Summary

• Public vitrine network OOW^® teamed up with Carhartt WIP for a three-artist exhibition series
• Artists Suckybat, Titus McBeath, and Dozie Kanu reimagine the label's 60”x60” Dearborn Canvas and Detroit Jacket for new commissions on view at the platform's window galleries in lower Manhattan

Workwear is the canvas for an ongoing exhibition series by OOW^® and Carhartt WIP. Up at OOW^®’s Tribeca and Chinatown outposts, the label handed over its staples to artists Suckybat, Titus McBeath, and Dozie Kanu, each tasked to grace the 60”x60” Dearborn Canvas and a Detroit Jacket.

Launched last year by Alife's Rob 1970 and artist-ethnographer Eoghan Dempsey as a global vitrine network, OOW^® has quickly established itself as a favorite in the scene. Its latest public art project arrives in three parts, with a week-long takeover from each name, the jackets on view in Tribeca and the companion canvas works in Chinatown.

First on deck was Suckybat, who brought his famed bat tag to the commissions. The graffiti writer, self-described as always "walking the line of cancellation," has made his mark across Manhattan. Though the white box isn't his usual terrain, turning passersby into viewers feels like an apt extension for the artist.

McBeath was next up. The Ohio-born artist often mines inspiration from the industrial, rural glory of the American heartlands, and his contributions bring a certain Midwest sensibility straight into the streets. His pieces take after a shirt worn by his grandfather, a red barn carved and painted directly on the material, reconstellating the relationship between the worn and wearer, complete with ornamental detailing and a kinetic flame addition.

Kanu closes out the series with two diptych-wrapped pieces currently on view. Working across architecture, design, and contemporary art, the Portugal-based multidisciplinary returns to his photography roots for the series, juxtaposing screen-printed serene coastal landscapes with an intimate bedroom shot between the canvas and jacket displays.

Following the exhibition period, the works from all three artists will head to the Carhartt WIP store in Brooklyn for a special closing reception on July 9.

OOW^® Tribeca
184 Franklin Street
New York, New York 10013

OOW^® Chinatown
291 Grand Street
New York, New York 10002

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Hassan Hajjaj's takeover at Sotheby's Story Café in London later this month is his personal love letter to the new class of Londoners sculpting their city's creative landscape. The show, titled My London Rockstars, End to Estates, is set to run at the Bond Street outpost from July 13 through August 7, and will take shape as one of the Moroccan-British artist's signature tea salons.

For the latest chapter of My Rockstars — the artist's long-running mixed-media series where individuals are captured against pattern-happy backgrounds and outfits, framed by geometric stacks of canned goods — Hajjaj turns his lens towards breakout stars and up-and-comers, such as Slawn and the Motherlan crew, Clint419, Central Cee, Walid Labri, Joy Crookes and more.

“I am so proud to introduce this new creative energy in London, which mirrors the spirit and excitement of my early days in the city,” the artist expressed. The show bleeds beyond the works, bringing Hajjaj's artistic touch to the entirety of the café with an immersive installation inspired by his own tea rooms mounted in Marrakech, Paris, and Miami.

A dizzying marriage of North African street culture and pop art, low and highbrow aesthetics, Hajjaj has cultivated one of the most extravagant visual signatures in contemporary portraiture. And who better to vet the next league leading London's creative identity than one of its greatest image-makers?

Sotheby's Story Café
34-35 New Bond Street,
London, W1A 2AA

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The third edition of the M+ Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival (AAGFF), supported by CHANEL, concluded on May 31st after three days of film, music and performance exploring space as both an artistic principle and a geopolitical subject. Highlights included the world premiere of ‘Lamya Gargash × Vivian Wang: Tracking Nomadism (Live)’, a newly commissioned live cinema collaboration supported by Chanel, alongside Rirkrit Tiravanija’s interactive ping-pong installation and screenings of landmark works by Nam June Paik and Xu Bing.

Now in its third year, AAGFF has cemented itself as one of Asia’s most vital platforms for experimental film and moving image art, drawing independent filmmakers, artists and creative communities across the region under one roof. This edition’s theme built on last year’s exploration of time, turning its attention to space as a subject that cuts across composition and perspective in artmaking, the evolution of lens-based technologies and the geopolitical realities reshaping the world today. Below, CHANEL Senior Curator and Head of Moving Image at M+ in Hong Kong, Silke Schmickl, reflects on the programming.

"Space is a critical principle of artmaking in all media and particularly interesting in lens-based media where artists have challenged the frame through expanded cinema and now ‘frameless’ immersion."

The festival title, “Space Enter Shift,” is pretty open. How did you land on it?
The title is first and foremost an invitation for audiences to enter the festival space and to be shifted by what they experience. It acknowledges the importance of technology in the creation and reception of time-based art forms and is a playful nod to three essential keyboard keys: ‘space’, which inserts a blank character; ‘enter’, which confirms input or begins a new line; and ‘shift’, which modifies other keys. Space is a critical principle of artmaking in all media and particularly interesting in lens-based media where artists have challenged the frame within the image, through expanded cinema and now “frameless” immersion. The theme is also a subject matter to reflect on the global geopolitical shifts we are witnessing at the moment.

Larissa Sansour’s film tells of a Palestinian pirate reclaiming colonial artefacts. What made you want to bring that work to M+?
Sansour’s practice investigates the political, social, economic and cultural dimensions of space grounded in her personal experience of exile. Her latest film ‘A Sunken Tale of Losses Delayed’ provided an excellent opportunity to premiere her work in Asia. The repatriation of looted objects is an important topic in the context of Asia’s post-colonial institutional history, and the motif of a ship interested us as a heterotopia in the sense of Foucault. The position of the main character, a pirate, introduces a radical shift in perspective. This edition has also seen several presentations of female artists from West Asia including Sansour, Samia Halaby, Basma Al-Sharif and Lamya Gargash.

Xu Bing built Dragonfly Eyes entirely from surveillance footage. Where do you see the most interesting boundary-pushing in moving image right now?
‘Dragonfly Eyes’ is a prime example of how conceptual artists might no longer create their own images but find new ways of recontextualising and critically analysing the huge amounts of visual data that is produced every day, such as surveillance camera footage in Xu Bing’s case. Such self-reflexive approaches that shed new light on the excessive production of images and their potential instrumentalisation are some of the most boundary-pushing responses by contemporary artists today.

Paik's Wrap Around the World was a live global broadcast in 1988. What does it feel like to screen that in 2026?
It was powerful to revisit his techno-optimism in a pre-globalised world. The utopian tone, freespirited and eccentric performances of some of the late 20th century’s most remarkable makers showed us what we have lost when the internet became a market-driven utility, but also what is always possible when we bring people together to converse and co-create.

CHANEL has been backing this festival for three years. How do you manage that relationship when the programming is often deliberately uncommercial?
The working relationship between M+ and CHANEL has always been very cordial, open and inspiring. M+ has full autonomy over the curatorial content while CHANEL helps us tell the stories with greater impact and bring artists, filmmakers, cultural practitioners and audiences together — which is critical for the festival’s success in establishing itself as an essential platform for artists’ moving images.

Read more at Hypebeast

Summary

• Japanese artist Taiki Yokote is currently presenting a two-venue solo exhibition (to make today lovely, too and to make today lonely, too) at CON_ and parcel in Tokyo
• The show runs until July 26 and features an array of installations, sculptures, videos, and photography, enchanting the overlooked moments of the everyday

Only a single letter can change a world of meaning. Lovely and lonely, case in point. Such a slight yet seismic difference is the focal point of a new two-venue solo exhibition by Taiki Yokote. Now on view at CON_ and parcel in Tokyo, the Japanese artist gathers a cross-medium collection, including gentle nature photographs, rows of plush puppies and his renowned levitating rock sculptures.

Like their titles, to make today lovely, too at parcel and to make today lonely, too at CON_, the showcases envelope their respective galleries, bringing two distinct flavors to the near-identical spaces. Yet, through the floors, it is Yokote’s love for the liminal space between delusion, fantasy, and reality that threads it all.

His fascination with the unseen moments, or stories yet to be told, is captured cleanly through materiality and subject. Totems of blue tarp billow and wind, as if performing a slow dance. Broken pieces of concrete and rock hover almost impossibly in mid-air. Elsewhere, large-scale prints of animal scratches and dust thrown up from the ground bear scars of moments too fleeting for us to take note.

“Tenderness and loneliness, relief and anxiety are not separate emotions but two sides of the same day,” CON_ penned in a statement about the show. “The ambiguity of something inverting with a single change in perspective [...] it quietly reaches outward, toward the question of how we look at the world, what we call things, and what we choose to connect with.”

to make today lovely, too and to make today lonely, too are now on view at parcel (2F) and CON_ (4F) through July 26.

CON_ & parcel
Maruka bldg,
2-2-14 Nihonbashi- Bakurocho,
Chuo-ku, Tokyo

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Summary

• Artist and activist Ai Weiwei is staging his first durational performance, “Sewing a Button,” in Manchester on July 3
• Ai reenacts the conditions of his 2011 detention in the 24-hour-long live piece, where he will eat, sleep, work, wash, and write inside a replica cell
• The piece takes part in his new show, Button Up!, which confronts ideas of globalization, colonialism, and Empire through the lens of the British-Chinese textile trade

Ai Weiwei is turning one of the darkest chapters of his career into a live performance. On July 3 the dissident artist and activist will stage his first-ever durational performance: a 24-hour reenactment of his secret imprisonment, called “Sewing a Button,” as part of his new Button Up! show, on from July 2 to September 6, at Manchester’s Aviva Studios.

Ai was detained by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011. While the charges were officially on the grounds of alleged tax evasion, many of his supporters viewed the arrest as retaliation for speaking out against the government through his activism and artworks, like “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn” (1995) or his bird-flipping Study of Perspective (1995-2011) series.

The upcoming performance will see the artist in a replica of his cell, recreated by architecture firm Hawkins\Brown, where, inside, he’ll sleep, eat, exercise, write, and wash. For the spectacle, he brought on nine actors to play military guards and doctors, alongside four journalists, to interrogate him throughout the duration. The entire performance will be soundtracked by electronic duo Space Afrika.

The companion exhibition, Button Up!, traces the entanglements of power, trade, war, and empire through the unlikely lens of the humble button. Surveying the breadth of Ai’s practice, other works on view include “Eight-Nation Alliance Flag,” composed of half a million buttons; “History of Bombs,” his largest LEGO work; the Murano glass chandelier, “La Commedia Umana”; and Circle of Animals.

Can’t make it to “Sewing a Button”? CCTV cameras throughout the Hall will broadcast Ai on the Factory International website. Live screenings of the performance will also be shown at ACMI (Australia), ARTHAUS (Argentina), Dover Street Market (France), and Cafesjian Center for the Arts (Armenia), alongside a Piccadilly Lights viewing, thanks to CIRCA.

Tickets for the performance are now available. Book yours today.

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Summary

• British artist Lucy Sparrow will present her first U.S. museum exhibition, The Beginning of Convenience, at The Momentary in Arkansas from July 18, 2026 through July 11, 2027
• The show takes shape as another one of her renowned grocery store installations, and will feature over 20,000 handmade felt replicas
• The installation explores consumer culture through the titular “beginning of convenience” in the ‘80s and early ‘90s

Lucy Sparrow is at the top of the felt game. The British artist is known for her unique retail installations — like this “fauxdega,” pharmacy, or chip shop — made up of tens of thousands of handsewn, stitched, and painted sculptures. For her next act, Sparrow has touched down at The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ extension venue in Bentonville, Arkansas, and is currently gearing up for her first stateside museum moment.

Her forthcoming exhibition, dubbed The Beginning of Convenience, will transform the ex-factory-turned-art-space into another one of her famed felt grocery stores. Part installation, part time-capsule, the exhibition turns back the clock and takes viewers into a supermarket straight out of the ‘80s, complete with over 20,000 individually handmade replicas, ranging from snacks, drinks, beauty supplies, and other household items.

