Venice Art Biennale: The Time of Nuances

Biennale d’art de Venise : le temps des nuances

The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys," opened under the artistic direction of the late Swiss-Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh. The exhibition features 111 artists and collectives, presenting a more subdued, poetic, and experiential approach compared to the previous edition's explicit decolonial program. It navigates contemporary political tensions, including the participation of Israel and the reopening of the Russian pavilion, while aiming for a radical return to art's own environment and its place in society.

Museum Night in Paris and Île-de-France: 5 ideas to get off the beaten track

Nuit des musées à Paris et en Île-de-France : 5 idées pour sortir des sentiers battus

The article from Beaux Arts Magazine offers five alternative recommendations for experiencing the Nuit des Musées (Museum Night) in Paris and the Île-de-France region on May 23. Instead of visiting major museums like the Musée d'Orsay or the Grand Palais, readers are guided to lesser-known institutions and unique activities: exploring the craftsmanship of Sèvres porcelain at the Mobilier national, joining a festive dance workshop led by choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu at the Palais de la Porte-Dorée, creating a collective fresco inspired by Jean Dubuffet at the Parc de l'Île Saint-Germain in Issy-les-Moulineaux, and immersing in the historical atmosphere of 1936 at the Musée de l'Histoire vivante in Montreuil.

Venice Biennale 2026: What are the major trends that will mark the 99 national pavilions?

Biennale de Venise 2026 : quelles sont les grandes tendances qui vont marquer les 99 pavillons nationaux ?

The article previews the 2026 Venice Biennale, highlighting key trends across its 99 national pavilions. Major themes include the hybridization of theater, dance, and performance, particularly in pavilions from Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Lithuania, where artists like Florentina Holzinger, Aline Bouvy, Miet Warlop, and Eglė Budvytytė use radical, body-centric works. Geopolitical engagement is also central, with the Ukrainian pavilion featuring Zhanna Kadyrova's work on resistance and the British pavilion exploring themes of exile and migration. Other notable pavilions include Spain's focus on imagery, a sound installation for the Vatican, a polyphonic piece for Romania, and a film on sign language song for Poland.

Saint Louis’s Counterpublic Triennial Reveals Artist List for Third Edition

The Counterpublic Triennial has unveiled the artist list for its third edition, titled "Coyote Time," scheduled to run from September 12 to December 12 in Saint Louis. Curated by a five-member international team, the exhibition features forty-seven artists and collectives, including prominent figures like Glenn Ligon and Rebecca Belmore alongside local Saint Louis practitioners. The triennial will feature nearly fifty commissions, with a significant focus on site-responsive works installed along the Mississippi riverfront and the Gateway Arch.

Whitney Biennial 2026: Care, Catastrophe, and Private Gestures

The Whitney Biennial 2026, the 82nd edition of the longest-running survey of American art, opened with a stripped-down, self-referential title and no subtitle, reflecting a moment of national self-questioning. The exhibition features 56 artists, duos, and collectives, with highlights including Agosto Machado's shrine sculptures dedicated to friends lost to AIDS, Emilie Louise Gossiaux's tender works about her guide dog London, and Michelle Lopez's apocalyptic video projection *Pandemonium*. Machado, a longtime downtown New York artist and caregiver, died shortly after the biennial opened, and his ashes are to be mixed with those of Marsha P. Johnson and spread in the Hudson River.

Making in a Changing World—New Online Course on How Art Confronts the Environment in Southeast Asia

National Gallery Singapore has launched the third and final installment of its free online course series, titled "Art and the Environment in Southeast Asia: Making in a Changing World." The course examines how contemporary artists from the region—including Art Labor, Sharon Chin, Sopheap Pich, and Robert Zhao Renhui—respond to ecological issues through community-engaged and place-specific practices, using works like Chin's participatory beach ceremony and Zhao's Venice Biennale installation.

Es Devlin Is Creating a Living Portrait of the Entire U.K.

British artist Es Devlin has launched a participatory public artwork titled "A National Portrait for the National Portrait Gallery," inviting all 69 million U.K. residents to upload selfies that are transformed into charcoal-and-chalk-style portraits using an AI model trained on Devlin’s drawings. The portraits appear on a framed screen in the museum’s History Makers gallery, and the project runs through October 27, accompanied by online and onsite drawing classes.

