Khaled Sabsabi Unveils Biennale Arte 2026 Showcase

Khaled Sabsabi will represent Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with two major installations. At the Australia Pavilion, he presents "conference of one's self," an immersive multisensory installation featuring eight monumental canvas paintings, suspended video projectors, and an analogue soundscape, all inspired by the 12th-century Sufi allegory "The Conference of the Birds." In a historic first for an Australian artist, Sabsabi also debuts a second work, "khalil," in the Biennale's main exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by Koyo Kouoh at the Arsenale. Both works explore spirituality, migration, and shared humanity through a Sufi philosophical framework.

Exhibitions set to open in Paris in May 2026: what's new to discover this month

A roundup of new art and cultural exhibitions opening in Paris and the Île-de-France region in May 2026 is announced. Highlights include the annual Rambolitrain toy train fair at Rambolitrain museum on May 1, free evening hours at the Bourse de Commerce on May 2, free entry to castles and museums in Yvelines and Seine-et-Marne on May 3, the Tour Auto classic car display under the Grand Palais glass roof on May 3-4, the Circle of Parisian Artists' 24th annual exhibition at Parc Floral from May 4-31, a new garden art exhibition "Jardin des Lumières" at the Grand Trianon in Versailles from May 5 to September 27, and a major Hilma af Klint exhibition at the Grand Palais.

A World-Class Art Museum Arrives in the Texas Hill Country

A new museum called Arthouse is opening in Marble Falls, Texas, on April 25, 2026, during the town's Paint the Town Festival. Its inaugural exhibition, "Words Matter," features text-based artworks by artists including Faith Ringgold, Ed Ruscha, Terry Allen, and Jenny Holzer, drawn from the collection of oil and gas entrepreneur Mickey Klein and his wife Jeanne, who are longtime art collectors named to ARTnews' Top 200 Collectors list. The building, designed by Lake Flato, is a limestone and metal structure on Main Street that will serve as both a public gallery and an office.

Ten Out Of London Exhibitions Spring 2026 – Artlyst Guide

Artlyst has published a guide to ten major exhibitions opening across UK museums and galleries outside London in Spring 2026. Highlights include a year-long programme for the 250th anniversary of John Constable in Suffolk, the Gwen John exhibition 'Strange Beauties' at National Museum Cardiff celebrating her 150th birthday, a Frank Bowling survey at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, a Joan Eardley show in Edinburgh, and Paula Rego at Newlands House & Gallery. Other featured exhibitions include Andy Hollingworth's photography of comedians at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and a Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the Bowes Museum.

Wangechi Mutu Awarded National Gallery Contemporary Fellowship in Landmark UK Collaboration

Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu has been awarded the National Gallery's second Contemporary Fellowship, a two-year initiative developed with Art Fund and delivered in partnership with the Whitworth, The University of Manchester. The fellowship will see Mutu develop a new body of work through close engagement with both institutions' collections, culminating in her first UK institutional exhibition. The project will open at the National Gallery in London in October 2027 before traveling to the Whitworth in Manchester in spring 2028, with plans for an international tour.

[ANN] Kuala Lumpur looks set to enter its 'museum moment' this year

Kuala Lumpur is experiencing a wave of new museum and gallery openings in 2025, marking a significant cultural expansion for the Malaysian capital. Key developments include the Merdeka Textile Museum, set to open in August within the Merdeka 118 tower and billed as Asia's first state-of-the-art textile museum; Muara Arts, a public gallery project by Creador Foundation opening in September in the historic Medan Pasar district; and recent openings such as the heritage building Seri Negara and restored gallery spaces at Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad. These join earlier private collector-led spaces like Ur-Mu (2022), Toffee (2023), and +N (2025), as well as the established Ilham Gallery (2015).

Kuala Lumpur looks set to enter its “museum moment” this year

Kuala Lumpur is experiencing a surge of new museum and gallery openings, signaling a significant expansion of its cultural infrastructure. Key developments include the recent opening of the heritage site Seri Negara and the restored Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, with major upcoming projects like the Merdeka Textile Museum and the Muara Arts gallery set to launch later in 2026.

