Spice up your life: Tate channels 90s glam at The Groucho Club

Tate Britain held a press preview for its upcoming exhibition "The 90s: Art and Fashion" (8 October 2026 – 14 February 2027) at The Groucho Club in London. The show, curated by former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful alongside Tate curators, explores the creative energy of the 1990s, featuring works by artists such as Damien Hirst, Corinne Day, Helen Chadwick, and Jenny Saville. Enninful emphasized that the exhibition is not solely focused on the Young British Artists (YBA) moment but presents a broader cultural narrative.

Two Brazilian curators selected to organise 2027 Bienal de São Paulo

The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo has appointed Brazilian curators Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca as chief curators for the 2027 Bienal de São Paulo, Latin America's largest and longest-running visual arts event. Carneiro, a curator at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) since 2018, also organized the main exhibition at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Fonseca, based in Lisbon, works at Culturgest, serves as curator-at-large for Latin American art at the Denver Art Museum, and is curating the Taiwan Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. The event will take place at the Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo in Ibirapuera Park, with further details expected in coming months.

Jarvis Cocker Is Bringing His Eclectic Eye to the Hepworth Wakefield

Musician Jarvis Cocker and his wife, creative consultant Kim Sion, will curate an exhibition titled “The Hodge Podge” at the Hepworth Wakefield in the U.K., opening in May 2027. The show will feature artworks selected by the couple that challenge conventional definitions of art, spanning diverse media and time periods, with artists including Peter Doig, Barbara Hepworth, Jeremy Deller, and Emma Kunz. The exhibition will be bookended by an immersive Dreamachine, a 1959 light-art device by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville. Cocker and Sion have outlined their curatorial philosophy in a Hodge Podge Manifesto, celebrating beauty in chaos and disorder.

Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca to curate 2027 Bienal de São Paulo

Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca have been named curators of the 2027 Bienal de São Paulo. Carneiro, a curator at MASP since 2018, has organized solo exhibitions for artists including Santiago Yahuarcani, Beatriz Milhazes, and Sonia Gomes, and was part of Adriano Pedrosa’s curatorial team for the 2024 Venice Biennale. Fonseca, visual arts programmer at Culturgest and curator-at-large at the Denver Art Museum, is currently curating the Taiwan Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale and co-curating the 3rd Counterpublic Triennial. He also curated the 2025 Bienal do Mercosul.

São Paulo Biennial Names Two Rising Brazilian Curators for 2027 Show

The Bienal de São Paulo has appointed Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca as chief curators for its 37th edition, opening in fall 2027. Both are Brazilian curators: Carneiro is a curator at MASP and previously assisted Adriano Pedrosa on the Venice Biennale's main exhibition; Fonseca, based in Lisbon, also curates the Taiwan Pavilion in Venice and works at Culturgest and the Denver Art Museum. The selection follows the success of Cameroonian curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung's 2023 edition.

SWANSEA: British Art Show 10 confirmed for Glynn Vivian next year — the only Welsh stop on a national tour featuring artists from Tracey Emin to Grayson Perry

Swansea has been confirmed as the only Welsh stop on the British Art Show 10 national tour, with the exhibition taking place at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery from February 12 to May 16, 2027. Titled 'A Chorus of Strangers,' the show will also feature venues including the new home for Elysium Gallery and potentially Y Storfa, and will explore themes of Moments of Being, Ways of Living, and States of Nature across various media. Curated by Ekow Eshun, the tour launches in Coventry in October 2026 before visiting Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle-Gateshead.

Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu to curate 2027 Istanbul Biennial

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ISKV) has announced that Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu will curate the 2027 Istanbul Biennial. Liu Ding is a Beijing-based artist and curator who has participated in numerous international biennials and taught at NABA Milan, while Carol Yinghua Lu is an art historian and director of the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing, with a background at OCAT Shenzhen, Museion Bolzano, and Asia Art Archive. The pair, who have collaborated since 2007, most recently served as artistic directors of the 2024 Yokohama Triennale. The 19th edition of the Istanbul Biennial is scheduled for 18 September to 14 November 2027.

