Lubaina Himid on capturing the 'uneasiness' of Britain for her Venice Biennale pavilion

Lubaina Himid, the Turner Prize-winning artist born in Zanzibar and raised in England, is representing Great Britain at the Venice Biennale with a pavilion that captures the 'uneasiness' of living in Britain. The exhibition features her signature paintings, prints, and cutout figures, alongside a soundscape by Magda Stawarska, designed to evoke ambiguous encounters and the gap between a question and an answer. Himid describes the pavilion as a reflection of Britain's everyday pleasantness undercut by a persistent sense of otherness, drawing on her own experience as an East African brought up by English women.

The Best and Worst of the Stars at the 2026 Met Gala Inspired by Art History

Le meilleur et le pire des stars au Met Gala 2026 inspiré par l’histoire de l’art

On May 4, 2026, the Met Gala brought together 450 guests at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York under the theme "Fashion is Art," tied to the exhibition "Costume Art." Attendees were asked to draw inspiration from specific artworks, resulting in standout looks: Madonna channeled Leonora Carrington's "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" (1945) in a Saint Laurent gown, Kim Kardashian wore a custom piece by Allen Jones extending his "Cover Story 4/4" (2021), Hunter Schafer embodied Gustav Klimt's portrait "Mäda Primavesi" (1912-1913) in Prada, and Tessa Thompson referenced Yves Klein's "Anthropométries" in Valentino. Gracie Abrams also paid homage to Klimt's "The Kiss."

Niklaus Stoecklin at Hauser & Wirth, Basel

Hauser & Wirth Basel is presenting a focused exhibition of works by Swiss artist Niklaus Stoecklin (1896–1982), featuring paintings and drawings spanning from the 1920s to the 1970s. The show includes several rarely seen pieces, highlighting Stoecklin's distinctive approach to depicting life—people, animals, trees, stones, and space—as he described it.

Our pick of the best pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale

The article highlights standout national pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale. The Belarus Pavilion features a powerful installation by the Belarus Free Theatre, including a wheat field built by former political prisoners, straw spiders made from prison bars, and a confession booth that runs facial recognition. The Brazil Pavilion presents a joint exhibition by Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão, focusing on colonial wounds and trauma through works like Paulino's 'Aracnes' and Varejão's 'Still Life amid Ruin'. The Bosnian Pavilion by Mladen Bundalo invites tactile engagement with themes of diaspora and migration, while the Austrian Pavilion by Florentina Holzinger draws attention with nude performers in water-filled pools.

At the Venice Biennale, Koyo Kouoh’s ‘In Minor Keys’ Looks Deeply at Lush Gardens and a Scarred Earth

Koyo Kouoh's exhibition 'In Minor Keys' at the 2026 Venice Biennale centers on the practices of two deceased artists, Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan, whose ways of thinking animate the show through dedicated 'Shrines' in the Central Pavilion. The exhibition also draws on Marcel Duchamp's legacy, featuring works by over a dozen contemporary artists including Akinbode Akinbiyi, Guadalupe Rosales, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Guadalupe Maravilla, Sofía Gallisá Muriente, and Avi Mograbi, whose installation 'Between a River and a Sea' contrasts pre-1948 business directories with a 2023 Gaza Yellow Pages. A section called 'The Schools' highlights artist-run spaces such as Denniston Hill, Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation, blaxTARLINES, and the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute.

Alma Allen’s US Pavilion Is One of the Emptiest Shows at the Venice Biennale

Alma Allen represents the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a subdued, apolitical exhibition inside the US Pavilion. The show features roughly 25 sculptures—mostly in bronze, wood, and stone—many titled "Not Yet Titled," and deliberately avoids overt political messaging. This marks a stark departure from the previous two US pavilions, curated by Simone Leigh (2022) and Jeffrey Gibson (2024), which directly confronted colonialism and empire. The Trump administration’s call for proposals explicitly asked for work that "reflects and promotes American values," and Allen’s presentation has been criticized as safe, unremarkable, and lacking the incisive edge of contemporary American art.

