Museion in Bolzano has launched a major retrospective titled "Feedback. The Environments of Franco Vaccari," focusing on the influential Italian conceptual artist. The exhibition marks the first comprehensive institutional survey to prioritize Vaccari’s "environments"—immersive spaces that utilize photography, video, and archival materials to engage the viewer in a process of real-time feedback.
Seattle's art scene in May 2026 features six diverse exhibitions. Highlights include 'Influences: Japanese Prints and Northwest Art' at the Cascadia Art Museum, exploring the impact of Japanese woodblock printing on regional artists; a site-specific installation by Carly Sheehan at the appointment-only Double Garage Gallery; Clare Johnson's exhibition of over 6,000 artworks on sticky notes at Gallery 4Culture; Emma Bergman's surreal multimedia installation 'The World to Come' at Specialist Gallery; and a landmark retrospective of light-art pioneer Tom Lloyd at the Frye Art Museum.
The Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver has launched "Photolithics," a major exhibition by Secwépemc and Scottish-settler artist Tania Willard. The show features a decade of Willard’s work, including monumental recreations of historical postcards on sandpaper and photographs viewed through ulexite crystals. The exhibition utilizes innovative installation techniques, such as a traditional kekuli structure, to recontextualize archival imagery and explore the intersection of geological time and Indigenous history.
Wallace Chan, a Hong Kong-born sculptor and jeweler who once lived as a Buddhist monk, is presenting his latest exhibition “Vessels of Other Worlds” at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà in Venice on May 8, coinciding with his 70th birthday and the Venice Biennale, followed by a show at Shanghai’s Long Museum on July 18. The exhibition features three monumental titanium sculptures standing seven, eight, and 10 meters tall, evoking religious oil vessels, and explores themes of birth, growth, and rebirth through the demanding medium of titanium, which Chan describes as the material closest to eternity.
Frida Escobedo, a Mexican architect who founded her Mexico City studio at age 23, is profiled as part of Cultured's 2026 CULT100 honorees. She became the youngest architect to win the Serpentine Pavilion commission and is set to debut her biggest project yet in 2030: the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new modern and contemporary wing. The article presents a Q&A format covering her influences, including architect Lebbeus Woods, her views on patience and imagination, and her reflections on career challenges such as protecting her time.
Nadav Lapid's fifth feature film, *Yes*, follows an Israeli musician and his artist wife who adopt a hedonistic lifestyle of parties, orgies, and drug use alongside war ministers and Russian oligarchs in the wake of the October 7 attacks and the Gaza conflict. The film, which premiered out of competition at Cannes, faced production challenges including crew walkouts and actor dropouts, and struggled to find US distribution before being picked up by Kino Lorber for a March 27 release in New York and April 3 in Los Angeles.
The Loewe Foundation has announced the shortlist for the 2026 Loewe Craft Prize, selecting 30 finalists from over 5,100 submissions across 133 countries and regions. The winner will be revealed on May 12 at a ceremony in Singapore, receiving €50,000, with two special mentions earning €5,000 each. An exhibition of the finalists' work will be held at the National Gallery Singapore. New Loewe creative directors Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez will join the jury for the first time. The nominated works span ceramics, woodwork, textiles, metal, glass, and more, with finalists hailing from 19 countries including Nigeria, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and the United States.
New York City offers a wide range of discounted tickets and memberships for young adults at major cultural institutions, including museums, performing arts venues, and theaters. Programs like the Whitney Museum's Free 25 and Under Anytime Pass, the Shed's $25 under-30 tickets, and the Metropolitan Opera's under-40 Friday deals aim to make high-quality cultural experiences more affordable for younger audiences.
Cultured magazine hosted a party at the Twenty Two in New York to celebrate Sophia Cohen's appointment as arts editor-at-large. Cohen, a former Gagosian associate director and founder of the consultancy Siren, will write a monthly column called "In the Know." The event, timed to Frieze New York, brought together figures including fashion designer Kim Shui, writer Nate Freeman, art advisors Ralph DeLuca and Sandy Heller, artist Rogan Gregory, critic Johanna Fateman, collector Lucas Hoffmann, and David Zwirner senior director Lucas Zwirner.
The Private Museum in Singapore presents "Human Being Human: Selections from the Collection of John and Cheryl Chia," an exhibition running from January 19 to April 26, 2026. Organized into four chapters—"Stateless," "State," "Statehood," and "Rebirth"—the show features works by artists including Joseph Beuys, Lee Wen, Eadweard Muybridge, Sherman Ong, John Clang, Sun Xun, and Green Zeng, exploring the body as a central site of inquiry into identity, vulnerability, and societal conditioning. The collection, amassed over 25 years by doctors John and Cheryl Chia, uses the body to examine themes of statelessness, state control, collective ideology, and rebirth, with works that challenge linear narratives and embrace conceptual loops.