What’s on now at San Francisco museums, May 2026

San Francisco museums are navigating a mix of upcoming exhibitions and financial challenges in May 2026. SFMOMA is closing "KAWS: Family" on May 3 and opening "Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal" from May 16 to September 13. The Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts has suspended operations due to funding issues, and SOMArts is also facing a budget gap. Meanwhile, the Museum of Craft and Design presents "Video Craft" through August 16, and the Letterform Archive hosts "Black Memory Scholar: The Language of Storytellers" and "Piet Zwart: Brand Architect." SFMOMA has announced three SECA award winners—CrossLypka, Em Kettner, and Chanell Stone—who will exhibit from December 2026 to May 2027, and the museum continues to showcase "Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10" and new installations by Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen, and Rose B Simpson.

Jarvis Cocker and Kim Sion to curate art exhibition at Hepworth Wakefield

Jarvis Cocker and his wife Kim Sion will curate a new exhibition titled "Hodge Podge" at the Hepworth Wakefield, opening in May 2027. The show brings together a personal selection of works by artists including Jeremy Deller, Peter Doig, Barbara Hepworth, and others, alongside unknown outsider and visionary artists never before exhibited in UK public museums. The exhibition aims to challenge conventional ideas of art and includes an immersive Dreamachine, a flickering light device co-invented by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville in 1959.

​​​​Art Movements: Curators Named for El Museo's Latine Art Survey

El Museo del Barrio has announced the curatorial team for the 2027 edition of La Trienal, its landmark survey of Latine contemporary art. The show will be organized by Susanna V. Temkin, interim chief curator at the museum; Zuna Maza, assistant curator; and guest curator Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, formerly of Socrates Sculpture Park. In other biennial news, Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca were named chief curators of the 37th Bienal de São Paulo, the jury of the 61st Venice Biennale resigned after omitting Russia and Israel from awards consideration, and Marcello Dantas was appointed senior curator of the Vancouver Biennale. Hedwig Fijen will step down as director of Manifesta, with Emilia van Lynden and Catherine Nichols taking over in a new co-leadership model. Janne Sirén will resign as director of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Kate Kraczon was named chief curator at the Montclair Art Museum, and Charlie White was appointed dean of WashU’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Marina Abramović has designed wine labels for the Ornellaia estate, with limited-edition bottles to be auctioned by Bonhams to benefit the Guggenheim Pop exhibition.

Sharjah Art Foundation Announces 2027 Biennial Programming

Lina Lapelytė Fills Hamburger Bahnhof with 400,000 Wood Blocks for Communal Building

Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė has filled Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof with 400,000 wooden blocks made of pine and spruce, creating a participatory installation titled “We Make Years Out of Hours.” Commissioned by Chanel, the work invites the public to build and rebuild structures from the 10-centimeter cubes. A series of weekly performances featuring a libretto by writers including Ocean Vuong, Etel Adnan, Forugh Farrokhzad, and Mahmoud Darwish will accompany the installation, which opens on May 1 and runs through January 10, 2027.

Il mitico artista-ceramista italiano Nanni Valentini torna negli Stati Uniti con una mostra sulla sua storia. Le immagini

The Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, is hosting "Interspaces," a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Italian artist Nanni Valentini (1932–1985), a pivotal figure in ceramic art. Curated by Garth Johnson of the Everson Museum and Luca Bochicchio of the Museo della Ceramica di Savona, with oversight by art historian Flaminio Gualdoni, the show runs until September 6, 2026. It traces Valentini's evolution from functional pottery to conceptual wall works, featuring pieces like "I segni della terra" (1981) and "Impronta-totem" (1979), on loan from ABC-ARTE gallery. The exhibition marks Valentini's return to the U.S., where he first gained international recognition at the museum's 1958 Ceramic International, introduced by Lucio Fontana.

Five Independent Souls: The Signers from New Jersey

Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton, New Jersey, is presenting "Five Independent Souls: The Signers from New Jersey," an exhibition opening May 3, 2026, through January 17, 2027. The show examines the lives of five lesser-known signers of the Declaration of Independence—Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton, and John Witherspoon—through over 100 historic artifacts including manuscripts, paintings, furniture, and personal objects. It confronts the paradox that these men fought for liberty while enslaving people, and also addresses the impact of American independence on New Jersey's indigenous population. Highlights include the painting "Congress Voting Independence" (1796-1817), the first known American depiction of the vote for Independence.

