Art Fund has announced the five finalists for the 2026 Museum of the Year prize, the world’s largest award of its kind. The shortlist includes Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, The Box in Plymouth, and London’s National Gallery and V&A East Storehouse. The winner, to be announced on June 25 at the Cutty Sark, will receive £120,000, while the four runners-up will each be awarded £20,000.
The Trenton City Museum has launched the call for entries for the 43rd Ellarslie Open, appointing Adam Welch as the juror for the 2026 edition. Welch, the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Princeton and a former lecturer at Princeton University, will oversee the selection process for the prestigious regional showcase. Artists from the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas are invited to submit digital entries through May 6, with the final exhibition scheduled to open on June 6 at the historic Ellarslie Mansion.
Jack White, the Grammy-winning musician and frontman of The White Stripes, will open his debut art exhibition titled "These Thoughts May Disappear" at Newport Street Gallery in London on May 29, 2026. The show, running through September 13, features sculptures, interactive works, installations, and furniture design that White calls "Hardware Store Art," blending found objects, tools, epoxy, and assemblage. It includes a remake of his 2015 sculpture "The Red Tree" and marks his first public showing as a visual artist after two decades of private practice.
The Indian art market has undergone a dramatic transformation, shifting from a selective market with works priced between Rs 5-25 crore to a high-stakes arena where record-breaking sales are now common. Between 2023 and 2025, multiple works crossed the Rs 50-100 crore threshold, with M.F. Husain's 'Gram Yatra' (1954) achieving the highest price to date at approximately Rs 118 crore, acquired by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. The market has expanded to over Rs 3,000 crore, with projections of Rs 10,000 crore by 2030.
Jürgen Habermas, philosopher famed for and within the public sphere, 1929–2026
Jürgen Habermas, the highly influential German philosopher, has died at the age of 96. A key figure of the Frankfurt School, his work on communication, rationality, and the public sphere extended far beyond academia, making him a prominent public intellectual who frequently commented on contemporary politics.
A Guardian investigation revealed that 241 UK museums, universities, and councils collectively hold over 263,000 items of human remains, with at least 37,000 originating from overseas, including former British colonies. The Natural History Museum in London houses the largest collection of non-European remains, followed by the University of Cambridge and the British Museum. Records are often incomplete, with the origins of 16,000 items unconfirmed and many institutions unable to provide exact figures due to poor documentation.
Pamela Bryan of Octavia Art Gallery in New Orleans and London-based curator Julia Campbell Carter have organized "Rhythm in the Blues," a contemporary group exhibition at 14 Percy Street, London, running from May 11 to 20. The show features five international artists—Alia Ali, Aigana Gali, Azadeh Ghotbi, Naomie Kremer, and Lucille Lewin—whose works in painting, sculpture, and mixed media explore themes of memory, migration, resilience, and identity, with music serving as an atmospheric and structural influence rather than a literal subject.
MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique in Paris presents 'Pareidolia,' an exhibition of new paintings by London-based artist Daniel Crews-Chubb. The show explores the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia—the brain's tendency to see faces in random patterns—through heavily layered works created with hands, ink, oil, sand, and collage. Three paintings are featured: 'Immortal XXXVIII' and 'Immortal XXXIX' (2026), large-scale works drawing on cultural memory of ancient sculpture, and 'Mask XXIV' (2026), which tests the minimal cues needed for facial recognition. Crews-Chubb's process involves building up and tearing back surfaces over weeks, with charcoal lines added last to define emergent figures.
The article reviews Carole Harris's solo exhibition "This Side of the River" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), curated by Abel Gonzalez Fernandez. The show features twenty fiber pieces and archival materials spanning from 1966 to the present, tracing Harris's creative evolution and her responses to Detroit's social and urban changes. It highlights early works like "Potpourri" (1976) and "Black Jack" (1976) from her 1977 debut at Gallery 7, a Black Power-era space founded by Charles McGee, and later pieces such as "Down the Road a Piece" (2003) that mark her shift toward improvisational, abstract compositions.
Zheng Guogu, a prominent Chinese artist, has founded a living art space in Yangjiang, a quiet city in southern China. The museum functions as more than an exhibition venue; it is a dynamic, evolving creative ecosystem where artists from around the world come to live, work, and exchange ideas. Immersed in the local rhythms, participants turn everyday life into an ongoing artistic dialogue.
The PinchukArtCentre has opened a new exhibition titled "Still Joy — From Ukraine Into the World" as part of the official parallel program of the 61st Venice Biennale. The show, which opened on May 7 at Palazzo Contarini Polignac and runs through August 1, features works by over 20 international and Ukrainian artists exploring joy as an act of resilience and humanity. Central to the exhibition are testimonies from Hlib Stryzhko, a marine veteran who returned from Russian captivity, which are transformed into sculptural elements. Notable works include a protest performance by Yurii Hruzinov at the Russian pavilion, a video installation of Kyiv rave parties by Malashchuk and Khimei, and installations by Future Generation Art Prize laureates Ashfika Rahman and Zhanna Kadyrova.
