellow heels while dragging a nylon stocking stuffed with blonde wigs and fake breasts. She moved through the galleries, laughing hysterically, and ultimately collapsed in front of Paul Gauguin's painting "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (1897–98). The performance was part of the exhibition "Subvert, Repair, Reclaim: Contemporary Artists Take Back the Nude," which features 12 artists critiquing racial, gender, and power hierarchies in Western art history. The event sparked heated debate on the museum's Instagram, with hundreds of commenters arguing about its legitimacy and obscenity.

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

Seurat and the Sea Is Postcard Perfect

The Courtauld Gallery in London is hosting 'Seurat and the Sea,' the UK's first exhibition dedicated to Georges Seurat's seascapes. The show features over half of the artist's lifetime output of canvases, painted during summer trips to the Channel coast between 1885 and 1890, which he intended as visual cleansers from studio work. The exhibition highlights his pointillist technique, using contrasting dots of color to capture seaside light.

Brook Hsu ”The Barcelona Pavilion (including work by Georg Kolbe)” at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin

Brook Hsu's exhibition "The Barcelona Pavilion (including work by Georg Kolbe)" at Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler in Berlin presents a series of works that interweave references to architecture, film, literature, and animal carcasses. The show's title alludes to Mies van der Rohe's iconic Barcelona Pavilion and the sculptor Georg Kolbe, whose work was originally installed there, while the list of pieces—ranging from paintings like "Daybreak:Orange Tree" to works dedicated to figures such as Anne Wiazemsky and Pasolini—creates a dense, associative network of cultural and personal memory.

Mirna Bamieh “Sour Things: The Door” at NIKA Project Space, Paris

NIKA Project Space in Paris presents "Sour Things: The Door," a new installation by Palestinian artist Mirna Bamieh, on view from April 17 to May 23, 2026. Curated by Anne Davidian, the exhibition marks Bamieh's return to the gallery following her solo presentation that inaugurated NIKA's Paris space in 2024, and serves as the latest chapter in her ongoing "Sour" series.

LA Timpa “Come Back” at Cell Project Space, London

LA Timpa “Come Back” at Cell Project Space, London

LA Timpa has opened a new solo exhibition, "Come Back," at Cell Project Space in London. The show features a multi-channel video installation and sound work that continues the artist's exploration of the body, technology, and queer identity through digitally manipulated and visceral imagery.

"Gesundheitseffekt der Künste auf biologischer Ebene"

A roundup of art news covers multiple stories: Stefan Trinks criticizes Berlin's 'MuseumsMeileMitte' as a symptom of urban and cultural misdevelopment, where museums are co-opted by real estate marketing. At the Venice Biennale, the German Pavilion by Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu explores East German identity and post-reunification trauma, while Patti Smith performed a 'sonic prayer' at the Vatican Pavilion curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers. A study from University College London suggests regular arts engagement may slow biological aging.

The Art and History Museum of Sainte-Anne Hospital showcases the emblematic works by artist-patients.

The Museum of Art and History of Sainte-Anne Hospital (MAHHSA) in Paris is presenting an exhibition titled "Masterpieces at the Heart of the Sainte-Anne Collection" from April 16 to July 26, 2026. The show features 145 works by artist-patients from the 19th century to today, including pieces by Aloïse Corbaz, Unica Zürn, Guillaume Pujolle, Maurice Blin, and Caroline Macdonald. Curated by Anne-Marie Dubois, the exhibition is organized into six thematic sections—such as "History of asylum and refuge" and "Imaginary universes"—to allow the works to dialogue without being reduced to the artists' illnesses. The museum also highlights Yayoi Kusama, who has long described her art as therapy.

Where to go for the next scandal?

Wo bitte geht's zum nächsten Skandal?

The article reports on the 2024 Venice Biennale preview days, where the atmosphere is dominated by political protests, media stunts, and social-media pressure rather than the art itself. Incidents include a solidarity drone choir for Gaza, a Pussy Riot and FEMEN protest at the Russian Pavilion, and a planned demonstration near the Israeli Pavilion, all amplified by PR agencies and WhatsApp alerts. A journalist describes being pressured by editors to cover scandals and political controversies instead of art reviews, which they say no longer attract clicks.

A sturdy soldier in a sequin dress

"Eine kräftige Soldatin im Paillettenkleid"

Media reviews of the Venice Biennale's opening week offer contrasting takes on the German and US pavilions. Critics describe the German pavilion, curated by Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann, as a dense, ironic East-West narrative that layers Nazi architecture with DDR prefab construction, creating what Jörg Häntzschel calls a "shockingly seamless symbiosis." The US pavilion, featuring sculptures by Alma Allen, is panned by Maximilíano Durón in ArtNews as politically timid and empty, lacking the clear colonial critiques of previous editions by Simone Leigh and Jeffrey Gibson.

Our Favorites of the Main Exhibition

Unsere Favoriten der Hauptausstellung

The article highlights standout artists from the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, focusing on those whose works range from quiet observations of daily life to broader explorations of identity, memory, and community. Among them is Billie Zangewa, a Malawian-born artist based in Johannesburg, who uses raw silk to stitch intimate domestic scenes such as a morning in a bathrobe or a child in arms, transforming overlooked moments into tactile, narrative artworks.

Wer vertritt wen in Venedig?

Federal President praises Emder Kunsthalle: 'Extraordinary quality'

Bundespräsident lobt Emder Kunsthalle: "Außerordentliche Qualität"

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised the Emder Kunsthalle on its 40th anniversary, calling its collection of "extraordinary quality." The museum was founded in 1986 by Henri Nannen, the late founder of Stern magazine, and his wife Eske Nannen. Steinmeier spoke at a ceremony attended by 500 guests, including his wife Elke Büdenbender and Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies. The anniversary exhibition "Bilder, die wir lieben" (Pictures We Love) showcases 200 works from the collection, which has grown to around 1,700 pieces, including pieces by Gabriele Münter, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Max Beckmann, and Franz Marc.

"We are among those in the crowd who are overjoyed"

"Wir gehören zu denjenigen in der Menge, die überglücklich sind"

The Hungarian art scene is celebrating a major political shift following Péter Magyar’s electoral victory over Viktor Orbán, ending 16 years of restrictive cultural policies. Local figures, including gallerist Margit Valkó and artist János Sugár, express immense relief and hope for a future defined by institutional autonomy and international engagement after years of state-led hostility toward contemporary art.