Curatori e allestitori ci raccontano la grande mostra dedicata a Franco Vaccari a Bolzano

A major retrospective exhibition titled "Feedback. Gli ambienti di Franco Vaccari" has opened at Museion in Bolzano, Italy, dedicated to the late artist Franco Vaccari (1936–2025). The show features over twenty immersive environments, historical works, and recent video experiments drawn largely from the museum's permanent collection and the Franco Vaccari Archive of Visual Writing. Curated by Frida Carazzato and Luca Panaro in collaboration with Fosbury Architecture, the exhibition explores Vaccari's cross-disciplinary practice spanning photography, writing, and participatory installation art.

Annalee Davis at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale. Landscape as mourning, archive and resistance in the Barbados Pavilion

Annalee Davis alla Biennale Arte di Venezia 2026. Il paesaggio come lutto, archivio e resistenza nel Padiglione Barbados

Annalee Davis, an artist from Barbados, will represent her country at the 2026 Venice Biennale with an installation titled "Let this be my Cathedral" within the exhibition "In Minor Keys." The work addresses ecological grief, colonial memory, and the possibility of care without erasing conflict, using suspended plants and organic materials to create a threshold where loss, vulnerability, and wonder remain in tension. Davis discusses the influence of curator Koyo Kouoh, whose vision shaped the Biennale, and the importance of research as an integral part of her artistic process.

Nasce a Londra il Quentin Blake Centre: spazio creativo dedicato al disegno e all’illustrazione

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will open in May 2026 in London's Clerkenwell district, housed in the historic New River Head waterworks complex after a £12.5 million restoration led by Tim Ronalds Architects. The centre will preserve Sir Quentin Blake's archive of over 40,000 works and feature a library, public gardens, creative labs, and three inaugural exhibitions: "Quentin Blake: Performance," "Queer as Comics" celebrating LGBTQIA+ comics, and "MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like…" by British-Sri Lankan illustrator Murugiah.

At the 2026 Venice Biennale, Spain transforms its Pavilion into a museum of accumulation with artist Oriol Vilanova

Alla Biennale Arte 2026 la Spagna trasforma il suo Padiglione in museo dell’accumulo con l’artista Oriol Vilanova

Spain has announced its participation in the 61st Venice Biennale Arte 2026, selecting Catalan artist Oriol Vilanova to represent the country in its newly renovated national pavilion. The project, titled "Los restos," transforms the pavilion into a pseudo-museum of accumulation, featuring Vilanova's vast personal archive of postcards collected over twenty years from flea markets and secondhand circuits. The installation presents these ephemeral fragments as an infinite, non-narrative mural, exploring themes of accumulation and loss. Curated by Carles Guerra, the project also includes a performative intervention titled "Il fantasma della libertà" (2026), which will unfold across the Giardini and Arsenale during the Biennale.

Writer Thomas Clerc casts a tender fictional gaze on Montmartre's 'daubs'

L’écrivain Thomas Clerc pose, à travers une fiction, un regard tendre sur les « croûtes » de Montmartre

French writer and essayist Thomas Clerc has published a new fiction titled "Croûtes" as the fifteenth volume in the "Fléchette" collection by éditions sun/sun. The book draws inspiration from a single autochrome image taken from the Musée Albert-Kahn's "Archives de la planète" (1909–1931), specifically a one-minute film shot in March 1927 at the Foire aux croûtes in Montmartre, Paris. Clerc's narrative tenderly and humorously explores the life of an amateur painter and the infinite possibilities of so-called "croûtes"—a French slang term for amateurish or kitsch paintings that exist outside institutional recognition.

Irina Werning Chronicles 18 Years of Photographing ‘Las Pelilargas’ in a New Book

Photographer Irina Werning has spent 18 years traveling across Latin America to document Indigenous women with exceptionally long hair for her series "Las Pelilargas." Her new book, published by GOST Books, features nearly 90 portraits taken between 2006 and 2024, starting with the Kolla community in Argentina. Werning sought subjects by posting signs in remote mountain towns and organizing hair competitions, capturing a tradition rooted in ancestral beliefs that hair connects to life, thoughts, and the land.

An Interactive Archive Celebrates the Wide Ranging Projects Inviting ‘Unruly Play’

Amsterdam-based studio Imagination of Things, co-founded by Vitor Freire and Monique Grimord, has launched "Unruly Play," an interactive digital archive featuring 169 artworks, designs, games, and participatory projects. The repository includes notable works such as Rael San Fratello's "Teeter-Totter Wall" and the Wind Phone project, alongside a 12-foot puppet that travels the world. The archive is searchable by theme or through a shuffle feature, aiming to showcase projects that invite surprise, camaraderie, and unexpected encounters with imagination and joy.