Why Was Sarah Miriam Peale, Pioneering Member of America’s First Art Dynasty, Left Behind?

Sarah Miriam Peale, a member of the prominent Peale art dynasty and arguably the first professional woman artist in the United States, is finally receiving long-overdue institutional recognition. Despite a prolific sixty-year career painting portraits of political figures and still lifes in Baltimore and St. Louis, her legacy was largely overshadowed by her uncle Charles Willson Peale and her male cousins. Her independence as an unmarried woman who supported herself entirely through her craft marked a radical departure from the gender norms of the 19th century.

whitney biennial 2026 first takes 2750160

The 82nd Whitney Biennial has opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art, featuring 56 artists, duos, and collectives. Curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, this edition eschews a formal theme in favor of a sprawling, material-diverse exhibition that emphasizes slow looking and political engagement. Early critical reception suggests a stronger, more cohesive showing than the previous 2024 edition, despite a notable absence of traditional painting.

napoleon jones henderson africobra artist dead 1234765902

Napoleon Jones-Henderson, a key member of the AfriCOBRA collective known for creating art during the Black Power era, died in Boston on December 6 at age 82 after battling cancer. Jones-Henderson was part of the Chicago-based group founded in 1968 by artists including Jeff Donaldson, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Barbara Jones-Hogu, which synthesized African styles with Black American expressions. Despite the group's historical significance, their work was largely overlooked by major museums until recent years, with Jones-Henderson receiving his first major survey at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston in 2022.

curators museum directors offer support in letter to louvre 1234758931

Fifty-seven curators and museum directors, including Christophe Cherix of MoMA and Michael Govan of LACMA, signed an open letter published by Le Monde expressing solidarity with Louvre director Laurence des Cars following the theft of the museum's crown jewels. The letter emphasizes that museums are not immune to global violence and that such thefts represent a profound fear for museum professionals, while reaffirming that museums must remain open and accessible despite security risks.

es devlin library faena art basel miami beach 1234758344

British artist and designer Es Devlin, known for stage designs for U2 and Kendrick Lamar, has created a 50-foot-tall revolving library titled 'The Library of Us' for the 10th anniversary of the Faena hotel and cultural complex in Miami Beach. The installation, presented during Art Basel Miami Beach, contains 2,500 books that have influenced Devlin, with visitors able to sit on revolving stools and read. Phrases from 250 books will appear on an LED screen accompanied by Devlin's voice. After the installation closes on December 9, all books will be donated to Miami organizations including public libraries and schools.

100 massive elephant sculptures beverly hills 2669384

The Great Elephant Migration, a public art project featuring 100 life-size elephant sculptures, has concluded its cross-country journey in Beverly Hills, California. The sculptures, crafted by Indigenous artisans of the Coexistence Collective in India from the invasive lantana camara weed, represent real elephants from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. The herd traveled 5,000 miles via electric trucks, making stops in Newport, New York, Miami, Houston, Jackson Hole, and Montana, before arriving at Beverly Gardens Park. The artworks are for sale, with prices ranging from $8,000 to $22,000, and sales have exceeded $3 million, with proceeds supporting 22 conservation NGOs.

khaled sabsabi reinstatement 2663523

Artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino have been reinstated to lead Australia’s pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, following an independent review of Creative Australia’s decision to drop them in February 2025. The initial removal came after right-wing politicians raised allegations of antisemitism against Sabsabi, whose work often addresses Islamophobia and Arab identity, particularly his 2007 video "You" featuring Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The reversal follows resignations, boycotts, and widespread protests from the Australian arts community.

bint mbareh sound art palestinian resistance 1234743980

Bint Mbareh, a Palestinian sound artist and stage name assumed around 2019, creates installations and performances that use water and sound as metaphors for Palestinian experience. Growing up in Ramallah and later studying at Goldsmiths in London, she learned geographically specific Palestinian rain-summoning songs, which she twists and destabilizes using digital technology in works like *Time Flows in All Directions: Water Flows Through Me* (2020). After October 7, 2023, she expanded her practice to include a “choir” of collaborators performing collective grief, with appearances at an Artists for Aid benefit concert in London and at Tate Modern. Recent installation works such as *Bodies of Knowledge* (Royal College of Art) and *What’s Left?* (Sharjah Biennial) incorporate water tanks vibrated by sound, evoking both childhood and displacement.