Muscle memory: Natasha Tontey’s wild Venice installation explodes perceptions of Indonesian history

Natasha Tontey's new installation "The Phantom Combatants" at the Ateneo Veneto in Venice reimagines the story of Len Karamoy, a woman who was part of the CIA-funded Permesta resistance movement in North Sulawesi, Indonesia (1957-1961). The 22-minute film, commissioned by the LAS foundation and Amos Rex, features absurdly muscular mutant warriors and draws on Indigenous belief systems, video games, Indonesian soap operas, and B-movie aesthetics to explore themes of autonomy, resistance, and historical perspective.

New Zealand's Venice Biennale pavilion explores the secret life of birds

New Zealand returns to the Venice Biennale in 2025 with Fiona Pardington’s solo exhibition *Taharaki Skyside* at the Istituto Provinciale per l’Infanzia Santa Maria della Pietà. The show features 17 large-scale photographic portraits of taxidermied birds from the South Canterbury Museum Timaru’s collection, including the extinct whēkau (laughing owl) and the critically endangered kākāpō. Pardington, an artist of Māori and Scottish descent, draws on Māori cosmology in which birds serve as spiritual messengers, and her work continues a long-standing photographic investigation of objects that hold “mana” (power) for Māori people.

Woody De Othello Celebrates First Major Solo Public Exhibition in New York with Public Art Fund

Woody De Othello's first major solo public exhibition in New York, titled "Guardian Spirit," has opened at Brooklyn Bridge Park, presented by Public Art Fund. The exhibition features monumental redwood totems standing 20 to 22 feet tall, carved with chainsaws and grinders, alongside bronze sculptures created between 2021 and 2025. The works explore themes of ritual, spirituality, and the elemental forces of wind and water, drawing inspiration from nkisi, ritual objects from Western and Central Africa. The exhibition runs from May 5, 2026, to March 8, 2027, with sculptures installed at Pier 1 and the Manhattan Bridge View.

What you want from your body? Antony Gormley, iron and crawling

British sculptor Antony Gormley discusses his solo exhibition "What Holds Us" at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, on view from 9 May to 13 September 2026. The show transforms the gallery's former cinema-theatre into an interactive environment where visitors are invited to crawl through massive cardboard bodies, exploring interior spaces and shifting from passive spectatorship to bodily engagement. Gormley explains that the title connects "hold" and "whole," suggesting that being held—by the ground, the womb, or the body—is essential for growth and wholeness.

Gladstone now represent The Estate of Anna Zemánková

Gladstone Gallery has announced its representation of The Estate of Anna Zemánková, a self-taught Czech artist known for her influential abstract works that explore psychological and spiritual realms. The gallery will collaborate with Cavin-Morris Gallery and plans to present a solo booth of Zemánková's work at TEFAF New York from May 14–19, 2026, following a spring 2025 exhibition in New York featuring her botanical drawings and works on paper. Zemánková, a key figure in Art Brut, created untitled, biomorphic works rooted in the subconscious, often compared to artists like Kunz and Hilma af Klint.

In Protest of Israeli Pavilion, Activists and Unions Plan Strike on Venice Biennale’s Opening Day

The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) has announced a 24-hour strike and rally on May 8, the day before the 2026 Venice Biennale opens to the public, in protest of the Israeli Pavilion. ANGA, formed in opposition to Israel's inclusion in the 2024 Biennale, refers to the current Israeli presentation—featuring Haifa-based artist Belu-Simion Fainaru—as the "Genocide Pavilion." Over 200 artists, curators, and culture workers have signed an open letter demanding Israel's exclusion, and a separate action called Solidarity Drone Chorus involved 60 artists. ANGA is collaborating with local labor and culture organizations including Biennalocene, Vogliamo Tutt'altro, S.a.L.E. Docks, and Mi Riconosci.