Water Samples from Around the World Melt into Dima Rebus’ Dreamy Paintings

London-based artist Dima Rebus creates large-scale watercolor paintings using water samples collected from strangers around the world. In her series "Floaters," she freezes the crowdsourced water with pigments, then lets it melt across paper to form abstract color fields, later adding figures and aquatic landscapes. Each sample arrives with a letter, building an archive of rain, rivers, seas, oceans, and glaciers that serve as both material and human message.

Echoes of Memory and Quiet Revolutions

The Henrike Grohs Art Award concludes its final edition, naming Tanzanian artist Rehema Chachage as the 2026 laureate. Chachage, who works across performance, video, text, scent, and installation, creates a "performative archive" in collaboration with her mother and grandmother, transforming personal and ancestral memory into shared sensory experiences. The two finalists are Younès Ben Slimane, a Tunisian filmmaker and visual artist whose silent, disorienting works challenge cinematic narrative structures, and Egyptian artist Rania Atef, whose participatory practice turns domestic spaces into stages for revealing power dynamics. The award received over 600 applications from more than 30 African countries.

M’barek Bouhchichi: Hands That Remember

Moroccan artist M’barek Bouhchichi presents 'Les mains des poètes' at Foundation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar, running until 17 October 2026. The exhibition stems from a residency in Madagascar where Bouhchichi collaborated with local artisans—blacksmiths, weavers, ceramists, and musicians—to create works that resist singular authorship. Central to the show is the revival of sorabe, the Arabico-Malagasy script, treated as an embodied, gestural practice rather than fixed writing.

‘Rostos da Imigração’: Faces That Refuse Silence

Photographer Alfredo Cunha presents 'Rostos da Imigração' at the UCCLA gallery in Lisbon, a photographic exhibition featuring portraits of individuals from lusophone communities. The series resists anonymity and aestheticization, instead focusing on the lived experiences of migrants in contemporary Portugal. The exhibition is on view until 20 May 2026.

Urban Reflections, Daniel Melim on the City as Studio, Archive and Collective Space

Brazilian artist Daniel Melim discusses his exhibition "Urban Reflections" at São Bernardo do Campo in an interview with Brendon Bell-Roberts. Melim, who emerged from the graffiti and stencil cultures of ABC Paulista, describes how the city functions as an active collaborator in his practice, transforming the gallery into an expanded studio where boundaries between street, studio, and institution dissolve. The exhibition juxtaposes pivotal and previously unseen works, tracing his artistic evolution and layered urban memory.

MARILYN BOROR BOR, SEBA CALFUQUEO, JULIETH MORALES. PERFORMANCE Y DISIDENCIAS

On April 18, 2026, the performance cycle "Atravesar el lago" (Crossing the Lake) took place in open spaces of Casa del Lago UNAM in Chapultepec Park, curated by Adonay Bermúdez. Artists Marilyn Boror Bor, Seba Calfuqueo, and Julieth Morales activated performances that destabilize dominant knowledge frameworks and confront narratives imposed by colonial modernity. Boror Bor's "Lo que el cemento no puede cubrir" turned the body into a living archive summoning ancestral memories; Calfuqueo's "Guardo mis semillas para el futuro" opened fissures in imposed borders; and Morales's "Enchumbarnos: Cuerpo, Norma y Territorio. Ritual para dos cuerpos" configured a threshold of listening and transformation. The article includes a curatorial text fragment exploring water as a dissident force, drawing on Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui's thought.

Photo of the Week: Amherst Arts Night Plus Returns

Amherst Arts Night Plus returned on April 23 after a six-year hiatus, with 20 venues across downtown opening their doors and over 20 local artists exhibiting their work. Several pieces were sold during the evening, and most venues offered free refreshments and the chance to speak directly with artists. Katie Streater of the Amherst Business Improvement District estimated attendance at about 125 people, and the Amherst Center Cultural District is now exploring a recurring version of the event, possibly quarterly or monthly.

African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta revisits the works of W.E.B. Du Bois

The African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) has opened a new exhibition revisiting W.E.B. Du Bois' groundbreaking "Exhibit of American Negroes" from the 1900 Paris World's Fair. Developed in partnership with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the show builds on a Black History Month project by reporter Mirtha Donastorg and photographer Natrice Miller, who revisited Du Bois' original data and photographs. The exhibition features contemporary portraits of Black Atlantans alongside historical images, asking what has changed and what has endured in Black American life over the past century.

