All William Klein in Your Pocket

Tout William Klein en poche

The French art magazine *L'ŒIL* reports on the reissue of a *Photo Poche* monograph dedicated to William Klein (1926-2022), timed to coincide with the photographer and filmmaker's retrospective planned for the 2026 Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles. The new edition, written by Jacques Damez and published by Actes Sud, features 86 photographs across 144 pages, covering Klein's full artistic journey from his early abstract compositions to his painted contacts. The text combines Klein's career trajectory, technical aspects of his work, and a fully revised biography.

Introducing the Etnia House of Arts Residency Program

Etnia Eyewear Culture, the cultural arm of Etnia Barcelona, has launched the Etnia House of Arts residency program in Venice. Housed in the restored Chiesa dell’Abbazia della Misericordia, the contemporary art space invites artists to create site-specific works during two-week residencies, using eyeglasses as a conceptual starting point to explore vision, identity, and representation. The first two residents, Conxi Sane and Greta Pllana, have already produced interventions—Membrane and The Shape I Kept—that expand the symbolic possibilities of the object.

Theme and title announced for Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu’s 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale

Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu have announced the theme and title for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale: "Do Architecture – For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality." The curators posed a series of questions addressing global climate change, the coexistence of land and architecture, natural materials versus modern construction, and urban-rural development conflicts. They emphasized that architecture is not just theoretical but must be practiced firsthand, confronting real reality through real construction. The duo, founders of Amateur Architecture Studio, have a long history with the Biennale, having participated in 2006 and 2010, where they received a Special Mention for their project 'Decay of a Dome.' The twentieth edition of the Architecture Biennale opens in May 2027.

The Musée d’Ixelles at the Crossroads of Different Perspectives

Le Musée d’Ixelles à la croisée de différents regards

The Musée d’Ixelles in Brussels, closed for eight years for expansion and renovation, is nearing completion of its architectural transformation with a reopening scheduled for spring 2027 (March 19). Founded in 1892 in a former slaughterhouse, the museum has grown through successive donations and a continuous acquisition policy, now holding over 15,000 works spanning Belgian art from the 19th century to the contemporary period. Director and curator Claire Leblanc, who has led the institution since 2006, emphasizes a participatory approach that integrates diverse public perspectives, including a project called "Musée comme chez soi" during the closure where locals hosted artworks in their homes.

JR transforms the Pont-Neuf into an immense immersive cave

JR métamorphose le Pont-Neuf en immense caverne immersive

French artist JR has transformed the Pont-Neuf in Paris into a massive immersive cave installation titled "La Caverne du Pont-Neuf," unveiled in May 2026. The work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 1985 wrapping of the same bridge, using an inflatable double-wall structure covered with printed fabric to simulate rock formations and a prehistoric cave. The 120-meter-long installation is free and open to the public day and night, featuring augmented reality experiences via mobile devices and VR glasses, with a soundscape by a former Daft Punk member. The project, budgeted at €10.9 million funded by private sources, marks the first time JR has invited the public inside one of his works.

From simple blue to haute couture suit: workwear studied at the Musée Postal

Du simple bleu au tailleur haute couture, le vêtement de travail étudié au musée Postal

The Musée Postal in Paris has reopened with a new name and identity, launching its first exhibition titled "Sous toutes les coutures" ("Under All Seams"). Curated by Elodie Goëssant and Didier Filoche, the show brings together 420 pieces, artworks, and archival objects to explore the history of workwear in France, from uniforms and protective clothing to high-fashion collaborations. It traces the evolution of work attire from the 18th century to the present, highlighting how women lacked dedicated work clothing until the 1970s and how airlines like Air France pioneered partnerships with luxury houses such as Christian Dior to dress flight attendants as national ambassadors.

À Sars-Poteries, le MusVerre célèbre pour ses dix ans toutes les infinies possibilités de l’art verrier

The MusVerre in Sars-Poteries, France, celebrates its tenth anniversary with a new exhibition titled "Enchanté – La fabrique des histoires," curated by Laura Bouvard. The museum, which opened in 2016 in a distinctive blue beveled building, houses over 800 glass artworks and 3,000 ancient pottery pieces, originating from the passion of amateur collector Louis Mériaux. Under new director Laetitia Messager, the museum is forging collaborations with the Musée de Charleroi, Cirva Marseille, and Frac Normandie, and plans to host a symposium in autumn to mark the anniversary.