The article highlights the best galleries and cultural spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which is emerging as a vibrant cultural hub in Asia. It features established venues like the Sapumal Foundation, founded by painter Harry Pieris, the Barefoot Gallery, and the Colombo National Museum, alongside newer spots such as the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka and Millennium Art Contemporary. Notable artists mentioned include Tilak Samarawickrema, Chamila Gamage, and the historic '43 Group, which includes George Keyt and Lionel Wendt. The article also spotlights Radicle, Colombo's newest gallery, which recently hosted Priyantha Udagedara's solo exhibition "Terra Nullius."
The group exhibition 'To Paint Is To Love Again' at Crèvecoeur gallery in Paris explores the theme of artistic freedom, play, and a childlike approach to creation. The article examines this through the lens of Henry Miller's writings on painting, the influence of Jean Dubuffet's Art Brut, and the practices of contemporary artists Whitney Clafin, Sadie Benning, and Françoise Lapeyre, who incorporate found objects, toys, and a 'Sunday painter' ethos into their work.
Artexpo New York has returned to Pier 36 for its 49th annual edition, featuring over 70,000 square feet of exhibition space. Hosted by Redwood Art Group, the fair showcases a diverse range of media from more than 20 countries, divided into the main Artexpo Pavilion for established galleries and the [SOLO] Pavilion for independent artists. The 2026 program includes interactive Art Labs, the affordable Discoveries Collection, and the prestigious Spotlight Program, which honors six selected artists and galleries.
Tang Contemporary Art in Beijing is launching a massive retrospective titled '1985–2025: Chinese Modern Ink Art,' curated by Zou Jianping. Featuring over 120 works by 68 artists across two gallery spaces, the exhibition traces the forty-year evolution of ink painting from the '85 New Wave movement to the present day. The show highlights key figures such as Gu Wenda, Wang Tiande, and Liu Qinghe, showcasing how the medium transitioned from traditional brushwork to experimental forms including installation and digital media.
180 Studios in London has extended two exhibitions—'Paradigm Shift' and Ryoji Ikeda's 'data-cosm [n°1]'—through February 1, 2026, due to popular demand. 'Paradigm Shift' presents moving-image works from the 1970s to the present by artists including Andy Warhol, Pipilotti Rist, Nan Goldin, and Arthur Jafa, exploring the evolution of screen culture across avant-garde cinema, TV, music video, and internet culture. Ikeda's 'data-cosm [n°1]' is a world-premiere, site-specific audio-visual installation commissioned by 180 Studios, charting data from particle physics to astrophysics.
Echo Soho, a new art fair dedicated to female-led galleries, launched this week in London to address the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles within the art world. Conceived by gallerist India Rose James, the fair features 12 galleries, most of which are showing women artists, with works priced accessibly and participation costs kept low to encourage inclusivity. The fair takes place at Artists House, a Georgian townhouse owned by James's family's Soho Estates.
At 87, New York-based artist Larry Poons remains highly productive, with two works featured in Artnet Auctions' GEMS: Collecting Post-War Abstraction, live through September 24, 2025. The paintings—To Have Missed the Walk (2014, est. $160,000–$180,000) and Jarrett (2019, est. $60,000–$70,000)—exemplify his color-driven, gestural abstraction. Poons, who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music before turning to painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, is also showing in Yares Art's group exhibition "Fields of Color V" and recently had a solo show there, "Provocation, Iliad: Powers + Spells." In a studio visit, he discussed his process, his early career, and his belief that painting has no rules.
Viennacontemporary fair, held September 11–14 in Vienna, featured 97 exhibitors from 24 countries with a strong focus on Eastern Europe. Galleries from Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Croatia, and Austria participated, many expressing solidarity with Ukraine amid the ongoing war. Artist Kateryna Lysovenko, who fled Ukraine three years ago, won the Münze Österreich Prize for her figurative paintings. Sales were slow, with many galleries reporting no or low-price sales by the second day, reflecting Austria's economic downturn. The fair included a Zone1 section for emerging artists curated by Aliaksei Barysionak and a Context section for historical works, including a booth dedicated to Hermann Nitsch.
The Balloon Museum's traveling exhibition 'Pop Air – Art is Inflatable' has opened at Marina Bay Sands Expo Hall F in Singapore, marking its first-ever show in Asia. The exhibition features 17 inflatable artworks by international contemporary artists, including pieces like 'Aria', 'Spiritus Sonata' by ENESS, 'Soft Hurricane' by Quiet Ensemble, 'Cloud Swing' by Lindsay Glatz & Curious Form, and 'Hypercosmo' by Hyperstudio. The museum, which debuted in Rome in 2021, has previously toured Berlin, Paris, London, and New York, and will remain in Singapore until August 31, 2025.
Christie's 20/21st Century Autumn sale in Hong Kong on 26 September generated $72.6 million, a 46% drop from the same sale last year and roughly flat compared to its March sale. Despite the decline, a Picasso painting, *Buste de Femme* (1944), set a new Asia record at HK$196.75 million ($25.4 million) after a fierce bidding war. Other top lots included Zao Wou-ki's *17.3.63* (HK$85.2 million) and Yayoi Kusama's *Pumpkin [TWAQN]* (HK$34.66 million). The sale marked the first anniversary of Christie's Asia headquarters in the Henderson building. Sotheby's and Phillips also held autumn sales that weekend, with Sotheby's totaling HK$335.7 million and Phillips achieving HK$160 million.