The best looks from the 2026 Met Gala

The 2026 Met Gala, themed 'Costume Art,' took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honoring the Costume Institute's spring exhibition on the role of the dressed body in art history. Co-chaired by Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, Anna Wintour, and Beyoncé, the event featured A-list celebrities, pop stars, and tech titans on the museum's grand staircase, with a dress code of 'Fashion Is Art' encouraging guests to treat the body as a canvas. Notable attendees included Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Rosé, Gigi Hadid, Katy Perry, and Charli XCX, with many wearing custom designs from houses like Marc Jacobs, Saint Laurent, Thom Browne, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Carole A. Feuerman | Miniature Serena (with Blue-Green Tube) (2021) | For Sale

Carole A. Feuerman's sculpture "Miniature Serena (with Blue-Green Tube)" (2021) is being offered for sale. The work is an oil on resin piece with 24K gold leaf cap, table-top scale, measuring 10 x 17 x 8 inches, from a variant of 10. Feuerman, born in 1945, is an American sculptor and author credited with co-founding the Hyperrealist movement in the late 1970s, known for figurative works of swimmers and dancers. Her public sculptures have been displayed globally, including at Central Park, the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Venice Biennale, and the State Hermitage Museum. She has received multiple awards, including the Medici Award, and her works are in the permanent collections of 31 museums and owned by notable figures such as Steven A. Cohen, former President Bill Clinton, and Dr. Henry Kissinger.

Exhibitions Coming to Houston Institutions in Summer 2026

Art museums and institutions across the Greater Houston area are opening a series of new exhibitions for summer 2026. Highlights include the Czech Center Museum Houston's solo show of travel photography by Clarice Marik Snokhous; Art League Houston presenting Marisol Valencia's installation "No Longer, Not Yet" and Juvana Soliven's "Subject to Surviving"; Houston Center for Photography featuring Simon Silva's "Madre Patria"; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston launching the first survey of Mary Ellen Carroll's work; and the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University hosting Masako Miki's first Texas exhibition.

Museum diplomacy in action at ICOM UK 2026: museums in a changing world

ICOM UK hosted its 2026 annual conference in Oxford, bringing together delegates from over 20 countries to explore the theme of 'Museum Diplomacy.' Keynote speaker Dr. Sascha Priewe of the Aga Khan Museum and ICOM Canada framed the current geopolitical moment as a 'GZERO World,' where no country is willing or able to lead globally, and discussed how sanctions, export controls, and shifting alliances are straining international museum collaborations. Sessions featured case studies from the Science Museum Group and International Arts & Artists, emphasizing that trust and networks, not grand gestures, are essential for enduring partnerships.

Gala Porras-Kim: Future spaces replicate earlier spaces

Gala Porras-Kim presents her first exhibition at kurimanzutto in Mexico City, titled "Future spaces replicate earlier spaces," running from April 11 to June 13, 2026. The show brings together works that examine how museums and conservation institutions reclassify objects removed from their original contexts, using reconstruction and resituating to explore their spatial, material, and temporal conditions. Central to the exhibition is the installation "The motion of an alluvial record" (2024), which recreates the humid marshland atmosphere of the Yucatán Peninsula inside the gallery, contrasting with the controlled climates of museums. Other works include drawings replicating wall decorations from the Techinantitla complex in Teotihuacan, which were fragmented and sold on the black market, and graphite drawings of objects by artist Brígido Lara, whose "original interpretations" of Totonac ritual clay objects were mistakenly catalogued as Pre-Hispanic artifacts in major museums.

Ruth Pastine | Violet (Yellow), Color Space Series (2021) | For Sale

Ruth Pastine's painting "Violet (Yellow), Color Space Series" (2021) is being offered for sale through Louis Stern Fine Arts in West Hollywood, listed on Artsy. The work is an oil on canvas on beveled stretcher, measuring 30 × 60 inches, and is part of her Color Space Series. Pastine, an American artist born in 1964, holds a B.F.A. from The Cooper Union and an M.F.A. from Hunter College, and has exhibited widely, including a museum survey at MOAH Museum of Art and History and a show at CAM Carnegie Art Museum. Her work is held in major collections such as SFMOMA, MCASD, and the Achenbach Foundation.

