ucca centre for contemporary art allegedly withheld wages

The UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing allegedly withheld staff wages for six months from January to June, according to the South China Morning Post. The institution, founded by the late Belgian collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens in 2007, has faced financial challenges including lower ticket sales, higher international freight costs, stricter rental demands from its landlord in Beijing's 798 Art District, and difficulty collecting payments from international partners. Its Shanghai branch, UCCA Edge, has seen no activity since June after an exhibition co-presented with the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Director Philip Tinari acknowledged a difficult year for museums in China, citing a slower consumer economy, and said the UCCA is working on long-term funding solutions.

nagakin capsule tower moma

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has acquired and put on display a capsule from the demolished Nagakin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. The capsule, designated A1305, is the centerpiece of a year-long exhibition titled "The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower," which also includes archival materials such as photographs, models, films, and recordings. The tower, designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, was a landmark of the Metabolism movement, featuring 140 prefabricated modules. After years of decline, it was demolished in 2022, but 23 capsules were salvaged, with 16 finding homes in institutions including MoMA.

metropolitan museum of art trump dei programs

Metropolitan Museum of Art director Max Hollein stated in an interview with French publication Le Quotidien de l'Art that the Trump administration's push to eliminate federal DEI programs will not affect the Met, as it is a private organization not subject to those executive orders. The interview, conducted during the Centre Pompidou's 'TransFORMS' exhibition dedicated to Hollein's father, architect Hans Hollein, also covered deaccessioning, repatriation, and the upcoming opening of the renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.

Statement of Withdrawal from Visitor Lion Awards

Artists Spar Over Credit For A Dress Displayed In The Met’s ‘Costume Art’ Exhibition

London-based artist Anouska Samms has accused the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute of exhibiting a dress that she claims is a counterfeit of her work in the ongoing "Costume Art" exhibition. The dress, titled Corpus Nervina 0.0, is credited solely to New York-based Israeli designer Yoav Hadari, but Samms alleges it closely resembles an earlier Nervina hair dress she co-developed with Hadari during their 2023 residency at the Lee Alexander McQueen Sarabande Foundation. Samms discovered the display via a social media post and has since spoken out, noting that a contract from their collaboration designated her as the sole owner of the intellectual property of the fabric. The Met has requested that the two parties resolve their dispute before the museum takes further action.

In Lugano, there are 5 exhibitions dedicated to the Orient to discover around the city

A Lugano ci sono 5 mostre dedicate all’Oriente da scoprire in giro per la città

Five exhibitions dedicated to East Asian art are currently on view across Lugano, Switzerland. Four are housed in the city's two major museums, MASI and MUSEC, while the fifth is presented by Primo Marella Gallery. The shows feature a range of works, from historical Japanese kakemono scrolls and screens to contemporary art by Chinese artists Zhang Hong Mei and He Wei, and a survey of video art from South Korea.

Mary Frank Creates Her Own Pantheon

Mary Frank, an artist in her early 90s known for mythologically rooted sculpture and works on paper, is the subject of a focused exhibition at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in New York. Curated by Steven Harvey, the show presents 11 sculptures in wood, bronze, and ceramic from 1958 to 1985, alongside five works on paper, including a monotype and an oil-on-paper piece. Frank’s work, influenced by her study with Martha Graham, centers on self-sustaining female figures that embody agency, tenderness, and survival, often rendered in ceramic slabs or carved wood.

Pinta Panama Art Week 2026 Reaffirms the Country as a Hub for Regional Contemporary Art

PINTA PANAMA ART WEEK 2026 REAFFIRMS THE COUNTRY AS A HUB FOR REGIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART

The second edition of Pinta Panamá Art Week will be held from March 18-22, 2026, featuring works by Panamanian artists like Cisco Merel, Lulu Molinares, Arístides Ureña Ramos, and Isabel de Obaldía. Their projects, ranging from sculpture and textiles to immersive installations and studio visits, explore themes of memory, territory, and everyday life through the manipulation of materials and space.