japanese sculptor kunimasa aoki wins 2025 loewe craft prize 1234743920

Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki won the 2025 Loewe Craft Prize on Thursday evening in Madrid, receiving a €50,000 cash prize. His anamorphic terracotta sculpture “Realm of Living Things 19” was selected by a 12-member jury from 30 shortlisted works on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. The jury praised the work's honest expression of the ancestral coil process and the raw, unfinished form of the material. Two special mentions were awarded: Nigerian artist Nifemi Marcus-Bello for “TM Bench with Bowl” and Studio Sumakshi Singh from India for “Monument.”

hilmas ghost feminist witch collective 2007316

At the Armory Show in New York, psychic medium Sarah Potter is offering tarot card readings at the booth of Chicago's Carrie Secrist Gallery using a deck designed by the feminist art collective Hilma's Ghost. The collective, formed during lockdown by abstract artists Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray, created "Abstract Futures Tarot," a series of 78 gouache, ink, and colored pencil paintings inspired by pioneering abstractionist Hilma af Klint and the Rider–Waite tarot deck by Pamela Colman Smith. The works, priced at $4,000 each, are the result of 500 hours of collaborative painting, and the deck is also sold in a limited edition of 300, with 215 already sold.

diller scofidio and renfro venice canal water coffee wins golden lion 2643348

Diller Scofidio and Renfro (DS+R) has won a Golden Lion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale for "Canal Café," a project that brews espresso using water filtered from the Venetian lagoon. The installation, part of the biennale's exhibition "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," uses a combination of biological filtration by salt-tolerant halophytes and artificial methods like reverse osmosis to purify the polluted canal water. Michelin-starred chef Davide Oldani selected the coffee blend, and the espresso is sold for €1.20. Originally conceived for the 2008 biennale but delayed due to permit issues, the project was realized with improved filtration technology and support from engineering firms Natural Systems Utilities and SODAI, as well as Webuild.

new taipei city art museum interview 2637467

The New Taipei City Art Museum (NTCAM) opened to the public last weekend with fireworks and light installations after nearly eight years of development. Located in Yingge District, about 30 minutes from Taipei, the publicly funded museum cost 3 billion NTD (approximately $93 million) and spans 38 acres. Designed by Taiwanese architect Kris Yao, the 11-story building houses eight exhibition halls, a 500-seat auditorium, a public plaza, and a park for public art. Inaugural director Lai Hsiang-ling outlined the museum's vision to serve local audiences and the arts community while fostering international and regional collaboration. The opening includes the inaugural exhibition featuring the local art collective Xindian Boys and their commission "Don't Worry, Baby," which addresses ecological change, global politics, and artificial intelligence.

“Iter Subterraneum” / Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen by Adele Seip

Bergen Kunsthall has launched "Iter Subterraneum," a group exhibition inspired by Ludvig Holberg’s 1741 satirical novel about a man who falls through a cave in Bergen into a subterranean world. The show features ten international artists, including Robert Gabris, Anicka Yi, and Cecilia Fiona, whose works span video, sculpture, and performance. By pairing historical editions of Holberg’s book with contemporary installations, the exhibition explores themes of displacement, collective existence, and the blurring of lines between human and non-human life.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 to Lenny Henry: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

The Guardian's weekly entertainment guide highlights two major art exhibitions opening in May 2025: 'Aleksandra Kasuba' at Tate St Ives (2 May to 4 October) and 'Zurbarán' at the National Gallery, London (2 May to 23 August). The Kasuba show is the first UK presentation of the Lithuanian American artist's proto-immersive 'spatial environments,' featuring early paintings, mosaics, and installations focused on utopian social harmony. The Zurbarán exhibition presents a blockbuster survey of the 17th-century Spanish Baroque master, known for his intense religious subjects and dramatic chiaroscuro.

