The Victoria & Albert Museum has opened V&A East, a new $180 million outpost in east London designed by architects O'Donnell + Tuomey. Its mission is to engage young and local audiences by presenting over 500 objects from its 2.8 million-strong collection in thematic, non-chronological displays that connect historical artifacts to contemporary issues like identity, social justice, and environmental responsibility.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has announced a new exhibition titled 'Costume Art,' opening to the public on May 10 and running through January 10, 2027. The show inaugurates the Met's nearly 12,000-square-foot expansion adjacent to the Great Hall, providing a permanent home for the Costume Institute's annual spring exhibitions. Featuring nearly 400 objects—half garments and half traditional art like sculpture and painting—the exhibition explores how clothing alters and enhances the human body, dividing 'the body' into 13 types such as 'The Classical Body' and 'The Corpulent Body.' The show includes works from designers like Coco Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Thom Browne, and Alexander McQueen, paired with historical artifacts and contemporary art. The exhibition follows this year's Met Gala, co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, which raised a record $42 million for the Costume Institute.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/header-metropolitan-museum-of-arts-BESTMUSEUM0122-dd77bb687fba4b109deee918ca1e12c1.jpg)
This article from Travel + Leisure lists 27 of the best museums in the world, covering art, history, science, and culture. Featured institutions include the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Vatican Museums, the National Museum of China in Beijing, the National Gallery and Tate Modern in London, the Natural History Museum in London, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and Miraikan in Tokyo. The piece highlights iconic artworks such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Sistine Chapel ceiling, as well as notable architectural features like I.M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open 'Costume Art' in spring 2026, a major exhibition that positions fashion as a lens for examining the human body across cultures and history. Housed in a new 12,000-square-foot gallery adjacent to the Great Hall, the show pairs garments from The Costume Institute with ancient statues, artworks, and paintings, organized around thematic body types such as idealized, distorted, exposed, and reclaimed. The exhibition design by Peterson Rich Office uses sheer scrims and varied ceiling heights to create an immersive, interconnected experience.
The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens is organizing special family tours for its ongoing 'Jeff Koons: Venus Lespugue' exhibition. The tours, scheduled for three Sundays in April, May, and June, are designed for parents and children aged 8-12 and will explore both the Koons exhibition and the museum's permanent collection of Cycladic art.
Belfast's murals, long used as tools of political expression and territorial marking during the Troubles, are gradually changing. Research shows that three-quarters of the most intimidatory murals in the loyalist Shankill area have disappeared since 1998. Newer murals commemorate figures like Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, while non-sectarian artistic murals—including tributes to murdered journalist Lyra McKee—are appearing across the city. However, some paramilitary-linked murals persist, and a 2024 incident saw a wall in north Belfast rebuilt and its threatening imagery repainted, reflecting ongoing tensions and the complex politics of 'conflict transformation' funding.
The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a gallery conversation titled "Life and Death Lessons from Ancient Egypt" on July 20, exploring ancient Egyptian objects and their reflections on mortality and living fully. The event is led by Ashley Arico, associate curator of ancient Egyptian art, and Sam Ramos, director of Gallery Activation, and will take place in Gallery 50 with folding stools provided.
The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, located at 220 Larkin Street, offers a vast collection of both contemporary and ancient art from across Asia, including Japanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian works. The museum features permanent exhibits with artifacts such as a Japanese tea set, Chinese jade, and a notable Buddha sculpture dated to 338 C.E., alongside rotating special exhibitions like Chiharu Shiota's "Two Home Countries," which uses red string installations to explore bicultural identity. The museum also hosts events like Mahjong and Mocktails, film screenings, and talks, with general admission at $14 for students and $20 for adults.
Intervista a Nina Wakeford del Padiglione Svizzero alla Biennale di Venezia 2026
Nina Wakeford, artist and curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, discusses the pavilion's project "The Unfinished Business of Living Together." The exhibition draws on two Swiss television broadcasts from 1978 and 1984—Telearena and Agora—in which gay, lesbian, and trans individuals spoke on national television. Rather than treating these as historical artifacts, Wakeford and her team (Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, and Yul Tomatala) reactivate them as points of tension, creating a multimedia environment that explores unresolved issues of coexistence, visibility, and social difference.
Archaeologists in Mexico discovered 16 pre-Hispanic paintings and petroglyphs along the planned route of a high-speed passenger train connecting Mexico City to Querétaro. The discovery, made in the state of Hidalgo, includes rock art dating from 4,000 years ago to the Postclassic period (900-1521 CE), with imagery linked to Aztec deities and the Toltec city of Tula. In response, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the $8 billion train project will be rerouted to preserve the ancient site.
A new public art installation titled “Uniquely Worcester: Celebrating Worcester’s Past & Present” has opened in the windows of the Denholm Building in Worcester, Massachusetts. The exhibition features work from 10 local artists across eight front windows, highlighting the city’s history through themes such as sports, the arts, and notable figures like rocket pioneer Robert Goddard, Valentine card popularizer Esther Howland, and smiley face creator Harvey Ball. One window showcases Abu Mwenye’s vibrant paintings inspired by his Kenyan and Tanzanian heritage, while another displays musical instruments spanning 250 years, including a rope drum from the American Revolution and a guitar made at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The installation runs throughout 2026 and was organized by project manager Melissa Mattson.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has unveiled a unique exhibition curated by its own members, designed to function as a contemporary "Cabinet of Wonders." The show features a diverse array of works that interact with the institution’s idiosyncratic permanent collections, blending historical artifacts with modern artistic responses. By mining the Academy's own archives and storage, the participating artists have created a dialogue between the prestigious organization's past and its present creative output.
Il mito di Sandokan in mostra a Monza tra storia e immaginario. Parola ai curatori
A new exhibition titled "Sandokan. La Tigre ruggisce ancora" has opened at the Reggia di Monza, exploring the enduring myth of the fictional pirate Sandokan, who first appeared in Italian serialized fiction in 1883. Curated by Francesco Aquilanti and Loretta Paderni, the show brings together ethnographic materials, costumes from the 1970s television series, weapons, books, illustrations, and archival items, including the original Dayak collection donated by Sir Charles Brooke to the King of Italy. The exhibition traces Sandokan's evolution across literature, comics, film, and television, presenting him as a layered, ambivalent hero—both ruthless pirate and justice fighter—whose story remains relevant today.
The USC Fisher Museum of Art is hosting the "Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation," a traveling exhibition of rare founding-era documents from the U.S. National Archives. The show, which runs through May 3, includes items such as a rare engraved copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris (1783), and a Senate markup of the Bill of Rights (1789). USC is the only university stop on the eight-city national tour, and the documents arrived in Los Angeles on a special Boeing 737. The exhibition has drawn history students, faculty, and the public, with USC Distinguished Professor Peter C. Mancall bringing his class to study the documents up close.
Un gilet de sauvetage du Titanic vendu à un prix record
A life jacket worn by a survivor of the Titanic's 1912 sinking was sold at auction for nearly €800,000, setting a new record price for an artifact from the doomed ocean liner. The sale was conducted by the British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, which specializes in Titanic memorabilia.