Meet the London Perfumer Building a Collection Around Humor and Instinct

Cherry Cheng, a London-based perfumer, has curated a personal art collection in her Notting Hill flat that reflects her instinctive and humorous approach to collecting. The collection features works by artists such as Beau Gabriel, Miranda Keyes, Sarah Pucci, Juliette Teste, Araki Nobuyoshi, Katrien de Blauwer, Lucile Littot, Leo Costelloe, Sebastian Espejo, and Joline Kwakkenbos, displayed throughout her home like a diary of her tastes.

Why This Swedish Gallery Set Up Shop in a 19th-Century Chapel

Loyal, a gallery founded by Martin Lilja and Amy Giunta, has relocated from Stockholm to a 19th-century chapel in the university town of Lund, Sweden. The move represents a deliberate shift away from the fast-paced commercial art world towards a slower, more contemplative model of exhibition-making.

serpentine pavilion commission lanza atelier

LANZA atelier, a Mexico City-based architecture studio founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, has been commissioned to design the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens. The pavilion, which will be unveiled on June 6, marks the 25th anniversary of the Serpentine Pavilion program. Inspired by the English serpentine or crinkle-crankle wall, the design features a brick wall of alternating curves, a translucent roof resting on brick columns, and a second wall that harmonizes with the tree canopy. This year’s pavilion will be accompanied by a dedicated architecture program at Serpentine South, honoring the legacy of Zaha Hadid, who designed the inaugural pavilion in 2000.

Georg Herold at Capitain Petzel

German artist Georg Herold has opened a new solo exhibition at the Capitain Petzel gallery in Berlin. The show, which runs from February 27 to April 11, 2026, features a significant body of new work, documented extensively through 33 images.

Lily Stockman “A Grass Roof” at MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong

MASSIMODECARLO gallery in Hong Kong is presenting "A Grass Roof," the first solo exhibition of American artist Lily Stockman in the city. The show features new oil paintings inspired by the eighth-century Zen poem "Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage" by Shitou Xiqian, exploring themes of interior refuge and infinite expanse through collapsed perspective and dissolved boundaries.

Exhibitions in May: our selection of Parisian outings

This article, published by La Rédac with photos by Audrey de Sortiraparis, presents a curated selection of exhibitions opening in Paris and the Île-de-France region in May 2026. Highlights include a Giovanni Segantini retrospective at the Marmottan Monet Museum, a porcelain exhibition titled "Sèvres, a Rothschild Passion" at the Mobilier National, a comparative show of Michelangelo and Rodin at the Louvre Museum, the return of the Colors Festival with a street-art exhibition called Colors Light, a historical tribute to Madame de Sévigné at the Carnavalet Museum, a major Lee Miller retrospective at the Musée d'Art Moderne, a family-friendly Lego brick exhibition by Dirk Denoyelle at Espace Champerret, and a video game music exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris.

How This Artist Pivoted Into Surreal Sculpture After Decades of Photography [Interview]

Artist Nic Nicosia, known for decades as a photographer and member of the Pictures Generation, has pivoted into surreal sculpture after losing interest in fabricated images. His work was featured in the 1983 Whitney Biennial alongside Cindy Sherman and others, and in major exhibitions like Documenta IX. Now, after years of exploring sculpture in private, he is preparing for his largest museum exhibition since 2000: "Everyday Surrealism" at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, opening May 16, tracing his career through over 70 works.

Ai Weiwei solo show in Singapore

Ai Weiwei has launched a solo exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art in Singapore, featuring his signature Lego brick recreations of Western masterpieces and intricate porcelain sculptures. The show includes pixelated interpretations of works by Van Gogh and Andrew Wyeth, alongside porcelain pieces like 'Watermelon' and a series of 16 helmets that satirize international military aid. The artist, currently based in Portugal, noted that the exhibition's themes are heavily influenced by contemporary global conflicts and the digital age's impact on authorship.

Important private collections feature in Strauss & Co March sales of modern and contemporary

Strauss & Co has announced its upcoming Evening Sale of Modern and Contemporary Art scheduled for March 24, 2026. The auction features 96 lots, headlined by significant private consignments including the Stan and Li Boiskin Art Collection and the Patricia Fine Art Collection. High-value works from South African masters such as Irma Stern, J. H. Pierneef, and Gerard Sekoto will lead the sale alongside a robust selection of contemporary pieces by artists like William Kentridge and Mary Sibande.