How Fatinha Ramos Channels ‘Visual Activism’ in Her Richly Layered Illustrations

Fatinha Ramos, a Portuguese artist and illustrator based in Antwerp, describes her work as 'visual activism,' creating richly layered illustrations that give voice to minorities and address social issues. She collaborates with major clients including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Tate, Scientific American, the Anne Frank Museum, and MoMA, which commissioned her to illustrate an essay about being compared to Frida Kahlo. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), Ramos spent much of her childhood in hospitals, where drawing became an escape. After 12 years as an art director in advertising and publishing, she now focuses on her own practice, which challenges stereotypes around disability, climate crisis, sexism, and racism. She is currently working on a graphic novel and a series of anatomical glass sculptures based on brittle bone disease.

'I wanted to catch the desperation': Dries Verhoeven on turning the Dutch pavilion into a bunker for the Venice Biennale

Artist Dries Verhoeven has transformed the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale into a bunker-like space by covering its iconic glass-and-steel structure with metal shutters. Inside, visitors experience a gradually darkening environment and a raw vocal performance by 13 rotating performers, intended to evoke desperation and confusion about contemporary global crises. The work critiques the modernist ideals of openness and optimism embodied by the pavilion, designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1953.

The message behind the US pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The article previews the 61st Venice Biennale, opening May 9 and running through November 22, highlighting early controversies. The five-person Golden Lion jury, led by Brazilian curator Solange Farkas, resigned after declaring they would not consider pavilions from countries under International Criminal Court investigation, targeting the Israel pavilion and its artist Belu-Simion Fainaru. Separately, the US pavilion has drawn scrutiny from the New York Times over its selection process, with commissioner Jenni Parido (a former pet food store owner) tapping curator Jeffrey Uslip and sculptor Alma Allen, bypassing traditional funders like the Ford and Mellon foundations.

Maine art museums overflow with summer exhibits

Maine's art museums are presenting a packed summer season with numerous exhibitions, including the collaborative show "By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth" organized by the Colby College Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum, and Brandywine Museum, which explores the design influence of Andrew Wyeth's wife. Other highlights include the largest survey of Carl Spinchorn at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and Bates College, "Shadow of the Eagle" at the Abbe Museum examining Native American perspectives on the Revolutionary War, and retrospectives of Phyllis Graber Jensen and Spindleworks Art Center at Bates College and Bowdoin College respectively. The Center for Maine Contemporary Art features new abstract sculptures by Bianca Beck, while Colby Museum also presents "Imagining an Archipelago" focusing on art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and their diasporas.

Cecilia Vicuña: Minga for the Sea

Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo presents 'Minga for the Sea,' a major new commission by Chilean artist, poet, and activist Cecilia Vicuña, running from May 29 to August 9, 2026. This is Vicuña's first major presentation in Scandinavia, featuring two large horizontal quipus made from locally sourced raw wool, one dedicated to the Southern Hemisphere/Chile and the other to the Northern Hemisphere/Sápmi. The quipus incorporate contributions from Indigenous and environmental defenders, including poems, drawings, and videos, forming a polyphonic archive of cultural resistance against destructive resource extraction and pollution of marine environments.

Tuguldur Yondonjamts’s Animalistic Realm

Mongolian artist Tuguldur Yondonjamts explores the habitat of the saker falcon through a series of accordion-style books titled *The Secret Mountain of Falcons* (2011–14), created during fieldwork across Mongolia. The drawings, presented in Perspex vitrines at his solo exhibition *Wolf Loving Princess* at Gallery Ver in Bangkok, depict the falcon's perspective as imagined by the artist, blending black-and-white film-like imagery with abstract textures. The work responds to the falcon trade, particularly to the Middle East, and the species' declining population, which led to its designation as Mongolia's national bird in 2012.

