ArtReview's editors have selected nine notable exhibitions opening globally in April 2026, highlighting shows that explore materiality, memory, and political history. Featured exhibitions include "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials" at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, showcasing artists using organic materials rooted in Brown and Indigenous thinking; a major Veronica Ryan retrospective at London's Whitechapel Gallery; and a historical exhibition in Prague revisiting Jiří Kolář's contested participation in the 1969 São Paulo Bienal under Brazil's military dictatorship.
These exhibitions matter as they collectively emphasize art's engagement with pressing contemporary themes: decolonial material practices, the embodiment of memory and care in form, and the complex legacies of art under political repression. They signal a curatorial focus on artists whose work interrogates ecology, personal and collective history, and the political conditions of artistic production, offering critical perspectives for a global audience.