NEXT in the Gallery: March art is NFL photography, Empty Bowls and a giant egg

Pittsburgh’s art scene is set for a diverse series of openings this March, ranging from historical sports photography to contemporary textile art. Highlights include Michael Zagaris’s 60-year retrospective of NFL photography at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, the first U.S. solo exhibition for English photographer Ajamu X at Silver Eye Center for Photography, and solo shows by Nicole Renee Ryan and Abby Franzen-Sheehan. The month also features collaborative exhibitions like "What We Carry," which pairs Penny Mateer’s political quilts with Dante Campudoni’s psychological paintings.

Five must-visit exhibitions during Art Week Tokyo

Art Week Tokyo is underway, and this article highlights five must-see exhibitions across the city. Featured shows include Phung-Tien Phan's debut solo exhibition in Japan at Misako & Rosen, where she presents fabric-wrapped sculptures made from found objects; ChimPom from Smappa! Group's environmental-themed show "A Hole Within a Hole Within a Hole" at Anomaly; the group exhibition "The Clearing" at space Un, organized by curator Ekow Eshun, featuring five emerging African diaspora artists; the "Jam Session" pairing new works by Chikako Yamashiro and Lieko Shiga with the Ishibashi Foundation Collection at Artizon Museum; and Eiki Mori's photographic series "Moonbow Flags" at Ken Nakahashi gallery.

Young at art: inside Frieze London's Focus section

Frieze London's Focus section, dedicated to galleries aged 12 years or younger, features six standout booths showcasing diverse materials and themes. Artists include Alex Margo Arden (with mannequins from the National Motor Museum), Luís Lázaro Matos (a queer myth of a stranded beluga whale), Rim Park (plant anatomy reliefs and etchings), Lara Fluxà (precarious glass and tar sculptures), and Delaine Le Bas (calico fabric works with protest messages). The section is noted for its variety beyond painting, with climate breakdown emerging as a recurring theme among younger artists.

Rhythm, Space, and Memory. 10 Artists to Discover at “The Subtle Charm of Obsessions” Exhibition.

The article announces "The Subtle Charm of Obsessions," a multidisciplinary exhibition opening April 25, 2025, at the City Museum of Wrocław – Royal Palace. Curated by Jerzy Zajączkowski, the show explores Sigmund Freud's concept of the compulsion to repeat through works by artists based in Wrocław and across Poland, including Tamara Berdowska, the collective Monomoka (Katarzyna and Monika Gwiazdowskie), and Michał Misiak. The exhibition features painting, glass, fabric, and crocheted works, emphasizing rhythm, memory, and the cyclical return to familiar motifs placed in new contexts.

‘I like pushing boundaries’: Yinka Shonibare on his landmark art show in Madagascar

British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare has opened his first major solo exhibition in Africa at Fondation H in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The show, which occupies the foundation's 2,200-square-meter historic building, features installations drawn from his catalog, including his signature use of Ankara print fabrics. The exhibition marks a significant milestone for Shonibare, who had previously attempted to mount a large solo show in Lagos but was thwarted by infrastructure limitations.

How Former Fashion Designer Emma Safir Turns Fabric into Beguiling Paintings

Emma Safir, a former fashion designer and printmaker, creates beguiling paintings and tapestries that blend textiles, digital printing, and traditional embroidery techniques. Her works, such as "APRICOT SILK" (2025) and "BABY DARLING" (2025), use smocking, glass beads, and shells to produce organic, jewel-toned surfaces that resist easy reflection or entry, challenging viewers to engage with layered material hierarchies.

