The article highlights a trend in contemporary furniture design, focusing on console tables that blend sculptural aesthetics with functional design. These pieces are characterized by their use of mixed materials and artistic lines, positioning them as versatile objects suitable for diverse interior spaces.
The 34th Outsider Art Fair in New York showcased a diverse range of compelling works, including cosmic explosion paintings, proto-Surrealist pieces, and standout artists like D.J. Raul Hardie and Anne Brown. A critic's survey highlighted these discoveries as genuine surprises, emphasizing the fair's continued role in presenting fresh, unmediated artistic voices.
The New York Times explores the enduring influence of Shaker design on contemporary artists and designers, highlighting how its principles of simplicity, utility, and spiritual integrity resonate in today's world. The article features creators like furniture maker Thomas Moser and ceramicist Mary Law, who draw directly from Shaker aesthetics of plainness, proportion, and honest craftsmanship.
The article profiles the traditional Japanese craft of making kokeshi dolls, focusing on the artisans in the Tōhoku region who continue this centuries-old practice. It details the specific techniques, types of wood used, and the cultural significance embedded in the dolls' simple, limbless forms.
Filipa Ramos has been appointed curator of the 19th edition of the Lofoten International Art Festival, set to take place across the Norwegian arctic archipelago in June 2027. Ramos, a curator and writer who teaches at the Institute Art Gender Nature of the Academy of Art and Design FHNW in Basel, is known for ecologically-focused research that reimagines human-animal-environment relationships. She authored *The Artist as Ecologist* (2025) and is currently organizing the LOOP Festival in Barcelona and the symposia series *The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish*, created with Lucia Pietroiusti.
The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from computer scientist Stephen Thaler, who sought to copyright an artwork generated by his AI system, the Creativity Machine. This decision upholds a lower court ruling that affirmed the US Copyright Office's rejection, which was based on the requirement that a human being must be the author of a creative work for it to be eligible for copyright protection.
The Phoenix Art Museum has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled "Nike: Form Follows Motion," scheduled to run from April 14 to September 26, 2027. Jeremy Mikolajczak, the museum’s director and CEO, unveiled the project during a presentation to the Phoenix Economic Development and Arts Subcommittee, describing it as one of the most significant milestones in the institution's upcoming schedule.
Mexican artist Demián Flores presents "America. New Visions from the Old World," a graphic arts exhibition at the Instituto Cultural de México in Madrid. The show features forty works that reinterpret 16th-century engravings by Theodor de Bry, whose images of Indigenous peoples—ranging from idealized noble savages to violent cannibals—shaped European perceptions of the Americas. Flores draws on his earlier series "Collateral Disasters" (2012), inspired by Goya's "The Disasters of War," to critique how colonial visual narratives constructed otherness and justified violence.
The Argentine Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale will feature a site-specific installation titled "Monitor Yin Yang" by artist Matías Duville. Curated by Josefina Barcia, the work uses salt and charcoal to create an unstable, walkable landscape that explores the coexistence of opposing forces such as light and shadow, waste and energy. The installation includes a sound composition developed with Centolla Society and Alvise Vidolin, integrating real-time environmental data from Venice. Duville's project was selected from 69 proposals in an open competition organized by Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Secretariat of Culture, and the Argentine Investment and Trade Agency.
Cuba presents Roberto Diago's installation "Hombres Libres (Free Men)" at the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde and commissioned by Daneisy García Roque. The work, on view from May 9 to November 22, 2025, features a group of sculpted heads made from oxidized metals, wood, plastics, and reclaimed materials that advance toward viewers, bearing scars that evoke a history of pain and resistance.
DIALOGUES WITH THE LEGACY OF BURLE MARX AT MAC CCB
The Museum of Contemporary Art and Architecture Center (MAC/CCB) in Lisbon is presenting a major exhibition titled 'Lugar de estar: o legado Burle Marx' (A Place to Be: The Legacy of Burle Marx). The show features an extensive selection of landscape projects for public spaces by the influential Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx and his collaborators, tracing nearly seventy years of work through studies, sketches, photographs, and press materials. It highlights his role in shaping modern Brazilian cities like Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.
