art guide to paris art week basel

The Louvre was forced to close on Sunday after a daylight heist of jewelry that Napoleon III had given to his wife, Eugenie, an operation that took under 10 minutes. The incident has highlighted ongoing issues at the world's most-visited museum, including understaffing and a shortage of surveillance cameras, with commentators linking the problems to French political turmoil. Meanwhile, the fourth edition of Art Basel Paris is set to open at the Grand Palais, featuring 206 galleries (63 with locations in France), serving as the centerpiece of a packed Paris Art Week with exhibitions, public programs, and gallery events.

Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials

The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles presents "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials," a spring 2026 exhibition running from April 5 to August 23. Curated by Jill Spalding, the show features works by artists including Edgar Calel, Guadalupe Maravilla, Carmen Argote, and others, exploring the concept of "Brownness"—a fluid identity rooted in ancestral memory, animal kinship, and a profound connection to living materials. The exhibition is organized into three acts: large-scale installations, paintings and works on paper, and ceramics, offering a visceral and immersive experience that draws on precolonial traditions across the Americas.

super bowl lx jeffrey gibson public art commission 1234770518

The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco announced a major public art commission by Jeffrey Gibson for Super Bowl LX festivities. The work, an adaptation of Gibson's 2022 video installation "THIS BURNING WORLD," will be installed as a 433-foot-long vinyl mural on the former Bloomingdale's building at San Francisco Centre, wrapping an entire city block. It will be fully unveiled on February 2, 2026, coinciding with the FOG Design+Art Fair. The project is funded by the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation and the Yerba Buena Partnership, which have previously supported public art by Sarah Sze and Hank Willis Thomas.

whitney biennial 2026 artist list 1234766723

The Whitney Biennial has announced the 56 artists selected for its 82nd edition, opening March 8, 2026. Curated by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, the exhibition explores themes of relationality, kinship, infrastructure, and the US role in global affairs. The curators visited over 300 studios worldwide, and the list includes many emerging and lesser-known artists, with most participants under 45 and a significant number identifying as queer.

jeffrey gibson met animal sculptures 1234752023

Jeffrey Gibson has installed four large bronze animal sculptures—a deer, a coyote, a squirrel, and a hawk—on the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, collectively titled “The Animal That Therefore I Am.” At a talk with Met curator Jane Panetta, Gibson explained that the works draw on his early paintings on brain-tanned elk hides and his ongoing exploration of Indigenous kinship philosophies, which honor all living beings as extensions of ourselves. The sculptures, each adorned with ceremonial regalia inspired by Native American traditions, are designed to be viewed as four-sided paintings and connect the museum’s Central Park location to Gibson’s home in the Hudson River Valley.

Theme and artists announced for British Art Show 10

The 10th edition of the British Art Show, titled 'A Chorus of Strangers,' has announced its theme and a roster of over 30 participating artists. Curated by Ekow Eshun and organized by Hayward Gallery Touring, the exhibition will explore the relationship between the individual and the 'other' through three thematic lenses: 'Moments of Being,' 'Ways of Living,' and 'States of Nature.' The show is scheduled to launch in Coventry on October 2, 2025, before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead.

patricia marroquin norby met museum curator departure 1234779468

Patricia Marroquin Norby, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first-ever curator of Native American art, has stepped down from her role after a five-year tenure. While both Norby and the museum cited health reasons for her December 2025 departure, the exit follows intense public scrutiny regarding her claims of Indigenous heritage. A 2024 report by the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds (TAAF) alleged that Norby has no American Indian ancestry, leading to a public debate over her qualifications and identity.

bint mbareh sound art palestinian resistance 1234743980

Bint Mbareh, a Palestinian sound artist and stage name assumed around 2019, creates installations and performances that use water and sound as metaphors for Palestinian experience. Growing up in Ramallah and later studying at Goldsmiths in London, she learned geographically specific Palestinian rain-summoning songs, which she twists and destabilizes using digital technology in works like *Time Flows in All Directions: Water Flows Through Me* (2020). After October 7, 2023, she expanded her practice to include a “choir” of collaborators performing collective grief, with appearances at an Artists for Aid benefit concert in London and at Tate Modern. Recent installation works such as *Bodies of Knowledge* (Royal College of Art) and *What’s Left?* (Sharjah Biennial) incorporate water tanks vibrated by sound, evoking both childhood and displacement.