Fifteen Works Donated to the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans

Quinze œuvres offertes au Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans

The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans has received a donation of fifteen artworks from art historian Françoise Heilbrun. The gift includes two drawings by Eugène Delacroix, which are immediate donations, and additional drawings, paintings, and a sculpture by artists like Louis Boulanger, which are given with a usufruct clause.

French Parliament Accuses Louvre of Prioritizing ‘Prestige And Influence’ Over Security Prior to Jewel Heist

French MPs Alexis Corbière and Alexandre Portier have released a parliamentary report accusing the Louvre of prioritizing "prestige and influence" over security, leading to a brazen jewel heist on October 19, 2025. Thieves entered the museum in broad daylight and stole nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in under eight minutes. The report, based on over 20 hearings with 100 insiders, reveals that security had been "relegated to the background" despite audits in 2017 and 2019, and that a Security Equipment Master Plan from 2019 was not implemented in time by former director Jean-Luc Martinez. The report also casts doubt on President Emmanuel Macron's nearly $1 billion renovation plan for the Louvre, announced nine months before the heist.

Metropolitan Museum receives $23m to endow internship programme

On 30 April, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced a $23m pledge from the Rubio Butterfield Foundation, led by newly elected trustee Jennifer Rubio and her husband Stewart Butterfield, to permanently endow the museum's internship program. The internships, offered for nearly 30 years with 100 participants annually, have only been paid since 2021. The article also explores broader trends in museum philanthropy, featuring insights from former directors Gary Vikan, Gary Tinterow, and Maxwell Anderson on how donors are often guided to fund endowments for curatorial positions, operations, or awards rather than art acquisitions.

UK’s Palestinian Ambassador Calls on Government to Have British Museum Reinstate the Word ‘Palestinian’

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has called on the British government to intervene in a dispute with the British Museum over the removal of the word “Palestinian” from wall texts in its Middle East galleries. Zomlot raised the complaint with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office after reports that the museum had stripped the term from maps and didactics, following lobbying by UK Lawyers for Israel. The museum denies removing the word entirely, stating it still appears elsewhere, but photographic evidence suggests otherwise. Zomlot declined a tour with director Nicholas Cullinan, calling the issue “existential.”

US National Gallery of Art receives $116m gift to continue nationwide lending programme

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, has received a landmark $116 million donation from the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation to permanently endow its Across the Nation lending programme. Launched in spring 2025, the initiative has already reached around 900,000 visitors at ten partner institutions, including the Anchorage Museum and the Mint Museum, by loaning works from the NGA's collection at no cost—covering transport, installation, insurance, and marketing. The next cycle will run from autumn 2027 to 2029, with new partners to be announced.

EU imposes sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of Russia's State Hermitage Museum

The European Union has imposed sanctions on Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of Russia's State Hermitage Museum, as part of its 20th sanctions package adopted on 23 April. Piotrovsky, a vocal supporter of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is cited for being a close associate of Vladimir Putin and for actively supporting the war, including justifying Russian cultural policies that incorporate Ukrainian museum items into Russia's State Museum Fund and enabling unauthorized archaeological excavations in occupied Crimea. The sanctions also target three other cultural officials involved in the Crimean digs. Meanwhile, Hermitage archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, arrested in Poland in December 2025 at Ukraine's request, was released in a prisoner exchange on 28 April.

The Newest Docent at This Historic Italian Palace Is a Robot

Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy, has introduced a four-foot-tall robot named R1 as a docent for its Baroque collection. The robot, developed by the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) under Project Convince with €4 million in EU funding, guides visitors through the former royal apartments, narrating the history of the House of Savoy and detailing paintings, tapestries, and furniture. R1 can interact with visitors via LED eyes, answer questions, and autonomously navigate the museum's first floor, though it cannot climb stairs. It has been learning on the job since 2025, completing 30 tours in December 2025, and uses corrective software to relocalize itself if lost.

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.

From intimate still lives to shadowed saints: the many sides of Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán go on show at London’s National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is opening a major survey exhibition of Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), the first on this scale since 1987. The show expands beyond his famous austere saints to include intimate still-lifes, late private devotional works, and large-scale altarpiece reconstructions. Curator Daniel Sobrino Ralston highlights two newly discovered paintings, including *Alcarraza on a Plate*, and a rare reconstruction of the second tier of the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera altarpiece, reuniting works from museums in Grenoble and Poznań.