Performance, gioco, rischio. Il grande Paul McCarthy è in mostra a Madrid: l’intervista

Paul McCarthy's latest exhibition, titled "A&E," is on view at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid, part of the SOLO CONTEMPORARY initiative founded by a Spanish collector couple. The show features large-scale works on paper and videos created in collaboration with German actress Lilith Stangenberg, exploring role-play, performance, and the blurred lines between art and entertainment. The acronym "A&E" alludes to historical pairs like Adam and Eve or Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as well as "Arts & Entertainment." The works stem from private encounters between McCarthy and Stangenberg, with drawings serving as storyboards for videos that capture their improvisational, trance-like interactions.

Quelques œuvres choisies au gré des 6 salles d’exposition

The article presents a thematic tour through six exhibition rooms dedicated to still life painting, focusing on works by Giorgio Morandi and Pablo Picasso. Each room explores a different conceptual angle: the grammar of objects in Morandi's metaphysical still lifes, the poetic dimension of Picasso's cubist compositions, contemporary vanitas motifs, the anti-Albertian nature of the genre, the interplay of presence and erasure, and the dislocation of form in Morandi's etchings. The exhibition draws on art historical references from Norman Bryson and Cesare Brandi to frame the evolution of still life from tradition to radical abstraction.

Quatre Moreau le Jeune pour Versailles

The French state has preempted four drawings by Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune at a Christie's Paris auction, securing them for the Palace of Versailles. The works, sold in two lots, depict the festivities in Paris following the birth of the Dauphin Louis Joseph in autumn 1781, including the arrival of the Queen at the Hôtel de Ville and a fireworks display. The drawings were commissioned by the City of Paris and were intended to be engraved, marking a high point of public commissions under the ancien régime. The preemption was made possible through the support of the Friends of the Louvre, echoing a similar acquisition of Hubert Robert works from the same Veil-Picard sale.

The Bahamian Pavilion Brings Junkanoo to Venice in a Biennale Standout

After a thirteen-year hiatus, the Bahamian Pavilion has returned to the Venice Biennale with an exhibition titled "In Another Man's Yard," featuring the late master John Beadle and his former student Lavar Munroe. The pavilion, housed in the San Trovaso Art Space in Dorsoduro, centers on Junkanoo—the vibrant, crepe-costumed procession that is a defining cultural tradition of the Bahamas. Munroe's large-scale sculptural works incorporate strips of discarded Junkanoo costumes, while paintings and installations commemorate Beadle, who died in 2024. The presentation was revived with support from Baha Mar, a resort company, after government funding was withdrawn in 2014.

Pussy Riot and FEMEN Join Forces in Punk Protest in Venice: ‘Russia Kills! Biennale Exhibits!’

On Wednesday morning, Pussy Riot and FEMEN led a protest outside the Russian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, chanting slogans like “Russia kills! Biennale exhibits!” and “Blood is Russia’s art!” Dozens of protesters, some in pink balaclavas and others bare-chested with floral crowns, gathered in the Giardini under light rain, carrying guitars and blasting punk rock and hip-hop. The action was organized by Nadya Tolokonnikova and other Pussy Riot members alongside FEMEN, a Ukrainian-founded women’s movement. They released pink, yellow, and blue smoke, and Tolokonnikova criticized the Biennale for allowing Russian participation while artists who oppose the war in Ukraine are imprisoned. She proposed an alternative exhibition, “Resistance Imprisoned,” currently on view in Strasbourg, featuring incarcerated artists.

Pussy Riot and Topless Activists Rally Against Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale

On May 6, 2026, the art collective Pussy Riot and the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN staged a protest outside the Russian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Approximately 50 activists released pink smoke and blue-and-yellow flares evoking the Ukrainian flag, while FEMEN members staged a topless protest with anti-war slogans like “RUSSIA KILLS, BIENNALE EXHIBITS.” Italian police and Biennale security blocked access to the pavilion, and some Pussy Riot activists were tackled after entering. The protest targeted Russia’s participation in the Biennale for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with activists condemning the event for lending legitimacy to Russian officials and artists aligned with the government.