The appalling mediocrity of the chosen project for the 'Grande Colonnade' of the Louvre

L'effarante médiocrité du projet retenu pour la « Grande Colonnade » du Louvre

The French Ministry of Culture has announced the winning team for the 'Grande Colonnade' project at the Louvre, selecting STUDIOS Architecture Paris and Selldorf Architects. The ministry's press release, described as self-congratulatory and written in trendy bureaucratic language, celebrates the choice as a major advancement. However, the article criticizes the lack of transparency, noting that only three exterior visuals have been released, and argues that the project is unfunded and threatens necessary renovations at the museum, as previously highlighted by the Cour des Comptes and parliamentary representatives.

EFG LATIN AMERICA ART AWARD PRESENTS THE NOMINATED ARTIST AT SP ARTE 2026

The EFG Latin America Art Award, in partnership with ArtNexus, has named Brazilian artist Cristiano Lenhardt as the nominated artist at SP-Arte 2026. Lenhardt, represented by Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, was selected for his work *Lieoe* (2025), a mixed-media piece combining ceramic and embroidery on cotton that responds to the devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024. The selection was made with input from Fernando Oliva, curator of MASP, and Celia Sredni de Birbragher, director and editor of ArtNexus.

EFG LATIN AMERICA ART AWARD PRESENTA AL ARTISTA NOMINADO EN SP ARTE 2026

The EFG Latin America Art Award, in partnership with ArtNexus, has named Brazilian artist Cristiano Lenhardt as its nominee from SP-Arte 2026. Lenhardt, represented by Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, was selected for his work *Lieoe* (2025), a mixed-media piece combining ceramic, embroidery, and cotton fabric dyed by floodwaters from the Guaíba River. The work responds to the environmental tragedy of the May 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul, transforming trauma into a tactile, intuitive object. The nomination was made with input from Fernando Oliva, curator of MASP, and Celia Sredni de Birbragher, director of ArtNexus.

At LACHSA, L.A.'s most important public arts school, the 'misfits' become superstars

The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), founded in 1984 and located on the Cal State L.A. campus, has become a premier public arts school offering conservatory-level training alongside college-prep academics. The article highlights alumni such as actor Anthony Anderson, musician Josh Groban, and visual artists Kehinde Wiley and Tomashi Jackson, who credit the school with nurturing their talents and providing a supportive, diverse environment for artistic growth.

Gary Baseman fills iconic L.A. coffee shop with charming drawings on real restaurant menus

Artist Gary Baseman has opened his first hometown solo show in over a decade, titled “Off the Menu,” inside the long-shuttered Johnie’s Coffee Shop on Wilshire and Fairfax in Los Angeles. The exhibition features about 40 colored pencil drawings, mostly executed on real menus from iconic L.A. restaurants such as Musso & Frank, Canter’s Deli, and Genghis Cohen, as well as newer spots like Jon & Vinny’s. The whimsical show, which launched in conjunction with the opening of the Wilshire and Fairfax subway station, runs through June 14 and celebrates the dining culture and community of the Fairfax neighborhood.

Around North America, Community Members Are Stitching Nearly 11,000 Birds

Artist and educator Holly Greenberg launched the multi-year project "Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene" in 2024 after learning about a mass bird collision at Chicago's McCormick Place Lakeside Center in October 2023, where nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night. Using data from the Chicago Field Museum and ornithologist Dave Willard, Greenberg focuses on the 10,863 birds found dead after hitting Chicago buildings in 2023 alone. The project involves community members stitching nearly 11,000 fabric birds to raise awareness and educate the public about preventing window collisions, which kill an estimated one billion birds annually across North America.

Dyani White Hawk: LISTEN at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Dyani White Hawk's eight-channel video installation "LISTEN" (2020–ongoing) is on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The work features Indigenous women speaking in their native languages on their tribal homelands, with no subtitles or explanatory text, encouraging viewers to physically move closer to each screen to hear and engage with the speakers' voices and surrounding environments.