Expanding on her extensive archival research into consumer culture, the exhibition explores what Sparrow calls “the beginning of convenience,” a period when commercial comforts started to rule over Western life. Taste was traded for speed, effort for convenience, and suddenly home-cooked culture was ousted by the shiny plastic of microwave dinners.

Alongside the supermarket experience, the exhibition will feature a built replica of the Felt Cave, aka Sparrow’s studio, and a new self-made documentary chronicling the artist’s work in the months leading up to the show.

The Beginning of Convenience will be on view at The Momentary from July 18, 2026, through July 11, 2027. Take a look at Sparrow’s past shows above for a taste of what’s to come next month.

The Momentary
507 SE E St,
Bentonville, AR 72712

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Puppies sleeping easy in piles of 100's, lucky rocks, affirmational text, tattooed bellies, devilish Hello Kitty, joint-slinging gremlins — a similar circus of images swarms the shuffle of paintings and sculptures in Mia Scarpa and Grace Horan’s new duet show, Kinda True. Standing inside the space, it’s hard to imagine the artists anywhere but together.

The two arrived at New York’s Whaam! earlier this summer for their second exhibition together. Airbrush compositions by Scarpa and Horan’s glass lamps fill the room with flashes of humor and play, tenderness and sincerity, surrendering the gallery to their whimsical mix.

One look and it’s clear that the artists are at the edge of something brewing in contemporary art: a new vanguard tuned to the fractures of digital culture, while also harnessing its fun. But beyond the gravity of an entire movement, or any post-post-internet manifesto aside, the show is a tender study of collaboration, or better yet, what’s creatively possible when you put friendship first. Even the title, Kinda True, keeps things loose. It knows not to take itself too seriously.

The artists first met during their time at RISD as undergrads, when Scarpa assisted Horan’s freshman year drawing class. When other students left for the summer, they grew close while working at the metal shop together. “Those are some of my best college memories, for sure,” Scarpa shared alongside a painting inspired by their time in Providence together: two pairs of feet kicked up beside one another against a fire pit.

Don’t friends make the best collaborators? David Welch likens the two, “The Painter, The Sculptor,” to red and blue lenses of 3D glasses: “Once both viewpoints merge, a new depth entirely is created,” he penned in the show notes. “There is magic that happens in this moment of unity.”

On the occasion of Kinda True, the artists let us in on their second bestie go-around, and scaling down collaboration to the space between two people.

What sparked the idea for this show? How did you land on the title?

Mia Scarpa: We had our first two-person show in Austin in 2024. We realized our work shows well together, so it made the decision to do another pretty easy. The title came from a long list of options, but in the end, we went with Kinda True because it leaves more up to interpretation.

Grace Horan: We also just love working together. The title feels casual and doesn't take itself too seriously, which feels true to our friendship and the spirit of the show. A lot of the work uses familiar images that don't have one fixed meaning.

Both in this show and Cool Day, you've included works based on rock piles. How are you using this image to connect to tap into themes like nostalgia and memory,  as well as each other's practices?

MS: We were trying to think of themes that would lend well to both work styles, and the rock imagery worked well in 2D and 3D forms. I like that they’re kind of small, cheap collectible items that you usually only see in souvenir or dollar stores. They’re not meant to be precious objects, but because of the words, or if someone gives one to you, they take on a kind of specialness.

GH: We’ve always liked the image of rocks. We're both interested in generic or mass-produced objects that people end up keeping around and attaching memories to them. Something so simple can end up feeling really personal.

Working together throughout the years, how have you two influenced each other as artists and friends?

GH: Since we've been friends for so long, we share a lot of the same interests, always end up sharing references, and are just into the same kinds of things. We're both really dedicated to the studio and have always supported each other.  That has influenced both of us as artists a lot.

MS: Our work has for sure grown together and can definitely be related in certain ways. Spending so much time together, going to school in Providence, are all things that attribute to our work influencing each other.

What about this image vocabulary you're using? 

GH: We're interested in found images and objects that already have associations attached to them, like animals, pets, album covers, skulls, clouds, rainbows, stickers, toys. A lot of it comes from everyday places and objects that aren't always taken that seriously, which is part of what we like about it.

MS: The imagery I use mostly comes from collecting photos I’ve taken and screenshotting random images here and there. Both of us have a habit of hoarding items and images, so there’s bound to be a lot of overlap in the things we’re drawing from.

What role does friendship, not just collaboration, play within your work?

GH: Friendship shapes a lot of how we think and make things. We both value our friends so much, and a lot of what we make grows out of those relationships.

MS: One of my favorite parts about making work is the friendships I’ve been able to build through it. Making art can sometimes be very isolating, and you spend so much time alone in the studio. The time you get to make things together and build each other up as artists is so valuable. We both treasure that a lot.

Kinda True is now on view in New York through July 3 at Whaam! gallery.

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As the World Cup takes over New York City this summer, Hypebeast Cup is bringing its global tour to SoHo for its final stop. Running from June 26 through July 19, the month-long activation will transform the neighborhood into a hub for football culture, creative collaboration and community, hosting a rotating lineup of artists, designers, brands and events that explore the game's influence beyond the pitch.

Among those participating is London-based artist Mattia Guarnera, who will present a selection of original artworks painted directly onto football kits throughout the activation. While football serves as a recurring subject throughout his practice, Guarnera's work is rarely about the sport itself. Instead, he uses it as a lens to explore broader themes of identity, masculinity, competition and observation, often focusing on the quieter moments that exist outside the spectacle of the game.

Drawing inspiration from training footage, overlooked gestures and the emotional spaces between victory and defeat, Guarnera's paintings invite viewers to look beyond football's biggest moments and consider the narratives that unfold around them. His work often balances intimacy and distance, revealing just enough to pull viewers in while leaving room for interpretation.

Ahead of Hypebeast Cup New York, where his original hand-painted football kits will be on view from June 26 through July 19, we spoke with Guarnera about football as a visual language, the role of observation in his practice and what visitors can expect from his presentation.