“Iter Subterraneum” / Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen by Adele Seip

Bergen Kunsthall has launched "Iter Subterraneum," a group exhibition inspired by Ludvig Holberg’s 1741 satirical novel about a man who falls through a cave in Bergen into a subterranean world. The show features ten international artists, including Robert Gabris, Anicka Yi, and Cecilia Fiona, whose works span video, sculpture, and performance. By pairing historical editions of Holberg’s book with contemporary installations, the exhibition explores themes of displacement, collective existence, and the blurring of lines between human and non-human life.

Phillips Collection’s new ‘Miró and the United States’ exhibit focuses on transatlantic cultural exchange rather than conflict

The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., has opened a new exhibition titled 'Miró and the United States,' curated by Elsa Smithgall. The show features 75 works by Joan Miró alongside pieces by more than 30 other artists, including Alexander Calder, Rufino Tamayo, and Arshile Gorky. Rather than framing the relationship as a cultural clash between European modernism and American art, the exhibition emphasizes transatlantic artistic exchange during the mid-20th century, particularly in the shadow of World War II and the Spanish Civil War. Key works include Miró's 'Constellations' series and 'Still Life with Old Shoe' (1937), which are presented in dialogue with American contemporaries who responded to his visual language.

The Art Diary April 2026 – Revd Jonathan Evens

The April 2026 Art Diary highlights a global trend of exhibitions exploring the intersection of spirituality, art, and the environment. Key highlights include a new scholarly essay by Hassan Vawda reinterpreting the Kettle’s Yard collection through the religious beliefs of its founders, Jim and Helen Ede, and a major group exhibition at ICA LA titled 'Speaking in Tongues.' The latter features indigenous and diasporic artists from the Global South who utilize art as a conduit for the sacred, ritual, and ecstatic expression.

Parallax(e): Perspectives on the Canada–US Border

The exhibition "Parallax(e): Perspectives on the Canada–US Border" at The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford, British Columbia, brings together archival materials from the Northwest Boundary Survey (1857–62) with new works by five Indigenous artists. The show features photographs, maps, and watercolors from British and American surveyors alongside commissions by Dr. Shawn Brigman, Dr. Michelle Jack, Deb Silver, Xémóntalot Carrielynn Victor, and Dr. T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss, who respond to the legacy of the border's creation through canoe culture, transboundary identity, and place-based knowledge.

Vincent in Brixton review – a radiant portrait of the artist as a young romantic

A revival of Nicholas Wright's 2002 play "Vincent in Brixton" is receiving a tender production directed by Georgia Green at the Orange Tree Theatre. The play dramatizes a speculative romantic episode from the young Vincent van Gogh's life when he lived as a lodger in south London, focusing on his relationship with his widowed landlady, Ursula.

Theme and Artists Revealed for Ekow Eshun–Curated British Art Show 10

Organizers of the British Art Show have unveiled the theme and artist list for its tenth edition, titled "A Chorus of Strangers." Curated by Ekow Eshun, the quinquennial exhibition will launch in Coventry on October 2, 2025, before touring to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield, and Newcastle Gateshead through 2028. The show features a diverse roster of contemporary artists including Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur, Alvaro Barrington, and Precious Okoyomon, organized around three conceptual pillars: psychological, sociological, and ecological.

art maggi hambling sarah lucas show interview

British artists Maggi Hambling and Sarah Lucas, who met at the Colony Room Club in London on their shared birthday 25 years ago, are the subjects of a dual exhibition titled "OOO LA LA" opening Nov. 19 across two London galleries: Sadie Coles HQ and Frankie Rossi Art Projects. The show celebrates their personal and professional bond, coinciding with a Rizzoli monograph on Hambling and a major museum survey of Lucas at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki. In an interview, the duo discusses their friendship, mutual portraits, and creative processes, emphasizing spontaneity, experimentation, and the interplay of darkness and vitality in their work.

Secret Asian Man presents: 언니 언니(unni) at Whistle

Whistle gallery in Seoul presents "언니 언니(unni)," a group exhibition curated by the collective Secret Asian Man. The show features a diverse roster of contemporary artists including Dongho Kang, Muyeong Kim, Young Joon Kwak, Kang Seung Lee, Grim Park, Isaac Chong Wai, and Carrie Yamaoka. The exhibition is a collaborative effort involving works and support from both Whistle and the Los Angeles-based gallery Commonwealth and Council.