Inside the Inaugural Edition of Art Cologne Palma Mallorca

The inaugural edition of Art Cologne Palma Mallorca took place from April 9–12, 2026, attracting 88 galleries from 20 countries and over 10,000 visitors to the Mediterranean island. The fair, held at the Palau de Congressos Convention Centre, reported strong sales and sold-out weekend days, with Artistic Director Daniel Hug praising the high level of engagement and positive response from both exhibitors and attendees. A second edition has already been scheduled for April 1–4, 2027.

National Museum of Asian Art Opens New Exhibition in June About Its Origin Story

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art will open a new exhibition titled "A Museum in the Making" on June 27, 2026, running through August 8, 2027. The show explores the origin story of the Freer Gallery of Art, America's first national art museum, by examining how collector Charles Lang Freer used his Detroit home as a living laboratory for museum design. It highlights collaborations with artists and architects, including James McNeill Whistler, Stanford White, and Mary Chase Perry Stratton, and features a video walkthrough of the Freer House. The exhibition is part of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations and the Smithsonian's broader "Our Shared Future" initiative.

Art Fund launches UK-wide touring programme

Art Fund has launched a UK-wide touring programme called Going Places, backed by £5.36 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Julia Rausing Trust. The first exhibition, *Making Her Mark: A Celebration of Women in Art*, opened at Penlee House Gallery & Museum in Penzance, featuring over 60 works from three museum collections alongside community responses. It will travel to Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum and Kirkcaldy Gallery through 2027. The programme plans 12 major touring shows over five years, with six already scheduled, including exhibitions on green spaces, journeys, radical living, art and nature, and community making.

Sotheby’s Auction Raises Funds for Yale MFA Scholarships

The Yale School of Art is partnering with Sotheby’s to host an auction benefiting scholarships for its Master of Fine Arts program. The 13 lots, including works by Howardena Pindell, Josef Albers, Richard Prince, Mickalene Thomas, Do Ho Suh, and Barkley L. Hendricks, will be sold as part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction in New York on May 15. Estimates range from $5,000 to $700,000. Dean Kymberly Pinder, who has raised $13 million toward debt-free graduation since 2021, stated the auction supports a larger initiative to ensure MFA students graduate without debt.

Birmingham Museum of Art to unveil new Black American art exhibition

The Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) announced it will unveil a landmark exhibition titled "Roll Call: Two Hundred Years of Black American Art" in September 2026. The show features 99 works drawn entirely from the museum's permanent collection, tracing two centuries of Black artistic production. Organized in four thematic sections—The Ground We Stand On, Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility, What Freedom Feels Like, and In the Heart of It All—the exhibition highlights the museum's history of collecting Black art, which began in 1971 and now includes over 1,000 works by 250 Black artists. The exhibition coincides with the museum's 75th anniversary and runs from September 26, 2026 to January 17, 2027.

US National Gallery of Art receives $116m gift to continue nationwide lending programme

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, has received a landmark $116 million donation from the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation to permanently endow its Across the Nation lending programme. Launched in spring 2025, the initiative has already reached around 900,000 visitors at ten partner institutions, including the Anchorage Museum and the Mint Museum, by loaning works from the NGA's collection at no cost—covering transport, installation, insurance, and marketing. The next cycle will run from autumn 2027 to 2029, with new partners to be announced.

Sharjah Biennial Lines Up 109 Artists for 2027 Edition, Titled ‘What Remains, Sits Restive’

Towering homage to Bamiyan Buddhas rises over Manhattan’s High Line

A new public sculpture by Vietnamese American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen has been installed on the High Line Plinth at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Titled "The Light That Shines Through the Universe" (2026), the 27-foot-tall sandstone monument pays homage to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the 6th-century colossi destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The work features carved sandstone forms with two monumental steel hands cast from melted-down artillery shells sourced from Afghanistan, making gestures of fearlessness and compassion. It will remain on view through autumn 2027 and is accompanied by monthly lectures and meditation sessions.

148 News: Awards & Obituaries

This article from ArtAsiaPacific reports on three recent art awards. Iraqi artist Ali Eyal received the Hammer Museum's $100,000 Mohn Award for emerging artists in Los Angeles. Japanese artist Mari Katayama won the inaugural ¥10 million Mori Art Award from the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation in Tokyo. Korean media artist Jeamin Cha secured the Hermès Foundation's 21st Missulsang, receiving KRW 30 million and production support for a solo exhibition at Atelier Hermès in Seoul in 2027.