"Costume Art" MET Museum Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has opened a new exhibition titled "Costume Art," featuring a design by Robert Wun displayed in the "Vital Body" section. The show opened on Saturday, May 2, 2026, in New York, as captured in a photograph by Charles Sykes for Invision.

'Preserving the art of Utah culture': Utah-artist museum opens in Salt Lake City

A new art museum, the Salt Lake Art Museum, is opening in the historic B'nai Israel Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, dedicated to preserving and celebrating Utah culture through visual art. Founded by art historian Micah Christensen and led by executive director Chris Jensen, the museum is the first new art museum to open in the city in over 40 years. It has already begun programming, including an interactive 'Make Your Mark' installation and a Utah Master Series highlighting influential local artists such as Galina Perova, Stanley Wanlass, and Ben Hammond. Opening exhibitions will feature works by Albert Bierstadt, Pilar Pobil, and a show on Julia Reagan billboards, alongside a gallery on the temple's history.

Lucio Santiago | LA ESPERA (2015) | For Sale

Lucio Santiago's bronze sculpture "LA ESPERA" (2015) is listed for sale at US$3,400 through Bernardini Art Gallery & Auction House. The work measures 23 × 19 × 19 cm, is unique, and signed. Lucio Santiago, born in 1987 in Oaxaca de Juárez, is the son of artist Alejandro Santiago. His artistic training includes workshops in photography at the Manuel Álvarez Bravo center and with Katy McFadden, as well as graphic art at Gráfica Bambú and a three-year residency at La Ceiba in Xalapa. His first solo exhibition was in 2007, and he has since shown in Europe and the US. His work explores themes of life and death, incorporating wings, skeletons, mutilated bodies, and animals like eagles, fish, and coyotes.

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.

Alessandro Rabottini on the Impact of Artists’ Moving Image

Alessandro Rabottini, artistic director of Fondazione In Between Art Film, reflects on the closing of 'Canicula', the final chapter of the foundation's 'Trilogy of Uncertainties' exhibition series in Venice. The article explores how staging time-based moving-image works interacts with the fast-paced environment of the Venice Biennale, and how artists' film and video have evolved as a medium within the art world.

In SF, a gallery transformed into an immense, red web of memory

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco has opened "Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries," the first solo museum exhibition in the Bay Area for the Berlin-based Japanese artist. The centerpiece is "Diary," an 88-foot-long network of blood-red yarn that incorporates pages from diaries of Japanese soldiers and German citizens from World War II, creating an immersive web of memory. The exhibition also includes a crimson dress unraveling into cords, set designs for a theatrical psycho-drama, performance videos, and paper works reflecting on the artist's experience as a cancer survivor.

BmoreArt’s Picks: May 26 – June 1

BmoreArt's Picks for May 26 – June 1 highlights a week of art events in Baltimore, including the closing of Asia North 2026 at the SNF Parkway Theatre with performances and film shorts, a pop-up exhibition titled 'Queer Manifesto' at The Club Car featuring works by East and Southeast Asian queer artists, and a student exhibition at the Baltimore Design School. Other events include a talk by Bria Sterling-Wilson at the Baltimore Museum of Art, a photography exhibition at the Walters Art Museum, and open studios in Greenmount West.

‘A vehicle for change’: DePaul Artists Collective hosts American Surrealism gallery in Edgewater

DePaul Artists Collective, a student-run club, hosted an American Surrealism-themed gallery show on May 16, 2026, at 6311arts in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. The event featured student artworks and poetry readings, organized in response to the announced closure of DePaul Art Museum (DPAM) at the end of June, which has left the campus artistic community unsettled. Student leaders emphasized the need to create their own exhibition opportunities amid university budget cuts and reduced arts funding.

Meet the artists behind the women’s Western art exhibition at Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center

The Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center in Dickinson, North Dakota, hosted a public artist reception on May 14 for its women’s Western art exhibition, featuring regional female artists whose work depicts the landscapes, wildlife, and culture of the Northern Plains and American West. The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works centered on ranching, farming, and rural life, and will remain on display through June 12. Featured artists include Daphne Clark, Afton Ray Rossol, Barb Kalenze Kraft, Oksana Zvyagelskiy, Trish Stevenson, and Kelsey Jacobson, each sharing personal stories of how art became a creative outlet and source of healing.