Artists turn to textiles as they excavate history at Nada New York

At the New Art Dealers Alliance (Nada) New York fair, running until 17 May, multiple artists are presenting works that heavily incorporate textiles to explore themes of culture, belonging, and history. Artists such as Keith Lafuente (with SoMad), Polina Osipova (with JO-HS), and Griselda Rosas (with Luis De Jesus Los Angeles) use fabric and sewing techniques to examine histories of inequality, migration, and labor. Rosas embroiders over painted paper using imagery from Mexican codices, Osipova prints family photos onto traditional Chuvash fabric, and Lafuente repurposes scraps from Oscar de la Renta to comment on global labor inequalities. Other participants like Ruth Owens (with Voltz Clarke Gallery) use textiles in lightbox works to tell personal stories of migration and abduction.

193 gallery bricks and grids

A new dual-artist exhibition titled “Bricks and Grids” has opened at 193 Gallery’s Venice location, running through July 27, 2025. The show features works by Zoila Andrea Coc-Chang, who creates sculptural weavings from materials like dried fruit and industrial objects to explore power and economy, and Modou Dieng Yacine, whose photography-based paintings blend figuration and abstraction to examine urban architecture, memory, and marginalized communities. Curated by Miriam Bettin, the exhibition coincides with the Venice Architecture Biennale, whose theme is “Intelligens. Naturale. Artificiale. Collettiva.”

sun yitian esther schipper gallery weekend berlin

Artist Sun Yitian, known for photorealistic paintings of mass-produced consumer objects that sell for up to six figures, is opening her largest solo exhibition to date at Esther Schipper in Berlin as part of Gallery Weekend Berlin on May 2. The exhibition, titled "Romantic Room," features 14 new paintings that incorporate Christian religious symbols alongside references to China's copy culture (shanzhai) and the proliferation of fakes in the 1990s. Works like "Image of Jesus" (2024) depict a Christ with facial fillers, inspired by posters in her hometown Wenzhou, while "Jingpin" (2024) playfully addresses Wenzhou's history of fabricating high-quality shoe copies. The show also includes her ongoing "Shelter" series, featuring inflatable bouncy castles from her childhood.

U-Haul Gallery’s Mobile Model Takes Art to the Streets

U-Haul Gallery, founded by James Sundquist, is a nomadic art initiative that uses rented U-Haul trucks as mobile exhibition spaces. During New York art week, the gallery parked outside major fairs and openings, drawing crowds into its cargo bay for shows like Ben Nuñez's video work "Today, Last Year." The gallery operates on a budget of $29.99 per day for truck rental, bypassing the high costs of traditional brick-and-mortar spaces. Sundquist, along with head of global strategy Jack Chase, curates collaborative, adaptable exhibitions that respond to their surroundings.

Marcel Duchamp Is Stripped Bare at MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has opened "Marcel Duchamp," the first retrospective of the artist on this continent in over 50 years. Curated by Ann Temkin, Michelle Kuo, and Matthew Affron, the exhibition is organized strictly chronologically and features Duchamp's most famous works—including his revolutionary readymades like *Fountain* (1917) and *Bicycle Wheel* (1913)—often shown only in photographic reproduction or as later refabricated copies, replicas, and miniatures from his *Box in a Valise* series. The show highlights how Duchamp's original objects have been lost or dematerialized, forcing viewers to confront the very definition of an artwork.

Insider’s Look at Curating a Show Inspired by the Declaration of Independence’s 250th Anniversary [Interview]

The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FVM) in Philadelphia has opened "Some American Dreams," an exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Curated by Hilde Nelson, FVM curatorial fellow, the show features 27 works by 20 artists created during the museum's Artist-in-Residence Program over four decades. The exhibition includes pieces in furniture, sculpture, textiles, clothing, video, and photography, and is on view until June 14, 2026. In an interview with My Modern Met, Nelson discusses her curatorial approach, which poses the question, "What if 'America' is not one project, but many?" and explores how these multiple Americas are affirmed, resisted, or remade through the artworks.

This Liminal Moment

The article reviews the exhibition "MONUMENTS" at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Brick in Los Angeles, which addresses the legacy of Confederate monuments through contemporary art. It highlights Cauleen Smith's installation "The Warden" (2025), which features a live-feed of the decommissioned Confederate sculpture "Vindicatrix" (also known as "Miss Confederacy") by Edward V. Valentine, originally atop the Jefferson Davis Memorial in Richmond, Virginia. The exhibition is curated by Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson.