Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi sets December opening.
The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi has announced that Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open on December 11, 2026. Designed by the late Frank Gehry, the museum sits on Saadiyat Island and joins the Guggenheim’s constellation of institutions in New York, Venice, and Bilbao, alongside neighbors Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, and teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi. The building features 30 galleries connected by a central atrium and ten sculptural cones reaching heights of 88 meters, spanning 11,600 square meters of interior gallery space and 23,000 square meters of outdoor exhibition areas. Since 2009, the museum has built a collection spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and new media, organized not by chronology but around major themes in art since 1960, including Abstractions, Popular Culture, and Storytelling.
Burberry and the V&A mark 170 years with a trench coat exhibition.
Burberry and the V&A have announced “The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon,” a free display at V&A South Kensington marking Burberry’s 170th anniversary. On view September 21, 2026, through January 3, 2027, in the museum’s rarely seen Prince Consort Gallery, the exhibition brings together rare material from the Burberry Archive and the V&A collection, tracing the trench coat’s evolution from practical outerwear and military attire to a global fashion icon rooted in British sensibility. Structured in three parts, the display opens with “Invention,” exploring Thomas Burberry’s 1879 creation of cotton gabardine and how its use in the trench established the coat as both protective and stylish outerwear that has remained relevant for more than a century. “Craft” examines the coat’s construction in detail, highlighting elements like the hand-finished collar, distinctive House Check lining, storm flap, and detachable throat latch. The display closes with “Creativity,” showcasing 19 standout runway looks from the past two and a half decades, including designs by former and current Chief Creative Officers Christopher Bailey and Daniel Lee.
UNESCO honors three generations of Aalto architecture with world heritage status.
At the 48th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, 13 works by Finnish modernist architects Aino, Elissa, and Alvar Aalto were added to the organization’s World Heritage List. Collectively known as the “Aalto Works,” the designation marks the first collection of Finnish modernist architecture to receive such recognition. The works span buildings, developments, and campuses associated with Alvar Aalto completed between 1928 and 1988, including residential, civic, community, and cultural buildings that embody the “human-centred, site-specific, and empathetic vision that distinguishes Finland’s contribution to modern architecture.” Among the earliest projects on the list is the Aalto House (1936) in Helsinki, designed by husband-and-wife pair Alvar and Aino Aalto as their personal residence. Five of the 13 sites are located in Helsinki, including the House of Culture (1958) and Finlandia Hall (1971). Another key inclusion is the Säynätsalo Town Hall, completed in 1952 by Alvar and his second wife, Elissa Aalto, whom he married after Aino’s death in 1949; the couple also built the Muuratsalo Experimental House (1954) near Lake Päijänne as their own private residence. Elissa later led the studio following Alvar’s death in 1976, completing several projects that remained unfinished at the time.
The Milwaukee Art Museum hosts Widline Cadet’s first U.S. solo show.
The Milwaukee Art Museum is hosting “Currents 40: Widline Cadet” the artist’s first solo museum show in the United States and the first full presentation of her nearly decade-long project Seremoni Disparisyon. Cadet, born in Haiti and now based in Los Angeles, moved to New York at age 10; her work centers her family’s immigration experience, using it as “source material to explore the complexities of Black diasporic life and survival.” Cadet began the project by photographing members of her extended family, responding to a scarcity of inherited ancestral images and to increasingly limited access to relatives abroad. Over time, she turned the camera on herself and those closest to her, building what she calls a “living archive.” The exhibition, installed in the museum’s Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts, combines photography with video, found imagery, and sculptural elements, including a full domestic installation with laminate flooring, decorations, and framed family photographs.
We Design Beirut returns in 2027 under the theme “Love on the Mediterranean.”
We Design Beirut, an annual design event in Beirut, Lebanon, has announced programming for its third edition, themed “Love on the Mediterranean” and running May 26–30, 2027. The edition will include eight exhibitions, five panel talks, and three excursions to reactivated heritage sites across the city, with contributions from artists, artisans, and architects reflecting on Beirut’s relationship with the Mediterranean. Two excursions will open historic residences to the public for the first time: Maison Tabet, which will host an exhibition by photographer Johanne Issa alongside work by designer Nathalie Khoury supported by Luura Hotels, and Maison Rose, where a youth-led exhibition by Teymour Khoury, Yasmina Mahmoud, and Karl Abi Karam will showcase work by architecture students from Lebanon and abroad. As in the 2024 and 2025 editions, PSLab will host additional shows curated by Claudia Skaff, Galal Mahmoud, and Karim Chaya; Dia Mrad; and Petra Abou Sleiman. The historic Manara residence of photographer Ala Tannir will host an exhibition developed with UNESCO, bringing together students from Lebanese public schools to explore themes of identity and memory.
South Korean illustrator and artist Makitoy transforms everyday moments into tiny paper artworks.
Inside Porto, Portugal’s Manifesto Library: Dua Lipa’s banned books collection.
Meet Ernesto Esposito, the shoe designer with an art collector’s eye.
Jacquemus takes over Monte-Carlo Beach with 1950s-inspired style.
