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Several international curators and museum directors, including Connie Butler of MoMA PS1, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Julieta Gonzalez of the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Madeleine Grynsztejn of MCA Chicago, selected artworks that they believe define 2025. Highlights include Ayoung Kim's video installation 'Delivery Dancer’s Arc: 0º Receiver' (2024), Beeple's 'Regular Animals' premiered at Art Basel Miami Beach, and Kerry James Marshall's painting 'Haul' (2025) from his retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts. Julieta Gonzalez also pointed to a broader constellation of practices emphasizing collectivity, ecological thinking, and Indigenous cosmologies rather than a single emblematic work.

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A massive fire ripped through a 19th-century warehouse at 481 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, destroying artist studios and artworks. Over 200 firefighters battled the blaze, which was still smoldering by Friday. Artist Rebecca Spivack, who had worked in a third-floor studio since 2009, expressed long-held fears about fire risk in the aging buildings. Meanwhile, the Nivaagaard Collection, a small museum in rural Denmark, acquired Artemisia Gentileschi's monumental painting "Susanna and the Elders" amid stiff international competition, marking a major coup for the institution. In other news, Ai Weiwei accused Die Zeit of censoring his article, Florida's removal of street art continues to stir controversy, Thaddaeus Ropac opened a new Milan gallery, and the world's oldest synagogue paintings in Syria were confirmed safe. The Vagina Museum in London stopped shipping to the US due to Trump's trade tariffs.

20 Must-See Monographic Museum Exhibitions Feature Artists Allan Rohan Crite, Wifredo Lam, Suzanne Jackson, Woody De Othello, Theaster Gates & More

Fall 2025 brings a wave of major monographic museum exhibitions worldwide, featuring artists such as Allan Rohan Crite, Wifredo Lam, Suzanne Jackson, Woody De Othello, and Theaster Gates. Highlights include the first mainstream museum shows for Crite in his hometown of Boston, the first solo museum exhibition for Gates in Chicago, and the first U.S. retrospective for Lam at MoMA. Other notable shows include surveys of Robert Colescott, Coco Fusco, Richard Hunt, Jacob Lawrence, and Cauleen Smith, spanning institutions from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town.

The 2025 Fall Arts Preview: Our picks in Art + Design

The 2025 Fall Arts Preview highlights a vibrant season in Atlanta, featuring the return of the Atlanta Art Fair (AAF) at Pullman Yards from September 25–28 with over 60 exhibitors, including local and international galleries. Key programming includes a curatorial presentation by Melissa Messina with abstract artists Krista Clark, Sonya Yong James, and Vadis Turner honoring Mildred Thompson. Additionally, the Hammonds House Museum and National Black Arts Festival present "Black Zeitgeist: Atlanta" through December 14, exploring the city's Black art legacy, while the revived art amusement park "Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy" opens at Pullman Yards on September 24.

Contemporary US Art is Sick with Problems

"Die zeitgenössische US-Kunst ist von Problemen krank"

Artist Josh Kline has sparked a heated debate with a scathing critique of the American art scene, particularly targeting New York City as an unsustainable hub driven by market logic and inequality. Kline argues that contemporary art is "sick with problems" and urges young artists to abandon the city, calling for a shift from institutional critique to a broader industry-wide analysis of class and power. Meanwhile, the German art world sees significant movement with the upcoming auction of Georg Kolbe’s "Tänzerinnen-Brunnen" following a Nazi-looted art settlement, and the Berlin State Museums announcing a phased reopening of the Pergamon Altar starting in 2027.

Still Thinking About the Fall 2026 Runways? Here Are 8 Can’t-Miss NYC Exhibits to Dress Up and See This April

New York City’s April art calendar features a diverse array of major institutional shows and gallery exhibitions, ranging from Italian Renaissance masters to contemporary experimental collectives. Highlights include a massive Raphael retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first major U.S. museum exhibition for Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck, and the 82nd edition of the Whitney Biennial featuring 56 multidisciplinary artists.

Magnum Photos agency’s first exhibition, lost for a half-century, to make its North American debut

The Image Centre in downtown Toronto will stage the North American debut of Magnum Photos' first-ever exhibition, originally titled 'Gesicht der Zeit' (Face of Time) and shown in Austria in 1955-56. The show, lost for half a century, was rediscovered in 2006 in the basement of the Institut Français in Innsbruck, Austria, along with its original poster and hanging instructions. It features 83 original gelatin-silver prints by legendary Magnum photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Inge Morath, Ernst Haas, and Marc Riboud. The exhibition will run concurrently with 'Chim’s Children of Europe,' a show devoted to Magnum co-founder David 'Chim' Seymour's 1949 Unesco project on postwar European children.