One Fine Show: “In Creative Harmony, Three Artistic Partnerships” at the Blanton Museum of Art

Observer's "One Fine Show" column highlights "In Creative Harmony: Three Artistic Partnerships" at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas. The exhibition examines three distinct artistic duos: José Guadalupe Posada and Artemio Rodríguez, Arshile Gorky and Isamu Noguchi, and mother-daughter team Nora Naranjo Morse and Eliza Naranjo Morse. Spanning different eras, geographies, and mediums, the show explores how creative kinship and mutual influence shape artistic output, from Posada's Day of the Dead imagery to Gorky and Noguchi's Surrealist-inspired abstraction and the Morses' work in Pueblo ceramic and graphic traditions.

Glasgow International announces full 2026 programme

Glasgow International has revealed the complete programme for its 11th edition, scheduled for 5-21 June 2026. The biennial, now under the direction of Helen Nisbet, will feature new works by artists including Kate Cooper, Tanoa Sasraku, and Luke Fowler, and will explore themes of memory, kinship, and cultural resonance. The festival also includes the 'Gatherings' event series and a new 'Special Projects' initiative highlighting community-embedded organizations in Glasgow.

A Visit to Tomás Saraceno’s Berlin Studio Delves into a Deeply Empathetic Practice

A Visit to Tomás Saraceno’s Berlin Studio Delves into a Deeply Empathetic Practice

A new documentary from Art21 offers an inside look into artist Tomás Saraceno's Berlin studio, highlighting his collaborative and interdisciplinary practice. The film explores several of his projects, from large-scale suspended installations to community-focused works, all centered on how humans inhabit space and relate to other species.

Open Call for Artists: Gallery A3’s 11th Annual Juried Show

Gallery A3 in Amherst, Massachusetts, has announced an open call for its 11th Annual Juried Show, scheduled for August 6–29, 2026. Submissions will be accepted online from May 10 to June 7, 2026, with an entry fee of $38 for three entries. The theme for this year's show is 'Everyday Sublime,' inviting artists to explore how awe and wonder manifest in daily life. The juror is Andrew S. Yang, a professor at the School of the Art Institute Chicago whose work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 14th Istanbul Biennial and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Review: “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists” at Hyde Park Art Center

The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago presents “Mark Me, Too: Five Artists,” a group exhibition curated by Dr. Rikki Byrd, the center’s inaugural Radicle Curatorial Resident. The show features works by Lisa DeAbreu, Lex Marie, Natasha Moustache, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and Ciarra K. Walters, each exploring mark-making as a conceptual and material practice. Highlights include Walters’ video “Eileen’s Daughters,” which uses fragile eggshell-covered suits to evoke familial intimacy and vulnerability; DeAbreu’s textile works that transform household items into visual heirlooms; Ogbara’s sculptural piece “Hopscotch (A Safe Space to Land),” combining bronze and soil to address Black beauty and West African heritage; and Marie’s reimagined American flags made from hospital blankets and beads, critiquing the nation’s relationship with Black maternity and childhood.

elizabeth king louise bonnet swiss institute show interview

The Swiss Institute in New York has opened a new exhibition titled “De Anima,” pairing sculptor Elizabeth King and painter Louise Bonnet. Curated by director Stefanie Hessler, the show explores the boundaries between the living and the lifelike, featuring King's intricate automata and stop-motion films alongside Bonnet's large-scale oil paintings of fleshy, gestural figures. The artists, introduced by Hessler at an opening last year, discovered a shared fascination with involuntary bodily movements—twitching eyes, clenched jaws—and the invisible labor of artistic craftsmanship.

Nikyle Begay Resurrects Century-Old Diné Weavings

Nikyle Begay, a Diné shepherd and weaver based in the Navajo Nation, is revitalizing ancestral weaving techniques that were historically marginalized by the colonial trading-post economy. By breeding Navajo Churro sheep and mastering complex twill patterns once used for functional saddle blankets, Begay bridges the gap between traditional agricultural practice and contemporary fine art. Their work involves the entire lifecycle of the medium, from shearing and processing wool to reconstructing intricate designs that fell out of favor when commercial markets prioritized specific regional styles for non-Native buyers.

art basel abbas ruanne abou rahme brown bell gallery

An exhibition titled "Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom" by artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme is on view at the Bell Gallery at Brown University until May 31. The show centers on a historical misattribution: the poem "Enemy of the Sun," found in the cell of Black Panther George Jackson after his 1971 murder, was long thought to be his work but was actually written by Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim. Through a video installation featuring interviews with former political prisoners in Palestine, the artists explore what they call "radical kinship" between Black radical thinkers in the U.S. and Palestinian activists. Curators Kate Kraczon and Thea Quiray Tagle, who were terminated from Brown last December, collaborated on the project, which also draws on archival research into mass incarceration.