"For me, sport just felt like a really natural language, something I already understood."

What first drew you to using sports imagery as a central part of your practice?
My connection to sports in my practice really started during my early career, when I was still at university. Around that time there was a lot of talk about democratising art, making it feel more accessible. For me, sport just felt like a really natural language, something I already understood. I started using it almost as a substitute for life in a way.

I think there are so many parallels between competing as an athlete and just life in general. Things like discipline, repetition, failure, and those small moments where everything briefly comes together.

How has your relationship with soccer influenced the way you think about storytelling and image-making?
Football has definitely shaped how I think about storytelling and image-making. It is not just about the big moments, it is everything around them. The buildup, the pauses, the mistakes, and the bits that seem small but actually carry a lot of weight.

I think that has naturally come into how I work. I am less interested in single images telling a full story, and more in fragments that build something over time. Like you are kind of piecing it together as you go.

Your work often focuses on moments outside the spotlight. What attracts you to those quieter scenes?
I have always been drawn to the alternative side of things. With football that shows up in all the stuff outside the main broadcast, like training clips, mistakes, or those random compilations you fall down a rabbit hole watching.

Those moments just feel more honest to me in a way. Outside of the spectacle, you see things that are not being performed. I have always been interested in that, both in sport and in life. I think there is a lot of beauty in what gets overlooked.

Themes of identity, masculinity and competition run throughout your work. What keeps you returning to those subjects?
I think it is mainly because they are close to my own experience. My work tends to reflect what I am going through at the time, so those themes come through quite naturally.

It is also about documenting that period of life. Being in my early twenties and growing as an artist has meant constantly shifting perspective, changing ideas, figuring things out as you go. So those themes of identity, masculinity, and competition just keep reappearing in different ways.

"I think of the paintings less as direct statements and more like situations I am setting up for someone else to look into."

Many of your paintings create a sense of distance or voyeurism. What role does observation play in your creative process?
Observation is a big part of it. I think of the paintings less as direct statements and more like situations I am setting up for someone else to look into.

I am always thinking about what is shown and what is slightly held back. That distance is intentional. I like there being a bit of mystery in the work, where not everything is immediately given to you.

How has your practice evolved since you first started exhibiting your work professionally?
It has definitely grown with me, both visually and in how I think about it. You gain more control and understanding over time, which is good, but you also lose a bit of that early naivety.

Right now I am actually interested in trying to loosen things again. Finding that balance between control and instinct. Knowing what you are doing, but still letting things feel open and not overworked.

What interested you about collaborating with Hypebeast Cup, and what can visitors expect from your activation?
Hypebeast was always something I grew up around culturally. It felt like this digital space that defined a certain idea of "cool" at the time. So being part of it now, and bringing it into a physical space, is what I am most excited about.

I think it is also about the mix of people coming into contact with the work. Different audiences, different contexts, all in one space. That is something I really value.

What projects or ideas are you most excited to explore next?
Right now I have been quite focused on the World Cup side of things, so that has taken most of my attention. I have been enjoying it, but I am also looking forward to stepping back into a more inward space afterwards.

Just focusing back on myself a bit more, and where the work is coming from internally. That kind of back and forth is important for me.

For more on the Hypebeast Cup New York, visit here

Hypebeast Cup⁠ NY
430 West Broadway, New York 10012
Monday - Saturday 11a- 7pm
Sunday - 11am - 6pm
Fourth of July: closed️

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Summary

Propstore's Animation Art Live Auction on July 8 and July 9 includes a curated selection of original Studio Ghibli production cels and hand-painted backgrounds from five films spanning 1988 to 1997Leading lots include a Kiki's Delivery Service cel retaining its original Key Master background and hand-painted overlay, and a Porco Rosso cel on a hand-painted production background

Propstore’s Animation Art Live Auction will offer a curated selection of original Studio Ghibli production cels across two days on July 8 and July 9, with global online, absentee, and telephone bidding. The lots span five films across nearly a decade of Ghibli’s output, from My Neighbor Totoro in 1988 through to Princess Mononoke in 1997, and include hand-painted production backgrounds, Key Master backgrounds, and background overlays alongside the cels themselves.

The leading lot is a production cel from Kiki’s Delivery Service depicting Kiki during a pivotal moment in the 1989 film when she struggles with the loss of her powers. What distinguishes the piece physically is the combination of its original hand-painted Key Master background and a hand-painted background overlay, a pairing the press release describes as rare, and one that speaks to the layered construction method Ghibli employed during its hand-painted production era. The setup retains its original components intact, which adds material significance beyond the image itself. It carries a pre-sale estimate of £6,000 GBP to £12,000 GBP (approx. $7,620 USD to $15,240 USD).

A production cel from Porco Rosso carries the same estimate. The 1992 film is widely regarded as one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal works, and the lot captures Fio holding a battle-worn Porco following the film’s climactic final fight. The cel is presented on a hand-painted production background, reinforcing the physical authenticity of the piece as a working artifact from the film’s original production rather than a presentation or promotional item.

The Princess Mononoke cel, estimated at £3,000 GBP to £6,000 GBP (approx. $3,810 USD to $7,620 USD), features Ashitaka and Moro, the great wolf goddess, from Miyazaki’s 1997 epic. The film was the highest-grossing release in Japan that year and holds a specific place in animation history as one of the last Ghibli features produced predominantly with traditional hand-painted cels, made just as the studio began its transition to digital production. Surviving cel artwork from Princess Mononoke carries additional scarcity value as a result, and the lot is presented on a fine art giclée background. Further lots include a My Neighbor Totoro opening credits cel on a presentation background, estimated at £2,000 GBP to £4,000 GBP (approx. $2,540 USD to $5,080 USD), and a Pom Poko cel of Bunta on a fine art giclée background, estimated at £1,000 GBP to £2,000 GBP (approx. $1,270 USD to $2,540 USD).

