Guest Artist Exhibition Opens at Center for the Visual Arts

The University of Toledo Department of Art will host a free public exhibition of photographs and installation works by guest artist Margaret LeJeune, opening August 25 at the Center for the Visual Arts. Titled "Drawn from Memory: Mapping Salt and Time," the exhibition examines ecological shifts in Dare County, North Carolina, including the transformation of coastal forests into ghost forests due to saltwater intrusion and rising sea levels, while also addressing histories of colonialism, enslaved Africans and their descendants, and Indigenous displacement. LeJeune will give an artist talk on September 24, and the show runs through October 10.

Palestinian Museum seeks new ways to reach audiences as crisis escalates

The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, West Bank, is adapting its operations amid the ongoing war in Gaza and escalating violence across occupied territories. Director General Amer Shomali, who began his role on October 8, 2023, describes how the museum has shifted focus to research, digital access, and international partnerships while protecting its collection. The museum closed for four months from October 2023 to February 2024, and has since moved artworks to safer locations, including keeping paintings exhibited in Europe abroad. It mounted a bold exhibition, "This is Not an Exhibition," featuring 335 works by 122 Gazan artists, at least five of whom have been killed, and collaborated on "Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine" at the V&A Dundee in Scotland.

Animated Bodies

Animierte Körper

Latefa Wiersch presents her exhibition "Atlas Studios" at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome, featuring unsettling, puppet-like sculptures that resemble film sets. The works explore themes of bodily helplessness, imperfection, and geopolitical displacement, drawing on her earlier project "Hannibal" at the Dortmunder Kunstverein, which addressed post-migrant German realities and the demolition of a housing complex. The new installation references the Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate, Morocco, and the history of cinema, with figures made from rags and nylon stockings that appear as actors or set workers.

Biennale, rules announced for Visitor's Lion. But dozens of artists withdraw

The Venice Biennale has announced the voting rules for the new Visitors' Lion awards, which replace the traditional Golden Lions after the original jury resigned before the opening. On the same day the popular voting opened, dozens of artists from the central exhibition 'In Minor Keys' and several National Pavilions announced their withdrawal from the competition in solidarity with the resigned jury, releasing a statement via e-flux on May 9, 2026. The voting system requires visitors to have attended both the Giardini and Arsenale venues, with anonymous voting open until November 22, 2026.

ai weiwei confronts memory, catastrophe, and resilience at MAXXI l'aquila exhibition

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei presents a new exhibition at MAXXI L'Aquila, titled 'Ai Weiwei: Confronting Memory, Catastrophe, and Resilience.' The show explores themes of collective trauma, historical catastrophe, and human resilience through a range of media including sculpture, installation, and documentary works. It draws on Ai's ongoing engagement with political dissent, migration, and the fragility of cultural memory.

Six artists: Always in the heart, my homeland

An exhibition titled "Sown by the Traveler: Women and Migrants in Philippine Art" has opened at UPV MACH (UP Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage) in Iloilo City, featuring 16 paintings by six Filipino artists who lived abroad: Fernando Zobel, Alfonso Ossorio, Macario Vitalis, Juvenal Sanso, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, and Nena Saguil. Curated by Patrick D. Flores from the collection of the Lopez Museum and Library, the show runs until May 8, 2026, and explores themes of migration and longing for home, with its title drawn from Jose Rizal's poem "To the Flowers of Heidelberg."

From Gaza to Syria: Stories from Middle East dominate art exhibition in Portugal

The Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra in Portugal is presenting a significant number of works addressing conflict and displacement in the Middle East. The biennial, curated by John Zeppetelli and Hans Ibelings, features projects like Taysir Batniji's "Just in Case #2," a series of 250 photographs of keys belonging to displaced Palestinians, and Adam Broomberg and Rafael Gonzalez's "Anchor In The Landscape," documenting destroyed olive trees.