Auntiescapes at Load Gallery asks: Can the hyperreal impact social reality?

The article covers the exhibition 'Auntiescapes' at Load Gallery in Barcelona, featuring the work of Singaporean artist Wenhui Lim, who works under the moniker niceaunties. The show includes a central AI-powered mirror that transforms viewers into the face of an Asian auntie, offering blunt, loving remarks, alongside surreal digital landscapes like Auntlantis and Auntiecity that reimagine aunties as protagonists in fantastical worlds. Lim, a former architect, uses AI and editing software to create these hyperreal, expansive works.

London artist Irum Rahat’s ‘Yeh Kab Ki Baat Hai’ is a house full of memories

London-based artist Irum Rahat presents her first solo exhibition in India, 'Yeh Kab Ki Baat Hai', at Pristine Contemporary in Delhi. The show features 16 new works that draw from her upbringing in a South Asian household, transforming mundane domestic scenes—making chai, sitting in rooms, family interactions—into a visual archive of memory and intimacy. Rahat's paintings, influenced by cinema and her own photography, use soft, hazy colors to evoke nostalgia and the ambiguity of time.

Auction of Diane Keaton’s Collection Includes Art, Fashion, and Personal Treasures from Decades on Film

Bonhams auction house is conducting a series of sales of actress Diane Keaton's personal collection, titled "Diane Keaton: The Architecture of an Icon." The main in-person auction will be held at Bonhams' New York flagship on June 8, preceded by exhibitions in Los Angeles and New York, and accompanied by three online auctions focusing on her fashion, home decor, and personal objects.

Live Arts Program “1922 Revisited” Opens May 5th to Kick Off Preview Week, 61st Venice Biennale 2026

Third Space Art Foundation will present “1922 Revisited,” a live arts program curated by Dr. Janine A. Sytsma, from May 5–9, 2026 in Venice, Italy, during the preview week of the 61st Venice Biennale. The program brings together ten international artists to engage with the 1922 Venice Biennale exhibition of African sculpture through performances, a film screening, and a panel discussion, staged at venues including Hotel Monaco and the European Cultural Centre’s Marinaressa Gardens.

L.A.'s $1 Billion Lucas Museum Has Revealed Inaugural Exhibitions For This Year's Opening — Curated By George Lucas Himself

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has announced its 18 inaugural exhibitions ahead of its September 22, 2026 opening. The $1 billion, 100,000-square-foot museum in Exposition Park will feature 32 galleries curated personally by George Lucas, including a dedicated Cinema space showcasing the Lucas Archives with original concept art, costumes, and props from Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Unlike traditional museums, the exhibitions are organized by emotion and storytelling themes such as Adventure, Childhood, Fantasy, and Romance, rather than by time period or artist.

Dallas' African American Museum reopens with iconic Sepia photo exhibit

The African American Museum in Dallas reopens on May 1 after temporary renovations, featuring the exhibition "People Who Make the World Go ‘Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine." The show highlights influential Black icons such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Maya Angelou, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall through photographs from the museum's archive of over 40,000 images. Sepia magazine, founded in Fort Worth in 1946, chronicled Black life and culture for nearly four decades, offering a Southern perspective that rivaled national publications like Ebony and Jet.

Flinders exhibition revives the ’60s-’70s

Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) presents 'Anarchive: knowledge follows form', a solo exhibition by South Australian artist Bridget Currie running from 27 April to 19 June 2026. The show reimagines the archive as a living force, drawing on FUMA's 'Post-object and Documentation Art' collection from the 1960s and 1970s. It features works by Bonita Ely, Alison Goodwin, Poppy Johnson, Dorothy Thompson, and Eva Yuen Man-Wah, including Thompson's playful protest performances in bird costumes. The exhibition is co-presented with Adelaide Contemporary Experimental and includes a guest-edited issue of Artlink magazine.