Propstore’s Animation Art Expert Russell Singler shares, “Studio Ghibli’s films have a remarkable ability to resonate with audiences of all ages, combining breathtaking artistry with stories that stay with us long after the credits roll. From Kiki’s journey of self-discovery and Porco Rosso’s quiet melancholy to the epic scale of Princess Mononoke, these films represent some of the most celebrated achievements in animation. The pieces featured in this Propstore collection are the original hand-crafted artworks that helped bring those worlds to life. Carefully selected for their quality, rarity, and significance, they offer collectors a rare opportunity to own a genuine piece of Studio Ghibli history.”

Propstore’s Animation Art Live Auction takes place July 8 and July 9. A free public exhibition at Borough Yards, London also runs from July 2 to July 5.

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Summary

• Anish Kapoor returns to the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre in London for the first time in 28 years for a new retrospective
• Running until October, the show gathers new and iconic works, including three gallery-wide installations, paintings, and sculptures
• The exhibition centers on recurring themes, like space and perception, while also exploring ideas of violence, abjection, and existentialism

At last, Anish Kapoor is back at the Hayward Gallery. It’s been nearly 30 years since the institution hosted his first U.K. retrospective, and his Southbank Centre comeback is messier, fleshier, more macabre, pairing new and seminal works that unsettle the senses.

On through October 18, the exhibition dives deep into Kapoor’s fascination with what he calls “the space of the object” — pieces that toe the line between material presence and illusion. From Vantablack holes engulfing Brutalist interiors to mirror-like portals out on the terraces, nothing is as it seems.

Three major installations anchor the show. One room is taken up by an inflated PVC membrane that strains between the floor and ceiling, throwing a sense of self and scale into question. In other, a bloody, mountainous threshold winds through the space. The gravity-defying “Mount Moriah at the Gate of the Ghetto” (2022) envelopes the third, plunging from the sky, just inches away from the floor tiles.

Rounding out the retrospective are paintings and sculptures created in the last decade. Relics of silicone, resin, and pigment take on the likes of splayed-open bodies and organs, reflecting our current moment, shaped by the pervasion of violent  images.

From beginning to end, Kapoor’s work draws on unease and surprise, as curator Ralph Rugoff notes, “illuminating surprising links between our experiences of the sublime and extreme abjection, the spiritual and the physical.”

Book your tickets today at the Southbank Centre’s website.

Hayward Gallery
Southbank Centre,
Belvedere Rd,
London SE1 8XX,
United Kingdom

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Romero Britto has built a decades-long career around a simple idea: art should make people feel good. The Brazilian-born, Miami-based artist has turned his signature mix of bold colors, graphic patterns and optimism into one of the most recognizable visual languages in contemporary art, bringing his work far beyond gallery walls through public installations, global partnerships and projects that reach audiences around the world.

That spirit sits at the center of his latest collaboration with Skechers. Blending Britto's unmistakable imagery with the brand's everyday comfort, the collection transforms familiar silhouettes into wearable works of art. Hearts, vibrant color palettes and hand-drawn motifs pulled directly from the artist's paintings appear across the range, bringing his joyful perspective to a new audience with every step.

We sat down with Britto alongside the collection to discuss what attracted him to the partnership, how closely he worked with the Skechers team throughout the design process, and what it means to see his artwork move beyond the canvas and into people's daily lives. As with much of his work, the goal remains unchanged. Create joy, spark connection and make art accessible to everyone.

"Art really belongs outside, not necessarily on a wall in a museum or gallery or at home, but out in the streets to be enjoyed by others."

How are you feeling being in front of everything here?
I'm very excited to collaborate with Skechers. The situation is like a dream come true for an artist because I share happiness. And Skechers is comfortable. Together, everybody enjoys so much. They're comfortable with the Skechers, and the colors and the art. My work is going to be enjoyed by many people out there.

You have a signature style that's so recognizable. What does it mean to you for it to be enjoyed by people on something functional like a shoe?
It's fantastic. I always wanted to have my art enjoyed by a larger audience. Every time I create a piece of art, it goes to a home, a collector, or to a gallery or to my exhibition. I also like the idea of my art being enjoyed by many people, and sharing happiness at the same time, together with Skechers.

You've said this collection is meant to be worn and not just kept in a box. What does it mean to you to have your art moving through the world on people's feet?
It means so much to me because I don't just want my art for myself. I do it because I want to share with people. It would make me so happy to share my work with so many people, incorporating it into a company like Skechers in terms of technology and comfort. I just enjoy seeing people with it. It is a perfect fit.

You've collaborated across a huge range of sectors, sports, luxury, consumer goods. Is there a difference in how you think about a collaboration with a footwear brand versus a fine art institution?
They're two different moments. One moment is different people going to museums and galleries every day. But there are so many people in different parts of America and the world that don't have access to museums. They live far away. Art really belongs outside, not necessarily on a wall in a museum or gallery or at home, but out in the streets to be enjoyed by others. You can enjoy yourself wearing these shoes, but also as you walk out in the street, other people will see it and enjoy it too. They're going to bring a smile to people's faces. That's the most important thing. That you wear something that makes you feel good and makes you feel happy.

You've had deep ties to Miami for a long time. How much does the city and its culture show up in this collection?
Oh, everything. Because I live in Miami, I see it every day, and it's just an incredible place. I definitely bring my life and my everyday Miami to around the world when I show my art, and now with this collaboration with Skechers as well. The shoes can go everywhere, so people travel everywhere. It would be amazing to see people going around wearing them and sharing happiness.

You carried the Olympic torch in 2016 and have worked with teams like the Heat and the Dolphins. What draws you to the world of sport?
I think sports help kids and people in general develop discipline. And you can use that discipline and passion in everyday life, at home, with family, at work. There are a lot of parallels with working as an artist. If I don't have the discipline to wake up in the morning and go to the studio and feel that drive and excitement about creating paintings and sculptures, I won't be able to do what I do every day. I paint with my shoes.

"Everything that happens on the shoes went through me. Everything is true to my art."

Artist collaborations with big brands can sometimes feel very surface-level. How involved were you in the design process here?
Very involved. Definitely. Everything that happens on the shoes went through me. Everything is true to my art. Everything comes from a painting.

