"Etwas zaghaft, etwas ängstlich, etwas sicher"

The article surveys recent art-world commentary, focusing on a critical review of the Turner Prize shortlist in The Guardian, where Eddy Frankel calls the selection "timid, anxious, safe" and laments a self-perpetuating, elitist system. It also covers a Hyperallergic essay by Lisa Siraganian questioning whether artworks can possess personhood, sparked by Pierre Huyghe's Venice exhibition. Additionally, it reports on controversy at the Venice Biennale, where the jury preemptively excluded countries whose leaders are sought by the International Criminal Court—namely Russia and Israel—drawing sharp criticism from Die Welt's Marcus Woeller. A podcast interview with US sculptor Alma Allen, selected for the US Pavilion, rounds out the coverage.

Meriem Bennani, the artist who went viral during the pandemic

Meriem Bennani, a New York-based artist known for her shape-shifting practice of videos, installations, and immersive environments, gained viral fame during the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. She co-created the animated series '2 Lizards' with fellow artist Orian Barki, which depicted surreal, humorous conversations between anthropomorphic reptiles navigating the first weeks of the pandemic in New York City. The series, posted on Instagram, resonated widely and led to eight episodes. Bennani's broader work, including 'Life on the CAPS' (2018–2022) and 'Mission Teens' (2019), blends digital animation, live-action footage, and cultural critique, often exploring themes of diaspora, post-colonialism, and migration through dystopian, supernatural narratives.

Un itinerario fotografico tra installazioni e progetti d’autore della Design Week 2026. La collaborazione tra Artribune e i computer di MSI

This article outlines a one-day itinerary through Milan's 2026 Fuorisalone design week, highlighting key installations and exhibitions. It begins at Torre Velasca, featuring Polish Modernism and Brazilian modernist Jorge Zalszupin, then moves to the University of Milan's cloisters for the Interni magazine exhibition themed 'Materiae,' with oversized sculptures and a yacht installation by Piero Lissoni for Sanlorenzo. Other stops include Palazzo Litta, where architect Lina Ghotmeh presents 'Metamorphosis in Motion,' and Galleria Rossana Orlandi, focusing on the theme of doors. The itinerary concludes at Alcova in the former Baggio Military Hospital, an abandoned space reactivated by curators Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima.

According to the Turner Prize, one of the year’s best British artists is… French

The 2026 Turner Prize shortlist has been announced, featuring four nominees including French-born artist Marguerite Humeau, who is considered the front-runner despite the award's requirement of honoring a "British artist." Humeau, known for her futuristic biomorphic sculptures made from unusual materials like wasp venom and seaweed, lives in London but was born and raised in the Loire Valley. Other nominees include London-born Kira Freije, Simeon Barclay for his spoken-word performance "The Ruin," and Tanoa Sasraku, whose ICA show is described as "dreary" by the critic. The winner will be announced at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in December.

Prairie photography and Fantastical Art featured at EAGM

Two exhibitions are currently on view at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum (EAGM) in Saskatchewan, Canada. One features prairie landscape and wildlife photography by Nicola Dare, while the other presents colorful, fantastical sculptures and drawings by Kristin Teetaert in a show titled "A Selection of Specimens." Both exhibitions run through the end of May, offering visitors contrasting artistic experiences from realistic nature imagery to imaginative, biomorphic forms.

‘What Color is Your Sky Today?’: The Becoming of the Image

Armineh Negahdari, a Bordeaux-based artist, presents her first institutional solo exhibition in France at the Fondation Louis Vuitton's Open Space series. Titled 'What Color is Your Sky Today?': The Becoming of the Image, the show features a new body of drawings that use charcoal, pastel, and oil paint to explore unstable morphologies between human, vegetal, and animal forms. The works resist narrative closure, emphasizing drawing as an event rather than representation, with lines that accumulate, falter, and begin again. The exhibition is on view at Gallery 8 until 30 August 2026.

Whimsy Art Exhibitions

The House of Creatures exhibition at Milan Design Week 2026 presents a collection of sculptural works designed to represent hybrid beings through material and form. The show brings together designers who interpret creatures as symbolic figures, translating mythology and emotion into physical pieces across furniture, lighting, and collectible formats. Each work is positioned as an individual presence within a gallery setting, forming a sequence of distinct forms rather than a single unified installation, with materials including ceramics, textiles, and metal constructions.

Gtz Art Gallery opening soon on West Davis Street

A new art gallery, Gtz Art Gallery, is opening soon on West Davis Street in a yet-to-be-announced date in May. Founded by Josue Gutiérrez, a self-taught artist who left a corporate career in global business to pursue art, the gallery will focus on emerging artists and the convergence of art and design. The inaugural exhibit features 27 of Gutiérrez’s own works, drawn from three prior exhibitions—Metamorphosis, Bloom, and Raw—with plans to later issue an open call for local artists.

Il duo di artisti internazionali Gawęda/Kulbokaitė sono a Roma per la prima volta con una mostra su identità e percezione

The international artist duo Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė present their debut exhibition in Rome, titled "Spit and Image," at the Basement gallery. The show, on view until July 10, 2026, features sculptures, installations, and videos that explore identity construction in the digital age, using mirrors, fragmented bodies, and olfactory elements. Works like "Yield (twinning)" (2025) and "Spit and Image 1 and 2" (2025) evoke surveillance, metamorphosis, and duplication, while the Slavic vampire figure of the upiór serves as a metaphor for fluid, non-binary identities.

The Biomorphic Sculptures of Alma Allen in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale (Amid Controversy)

Le sculture biomorfiche di Alma Allen nel Padiglione USA alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026 (tra le polemiche)

Alma Allen, a self-taught American sculptor, has been selected to represent the United States at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with the exhibition "Call Me the Breeze." The pavilion, curated by Jeffrey Uslip, will feature site-specific biomorphic sculptures that explore the concept of "elevation" through a hybrid creative process combining pre-industrial carving and hand-modeling with advanced robotic sculpting. Works will incorporate local American materials such as walnut burl, Cantera green volcanic rock, and Yule marble from Colorado, and the pavilion is tied to America250, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.