French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, in collaboration with the International Federation for Human Rights, has filed a civil complaint in a French court regarding a 2024 Israeli airstrike in Beirut. The strike, which occurred in the Noueiri neighborhood just hours before a ceasefire, destroyed Cherri’s family home and killed seven civilians, including his parents and their domestic helper. The legal action, submitted to a specialized war crimes unit, alleges that the targeting of a civilian residence constitutes a war crime under both French and international law.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will acquire the Neue Galerie's Fifth Avenue building and its collection of 20th-century Austrian and German art, starting in 2028. The collection was built by cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder, who founded the Neue Galerie in 2001.
Non solo Biennale: cosa vedere a Venezia nella primavera 2026 tra gallerie, spazi indipendenti e progetti speciali
The article highlights a curated selection of exhibitions to see in Venice during spring 2026, beyond the main shows of the 61st Venice Biennale. It features projects in galleries, independent spaces, and historic venues, including a group show titled "Waves" at Casa Sanlorenzo with works by Alexander Calder and Lucio Fontana, a video installation by Ieva Lygnugarytė at Oratorio dei Crociferi, a Judy Chicago survey at Galleria Alberta Pane, a solo show by Hanna Rochereau at Mare Karina, and a Barry X Ball retrospective at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore.
The Fondazione In Between Art Film presents "Canicula," the third and final exhibition in its Trilogy of Uncertainties, opening on 6 May at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto in Venice. Curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, the show features eight newly commissioned site-specific films that explore themes of excess, sensory overload, and geopolitical tension. Works include Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk's "Affirmations" (2026), depicting fictional deathbed testimonies of Russian soldiers, Lawrence Abu Hamdan's "450XL: The Story of a Fugitive Sound" (2026) about a sonic attack in Belgrade, and Maya Watanabe's "Jarkov" (2025-26) reflecting on Arctic ice melt and Pleistocene remains.
A trove of abstract paintings and sculptures by Russian artist Oleg Prokofiev, hidden for decades in Moscow after he fled the Soviet Union, has been rediscovered and is now on public display for the first time. Prokofiev concealed the works in the 1950s and 1960s to avoid state persecution—abstract art was banned in the USSR, and his relationship with British scholar Camilla Gray made marriage impossible until 1969. After Gray's death and his move to England, the artworks remained safely stored in Moscow, where he found them intact after the Soviet collapse. The collection, including paintings, sculptures, sketchbooks, and letters, is now exhibited at the newly founded Prokofiev Studio in Hackney, London, established by his four children and curator Anzhela Popova.
A new art space called Prokofiev Studio has opened in Hackney, London, dedicated to the Russian artist Oleg Prokofiev. Its inaugural exhibition, 'Bending Time,' presents abstract works from the 1950s that were banned under Soviet censorship and long thought lost. The space was founded by Prokofiev’s children, including composer Gabriel Prokofiev, in collaboration with curator Anzhela Popova. The works were rediscovered in 1994 when Prokofiev returned to his former Moscow home and found them preserved by the new owner.
The Venice Biennale's jury announced it will not consider nations whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, effectively excluding Israel and Russia from competing for top honors. The jury, led by Videobrasil founder Solange Farkas, stated this decision aligns with curator Koyo Kouoh's vision and the Biennale's historical role as a platform connecting art to urgent issues. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, while other indicted leaders like Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Afghan officials lack Biennale pavilions.
The Social Practice CUNY (SPCUNY) initiative, a major program fostering the intersection of art and social justice across the City University of New York’s 25 campuses, will officially sunset in February 2027. Co-directed by artists Chloë Bass and Greg Sholette, the program will conclude following its final 2025–26 fellowship cohort. The decision to end the project stems from the directors' personal transitions, including Sholette’s upcoming retirement and Bass’s shift away from full-time teaching to focus on her studio practice.
The Bennett Prize, a biennial award dedicated to women figurative realist painters, has increased its grand prize from $50,000 to $75,000 for its fifth cycle. Founded by collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt, the prize aims to bridge the gender gap in the art world by providing substantial financial support and institutional recognition. The current call for entries is open to artists who have not yet reached a specific commercial price ceiling, culminating in a 2027 exhibition at the Muskegon Museum of Art.