How do you draw the line when it comes to creative control?
I've been very lucky that in every project I've done so far, I've worked with companies that enjoy working with artists. That's why I was reached out to by the owner of the company, because he likes my art, he enjoys art, and he respects art. So it's been a real joy to work with the team at Skechers. It's been amazing.

What do you want someone to feel when they put these on and walk out the door?
I want them to feel happy and comfortable. Happy and comfortable. And I want them to keep wearing my shoes.

Now that we're sitting in front of the collection, is there any standout detail that was particularly fulfilling to bring to life?
It's a great question. It's like asking a mom which child she likes the most! Each one of them has something unique. Think about this one: when you cross your legs and see the bottom of the shoes, you see colors and art. This one here is like summarizing everything about my art, the heart, love, everything that I put in my work. Each one is a different experience, and I'm sure people are going to want to have one of each.

Britto's collaboration with Skechers is available here.

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Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness, marks the internationally acclaimed Japanese artist's first major survey exhibition in Southeast Asia. Born in Tokyo in 1948, Sugimoto is a multidisciplinary artist whose five-decade practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, and spatial design, continuously exploring the nature of time, perception, and human consciousness. Running from May 29 to October 4, 2026, at Singapore Art Museum (SAM) at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the exhibition brings together over 60 works across 11 series, alongside 14 rare fossil specimens from his personal collection.

Deeply informed by Buddhist philosophy, the core of the exhibition draws from the Heart Sutra and its proposition that “form is emptiness”, suggesting that what appears tangible is contingent and shaped by conditions and perception rather than inherent permanence. Designed by Sugimoto himself, the exhibition space unfolds as a mandala, a geometric representation of the universe in Buddhist and Hindu traditions. This deliberate layout guides visitors through interconnected paths that mirror the cyclical rhythms of nature and life, offering a meditative environment to engage with the tension between presence, absence, and the material world.

The survey showcases several of Sugimoto’s most iconic series, including Seascapes, an ongoing project since 1980 that distills the world into an elemental balance of sea and sky through perfectly centered horizon lines. In his celebrated Theaters series, Sugimoto uses long-exposure photography to compress the entire duration of a film into a single luminous, glowing frame, drawing a parallel between the lifespan of a film and human existence. Furthermore, the Opticks series revisits Isaac Newton’s experiments, exploring the subtle gradations of colour inherent within white light, dissolving form into immersive fields of colour and interrogating the very basis of seeing.

Beyond his traditional camera work, the exhibition features highly anticipated new work on view for the first time such as Spacescape (2024), a folding screen depicting the Earth and Moon in orbit, developed in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the University of Tokyo, and Sony. Audiences can also experience Brush Impression, Heart Sutra (2023), a monumental installation of 288 gelatine silver prints created by “writing” the sutra on photographic paper with fixer in near-darkness. These works are complemented by his first video work, Accelerated Buddha (1997-2017) and a selection of fossil specimens, which Sugimoto considers “pre-photography time-recording devices”, further expanding his inquiry into time far beyond the limits of human experience.

Tickets are available via the dedicated webpage for the exhibition here.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness
Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark,
39 Keppel Rd, #01-02, Singapore 089065

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Summary

• IMAZ Foundation, a new cultural platform and nonprofit, launches this week with its inaugural showcase and auction, Chapter One
• The exhibition features 11 footballs, each created in the style of a different artist
• The show opens on June 24 at The Atelier at Ideal Glass Studios in New York and closes on June 28

The World Cup is heating up in New York and IMAZ Foundation is harnessing football fanfare for change. The new nonprofit and cultural platform is launching this week with its debut show and silent auction, Chapter One, on June 24, carrying the game’s spirit off the pitch and into the gallery.

Curated by artist and 404 ArtCollection founder Javier Martin, the exhibition invites eleven contemporary names — Dustin Yellin, Lucia Hierro, Jamel Robinson, Sebastian Errazuriz, Ryan Schneider, Soraya Abu Naba’a, Vincent Beaurin, Wes Aderhold, Jose Duran, Maya Makino, and Diana Rowe — to reimagine the humble football with their own artistic signature.

Works on view — and up for grabs — include Naba’a’s deconstructed ball, overflowing with colorful braided ropes and textile patches, alongside Hierro’s market plaid-wrapped addition with floral detailing blooming from the panels. In another standout moment, Errazuriz’s contribution sees a miniaturized all-white sculpture of his 2006 installation, “The Tree Memorial of a Concentration Camp.”

The final works will go under the hammer in a silent auction following the exhibition period, benefiting the construction of homes for single mothers in Quito, Ecuador. The project is realized in partnership with CAEMBA, a community-based organization working directly with local families.

True to its name, Chapter One inaugurates the foundation’s chapter-based model, which will expand beyond football into fashion, design, craft, music, and more, a framework that positions collecting as a catalyst for social impact.

“Culture moves people more reliably than almost anything else on earth,” said Sami Deller, the organization’s founder. “What we have built almost no infrastructure for is turning that movement into something lasting. IMAZ exists to change that — not by adding philanthropy to culture, but by making them the same thing.”

Chapter One will be on view from June 24 through June 28 at The Atelier at Ideal Glass Studios. Check out the foundation’s website for more information.

Ideal Glass Studios
22 E 2nd St,
New York, NY 10003

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Summary

• James Turrell unveiled a new Skyspace installation, "As Seen Below – The Dome," at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark
• The artwork turns sky-gazing into a surreal act, altering one's perception of light and the color spectrum
• It marks the 100th in the artist's landmark series and inaugurates the museum's new expansion

Light is something just as felt as it is seen for James Turrell, the artist known for gracing the world with his perceptually playful and deeply immersive installations. This tangibility of light, something he calls its "thingness," has become a defining feature of his site-specific Skyspaces. And even 50 years on, whether you're in the desert, the heart of New York, or hitting sub-0° in Scandinavia, the series never fails to mesmerize.

