Pedro Friedeberg, the Mexico-based artist and designer famed for his iconic Mano Silla (Hand Chair) created in 1962, has died at age 90. A key figure in 20th-century Mexican art, his singular work blended intricate, fantastical architecture with ornament and irony, creating a unique visual universe that defied easy categorization within movements like Surrealism or geometric abstraction.
The V&A East Museum is set to open in Stratford, London, marking a significant milestone for the East Bank cultural quarter. This £135m project joins the V&A East Storehouse and other major institutions in a transformed area of East London, aiming to attract younger and more diverse audiences through accessible art and design collections.
The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA) has inaugurated its new, expanded facility on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan University. The opening is anchored by a major solo exhibition titled "The Pursuit of Happiness" by acclaimed contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney, alongside a group show, "Seamless: Art and Design." Abney’s exhibition features her signature large-scale, vibrant, and emoji-inspired works that explore the complexities of the American Dream, identity, and power structures through a lens of both visual seduction and narrative ambiguity.
Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts has officially appointed Kate McNamara as its John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Director. McNamara, who had been serving in the role on an interim basis since last year, is the founder of the experimental art space ODD-KIN and has held leadership positions at Providence College Galleries, Otis College of Art and Design, and Boston University Art Galleries.
The City of Santa Monica has officially opened the Santa Monica City Gallery, its first municipal art space, located within the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The gallery launched with the inaugural exhibition "Case Study: Adapt," which showcases architectural models designed by students and professional firms to address housing needs for families displaced by the 2025 California wildfires. The venue is designed to host a rotating schedule of exhibitions, artist residencies, and selections from the city’s permanent Art Bank collection.
Ad aprile inaugura il nuovo museo del Victoria&Albert. Ancora una volta nell’East London
The Victoria & Albert Museum has announced the official opening date for the V&A East Museum, a new five-story cultural landmark in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Designed by architects O’Donnell + Tuomey, the museum will debut on April 18, 2026, featuring two permanent galleries titled "Why We Make" that showcase over 500 objects ranging from Renaissance paintings to contemporary fashion by Vivienne Westwood. The entrance will be anchored by a monumental bronze sculpture by Thomas J Price, marking the start of a robust contemporary commission program.
New Orleans Auction Galleries has announced its upcoming Fine Art and Design sale, featuring 279 lots that span over a century of modern and contemporary art. The auction highlights a diverse range of works, including pieces by Mexican modernist José Clemente Orozco, Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Southern Regionalist John McCrady. The selection focuses on themes of identity, social consciousness, and the intersection of text and visual media.
Musician Jack White will debut his first major solo art exhibition, "The Problem of Color," at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London this May. The exhibition will feature over 40 works, including paintings, sculpture, and furniture, primarily in a monochromatic palette, exploring themes of constraint and creativity. This marks a significant public foray into the visual arts for the former White Stripes frontman, who has long engaged with art and design through his music projects and Third Man Records.
Art historian Charlotte Gere has died at the age of 88. A specialist in 19th-century art and design, she was the author of seminal works like 'Victorian Jewellery Design' and played a key role in rediscovering the lost jewels of architect William Burges, turning her research into compelling detective stories.
Ashland University is set to host its annual Senior Art and Design Exhibition at the Coburn Gallery, running from April 9 through May 9, 2026. The showcase features the capstone projects of graduating seniors and kicks off with an opening reception where student awards will be officially announced.
Milwaukee’s art scene is celebrating its seasonal renewal with Spring Gallery Night MKE, a city-wide event featuring over 60 participating galleries across neighborhoods like the Third Ward and Walker’s Point. The weekend-long program highlights diverse local talent through curated exhibitions, including Var Gallery’s "30x30x30" creative marathon, a Surrealist-inspired group show at Portrait Society Gallery, and the expansive MIAD Senior Exhibition featuring over 200 graduating students.
