Comment | We must avoid amputating art in the name of preservation

The article recounts the author's experience viewing Caravaggio's *Seven Acts of Mercy* (1607) in its original chapel in Naples, where the painting's crowded, dramatic composition directly mirrors the chaotic streets of the city, revealing its sacred meaning through context. In contrast, the author describes Caravaggio's *Flagellation of Christ* (1607), moved from the church of San Domenico Maggiore to the Museo di Capodimonte for security reasons, as a painting "marooned"—its spiritual purpose broken, reduced to a mere object for aesthetic appreciation.

Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy closing for summer, but 37 other exhibitions on view at museums in May

The article provides a roundup of museum exhibitions on view in Southwest Florida during May, highlighting five new openings, eight closings, and 25 continuing shows across museums from Sarasota to Naples. Featured exhibitions include Molly Hatch's site-specific ceramic installation "Amalgam" at Sarasota Art Museum, Jillian Mayer's interactive "Slumpies" sculptures, a group show "Something Borrowed, Something New" with works by Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Yoko Ono, Kara Walker, and Ai Weiwei, and Maria A. Guzman Capron's solo textile exhibition "Penumbra." The Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy is noted as closing for the summer.

“Atlante” at Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples

Claudio Parmiggiani’s seminal 1970 portfolio, "Atlante," is the focal point of a new exhibition at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples. The show highlights a pivotal moment in 1968 when Parmiggiani began experimenting with cartographic imagery, including painting continents onto cows and encasing globes in glass, all documented through the lens of fellow artist Luigi Ghirri.

In Naples, an International Exhibition to Map Instability and Deactivate Borders

A Napoli una mostra internazionale per mappare l’instabilità e disattivare i confini

The exhibition "Atlante" at Thomas Dane Gallery in Naples, curated by James Lingwood, brings together works by eight international artists—Igshaan Adams, Teju Cole, Luigi Ghirri, Emma McNally, Claudio Parmiggiani, Anri Sala, Tatiana Trouvé, and Akram Zaatari—to challenge traditional cartographic representations. Through maps, drawings, textiles, and photographs, the show interrogates the ideological and political assumptions embedded in mapping, reframing the Mediterranean not as a border but as a connective space, and exposing the instability and power asymmetries underlying historical worldviews.

Andrea Pazienza is alive! A major exhibition opening at MAXXI shouts it

Andrea Pazienza è vivo! Lo urla una importante mostra in apertura al MAXXI

The MAXXI museum in Rome is opening a major exhibition titled "Non sempre si muore" dedicated to Andrea Pazienza, the legendary Italian underground comic artist. Curated by Giulia Ferracci and Oscar Glioti, the show opens on April 24, 2026, and runs until September 27, 2026. It features over 500 original drawings, including a monumental mural Pazienza created live at the 1987 Fiera del Fumetto in Naples, recently restored by the museum. The exhibition is the second chapter of a larger research project by MAXXI, following the earlier show "La matematica del segno" at MAXXI L'Aquila, which focused on Pazienza's formative years. The title quotes a phrase Pazienza said in 1988 to British host Clive Griffiths shortly before his death, underscoring the enduring vitality of his work.

Hannah Black “Harsh Muting” at zaza’, Naples

Hannah Black presents her first solo exhibition, "Harsh Muting," at the zaza' gallery in Naples. The show features five circular oil paintings that draw inspiration from the rotating word-play disks in Marcel Duchamp's surrealist film *Anemic Cinema*.

‘One simple gesture says it all’: the world in black and white – in pictures

Photographer Marina Sersale has released a new monograph titled 'Liminal Space,' published by Gost, which compiles over a decade of monochrome photography. The collection features dramatic black-and-white images captured between 2013 and 2021 across diverse locations including Italy, Japan, Iran, and the United States. Sersale, a former documentary filmmaker, focuses on the interplay of light and shadow to document fleeting, everyday moments—from sunbathers in Positano to commuters in Naples.

Hannah Black at zaza'

Artist Hannah Black opened a solo exhibition titled "Harsh Muting" at the gallery zaza' in Naples. The show runs from March 20 to May 3, 2026, and is documented with 14 images on the Contemporary Art Daily platform.

Actress Alba Clemente Tells Her Story in the Theater and Reveals What Lies Behind Her Partenope, a Smoking Siren

L’attrice Alba Clemente si racconta a teatro e svela cosa si nasconde dietro la sua Partenope, sirena fumatrice

Actress Alba Clemente (née Primiceri) recounts her life and career in a theatrical performance titled "Racconto di una vita, anzi tre: ALBAINCLEMENTE," directed by Guido Torlonia. The show, adapted from an earlier piece created with director Andrew Ondrejcak, premiered in Naples and is set to tour Rome and Milan. Clemente reflects on her rebellious youth in Amalfi, her studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples, and her encounters with artists such as Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alex Katz, and Robert Mapplethorpe. She also describes meeting her husband, internationally renowned painter Francesco Clemente, in Rome on the day Pier Paolo Pasolini was assassinated.

Uri Aran “Untitled (I love you)” at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina – MADRE, Naples

The Fondazione Donnaregina per le arti contemporanee – museo Madre in Naples presents "Untitled (I love you)," the first retrospective in an Italian museum dedicated to American artist Uri Aran (born Jerusalem, 1977). Curated by museum director Eva Fabbris, the exhibition opens on Thursday, February 12, at 6 pm, with President Angela Tecce and the director in attendance.