The artist recently unveiled "As Seen Below – The Dome" at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark, marking the largest — and most ambitious — Skyspace of his career and the 100th entry in the landmark series. At 16 meters tall and 40 meters in diameter, the piece takes Turrell's explorations to new heights, making for a fitting centerpiece of ARoS’ new Schmidt Hammer Lassen-designed expansion. Embedded beneath a grassy mound rising from the museum's park, visitors emerge into the subterranean structure from a corridor that connects to ARoS' main building.

As with previous Skyspaces, the "As Seen Below" turns the act of seeing into the art itself. Over 1,100 LEDs soak the space in shifting washes of color, altering the viewers' experience of the sky, which can be seen through a patch framed by the dome's circular aperture overhead. For this Danish iteration, Turrell also took cues from the region's Northern Lights, translating their elusive chromatic shifts into surreal sensory environments during sunrise and sunset.

"This fascination with light has never left me. I did not want to use light to reveal things," the artist said. "I wanted light to be the revelation itself. I wanted to experience the thingness of light itself, to feel it, to bathe in it."

"As Seen Below - The Dome" is now on view in Denmark. Check out the museum's website to book your tickets today.

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Summary

• Basel Exclusive debuts with first-look artwork unveilings

• Strong sales and standout Unlimited, Parcours and digital presentations throughout the fair

Words by Hong Yu

Art Basel opened its 2026 edition this past weekend with 290 galleries from 43 countries, introducing Basel Exclusive, a new initiative designed to restore the thrill of first, in-person discovery by reserving selected works for their public debut during the VIP opening. The fair also marks Ruba Katrib's debut as curator of Unlimited, the return of the citywide Parcours sector, an expanded talks program and Zero 10's latest digital art presentation, curated by Trevor Paglen and Eli Scheinman.

At 11 am CET, the courtyard where the VIP breakfast had been held emptied almost instantly. Moments earlier, it had been packed with collectors, curators and dealers talking over champagne and coffee. As doors around the fair opened at once, the crowd flowed toward the nearest entrances and into the halls.

The clearest shift this year came through Basel Exclusive. While most visitors had heard about the initiative before arriving, many only fully understood the concept after spotting the understated black metal plaques mounted on gallery walls. Soon, collectors began scanning booths as if on a treasure hunt, searching for works being unveiled publicly for the very first time. Rather than revealing selected works through online viewing rooms or advance previews, participating galleries reserved them for their first public unveiling during the VIP opening, giving collectors a stronger reason to experience discovery in person.

Despite continued caution in the global art market, early sales reports pointed to resilient demand at the top end. Hauser & Wirth reported 35 works sold by 4 pm CET, led by a Picasso offered at 35 million USD, while GRAY sold a David Hockney for 8.5 million USD. Activity also extended across postwar and contemporary names, including Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Pierre Soulages and Josef Albers.

Among this year's standout sections, Unlimited once again proved why it remains one of Art Basel's defining experiences. Curated for the first time by MoMA PS1's Ruba Katrib, the sector brought together 59 museum-scale projects presented by 66 galleries, spanning monumental installations, sculpture, performance, film and immersive environments.

"Monumental works appeared to converse with one another across the expansive exhibition hall."

Compared to previous editions, Unlimited felt even more visually ambitious. Monumental works appeared to converse with one another across the expansive exhibition hall, encouraging visitors to slow down rather than move quickly from one presentation to the next. Nikita Kadan's "Tryvoha (Sirens and the Mast)" (2023) was among the most affecting works, with a mezzo-soprano's voice recreating the sound of an air-raid siren from behind a translucent white curtain. During the preview, one visitor remained seated inside the installation in tears. Tracey Emin's "Knowing My Enemy" (2002), presented by White Cube, also stood out with a salvaged beach hut from Margate set atop a wooden pier structure. The work sold during the preview for 1.25 million GBP.

Another highlight came through Parcours, curated by Stefanie Hessler, which extended Art Basel into the city through 21 projects presented by 30 galleries. Installed in public spaces and historic locations in close proximity to the fair, the sector encouraged visitors to experience contemporary art beyond the exhibition halls and made Basel itself feel like an extension of the fair.

Elsewhere, Zero 10 returned under the title The Condition, curated by Trevor Paglen and Eli Scheinman. Featuring artists including Hito Steyerl and Andreas Gursky, the platform continued to expand Art Basel's engagement with digital, technological and AI-driven artistic practices. Zero 10 also saw early activity, with Fellowship selling John Gerrard's "STANDARD" for $500,000 USD within the platform's opening hour.

Rather than introducing change for its own sake, Art Basel 2026 reaffirmed the qualities that have long defined its flagship fair: exceptional artworks, meaningful encounters and the excitement of discovering them in person. While the global market remains cautious, the opening days suggested that collectors continue to travel for works that cannot be experienced anywhere else, reinforcing Basel's position at the center of the international art world.

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Summary

• The New Museum in New York will open I Am Tony, a two-floor survey dedicated to artist Arthur Jafa come September
• The exhibition will feature early, recent, and new artworks, including large-scale videos, paintings, film installations, photographs, and sculptures

With his MoMA mixtape coming to a close, New York hasn’t had enough of Arthur Jafa. But lucky for us, the New Museum is stepping in. Following the building-wide New Humans takeover for its hotly anticipated reopening, next on deck for the Bowery museum will be I Am Tony, Jafa’s largest survey yet.

The exhibition, opening September 24, will unravel over two floors in a mix of works, new and beloved, with a particular focus on his filmic evolution, pairing some of his earliest films beside and more recent pieces — paintings, video installations, sculptures, and photographs. From details so far, viewers can also expect several of Jafa’s seminal films, such as “Love is the Message, The Message is Death” (2016), soundtracked to Ye’s “Ultralight Beam,” and his 2019 Golden Lion winner, “The White Album” (2019).

Jafa has spent the last nearly 40 years wrestling with the beauty and alienation of “Black being” in America across visual form. From cult-classic films to TikToks, comic book characters to the historymakers — as seen in the titular nod to the pioneering jazz drummer, Tony Williams — Jafa captures such rhythms and essence across mediums, placing the nation’s violent racial histories against the rise of Black music, entertainment, and art within the wider American cultural landscape.