In Antwerp, as photography show asks 'What is a normal family?'

The FOMU photography museum in Antwerp has opened a new exhibition titled 'Families', curated by Anne Ruygt. The show explores the evolving concept of family through historical and contemporary photography, featuring works by artists such as Mous Lamrabat, Cecil Beaton, Omar Victor Diop, Mayara Ferrão, Peter Hujar, Carmen Winant, and Seiichi Furuya. It includes diverse perspectives, from 'hidden mother portraits' and post-mortem photography to AI-generated images of queer Black and Indigenous women, questioning traditional notions of kinship and representation.

Michelangelo and Rodin: Finding the Living Spirit in Stone

The New York Times article examines the artistic kinship between Michelangelo and Auguste Rodin, focusing on how both sculptors sought to animate stone with a sense of living spirit and emotional intensity. It explores their shared techniques, such as leaving surfaces unfinished to suggest movement and inner life, and highlights key works including Michelangelo's "Slaves" and Rodin's "The Gates of Hell."

Pavlina Vagioni Oikeiōsis: A Greek Artist Asks Venice to Remember How to Belong

Pavlina Vagioni's exhibition *Oikeiōsis*, presented by the Hellenic Diaspora Foundation at the Venice Biennale, takes its name from a Stoic concept about recognizing belonging and expanding care outward. The show is structured in two rooms: the first, named Neikos (strife), features a fragmented plexiglass cube that reflects visitors in multiplied form, evoking separation. The second, Philotes (harmony), contains warm rock-salt seats and a layered vocal soundscape that activates the Tartini effect—a psychoacoustic phenomenon where two frequencies produce a phantom third tone, symbolizing collective kinship. The salt seats will physically change over the Biennale's six-month run, accumulating the memory of each visitor.

LeMoyne Arts's star-studded exhibition sings nature's songs

LeMoyne Arts in Tallahassee has unveiled "The Nature of Kinship and Its Artful Connections," a major group exhibition running from April 9 to May 9, 2026. The show features the work of four acclaimed painters—Mifflin Hollyday, Lilian Garcia Roig, Alexa Kleinbard, and Mark Messersmith—whose works explore the symphonic and interconnected relationships within the natural world. A unique aspect of the exhibition is its community-driven origin, organized by a group of nearly 30 local art supporters to celebrate the return of Hollyday’s work to the public eye.

NEXT in the Gallery: Pittsburgh in December is a sprawling winter carnival of art

Pittsburgh's visual artists are transforming the city into a sprawling winter carnival throughout December 2025, with a packed calendar of exhibitions and events. Highlights include Sharmistha Ray's three-channel animation "Emergent Realities" at Wood Street Galleries (Dec. 12–July 5, 2026), featuring a commissioned soundtrack by Grammy-winning composer Arooj Aftab; Mary Mazziotti's satirical textile series "Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter" at BE Galleries (Dec. 6–Jan. 31, 2026); and Offroute Art's "Crisis of Empathy // Limit of Empathy" showcasing eight young artists. Wood Street Galleries also partners with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2025 on Dec. 3, presenting videos exploring drug users and HIV crisis. The month kicks off with holiday markets and arcades, and includes a Neapolitan nativity scene exhibit and an art battle in Sharpsburg.

'Do or die': Flick's journey from jail to artist and First Nations mentor

Flick Chafer-Smith, a First Nations artist, turned her life around after being incarcerated on her 18th birthday and spending six years in and out of prison due to drug addiction. Through the Victorian Indigenous arts program The Torch, she discovered painting as a means of expression and healing. She is now among 424 artists featured in Confined 17, an annual exhibition at Glen Eira Town Hall showcasing works by First Nations artists with lived experience of incarceration in Victoria. The exhibition includes paintings, weavings, ceramics, and carved emu eggs, with sales proceeds going directly to the artists.