The article features an interview exploring the unique aesthetic characteristics of African visual art, emphasizing its vibrant use of color and dynamic rhythmic compositions. It delves into how traditional heritage informs contemporary practices, highlighting the evolution of the continent's artistic identity on the global stage.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) in Ontario, Canada, announced on January 20 that it has received nearly C$1 million ($684,000) in federal funding from the Canadian Heritage Cultural Spaces Fund for a major expansion. The project will add a 745-square-meter gallery, increasing exhibition space by 70%, and is expected to attract up to 300,000 visitors annually. AGH President and CEO Shelley Falconer stated the funding will launch the first phase, including hiring an architectural firm and creating schematic drawings for a new Main Street entrance and a gallery dedicated to Hamilton's industrial history. The gallery is also exploring adding affordable housing for creative workers in partnership with City Housing Hamilton.
The article announces the upcoming 58th edition of Artribune's newsletter 'Render', focused on urban and cultural regeneration, set to be released on Monday, May 25, 2026. It highlights the winning project 'Roma Continua' from the 'A Vision for Rome' call for ideas promoted by Fondazione Roma REgeneration, led by architects Alessandro Cambi and Bruna Dominici of studio IT'S, in collaboration with OMA, LGSMA, OKRA, NET Engineering, and others. The second-place project 'New Times New Roma' is also mentioned, involving groups like From, Fosbury Architecture, and BASE Milano. The newsletter also covers new regeneration projects across Italy and Europe, and notes the upcoming 20th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice.
Due grandi studi di architettura puntano a rivoluzionare Roma nei prossimi 25 anni
A multidisciplinary team led by Italian architecture and urban planning firm IT'S and Dutch firm OMA has won the international ideas competition "Vision for Rome," promoted by the Fondazione Roma REgeneration. Their project, "Roma Continua," was presented at the Auditorium della Tecnica di Confindustria during the second ROMA REgeneration FORUM. The proposal aims to rethink Rome over the next 25 years through a paradigm shift in urban, social, and cultural planning, envisioning the city as a living ecosystem. It is based on five guiding principles—care, beauty, knowledge, movement, reuse, and grafting—and includes five green corridors anchored to the Tiber River, "Fori dell'innovazione" (innovation forums), and a continuous mobility network. The project also seeks to reduce tourist pressure on the historic center by creating new cultural itineraries and sustainable transport links.
Intervista alle curatrici che hanno portato l’Italia alla Craft Week di Londra
Amalia di Lanno and Valeria Zerbo, founders of the London-based curatorial platform Avant Craft, are bringing Italian ceramics to the London Craft Week for the first time. Their exhibition, "Contemporary Perspectives on Italian Ceramics," showcases a selection of independent Italian artists and designers who explore ceramics as a material investigation, sculptural experimentation, and cultural continuity. The show opens on May 14 with a "Meet a Master" event featuring artist Riccardo Monachesi, marking the official kickoff of Avant Craft.
“Il nostro regime non rappresenta la nostra cultura”. Intervista sul progetto bielorusso durante la Biennale di Venezia
The article is an interview with Daniella Kaliada, curator of the Belarusian project "Official. Unofficial." presented at the Venice Biennale in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista. Organized by the Belarus Free Theatre, an independent underground group, the exhibition features site-specific paintings by Sergey Grinevich, a sound installation by Olga Podgayskaya, and large-scale sculptures by Vladimir Tsesler. The project includes a sphere of banned books crushed by a bulldozer, testimonies of recently released political prisoners, and sculptures made from prison bars, all addressing censorship and political trauma without direct representation of suffering.
Continental, the premium tire manufacturer, has commissioned WOA Studio, a creative studio founded by Davide Carioni and Giuliana Pajola, to create an immersive sound installation titled "The Sound of Premium" for the Fuorisalone design festival in Milan. Presented at BASE Milano, the installation transforms urban noise pollution into a three-part sonic journey—chaos, harmony, and quiet—using seventeen audio-luminous elements that abstract the city soundscape. The experience is designed to show how noise can be mitigated rather than eliminated, with sound data derived from real urban recordings, particularly tire rolling noise.