Astronaut Scott Kelly is utilizing his record-breaking year-long mission aboard the International Space Station to capture high-altitude photography of Earth's surface. Dubbing his work #EarthArt, Kelly shares abstract, vividly colorful images of terrestrial landscapes—ranging from the Australian outback to the Himalayas—with his massive social media following. His approach favors formal abstraction over traditional documentation, highlighting the planet's diverse topography through a lens that blurs the line between science and fine art.
British self-taught artist Madge Gill has achieved a new auction record at Christie’s New York, where a rare 1930s embroidered textile work sold for $120,650. The sale price significantly exceeded the initial estimate of $60,000 to $80,000, marking the first time one of Gill’s rare textile pieces has ever appeared at auction. Previously, the artist was primarily known for her visionary ink drawings on calico and postcards, often created under the guidance of a spiritual entity she called “Myrninerest.”
A mysterious art installation featuring an outdoor living room has been discovered on the shores of North Brother Island, an abandoned site in New York City’s East River. The arrangement, which includes a vintage wood-paneled television and a leather armchair perched on a concrete block, was spotted by a local kayaker. The island, once home to a quarantine hospital and the site of the General Slocum maritime disaster, has been closed to the public since 1963.
Spanish artist Domingo Zapata has been commissioned by Saudi Arabia to create the world's largest mural, a 540,000-square-foot work the size of nine football fields. The project, part of the $63 billion Diriyah cultural zone in Riyadh, will take five to six years to complete and involves a team of about 100 artists, engineers, and architects. Zapata describes it as a "Middle Eastern version of the Sistine Chapel."
Italian video art pioneer Fabrizio Plessi has opened a new exhibition, "Fabrizio Plessi: Drowning in a Glass of Water," at the recently rebranded Galleria Barovier and Toso in Venice. The show features a monumental installation of rings placed in dialogue with the gallery's historic chandeliers, alongside a series of glass sculptures that mimic traditional water vessels but are largely solid, creating a trompe l'oeil effect. The works incorporate moving images and sounds of water.
A recently rediscovered painting by Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi sold for €865,000 ($1.19 million) at a Sotheby's Paris auction, shattering the artist's previous auction record set in 1998. The work, which had been hidden for over 80 years in southern France, fetched nearly three times its presale estimate after being identified by Sotheby's Old Master department.
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An excerpt from Elizabeth Currie's upcoming book "Street Style: Art and Dress in the Time of Caravaggio" analyzes the significance of clothing in Caravaggio's painting *The Cardsharps*. The author dissects the garments of the three figures—a finely dressed youth, a possibly liveried servant, and a disheveled card sharp—to reveal how their attire provides clues to their social status, professions, and the complex, often deceptive relationships between them.
Artist Ektor Rivera has created a painting titled "The Discovery of Americans" (2025) that reimagines Emanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" to celebrate Puerto Rican cultural figures, with Bad Bunny at the center. The work was commissioned by Miami art collector Seth Goldberg as a response to conservative criticism over Bad Bunny being selected to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. The five-by-eight-foot painting places George Washington in the background while Puerto Rican icons including Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, and Roberto Clemente take center stage, with Bad Bunny draped in the Puerto Rican flag. The artwork has garnered over 2.3 million views on Instagram and Facebook.
The Studio Museum in Harlem has closed through February 7 after a sprinkler emergency forced visitors to evacuate on Friday. Water poured from a ceiling near the gift shop, creating a large pool on the floor, but no artworks or galleries were affected. The museum initially planned a weekend closure, but repairs proved more extensive after a sprinkler was damaged during preparations for a record-breaking snowstorm that dropped 11 inches on Manhattan.
Israel will officially participate in the 2026 Venice Biennale, two years after its pavilion closed amid protests. The pavilion will be located in the Arsenale rather than its usual Giardini site, which is under construction. Representing Israel is sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru, a Haifa-based artist and Israel Prize winner, who previously represented Romania at the 2019 Biennale. His pavilion, titled "Rose of Nothingness," will feature an installation about water inspired by poet Paul Celan's concept of black milk, with 16 pipes dripping black water into a pool. The pavilion is curated by Sorin Heller and Avital Bar-Shay. However, the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) has renewed its protest, calling the pavilion the "Genocide Pavilion" on Instagram and demanding Israel's exclusion from the Biennale.
Internet personality MacKenzie Thomas staged a four-hour durational performance titled "I Said What I Said" in New York, where she read aloud every post she made on X over the past year, interspersed with personal essays. The performance, which sold out both New York showings, will travel to Los Angeles at Heavy Manners. Thomas recounted intimate details of her life, including a breakup, her dog's death, health struggles, and family dynamics, while notably omitting her success as an influencer with half a million followers.