What We Loved (And Didn’t) in “Greater New York”

The article presents a critical review of the 2026 "Greater New York" exhibition at MoMA PS1, a massive survey featuring over 150 works by more than 50 artists. The Hyperallergic editorial team highlights specific artists and works they loved, disliked, or found puzzling, offering a curated list of around 20 standout pieces. The review includes detailed commentary on individual works by artists like Dean Millien, the collective Red Canary Song, and Kameron Neal, capturing the diverse and often contentious reactions the show provokes.

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Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has accused the German newspaper Die Zeit of publishing a “distorted and unjust” article about him, following an earlier incident in which he claims the paper censored an article it commissioned him to write. In a series of posts on X, Ai detailed how Die Zeit’s magazine, Zeit Magazin, invited him to write a piece in July, then revised and ultimately refused to publish it—an act he calls censorship. He later agreed to an interview with Die Zeit journalist Olivia Kortas in Kyiv, where he had just unveiled a large-scale installation at Pavilion 13 responding to armed conflict. Ai alleges that Kortas had not seen the exhibition and that her published article, titled “The Annoyance,” contained distortions and subjective judgments, particularly regarding his statements on arms deliveries to Ukraine.

“State Fairs: Growing American Craft” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery Explores the Stories of Craft Artists at the Fairgrounds

The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery will present 'State Fairs: Growing American Craft,' the first exhibition dedicated to artists' contributions to U.S. state fairs, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 7, 2026. Featuring over 240 artworks dating from the mid-19th century to the present, the show includes spectacles such as Big Tex's size 96 boots, a life-size butter cow by Iowa State Fair sculptor Sarah Pratt, and a pyramid of preserved fruits by canning champion Rod Zeitler. The exhibition is the result of five years of research involving visits to 15 state fairs, collaborations with artists in five states, and contributions from 43 states and tribal nations.

Museum acquisitions round-up: a 17ft sculpture by Anselm Kiefer, a $1.7m dinosaur skull, and a 17th-century genre painting

Three major museums have announced significant new acquisitions for their permanent collections. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem received a monumental 2014 sculpture by Anselm Kiefer, titled *Die Erdzeitalter (Ages of the World)*, donated by collector Martin Z. Margulies. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., acquired a $1.7 million Pachycephalosaurus dinosaur skull, donated by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy. Meanwhile, the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem purchased an early 16th-century genre painting by Maarten van Heemskerck.

Palestinian Museum seeks new ways to reach audiences as crisis escalates

The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, West Bank, is adapting its operations amid the ongoing war in Gaza and escalating violence across occupied territories. Director General Amer Shomali, who began his role on October 8, 2023, describes how the museum has shifted focus to research, digital access, and international partnerships while protecting its collection. The museum closed for four months from October 2023 to February 2024, and has since moved artworks to safer locations, including keeping paintings exhibited in Europe abroad. It mounted a bold exhibition, "This is Not an Exhibition," featuring 335 works by 122 Gazan artists, at least five of whom have been killed, and collaborated on "Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine" at the V&A Dundee in Scotland.

Masha Foya’s Airy Illustrations Embrace the Universality of Emotions

Kyiv-based illustrator Masha Foya has released a new series of dreamlike works that blend human emotion with the natural world. Her illustrations often feature surreal architectural and organic elements, such as foliage tunnels forming into hands or planes flying through bird-shaped apertures, to represent the boundlessness of the human imagination. The collection includes a mix of personal explorations and high-profile commissions for international publications.

An Era Ends When the Illusions Underlying It Are Exhausted

"Eine Ära endet, wenn die ihr zugrunde liegenden Illusionen erschöpft sind"

A media roundup covers several art world stories. The Art Newspaper reports that the ongoing Middle East conflict is unsettling the Gulf art market, causing fair postponements and shaking Dubai's image as a stable luxury hub, though galleries emphasize they continue to work. Meanwhile, the search for a new director for Germany's Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz continues after a protracted legal battle, with applications open until May 31. The New Yorker presents a reading of Johannes Vermeer's quiet scenes as fragile refuges from a violent historical context, while the Berliner Zeitung critiques the global commercialization of Frida Kahlo into a licensed brand.