A Milano vanno in mostra gli arredi della Casa Bianca. Design e architettura per parlare di propaganda
An exhibition titled 'The White House. Domestic Propaganda' has opened at Dropcity, an experimental center in the tunnels beneath Milan's Central Station, as part of the city's Design Week. Curated by students from the Politecnico di Milano's Interior Design Laboratory, the show critically examines the White House as a domestic space for political propaganda, using installations, models, and drawings to explore how its architecture and furnishings project cultural and social meanings.
“Lo straniero” di François Ozon. Un film tra estetica delle superfici e rilettura politica
Director François Ozon has adapted Albert Camus’s existentialist masterpiece 'The Stranger' into a new feature film, premiering at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Shot in stark black and white by cinematographer Manuel Dacosse, the film departs from the 1967 Luchino Visconti adaptation by leaning into a cold, clinical aesthetic inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni. The narrative follows Meursault, an emotionally detached clerk in colonial Algiers, whose impassive reaction to his mother's death and the subsequent senseless murder of an Arab man leads to his legal and moral condemnation.
The Webster family, spanning four generations from great-grandmother Beverly Neylon to five-year-old Jasper Webster, is exhibiting their artwork together at the 'Belong: 2026 Art Exhibition' hosted by the City of Whittlesea in South Morang, Australia. The show features paintings, mosaics, and porcelain works, including Beverly Neylon's award-winning piece 'Beauty of the Wind,' which earned the Award of Excellence – Use of Materials. The exhibition runs from 2 May to 27 May 2026 at the Plenty Ranges Art and Convention Centre.
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.
Photographer Rusty Costanza opened an exhibition of his black-and-white photographs at the Art House in Covington, documenting his life and perspective since being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The show was the featured exhibit of the annual Spring for Art celebration, with a special preview for friends, family, and patrons.
McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) has announced the opening of its 2026 Spring Solo Exhibitions, featuring three distinct solo presentations by Sabine Carlson, Zsudayka Nzinga, and Darlene R. Taylor. The exhibitions include Nzinga’s exploration of American labor and diaspora through mixed media, Taylor’s textile-based portraits honoring Black motherhood, and Carlson’s paintings depicting environmental rescue efforts between humans and water birds. The shows will run from April 30 through June 13, 2026, at the McLean Community Center.
Archway Gallery, the longest-running artist-owned cooperative in Texas, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of commemorative exhibitions. The festivities began with 'Homecoming' at the Jung Center—the site of the gallery's first show in 1976—and continue with 'Fifty Forward' at their main Houston space, featuring works and self-portraits by all 34 current members alongside contributions from founding artists.
The article announces the opening of the Block Gallery, a new contemporary art exhibition space located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. The gallery is a city-run initiative designed to showcase rotating exhibitions of work by local, regional, and national artists, with a focus on emerging and underrepresented voices.
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.
Idaho Art Gallery, owned by Nelli Garibyan, is expanding from Meridian into downtown Boise with a new 2,000-square-foot location at 702 W. Idaho Street. The space will feature large-scale works and immersive installations, with a rotating showroom debuting the theme “Birdsong & Battle Cries” featuring local artists Kirsten Furlong, Cate Bridgen, Diana Stetson, and Sarah Conti. A grand opening is scheduled for November 6.
Harmonic Chaos, a new exhibition featuring artists Martha Thorn and Tonya Solley Thornton, has opened at Block Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina. The show runs from May 7 through August 15, 2025, with an opening reception on May 8. The exhibition presents Thorn's layered paintings and Thornton's collage-driven sculptures, highlighting their contrasting yet complementary approaches to contemporary art.
Endeavor has announced the sale of Frieze, the leading art fair and media brand, to a new company founded by Ari Emanuel, Endeavor's former chief executive. The deal, reportedly valued at nearly $200 million, includes all seven Frieze art fairs, the magazine Frieze, and its gallery sharing initiative No.9 Cork Street in London. Emanuel, who co-founded Endeavor, created an as-yet-unnamed global events company backed by investors including Apollo Global Management and Redbird Capital Partners. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, and Frieze's leadership, including CEO Simon Fox, will remain in place.