In Conversation: Jen Everett and Dr. Blair Ebony Smith

Interdisciplinary St. Louis artist Jen Everett will discuss her work in the Elevate exhibition at 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, joined by artist-scholar Dr. Blair Ebony Smith. The conversation will focus on themes of Black interiority, memory, archives, deep listening, sound, and collaboration, followed by an audience Q&A. The event takes place on April 26, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Rare documents from National Archives’ Freedom Plane tour draw history buffs and more to USC Fisher Museum

The USC Fisher Museum of Art is hosting the "Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation," a traveling exhibition of rare founding-era documents from the U.S. National Archives. The show, which runs through May 3, includes items such as a rare engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris (1783), and a Senate markup of the Bill of Rights (1789). USC is the only university stop on the eight-city national tour, and the documents arrived in Los Angeles on a special Boeing 737. The exhibition has drawn history students, faculty, and the public, with USC Distinguished Professor Peter C. Mancall bringing his class to study the documents up close.

Cultural alliance between Rome and New York. The two cities sign the first agreement between major historic centers

Alleanza culturale tra Roma e New York. Le due città siglano il primo accordo tra grandi centri storici

Rome and New York have signed the first cultural cooperation agreement between their historic centers, Municipio I Roma Centro and Manhattan. The protocol was formalized during the Forum Cultura Roma Centro at the Temple of Vibia Sabina and Hadrian, aiming to establish an international network based on collaboration between cultural institutions and governance models. It includes exchanges, youth programs, artistic initiatives, and public art projects involving museums, archives, libraries, universities, and educational entities.

The Language Beyond the Human in the Surprising Polish Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The Interview

Il linguaggio oltre l’umano nel sorprendente Padiglione Polonia alla Biennale di Venezia 2026. L’intervista

The Polish Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale presents "Liquid Tongues," a project by artists Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski, curated by Ewa Chomicka and Jolanta Woszczenko with the collective Choir in Motion. The installation eschews spectacle for a subtle, immersive exploration of language beyond the human voice, incorporating sign language, underwater immersion, choreography, and whale songs to destabilize conventional communication.

A new cultural space that works on the memory of the city (also through postcards) has been born in Rome

A Roma è nato un nuovo spazio culturale che lavora sulla memoria della città (anche attraverso le cartoline)

A new cultural space called URBS has opened in Rome's Testaccio district, founded by architect Andrea D'Antrassi in collaboration with Giovanni Colombara. The space debuted in 2024 as "The Smallest Museum by URBS," a 20-square-meter venue housing over 1,600 historical postcards of the city, creating a visual archive spanning different eras. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, such as the current show "Not Mine, Not Yours" by Iranian artist Mehrdad Shadrooh, curated by Barbara Blasi, which draws from a family video-photo archive covering over eighty years of history. A commercial space has also been opened in Trastevere.

16th-Century Rome Through the Eyes of a Foreigner: The Exhibition

La Roma del Cinquecento vista con gli occhi di uno straniero. La mostra

Fabio De Chirico has been appointed as the new director of the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica in Rome, with a mission to boost research, strengthen international dialogue, and enhance the institution's collections. His tenure opens with the exhibition "Maarten van Heemskerck e il fascino di Roma: percorsi visivi della Città Eterna," curated by Tatjana Bartsch, Rita Bernini, and Giorgio Marini, running until June 7, 2026. The show features drawings by the 16th-century Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck, on loan from the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, alongside over sixty works from the institute's own holdings—including prints, engravings, and archival photographs—plus loans from the Bibliotheca Hertziana, the Musei Capitolini, and the Istituto Archeologico Germanico di Roma.

Art can officially be a form of therapy. Interview with Undersecretary of Culture Lucia Borgonzoni, godmother of the project

L’arte può essere ufficialmente una forma di cura. Intervista al Sottosegretario alla Cultura Lucia Borgonzoni madrina del progetto

The Italian Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Health have signed a formal protocol recognizing art as a form of therapy and care. The agreement, championed by Undersecretary of State for Culture Lucia Borgonzoni, mandates that museums, libraries, archives, and cultural institutions play a central role in developing therapeutic pathways using art to improve individual and community well-being. Borgonzoni, who has advocated for this initiative for nearly a decade, traces its origin to a 2018 study at the Sanctuary of Vicoforte that measured cortisol levels in visitors before and after viewing frescoes, showing significant stress reduction.

Art Hive Celebrates Third Anniversary

The Art Hive in Prescott, Arizona, is celebrating its third anniversary with a disco-themed party on Friday, May 22, from 5:00 pm to midnight. Founded in 2023 by artist Cloud Oakes, the venue houses 36 artist studios and a fine arts gallery, and the event will feature the Tenant Spring Exhibition, open studios, art booths, live music, a no-host bar, and a '70s Disco DJ bash, with a people's choice award for best costume and best in show.