Chris Mullen, a distinguished educator and historian of art and design, has died at the age of 81. Throughout a career spanning over three decades at the Norwich School of Art and the University of Brighton, Mullen became a pivotal figure in integrating contextual studies with studio practice. He was renowned for his vast personal archive of printed ephemera and his digital project, "The Visual Telling of Stories," which served as a vital resource for generations of students and researchers.
New Orleans Auction Galleries has announced its Spring Fine Art and Design sale, scheduled for April 23, 2026. The auction will feature 279 lots spanning over a century of artistic production, highlighted by significant works from Mexican modernist José Clemente Orozco, Abstract Expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Southern Regionalist John McCrady. The collection explores diverse themes ranging from the metaphysical to social and political commentary through painting, sculpture, and mixed media.
The New School announced plans to lay off 15% of its full-time faculty and staff by mid-June, a move driven by a projected $48 million deficit and a 20% enrollment decline since 2021. The cuts are part of a broader workforce reduction strategy that has already included voluntary buyouts. The restructuring will disproportionately affect the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, which are undergoing major mergers and program discontinuations, while the Parsons School of Design faces fewer cuts.
In questa mostra a Milano lo spettatore può modificare gli spazi. Il grande artista-architetto Gianni Pettena ci spiega perché
Gianni Pettena, a pioneer of the Italian Radical Architecture movement, has unveiled his immersive installation "Paper/Northern Lights" at the BiM urban regeneration project in Milan's Bicocca district. Originally conceived in 1971 as a pedagogical exercise at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the work consists of 49 kilometers of white paper strips hanging from the ceiling. Visitors are invited to physically interact with the installation by cutting through the paper, effectively reshaping the architectural environment and challenging traditional notions of fixed space and authorship.
Sanat Art Gallery in Karachi has launched "Held in Motion," a group exhibition featuring emerging artists Behzad Ahmed Warsi, Laiba Abid, Ronaque Ali, and Shahzad Baloch. The showcase utilizes diverse mediums, including oil on canvas and watercolor, to explore themes of human identity, social fluidity, and the preservation of memory. From Abid’s blurred portraits of the multifaceted self to Ali’s nostalgic documentation of disappearing rural traditions, the collection emphasizes the subjective nature of the human experience.
The Guardian's picture editors curated a selection of global photographs for Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The images include a Holy Week procession by the Trabajo y Luz brotherhood in Granada, Spain; white pelicans at Lake Çavuşçu in Turkey; apricot blossoms in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan; and scenes from California, Lebanon, India, Israel, Ukraine, the West Bank, and France, capturing moments of nature, conflict, displacement, and commemoration.
The Krannert Art Museum is currently hosting the annual Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, showcasing the thesis work of eight graduate students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Art & Design. The exhibition features a diverse range of media, including sculptural 3D collages by Samantha Jones that critique the hypersexualization of Black girlhood, and a mixed-media experimental classroom by Anthony Obayomi that explores social justice and educational metrics. Other works, such as Emily Tomlinson’s text-based drawings, highlight themes of cataloging and observational study.
Graduating seniors from Northern Michigan University’s School of Art and Design are showcasing their capstone projects at the DeVos Art Museum in Marquette. The exhibition features work from 20 students across diverse disciplines, including ceramics, illustration, painting, and digital cinema, culminating in a reception and awards ceremony on May 1.
Munson is hosting two juried exhibitions at the Pratt Munson College of Art and Design to showcase the work of its first-year and sophomore students. The First-Year Exhibition, running from April 10 to May 6, highlights foundational skills and interdisciplinary research, while the Sophomore Exhibition, held from April 17 to May 16, features more specialized work across various media. A public reception for both shows is scheduled for April 25 in the Museum’s Root Court.
Artist Hu Yuehua presented a large-scale textile installation titled "Weaving Nature" at the 13th edition of Design Shanghai. The work is a dense, wall-like garden composed of stitched and dyed cotton and linen elements in indigo and ochre, forming leaves, blooms, and growths that highlight the artist's hand through loose threads, raw edges, and pleats.