Chiharu Shiota’s New Exhibition Invites Visitors Into a Cocoon of Red Thread

Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota has debuted her first Bay Area solo exhibition, "Two Home Countries," at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The show features Shiota’s signature immersive installations of red thread, most notably the 88-foot-long work "Diary," which suspends handwritten journal pages from World War II soldiers and postwar civilians within a dense crimson web. The exhibition also includes sculptures, video, and performance-based works that explore themes of memory, displacement, and the psychological state of living between cultures.

Blood, mud and cobwebs create ache of heartbreak at Asian Art Museum

Artist Rina Banerjee has opened a major solo exhibition, "Make Me a Summary of the World," at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The immersive installation features fantastical sculptures and environments constructed from materials like blood-red resin, mud, feathers, and synthetic cobwebs, exploring themes of migration, colonialism, and diaspora.

‘Painting continues to be viable’: Enrique Martínez Celaya on his sugar-coated show at the Wende Museum

Enrique Martínez Celaya has unveiled "The Sextant" at the Wende Museum in Culver City, marking the final installment of a decade-long trilogy exploring his Cuban childhood. The immersive installation features a full-scale recreation of his family’s Modernist home, entirely coated in 6,500 pounds of sugar to symbolize the industrial history of his hometown. Accompanied by paintings and sculptures, the exhibition uses personal artifacts, such as letters to his exiled father, to navigate themes of memory and displacement.

Inside Kashi Hallegua House, The Historic Kochi Mansion Hosting One of the Biennale’s Most Provocative Art Exhibition

The historic 200-year-old Kashi Hallegua House in Kochi's Jewish quarter has been transformed into Ishara House, hosting the exhibition "Amphibian Aesthetics" during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale season. Running from December 13, 2025, to March 31, 2026, the show features 12 international artists including Shilpa Gupta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Dima Srouji, with works responding directly to the building's architecture and maritime histories. The exhibition is organized by Ishara Art Foundation and curated with an "amphibian" lens, exploring themes of transition, climate crisis, and cultural displacement.

Aichi Triennale confronts war, memory and environmental collapse

The sixth edition of the Aichi Triennale, titled "A Time Between Ashes and Roses," opened in Japan in September and runs until 30 November. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, the first non-Japanese artistic director of the triennial, the exhibition confronts themes of war, displacement, memory, and environmental collapse. Works include Kubo Hiroko's tapestry marking the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and a video installation by Palestinian duo Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Al Qasimi explicitly linked the triennial to the situation in Gaza, stating, "Free Palestine," during a press conference. Controversy erupted over the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a separate prefectural initiative pairing Israeli startups with local companies, leading to protests and the resignation of vice chairman Hideyuki Tomita from the organizing committee.

Exploring environment, humanity at core of new art exhibition opening in Flint

A new art exhibition titled “This Bitter Earth: Living in Harmony with Nature” opens on September 12 at MW Gallery in downtown Flint, Michigan. The show features artworks from the Mott-Warsh Collection by artists including Ron Adams, Bisa Butler, Nick Cave, Maren Hassinger, Pope.L, and Howardena Pindell, exploring humanity's complex relationship with the natural world and the four classical elements. A featured video installation, “Zion” by South African artist Mohau Modisakeng, addresses themes of displacement and belonging. The exhibition runs through January 24, 2026, with free admission.

‘From Gaza to the World’: A Devastating Art Show Arrives in Brooklyn

A devastating exhibition titled 'From Gaza to the World' has opened at Recess, a nonprofit art venue in Brooklyn, as the first North American pavilion of the Gaza Biennale. Organized by the Forbidden Museum of Jabal Al Risan and launched in 2024, the show features 25 Palestinian artists, many still in Gaza or displaced. Due to the ongoing Israel-Gaza War, most works are documentation—printouts, facsimiles, and video—rather than original objects. Highlights include Malaka Abu Owda's 'When the Body Became a Message' (2024), Firas Thabet's tapestry 'Gaznica' (2025) adapting Picasso's Guernica, and Emad Badwan's docudrama 'Live Broadcast' (2024). The exhibition bears witness to life under bombardment, famine, and displacement, with wall labels including heartbreaking artist quotes.

Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá (Not From Here, Not From There)

Boston University Art Galleries presents "Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá (Not From Here, Not From There)," a solo exhibition by Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez, curated by Kate Fowle, running from September 5 to December 10, 2025, at the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery. The show features original paintings, immersive installations, 3D sculptural works, and a curated soundscape that blend street culture with Indigenous tradition, exploring themes of identity, immigration, incarceration, and resilience through the artist's signature "Neo Indigenous" style.

The Palestinian artist channelling ‘rage, love and hope’ into her paintings

Palestinian artist Malak Mattar presents her new solo show "Falasteen" at Central Saint Martins, featuring works created during her MFA that respond to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The exhibition marks a synthesis of her earlier vibrant style and the stark monochrome she adopted after Israel's latest assault, with colors cautiously returning alongside themes of hope, resilience, and freedom. The show includes large-scale paintings, a concertina book, and new techniques like photo transfer and collage, including her 2024 painting "No Words," a black-and-white mural recalling Picasso's "Guernica." This is the first solo show by a Palestinian artist ever held at Central Saint Martins.

“Tohé Commaret: Mala Onda” at ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt

“Tohé Commaret: Mala Onda” at ZOLLAMT MMK, Frankfurt

Chilean artist Tohé Commaret has opened her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, "Mala Onda," at the ZOLLAMT MMK, a project space of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt. The exhibition features a new body of work, including large-scale paintings and a site-specific installation, that explores themes of memory, cultural displacement, and the lingering psychological effects of political violence.

Image of Family Torn by ICE Wins World Press Photo of the Year

American photojournalist Carol Guzy won the 2026 World Press Photo of the Year for her image "Separated by ICE," which captures a tearful family torn apart by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after an immigration court hearing in New York amid President Trump's broader crackdown. The contest, established in 1955, selected 42 global winners from over 57,000 photographs submitted by nearly 3,800 photographers across 141 countries. Finalists included Saber Nuraldin's "Aid Emergency in Gaza" and Victor J. Blue's "The Trials of the Achi Women," while other winners addressed displacement, war, and environmental crises.

INTERTWINED NARRATIVES CASSANDRA MAYELA ALLEN EXHIBITS IN NEW YORK

The Instituto Cervantes in New York presents *Aquel Amplex*, the first institutional exhibition of Venezuelan artist Cassandra Mayela Allen, on view until June 28, 2026. Curated by Fabiola R. Delgado and Carlos Núñez, the show features braided textile sculptures, paintings, and drawings that examine Allen's process-driven practice within the legacies of Venezuelan and Latin American modernism and informalism. The title, meaning "that embrace," references a 1969 letter from Hélio Oiticica to Lygia Clark, evoking longing and forced migration. Allen, a self-taught artist who migrated from Venezuela in 2014, uses communal braiding gatherings to transform found fabrics and garments into architectural works that deconstruct national and artistic heritage.

Grapeshot. Nancy Lupo by Maya Tounta

Artist Nancy Lupo is preparing a new exhibition titled "Meow Meow Real Estate" at the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation in London. The show shares its name with a novel she is writing, both projects emerging from a period of personal displacement and a fixation on finding a home. The exhibition continues a trajectory of shows that serve as interconnected, physical manifestations of her literary and emotional exploration of place.

Tania El Khoury’s Soothing “Revenge Art”

Lebanese artist and Bard College professor Tania El Khoury discusses her multidisciplinary practice and her recent experience living through the escalation of conflict in Beirut. The interview highlights her interactive performance piece, "The Search for Power," which uses her own 2018 wedding blackout as a jumping-off point to investigate the colonial roots of Lebanon's systemic infrastructure failures. Originally set for a Beirut run in March, the production was postponed due to the outbreak of war.

Lebanese Artist Ali Sbeity Reportedly Killed in Israeli Strike

Lebanese artist Ali Sbeity was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern town of Kafra. The death was confirmed by the Artists at Risk Connection and reported by local media. Sbeity was known for his vibrant portraits and landscapes of his rural hometown, which he frequently shared on social media.

There Is a Fountain Even If Pale That Flows Beneath Us All.

