Creative Currents: East End Art Exhibits

The article surveys the 2026 summer art season in the Hamptons, highlighting new outdoor sculptures at LongHouse Reserve—including Renée Cox's 'Soul Culture Statue,' Sean Scully's '48,' and William Kentridge's 'Tap'—and a slate of solo exhibitions at venues such as Guild Hall, the Parrish Art Museum, the Arts Center at Duck Creek, and the Peter Marino Art Foundation. Featured artists include Arcmanoro Niles (whose show 'Forgotten Words I Never Got to Say' marks a decade since his Guild Hall residency), Sanford Biggers (presenting 'Drift' at the Parrish), Claire Watson, Brent Richardson, Robert Nava, Betty Parsons, Carla Accardi, and Y.Z. Kami. The Church in Sag Harbor will open 'This Land: Considering the American Landscape,' borrowing works from the Parrish and Dan Flavin's collection.

Interview with the artist of the enchanting New Zealand Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Intervista all’artista dell’ammaliante Padiglione Nuova Zelanda alla Biennale Arte 2026

Fiona Pardington, a Māori artist from Devonport (1961), will represent New Zealand at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a deeply spiritual and ecologically conscious installation in the national pavilion. Her project centers on the takahe, a bird long thought extinct, using photography, sound, and immersive space to evoke loss, memory, and transformation. Pardington’s work draws on Ngāi Tahu culture, colonial history, and natural history, featuring a taxidermied takahe specimen from the British Museum that she re-photographed and chromatically restored.

‘Your homes will be destroyed, your family killed’: the US has dropped millions of war propaganda leaflets – but do they work?

The United States military has been dropping propaganda leaflets in psychological operations (psyops) for over a century, from World War I through the Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new interactive exhibit at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, organized by the digital archive group Khajistan, displays hundreds of these leaflets, including those dropped on Japan during World War II and in more recent conflicts. However, declassified internal documents, such as a 1971 US Air Force report, reveal that leaflets were often used as toilet paper, cigarette rolling paper, or souvenirs by enemy soldiers, undermining the official narrative of their effectiveness.

‘I waited half an hour for one of Hong Kong’s iconic red taxis to pass by’: William Shum’s best phone picture

William Shum captured a photograph of a red taxi passing through Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong, using an iPhone 13 Pro Max. He waited half an hour for the taxi to align perfectly with a dense residential building in the background, creating a contrast between the simple vehicle and the layered architecture. The image earned him a win in the 2025 Mobile Photography awards.

Venice Biennale opens under shadow of protests over Russia and Israel

The 61st Venice Biennale opened under heavy protest as Russia returns to the event for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian feminist collective Femen and Russian punk band Pussy Riot demonstrated outside the Russian pavilion, with activists accusing Russia of using art as a weapon in a hybrid war. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Israel's pavilion, holding banners reading 'No artwashing genocide' and demanding Israel's exclusion over the war in Gaza. The Biennale's international jury resigned last month, refusing to award prizes to countries led by figures subject to ICC arrest warrants, namely Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Russia's participation 'morally wrong' and threatened to cut €2 million in funding, while culture ministers from 22 European countries urged organizers to reconsider.