After three years, investigations and now a $4.4m lawsuit, Australia’s most controversial art exhibition finally opens

The National Gallery of Australia has finally opened 'Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country,' a landmark exhibition of 30 large-scale paintings by Indigenous artists from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. The show’s debut comes after a three-year delay caused by explosive allegations in the media suggesting that white studio assistants had improperly intervened in the creation of the artworks. These claims sparked multiple independent investigations, a $4.4 million defamation lawsuit, and a previous last-minute cancellation of the exhibition in 2023.

literature hans ulrich obrist curator book

Hans Ulrich Obrist, the prolific Swiss curator and artistic director of Serpentine Galleries, discusses his lifelong passion for books in a new interview timed to the U.S. release of his memoir "Life in Progress." Obrist reveals his daily ritual of buying a book, which has amassed an archive of over 40,000 volumes housed at LUMA Arles, and shares current reading recommendations including Kenneth O. Stanley's "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned." He also reflects on the serendipitous origins of his Instagram Post-it note project, inspired by philosopher Umberto Eco and artist-poet Etel Adnan.

about last week an orbit through the highs and sighs of new yorks art fair multiverse

Writer and critic Domenick Ammirati chronicles a whirlwind week in New York during Frieze Week, visiting art fairs, exhibitions, and social events. Highlights include Jeff Koons' Hulk sculptures at Gagosian's Frieze booth, discovering painter Karol Palczak at Emalin gallery, and attending the group painting show "R U Still Painting???" curated by the collective FALCON in a raw Midtown office space. Ammirati notes a subdued, less intoxicated atmosphere compared to previous years, reflecting a broader unease in the art world.

billboard 200 chart everybodys album 1234765833

Artist Danny Cole, known for previous public stunts like covering the Hollywood sign's O with a giant cow, has launched 'Everybody's Album,' a project aiming to hack the Billboard 200 chart. The plan involves recruiting 100,000 people to each record one second of audio, paying them with a Shopify gift card that can only be used to pre-order the album, thereby exploiting chart metrics. With help from influencer Anthony Po, who has millions of followers, they have already secured 80,000 participants.

future of the art world andras szanto review 1234757915

András Szántó has published the third volume of his trilogy on the future of museums and the art world, titled "The Future of the Art World." The book compiles 38 interviews conducted between April 2024 and June 2025 with a wide range of art-world stakeholders, including artists, curators, collectors, dealers, auctioneers, art fair directors, sociologists, philosophers, and policymakers. Unlike his previous books, which focused on museum directors and architects, this volume gives significant voice to artists, who offer provocative critiques and predictions about the future of museums, art education, and digital art.

Angus, Thongs and Imperfect Staging

The art collective MSCHF saved a cow named Angus from slaughter after a two-year project called 'Our Cow Angus'. The project allowed fans to preorder burgers or a leather bag made from Angus, but also provided a 'Remorse Token' to cancel orders. If 50% of tokens were used by the deadline, Angus would be spared and sent to a sanctuary. With ten hours remaining, the threshold was met, and the cow's life was saved.

Steve DiBenedetto’s Cosmic Sense of the Absurd

Artist Steve DiBenedetto presents a new body of work in his solo exhibition, "Spiral Architect," at Derek Eller Gallery. The show features 17 paintings ranging from large-scale canvases to intimate works, all characterized by a restless movement between abstraction and figuration. DiBenedetto utilizes a process-heavy technique of adding, scraping, and reworking oil paint to create dense, visionary landscapes filled with octopi, cellular forms, and Rube Goldberg-esque machinery.

Want to See a Variety Show With Barbara Kruger, Anne Imhof, Julio Torres, and More?

Performa, the New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to performance art, is hosting a one-night-only variety show fundraiser on June 10 at Midtown's Town Hall theater. The cabaret-style event will feature 12 acts blending comedy, dance, music, and acrobatics, with participants including visual artists Barbara Kruger, Laurie Simmons, and Marcel Dzama, performance artist Anne Imhof, dancer Yvonne Rainer, actor Julio Torres, and musicians Slauson Malone, Precious Renee Tucker, and Lonnie Holley. The fundraiser supports Performa's biennial, which takes place every other November.

art fashion camille henrot collina strada interview

Camille Henrot and Hillary Taymour, wearing Collina Strada, are featured in a Cultured magazine interview marking the reopening of the New Museum on March 21, 2026, after a 60,000-square-foot expansion by OMA. The conversation is part of a series pairing three artists from the inaugural exhibition "New Humans: Memories of the Future" with three downtown fashion designers. Henrot discusses her New York origin story, her film *In the Veins* premiering in the show, and her upcoming play *Commedia dell’Arte* at the Aspen Art Museum’s AIR Festival, while Taymour recounts moving from Los Angeles to New York in 2010 to pursue fashion design.