Hajra Waheed’s upcoming solo exhibition at Kunstinstituut Melly, titled 'There Is a Fountain Even If Pale That Flows Beneath Us All', explores the intersection of sound, politics, and collective resistance. Curated by Hera Chan as part of the Call & Response series, the show features a multidisciplinary array of new commissions and recent works, including the central multichannel sound installation 'HUM' (2020), which amplifies the voices of political prisoners.

The Procession as a Form of World: Latin American Artists at the Diriyah Biennale

LA PROCESIÓN COMO FORMA DE MUNDO: ARTISTAS LATINOAMERICANOS EN LA BIENAL DE DIRIYAH

The third Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, titled 'In Interludes and Transitions,' is open until May 2nd in Saudi Arabia's historic Diriyah district. Curated by Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, the exhibition features 68 artists from over 37 countries and frames the world as a multitude of processions, using movement as its central theme and methodology. The exhibition design by Formafantasma encourages a fluid, nomadic journey through four thematic movements and site-specific 'arenas' within the repurposed industrial halls of the JAX creative district.

AMP art walk: making art more accessible

Western Washington University's Arts & Music Productions (AMP) launched a monthly art walk on the first Friday of October, continuing the tradition each month after the closure of the Viking Union Gallery. The event, conceived by AMP supervisor Casey Hayden, aims to introduce students to Bellingham's art scene in a guided, social setting. Skylar Cooney, AMP's visual arts coordinator, leads tours to smaller venues like Bay Street Studios, and the walks have drawn a diverse academic crowd. Participating galleries, such as Voxel Gallery, report increased foot traffic and community engagement, while local artists and professors like Garth Amundson emphasize the importance of free, accessible events for fostering inclusion.

‘Ethos’ by Professor Bell opens at the Welancora Gallery

Artist and professor Aisha Tandiwe Bell opened her solo exhibition "Ethos" at the Welancora Gallery in Brooklyn. The show features a video piece with spoken word poetry, mixed-media mounted works, and standalone sculptures that explore themes of displacement, cultural identity, and systemic injustice.

New London exhibition uses architecture to explore the experiences of Iran’s American diaspora

Arash Nassiri's first institutional solo exhibition, 'A Bug's Life,' has opened at London's Chisenhale Gallery. The show features a moving-image commission set within a sculptural installation, following an insect puppet protagonist through a cavernous mansion in Los Angeles. The mansion is a 'Persian Palace'—a hybrid of Iranian and French Empire architectural styles that emerged in 1960s-70s Iran and was recreated by wealthy Iranian exiles in Los Angeles after the 1979 revolution. Nassiri, who is Tehran-born and Berlin-based, uses the film to explore themes of disorientation, displacement, and the ambiguous dual belonging of Iran's American diaspora.

In West Philly, “third space” Studio 34 offers healing to everyone

Studio 34, a wellness and community center located at 4522 Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia, is hosting a new solo exhibition by Lebanese multidisciplinary artist Tracy Chahwan. Titled “Alien of Extraordinary Abilities,” the show runs through the end of May and features over a decade of Chahwan's work in posters, textiles, and comics. The exhibition traces her journey from designing posters for Beirut's music scene and collaborating with the Samandal and Zeez comics collectives to arriving in Philadelphia during the pandemic, where she was stranded after a planned short visit turned into a permanent relocation.

Unesco grants enhanced protection to 39 Lebanese heritage sites as war escalates

UNESCO has granted enhanced protection to 39 cultural heritage sites in Lebanon during an extraordinary session of its Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property. This designation, which prohibits targeting or military use of the sites, also unlocks over $100,000 in emergency funding for on-the-ground operations. The protected sites include the ancient Bekka Temple, the Lebanese National Library, and Barsbay Tower.

Comment | All hail the rise of the art internship

Sotheby's auction house and Sotheby's Institute of Art, through their parent company Edconic, have launched a formalized, paid fellowship program. The initiative places 20 master's students from the Institute's New York program into 12-week paid internships at the auction house, with plans to expand to London and eventually involve 60 students. The program aims to provide practical, credit-earning work experience directly within the art market.