Italian photographer Armando Perna (born 1981 in Reggio Calabria) has documented Dahiye, a southern suburb of Beirut known as Hezbollah's stronghold, using a digital camera hidden inside a car and controlled remotely via Bluetooth. His project, initiated in 2013 and exhibited in 2017 at the Fondazione Pino Pascali in Polignano a Mare (Bari), creates a street-view-style mapping of a neighborhood that has been heavily bombed by Israeli forces, most recently in the past weeks. The work was promoted by Planar gallery, founded by Antonio Ottomanelli, with Perna and Anna Vasta as part of the #showcase project.
The Art Gallery of Swan Hill in Victoria, Australia, will open three significant First Nations exhibitions on 29 May 2026. The shows are: 'JXSH MVIR: Forever I Live', the first major solo retrospective of the late Yorta Yorta, Gunditjmara and Barkindji artist Josh Muir, co-curated by his partner and mother; 'Gulgawarnigu | Thinking of Someone. Something', a touring digital portrait and landscape exhibition by young Indigenous artists from Roebourne, Western Australia, developed through a partnership with NEO-Learning and Big hART; and 'Big Place', a new exhibition drawn from the gallery's permanent collection featuring works from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, the Tiwi Islands and South Australia.
A Maya stone lintel, dating from AD600-AD900 and depicting a ritual scene associated with the ruler Cheleew Chan K'inich, was repatriated to Mexico on April 16 after being turned over to the Mexican consulate in New York by an unnamed US businessman. However, hours after the ceremony, experts determined the lintel actually originated from Guatemala's Petén Basin. Guatemala's cultural ministry, led by minister Luis Méndez Salinas, has formally requested the object's return through diplomatic channels, citing technical analysis and consultations with archaeologists.
Hyperallergic's coverage of Frieze New York and concurrent art fairs in the city frames the experience as overwhelming yet punctuated by standout works. Senior Editor Valentina Di Liscia compares the fair to an assembly-line salad, finding reprieve in art that evokes lush canopies, diaphanous portraiture, and ancestral gardens. The issue also includes dispatches from Future Fair, 1-54, TEFAF, NADA, and Independent Art Fair, alongside a tribute to Austrian performance artist Valie Export, who died at age 85, remembered for her radical feminist guerrilla performances that challenged the male gaze.
More than 100 Seattle Art Museum employees announced plans to unionize under the banner Seattle Art Museum Workers United (SAMWU), representing workers across over 20 front- and back-end departments including curatorial, education, and visitor experience. The union informed SAM director and CEO Scott Stulen of its formation in a letter citing unsustainable wages, subpar health benefits, and top-down decision-making. Organizers say they have a supermajority support among eligible workers. SAMWU has filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board but is willing to withdraw if leadership voluntarily recognizes the union before May 27. The union has affiliated with the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28. Security staff, who previously unionized as SAM VSO in 2022 and secured a contract after a 12-day strike in late 2024, will remain separate.
French authorities arrested a 27-year-old Tunisian man, identified as Dhafer M., on May 7 for allegedly planning a terrorist attack at the Louvre in Paris. The arrest, confirmed by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) and first reported by Le Monde, followed an investigation that began in late April after a traffic stop. Investigators found jihadist propaganda videos, photos of weapons, and searches for bomb-making instructions on his phone, as well as messages discussing access points to the Louvre and plans to make poison. The man has denied the allegations and was brought before an anti-terrorism judge to be formally charged.
A recent survey by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that approximately 85% of US museums face a costly backlog of maintenance or building repairs, with 77% having at least one structural issue that puts their collections at risk. Based on a survey of around 300 museums and 17 site visits, the report reveals that institutions across the country struggle to keep buildings updated and safe due to a lack of funding, with challenges especially pronounced in rural and remote locations where shipping materials and finding skilled workers is prohibitively expensive. Many museums are housed in historic homes or sites that are part of their collections, adding further complexity, and smaller museums often lack the budget to address major problems like new roofs or HVAC systems.
The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) in Barcelona has failed to comply with a May 2025 Spanish Supreme Court ruling ordering the return of 13th-century Romanesque murals to the Sijena Monastery in Aragon. Despite the legal mandate ending a decade-long dispute, the museum continues to house the works, citing significant technical and conservation risks associated with transporting the delicate canvases.
Real estate brokerage Cushman and Wakefield has filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s, alleging the auction house failed to pay a $10.2 million commission following the $510 million sale of its former York Avenue headquarters to Weill Cornell Medicine. The broker claims that under a 2023 agreement, they were entitled to a 2-percent fee if the medical school transitioned from a tenant to a buyer, a deal that was finalized in 2025. Sotheby’s has dismissed the lawsuit as "baseless," asserting they will be vindicated in court.