Diego Perrone “There’s a certain Slant of light” at Umberto Di Marino Gallery, Naples

Diego Perrone presents his first solo exhibition at Umberto Di Marino Gallery in Naples, titled "There’s a certain Slant of light." Taking its name from an Emily Dickinson poem, the show explores the concept of lateral, non-frontal light through a series of experimental works. The exhibition features Perrone’s signature technical mastery, including intricate glass sculptures and works on paper that manipulate transparency and shadow.

A Napoli c’è una mostra ispirata a Emily Dickinson dove è la luce a creare le opere

Diego Perrone's exhibition "There's a certain Slant of light" opens at Galleria Umberto Di Marino in Naples, taking its title from an Emily Dickinson poem. The show features new photographic and painted works born from the artist's observation of light passing through domestic glass objects in Naples, where architecture and daily life are shaped by an interplay of light and shadow. Photographs are enclosed in hand-molded glass frames, while large surfaces created with airbrush, charcoal, and chalk present shadow fields on white backgrounds, forming a visual sequence that unfolds like a film in black and white.

Italy's Soft Power in China Thanks to Two Major Exhibitions on Pompeii and Palladio

Il soft power dell’Italia in Cina grazie a due grandi mostre su Pompei e Palladio

The National Museum of China in Beijing is currently hosting two major exhibitions celebrating Italian cultural heritage: "Pompeii: An Eternal Discovery" and "Geometry, Harmony and Life: The Architecture of Andrea Palladio from Antiquity to Classicism." These exhibitions, marking the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and China, were inaugurated by Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli. The Pompeii showcase traces 250 years of archaeological history using artifacts and multimedia, while the Palladio exhibition explores the Renaissance master’s influence on Western architecture and creates a cross-cultural dialogue with traditional Chinese building techniques.

In an exhibition in Naples it is possible to get lost without urgency in an unstable balance. The review

In una mostra a Napoli è possibile perdersi senza urgenza in un equilibrio instabile. La recensione

The exhibition "A Gentle Collapse," curated by Marta Ferrara at Andrea Nuovo Home Gallery in Naples, explores the contemporary psychic state through a spatial and perceptual construction. Featuring works in photography, painting, engraving, and installation, the show creates a sense of instability, with meaning emerging gradually through shifts between familiar and altered forms. Artists include Dorottya Vékony, Matteo Silverii, Flora Villaumié, and Zoë Pelikan, whose works engage with themes of genetic engineering, serial accumulation, and subtle disorientation across two gallery levels.

The first of May starts a new issue of Pax. Previews of the newsletter on cultural tourism (subscribe)

Il primo maggio parte una nuova uscita di Pax. Le anticipazioni della newsletter sul turismo culturale (abbonatevi)

The article previews the upcoming May 1st issue of Pax, a newsletter by Artribune focused on cultural tourism. It highlights a feature on Italy's colorful villages, explaining how bright colors historically aided sailors and fishermen, and how white facades served hygienic purposes. The issue also covers off-the-beaten-path destinations like Bolsena, which recently opened a contemporary art space in Palazzo Cozza Caposavi, and explores slow tourism practices such as barefooting, discussed with its founder Andrea Bianchi. Additional content includes a roundup of cultural initiatives from Berlin to Naples, Budapest's Citadella reopening, and the Sussex forest's Winnie-the-Pooh centenary.

Future cultural professionals in Africa will be trained by six Italian museums

I futuri professionisti della cultura in Africa saranno formati da sei musei italiani

The fourth edition of the International School of Cultural Heritage (Scuola Internazionale del Patrimonio Culturale) is underway, with 23 cultural professionals from 12 African nations participating in a hands-on training program hosted by six Italian museums. After online modules and a week of lectures in Rome, the residential phase runs from April 27 to May 22, 2025, placing participants at the Museo delle Civiltà (MUCIV), the Archaeological Parks of Praeneste and Gabii, the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (MArTA), the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria (MArRC), and the National Archaeological Museum of Agro Falisco and Forte Sangallo in Civita Castellana. The program, titled "Managing Art Collections: from ancient to contemporary," focuses on collection management, conservation, and public programming, linking archaeological heritage with contemporary practices.

Jobs in Art: Opportunities from Catania Academy of Fine Arts, MADRE Naples, Camera Austria, Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Lavoro nell’arte: opportunità da Accademia Belle Arti Catania, MADRE Napoli, Camera Austria, Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Several prominent Italian and international cultural institutions have launched open calls for professional roles, residencies, and artistic competitions. Key opportunities include the search for a new director at the MADRE Museum in Naples with a three-year contract, a social media manager position at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and various residency programs for photographers and designers at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania and Camera Austria in Graz.

Popular sculptor Jago sets his sights on Capri with an exhibition that is also a territorial enhancement project

Il popolare scultore Jago punta su Capri con una mostra che è anche un progetto di valorizzazione territoriale

The Italian island of Capri has announced a major solo exhibition by the sculptor Jago, scheduled to open in June at the historic Villa Lysis. This ambitious project will feature the artist's works distributed across the villa’s eclectic spaces, including its Art Nouveau interiors, the Chinese-style opium den, and its panoramic terraces. The initiative is a strategic move by the local administration to revitalize the site, which, despite its architectural significance, suffers from its remote location on Monte Tiberio.