Artist Kasper Eistrup Maps the Human Condition on Canvas

Danish artist Kasper Eistrup (b. 1973) presents his first solo exhibition in Germany, titled "Bridges Over Magma," at Galerie Schimming in Hamburg. The show features a new body of work created during a recent artist-in-residence program in Hamburg, where Eistrup drew inspiration from the city's famous bridges and his ongoing exploration of painting and drawing. The compositions blend meticulously rendered figures with architecture, flora, fauna, handwritten text, and abstract textures, exploring themes of human connection and resilience.

'A Swimming Soul' at Whitestone Gallery, Seoul, South Korea on 18 Apr–24 May 2026

Whitestone Gallery Seoul is hosting "A Swimming Soul," a group exhibition featuring emerging artists Lee Juyoung, Kisho Kakutani, and Yudai Takeuchi. Running from April 18 to May 24, 2026, the show utilizes the metaphor of a swimming fish to explore themes of youth, uncertainty, and the drifting nature of modern existence. Each artist presents a unique visual language to address the ambiguity of reality, from Lee’s blurred urban reflections and Kakutani’s obstructive "noise" layers to Takeuchi’s exploration of the liminal space between consciousness and sleep.

The Global Influence of Contemporary African Art

Contemporary African art has transitioned from a niche regional interest to a central pillar of the global art market and institutional landscape. Artists such as El Anatsui, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and William Kentridge are leading this shift, utilizing diverse media to address universal themes of identity, colonialism, and technology while maintaining deep local roots.

In Minor Keys and legacies held in common

The article reflects on the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh, who passed away on 10 May 2025 at age 57 after a cancer diagnosis. Her curatorial concept, "In Minor Keys," will be realized posthumously by her team. The Biennale preview opens on 6 May 2026, with the public opening on 9 May. Additionally, artist Henrike Naumann, selected for the German Pavilion, died on 14 February 2025 at age 41, also from cancer; her work will be shown in her name.

Jamestown Arts Center opens solo exhibition by François Poisson this spring

The Jamestown Arts Center is set to host "In the Zeitgeist," a solo exhibition by Maine-based artist François Poisson running from April 10 through June 13. The showcase spans a decade of Poisson’s multidisciplinary work, featuring signature series such as his "Bunny Cars" sculptures and "Exhaust Sticks" that explore themes of national identity, political upheaval, and the American ethos. The exhibition will open alongside "NEXT," a group show dedicated to emerging local talent.

Art exhibition in Daegu shut down over satire of ex-President Yoon

An art exhibition in Daegu, South Korea, was shut down after featuring works by artist Hong Sung-dam that satirize former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The exhibition, titled "Art for the Future: Daegu, Art, Answer the Zeitgeist," was held at the district-run Bongsan Cultural Center and organized by the Daekyung Art Research Institute. Three paintings—"Donghak-uiguk," "Ddong-gwang," and "Pal-gwang"—depicted Yoon in provocative contexts, including nudity and references to political controversies such as the doctors' strike and his wife Kim Keon Hee. On the first day, the center requested removal of the works; after the institute refused, the center required artists to sign a liability pledge. Ultimately, Ryu Kyu Ha, head of Daegu's Jung-gu District Office, ordered the exhibition hall closed, citing regulations against political works. Two other galleries remain open with about 50 works by 19 artists.

Column | 9 fascinating art shows to see this fall

Columnist Sebastian Smee highlights nine art exhibitions opening this fall, noting that museum curators plan major shows two to five years in advance, and the cultural mood can shift dramatically between conception and execution. The article reflects on how exhibitions that once felt timely may now feel dissonant or precarious upon opening.

Fellowship Open Call – Shaping Africa’s Curatorial Futures

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) have launched an open call for their fully funded 2027 Museum Fellowship Programme. The year-long initiative offers emerging African art professionals a combination of practical museum training and postgraduate academic study, aiming to develop the next generation of curators, researchers, and arts professionals on the continent.

New art exhibition to open at BankOnArt Gallery

BankOnArt Gallery is launching a new exhibition titled "The Future of Finance," featuring works by contemporary artists who explore the intersection of art, technology, and the financial world. The show includes digital installations, paintings, and sculptures that critique and reimagine concepts like cryptocurrency, market data, and economic inequality.