Verdy 'I Believe in Me' Exhibition at LOTTE Museum of Art Seoul

Osaka-born graphic artist VERDY will debut his first solo museum exhibition, 'I Believe in Me,' at the LOTTE Museum of Art in Seoul from April 24 to July 19, 2026. The show features over 250 works, including crayon drawings, large-scale sculptures, and neon installations, exploring his signature aesthetic rooted in punk, skateboarding, and Japan's '90s Urahara scene. Divided into four sections, the exhibition traces the evolution of his characters and typography from graphic design into immersive physical forms, with highlights including the recurring character Vick and pandemic-era figure Visty.

The Greenport Group: Vintage art at Floyd Memorial Library’s new exhibition

The Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, New York, has opened a new exhibition titled "Stow Wengenroth + The Flacks: The Greenport Group," featuring works by lithographer Stow Wengenroth, his wife Edith Flack Ackley, and her sister Marjorie Flack. The show includes Wengenroth's lithographs, watercolors, and drawings, alongside Ackley's handmade dolls and books, and Flack's children's books, many on loan from the private collection of Joanna Lane. The exhibition opened on April 24 and highlights the artistic legacy of these former Greenport residents.

'You paint too pretty' exhibit continues at Saint Mary's College

An exhibition titled "You Paint Too Pretty – My Art Journey" by Saint Mary's College alumna Mary Ann Roach Butkovich is on display at the Moreau Gallery on the college's campus in South Bend from April 23 to June 6, 2026. Butkovich, who graduated from Saint Mary's College in 1964 with a degree in art, has furthered her studies at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati, and her work has been shown at venues including the Cincinnati Art Museum and The Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. She draws inspiration from nature, music, and personal experiences, and admires artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Paul Jenkins, and Morris Louis. A closing in-gallery talk is scheduled for June 6.

Blank Spaces. Sung Tieu by Sarah Johanna Theurer

Sung Tieu's installations, characterized by austere, bureaucratic surfaces, explore the hidden architectures of power embedded in everyday systems. The article examines her series of works that deconstruct administrative forms used in asylum procedures, reducing them to blank spaces and quantified grids to expose how institutional power operates through seemingly neutral documents. Her exhibition "In Cold Print" at Nottingham Contemporary physically manifests these themes by using steel fences to control viewer movement, drawing direct parallels between minimalist sculpture and the dehumanizing design of border controls.

Venice Biennale opening marked by protests

The 2026 Venice Biennale opened for professionals on Tuesday amid a series of protests, with more planned throughout the week. Around 60 artists from the exhibition "In Minor Keys" gathered at the Giardini for a collective action called "Solidarity Drone Chorus," inspired by Gazan composer Ahmed Muin's "Drone Song," to draw attention to genocide and war in Palestine. The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) organized a 24-hour strike for Friday 8 May, protesting Israel's participation. Pussy Riot staged a protest outside the Russian pavilion, and the Latvian pavilion launched a campaign against Russia's involvement. The protests follow a highly politicized lead-up, including calls for boycotts of the Russian, Israeli, and US pavilions, EU funding cuts over Russia's participation, and the resignation of the Biennale jury.

Venice Biennale Swamped in Protests Ahead of Planned Strike

The Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) has announced a 24-hour strike for Friday, May 8, coinciding with previews of the 2026 Venice Biennale, alongside a protest rally organized by local group Biennalocene and Italian trade unions. Earlier this week, sixty artists staged a sonic protest at the Giardini entrance to draw attention to the plight of those affected by genocide and war in Palestine and elsewhere. The Latvian pavilion has also encouraged attendees to wear a design by artist Krišs Salmanis reading “Death in Venice – Russia go home!” Meanwhile, dissident artists Pussy Riot stormed the Russian pavilion waving Ukrainian flags, and the entire 2026 Biennale jury resigned after the decision to exclude countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court from competing for top prizes.