Marcello Dantas Named Curator of 2027–29 Vancouver Biennale

The Vancouver Biennale has appointed Brazilian artist and documentary filmmaker Marcello Dantas as senior curator for its 2027–29 edition. Dantas, currently art director at the immersive museum Ster Ik in Tulum, Mexico, recently cocurated the 2024 iteration of Saudi Arabia's Desert X AlUla with Maya El Khalil. He has previously organized exhibitions for artists including Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Shirin Neshat, and Bill Viola, and curated a project by Vik Muniz for the 2013–15 Vancouver Biennale. Dantas plans to shape the event by addressing the city's corporate real estate development alongside its First Nations and colonial history, exploring themes of displacement and belonging.

In Warsaw, the Poster Museum reopens and it is the oldest in the world

A Varsavia riapre il Museo del Manifesto ed è il più antico del mondo

The Poster Museum in Wilanów, a suburb of Warsaw, has reopened after a major conservation restoration co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Founded in 1968 as an autonomous institution from the National Museum in Warsaw, it is the oldest museum of its kind in the world. Its collection now holds approximately 63,000 posters from Poland and abroad, dating from the late 19th century to the present, including works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Stasys Eidrigevičius. The reopening exhibition, "Polish Posters: The Collection," features 240 works spanning 130 years of Polish urban life, covering themes from politics and propaganda to cinema, theater, music, and fashion. The museum also hosts the International Poster Biennale, founded in 1966, with the next edition scheduled for 2027.

What Is the 2026 Met Gala Exhibit “Costume Art” All About?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will unveil its 2026 exhibition, “Costume Art,” on May 4, 2026, coinciding with the Met Gala. Curated by Andrew Bolton, the show explores the relationship between fashion and the human body, juxtaposing garments like Rei Kawakubo's bulbous Comme des Garçons ensemble with artworks such as Hans Bellmer's “La Poupée” and Albrecht Dürer's “Adam and Eve.” Mannequins cast from real bodies and mirrored heads by artist Samar Hejazi will enhance the immersive experience. The exhibition runs from May 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries.

Expansive Exhibition Highlights U.S. History Through ‘A Nation of Artists’

The United States is marking its 250th anniversary in 2026 with a major collaborative exhibition titled *A Nation of Artists*, presented simultaneously at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). The show features over 1,000 works—paintings, photographs, sculptures, and decorative arts—spanning from the late 18th century to the present, including more than 120 rarely seen pieces from the Middleton Family Collection, one of the country's most significant private holdings of American art. PAFA organizes the works thematically around westward expansion, industrialization, and globalization, while PMA, celebrating its 150th anniversary, presents a chronological survey from 1700 to 1960, highlighting international exchange, technological innovation, and shifting cultural economics.

Still in Sound Exhibition Opens on May 16 at the Clyfford Still Museum

The Clyfford Still Museum in Denver will open a multisensory exhibition titled "Still in Sound" on May 16, exploring how visitors can experience abstract visual language through sound. Co-curated by Bailey Placzek, the museum's curator of collections, and British multidisciplinary artist Ben Coleman, the exhibition features original sonic interpretations by contemporary artists Maria Chávez, Maya Dunietz, Kalyn Heffernan, Matana Roberts, and Michael Schumacher, each responding to a specific Clyfford Still artwork. The museum will also open a special-feature exhibition, "Celebrating 15 Years: 15 New Paintings in 15 Months," unveiling one previously unseen painting each month for 15 months. The exhibition runs through February 14, 2027.

Bodies in Motion, Bodies at Rest: Ali Cherri in Conversation with Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

This article presents a conversation between artist Ali Cherri and writer Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, marking the second installment of a collaborative series between TextWork by Fondation Pernod Ricard and Mousse Magazine. The series features in-depth dialogues between artists from the TextWork program and magazine contributors, expanding on the traditional interview format, and is set to continue until 2027.

British ’90s art and fashion exhibition heading to Tate Britain in fall 2026.

Tate Britain will mount the first major exhibition exploring the transformative impact of fashion, art, and photography on 1990s Britain. Curated by former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, the show titled “The 90s: Art and Fashion” will bring together over 100 works—including photographs, paintings, films, sculptures, objects, and garments—from nearly 70 artists. It runs from August 8, 2026 through February 14, 2027.