Steve La Riccia’s journey through Eugene’s art scene

Steve La Riccia, gallery coordinator for the New Zone Art Gallery in Eugene, Oregon, is profiled for his decades-long journey through the local art scene. After traveling the West Coast and settling in Eugene in the 1970s, he worked at a food processing plant and sold illegal fireworks to buy a home. In 1991, after the Mayor's Art Show rejected many artists, La Riccia helped organize Eugene's first 'Salon De Refusés,' a show for rejected works, which shifted his focus from promoting his own art to supporting other artists. He later co-ran the New Zone gallery and became known for his SX-70 Polaroid manipulations until the company ceased film production in 2009.

New Exhibition Explores Albuquerque’s “Big I” as a Crossroads of Culture, Memory, and Movement

A new group exhibition titled 'At the East of My Past and the West of My Future' opens at the South Broadway Cultural Center Gallery in Albuquerque, running from May 28 to July 17. Curated by multidisciplinary artist Watermelon7, the show features 14 artists who reinterpret the city's iconic Big I interchange as a symbol of movement, identity, and transformation. Inspired by Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' and Route 66, the works explore personal and collective journeys through paintings, mixed-media pieces, and installations.

The Condé M. Nast Galleries Open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Condé M. Nast Galleries have opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, a 12,000-square-foot space designed by architecture firm Peterson Rich. The galleries feature white granite floors, classic pedestals, and recessed uplighting to protect fragile fabrics, creating a seamless integration with the museum's existing architecture.

Who Are the Custom Mannequins in “Costume Art” Based On? We’re So Glad You Asked

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2025 Costume Institute exhibition, "Costume Art," features 25 mannequins modeled after nine real people with diverse body types and mobilities. Curator Andrew Bolton collaborated with artist Samar Hejazi, who created mirrored faceless heads for the mannequins, and artist Tanda Francis, who modeled features after historical figures like André Grenard Matswa. The mannequins are distributed across two thematic sections: "Disabled Body," featuring individuals such as writer Sinéad Burke, athlete Aimee Mullins, and models Aariana Rose Philip, Antwan Tolliver, and Sonia Vera, along with imagery of the late drag performer Goddess Bunny; and "Corpulent Body," featuring models Jade O'Belle, Charlie Reynolds, artist Michaela Stark, and singer Yseult. The living subjects underwent 3D photogrammetry scanning to recreate their likenesses.

Look Inside the Met Gala 2026’s Exhibit & See What Celebs Will Be Viewing Tonight!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has revealed photos from inside the Costume Institute's latest exhibition, 'Costume Art,' ahead of the 2026 Met Gala. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show explores the relationship between clothing and the body, organized around thematic body types such as the Naked Body, Pregnant Body, and Aging Body. It features garments and artworks from The Met's collection, both historical and contemporary, and will be the first exhibition held in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a 12,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Great Hall. The exhibition opens to the public on May 10, 2026, and runs through January 10, 2027.

At the 2026 Met Gala, 'Fashion is Art.' Here's what to expect

The 2026 Met Gala will take place on the first Monday in May at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, supporting the Costume Institute. The spring exhibition is titled "Costume Art" and will be the first to occupy the new Condé M. Nast Galleries. The dress code is "Fashion is Art," inviting guests to explore fashion as an embodied art form. Co-chairs include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos as honorary chairs. The event will be livestreamed by Vogue, hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony, Cara Delevingne, and Emma Chamberlain.

Gaby Hurtado-Ramos: Last Night and Tomorrow

Gaby Hurtado-Ramos presents "Last Night and Tomorrow" at BOX 13 ArtSpace in Houston from May 22 to June 27, 2026. The exhibition explores queer social spaces—dance parties, gay bars, karaoke—through layered drawings, photographs, and prints, imagining futures of acceptance and connection. Hurtado-Ramos is an artist and educator whose practice includes risograph publishing under Rear-View Press, and they have exhibited and taught widely across the U.S.