A new exhibition titled 'Give Me a Ring: A Telephone Retrospective' has opened at the San Francisco Airport Museum. The show explores the history, design, and cultural impact of the telephone through a collection of artifacts and artworks.
Designboom has published its monthly 'Radar' feature, highlighting a curated selection of notable art and design exhibitions opening globally in April. The list serves as an international guide for enthusiasts and professionals, spanning various museums, galleries, and cultural institutions.
This article is a weekly entertainment guide from The Guardian, covering cinema, gigs, art, stage, streaming, games, albums, and brain food. In the art section, it highlights two exhibitions: "Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today" at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, featuring artists like Henri Rousseau and Lubaina Himid; and a show of South African photographer George Hallett's work at the John Lennon School of Art and Design in Liverpool, documenting black resistance in 1970s Britain. It also mentions an open house for Lonnie Holley's new works at Edel Assanti gallery in London.
The 2026 DART Senior Thesis Show is on display at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery through August 30, featuring capstone projects from four graduating digital art and design majors. The exhibition includes Ty Eggers' children's book "A Monster Under My Bed!" about OCD, Elaina Marburger's series "Psyche of the Mortal Body," and Mason Sterken's sports-media-inspired video and poster project "UNO!" alongside other works in illustration, motion design, and digital painting.
The Judd Foundation has appointed Alexandra Cunningham Cameron as its first director of design, a new role overseeing Donald Judd Furniture LLC. Cameron, currently a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, will start on April 27, guiding product development, operations, and strategic growth for the foundation's furniture line, which produces over 70 designs based on Donald Judd's original specifications.
Trasformarsi (e trasformare) per sopravvivere. Intervista allo scultore e designer Tadeáš Podracký
Czech sculptor and designer Tadeáš Podracký (b. 1989) presents new works during Milan Design Week 2026, including three carved wooden lamps and sculptures exploring hybridity. The pieces are inspired by the rare Sorbus sudetica tree, a hybrid species that has survived for nearly 20,000 years through asexual reproduction. The exhibition, titled "Before the Shape Appears," is produced by 5 Vie and hosted at Cavallerizze in Via Olona. Podracký's practice bridges fine art and collectible design, using techniques such as carving, waxing, patination, and pigment infusion to create objects that appear to have grown organically.
Amsterdam-based studio Imagination of Things, co-founded by Vitor Freire and Monique Grimord, has launched "Unruly Play," an interactive digital archive featuring 169 artworks, designs, games, and participatory projects. The repository includes notable works such as Rael San Fratello's "Teeter-Totter Wall" and the Wind Phone project, alongside a 12-foot puppet that travels the world. The archive is searchable by theme or through a shuffle feature, aiming to showcase projects that invite surprise, camaraderie, and unexpected encounters with imagination and joy.
Southern Guild, a gallery founded in 2008 by Trevyn and Julian McGowan in Cape Town, South Africa, is opening its first New York City location at 75 Leonard Street in Tribeca on April 24. The gallery, which works with collectible design and contemporary art, will inaugurate the space with two solo exhibitions featuring South African artists Mmangaliso Nzuza and Usha Seejarim. The move follows the transition of its former Los Angeles space and reflects the gallery's expansion from its roots in Cape Town's Silo District, where it operates within a production ecosystem of ceramic studios, bronze foundries, and fabrication workshops.
Harford Community College's Annual Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition will run from May 6-29 at the Dr. James & Lynne LaCalle Chesapeake Gallery in the Chesapeake Welcome Center. An opening reception featuring a juror's talk is scheduled for May 7 from 5-6:30 p.m., followed by the Salon de Refuses in Joppa Hall. This year's guest juror is Matthew Moore, director of education and interpretation at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, who selected the exhibited works from student submissions.