Trained as a cinematographer and architect, Jafa is an artist of a generation. He’s celebrated both within and beyond the contemporary art world with collaborations with Spike Lee (as director of photography on Crooklyn) and Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut) under his belt, alongside a number of music videos for the likes of Solange, Ye, and JAY -Z.

Check out the New Museum’s website for more information on I Am Tony.

New Museum
235 Bowery,
New York, NY 10002

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Summary

• Refik Anadol opens Dataland, a new museum dedicated to AI art in Los Angeles

• 'Machine Dreams: Rainforest' transforms rainforest data into immersive sensory installations

Refik Anadol is opening the doors to Dataland, a new cultural institution in downtown Los Angeles dedicated to exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, data and contemporary art.

Opening June 20 inside the Frank Gehry-designed Grand LA complex, the permanent museum is being positioned as the world's first museum dedicated to AI arts. Located across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dataland marks a major milestone for the Turkish-American media artist, whose large-scale data-driven installations have appeared at institutions and public landmarks around the world.

The museum's inaugural exhibition, Machine Dreams: Rainforest, transforms environmental data gathered from rainforests across the globe into an immersive, multi-sensory experience spanning five galleries. At the center of the project is Anadol Studio's "Large Nature Model," an open-source AI system trained exclusively on nature-based datasets sourced from organizations including the Smithsonian, the Getty Conservation Institute and London's Natural History Museum, as well as field research conducted across 16 rainforests worldwide.

Visitors move through a series of immersive environments featuring large-scale projections, responsive soundscapes, scent technology and biometric interaction. Highlights include the Data Pavilion, where live environmental data is transformed into constantly evolving visualizations, and the "Infinity Room," a fully enclosed LED installation inspired by the Amazon rainforest.

Guests are also provided wearable devices that track movement and biometric responses, allowing the museum's systems to adapt throughout the experience. According to Dataland, all collected data remains anonymous and is deleted after 30 days. Amid ongoing conversations surrounding AI's role in creative industries, Dataland offers a different perspective on the technology, focusing on environmental awareness, sensory engagement and human participation rather than automation alone.

Machine Dreams: Rainforest opens June 20 and remains on view through January 31, 2027.

Dataland
100 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012

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Summary

• French artist JR unveils his latest installation, “La Caverne du Pont Neuf”
• Inspired by Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1985 work on the Parisian bridge, the work wraps the structure in fabric to resemble a limestone cave
• Passersby can step into the installation, which also features an earthy soundscape by Thomas Bangalter and a custom olfactory atmosphere

A stone cave rises above the Seine River, courtesy of artist JR. The French artist, known for his colossal graphic interventions in the busiest of landmarks, just opened his latest work, “La Caverne du Pont Neuf,” transforming the 17th-century Pont Neuf bridge into an immersive, rocky tunnel of sight, smell, and sound.

After facing weather-related damages and delays, the piece was unveiled yesterday and is open around the clock through June 28. It’s created as a tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1985 “The Pont Neuf Wrapped,” in which the duo cloaked the entire bridge in golden fabric. JR’s piece, inspired by quarries from which much of the city’s architecture is built, similarly wraps the bridge using 18,900 square feet of fabric and the image of Lutetian limestone, turning Paris’ material history inside out.

Stretching 120 meters long in 80 inflated canvas arches, the structure is designed to disorient. “It is a symbolic crossing, a step into the unknown, a journey within oneself,” explains JR. “I designed the crossing of 'La Caverne' as an experience where fullness and emptiness exist in balance.” A custom electroacoustic soundscape by Thomas Bangalter (formerly of Daft Punk) and an olfactory design by expert perfumer Sarah Bouasse and Odore Scola elevates the surreal experience, evoking the ancient and earthy across the senses.

Of his most monumental works, the cave is a recurring motif for JR. “La Caverne du Pont Neuf” culminates a series the artist began in 2020, exploring themes of isolation and detachment through massive trompe-l’oeil architectural takeovers in Florence, Milan, and Rome. With this image of disillusionment, tied to Plato’s cave, is also that of humans’ early cave paintings, grounding the viewer in a shared history of art and connection. And such is the case with the ongoing Paris work: a contemporary landmark-turned prehistoric sanctuary that marries raw geological history with the urban elegance of its present.

“La Caverne du Pont Neuf” is now up in Paris, and to celebrate the moment, Galerie Perrotin has also mounted a companion exhibition of new works by JR, on view through July 25.

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Summary

• Laure Prouvost’s We Felt a Star Dying transforms the Grand Palais into a quantum-inspired immersive installation, on view until July 26, 2026
• Highlights include "The Beginning" sculpture, "Cute Bits" meteorite forms and sensory video environments

Laure Prouvost has transformed Paris’ Grand Palais' iconic glass-roofed nave into a multi-sensory environment, unveiling her major multimedia installation, We Felt a Star Dying. Marking the celebrated French artist's monumental takeover of the historic venue, this spectacular piece explores the counterintuitive logic of quantum physics, prompting the foundational question of how reality feels when perceived from a particle-level perspective.

The ambitious project is structured as an immersive narrative world developed from Prouvost's two years of research alongside philosopher Tobias Rees and scientist Hartmut Neven, which granted her rare access to a powerful quantum computer to generate complex algorithmic data, images and soundscapes. Upon passing through an initiatory entry tunnel — a recurring motif in the artist's practice — visitors are confronted by "The Beginning," a monumental six-limbed kinetic sculpture animated by shifting light and audio.

At the sculpture's core is the central video piece, We Felt a Star Dying, which connects living, non-living, natural and mechanical matter from the infinitely small to the infinitely large. Suspended from the nave's ceiling, whimsical meteorite-like structures called "Cute Bits" (a playful pun on quantum computing's "qubits") float in pairs to mirror the subatomic phenomenon of entanglement.

Laure Prouvost's We Felt a Star Dying is currently on view in the North Nave of the Grand Palais until July 26, 2026.

Grand Palais
Access: 7 Avenue Winston Churchill,
75008 Paris, France

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