Smithsonian’s American Art Museum Appoints New Director Amid Turbulent Moment

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) has appointed Lynda Roscoe Hartigan as its new director, concluding a 17-month search. Hartigan, who is leaving her position as executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum, will begin her role in September, succeeding acting director Jane Carpenter-Rock. She previously worked at SAAM as a curator in the 1970s and has held senior leadership roles at the Peabody Essex Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum.

Dance Your Way to the Museum

Curator Naz Cuguoğlu argues in an opinion essay that museums should embrace the ethos of rave culture to become more welcoming and inclusive spaces, suggesting they can foster new forms of belonging. The article also covers several other art stories, including the discovery of pre-Hispanic rock art in Mexico that led to the rerouting of a train line, an exhibition of Genesis P-Orridge's mail art in Toronto, and artist Jean Shin's memorial project at Green-Wood Cemetery.

architecture tadao ando naoshima new museum of art

The article profiles the renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, now 84, who has built 10 museums on the island of Naoshima over 33 years. It features an interview where Ando discusses his upbringing in a traditional wooden row house in Osaka, his early training as a boxer, and how these experiences shaped his architectural philosophy of "light within darkness." The piece includes personal reflections from the author on encountering Ando's work and highlights key projects such as the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis and the Church of Light in Osaka.

art katherine brinson curator guggenheim

The article profiles Katherine Brinson, a curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, known for organizing major exhibitions for artists like Alex Katz, Danh Vo, and most recently a mid-career survey of sculptor Carol Bove in the museum's iconic rotunda. In a Q&A format, Brinson discusses her curatorial philosophy, her deep connection to the Frank Lloyd Wright building, and her introverted nature, while revealing plans to make the Carol Bove show more welcoming with seating areas and daily tea service.

art sonya yu philanthropy

Philanthropist Sonya Yu made headlines in December by funding universal admission to MoMA PS1, making the Queens institution the largest free museum in New York. Based on the West Coast, she serves on the boards of SFMOMA and the Hammer Museum. In this interview, Yu discusses her influences, her views on the art industry, and her personal philosophy, touching on topics like stagnation, curiosity, and the importance of world-building over algorithm-chasing.

art ann temkin moma marcel duchamp

Ann Temkin, the chief curator of painting and sculpture at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), is featured in a Cultured magazine profile discussing her career and the museum's ambitious upcoming exhibition of Marcel Duchamp, which she and her colleagues have been preparing for five years. The article includes a Q&A where Temkin reflects on her biggest contribution to culture—connecting art and people—and cites John Cage's touring exhibition "Rolywholyover A Circus" as a surprising influence, noting how it demonstrated that a show can itself be a work of art.

Designs for a Better Future

Entwürfe für eine bessere Zukunft

The Rimowa Design Prize has awarded its fourth edition to Samuel Nagel and Paul Feiler from the Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Applied Sciences for their bracelet "Nura," which translates sign language into spoken language and converts speech into written text. Other finalists include Jakob Schlenker's bird-shaped device to encourage movement in the elderly, Niklas Henning's harvesting system for restoring moors, Tobias Kremer and Yannick Stilgenbauer's inflatable cooling capsule for use without electricity, and Valerio Sampognaro's lightweight furniture that can both support and lift off. The exhibition runs until May 13 at the Berlin Kulturforum.

DHM main building likely closed until 2031

DHM-Hauptbau wohl bis 2031 dicht

The German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin will remain without its main building, the Zeughaus on Unter den Linden, until at least 2031 due to further delays in its renovation. Museum director Raphael Gross announced that a binding timeline from the property owner and the federal construction authority is not expected until 2027, and a reopening before 2031 is unrealistic. In the meantime, the museum is using its modern Pei-Bau wing to host a new exhibition titled "Objekte. Geschichte. Geschichten," featuring around 200 highlights from its collection of one million objects, including a samurai armor once gifted to Adolf Hitler and objects from a refugee shelter.