The Holy See pavilion asks Venice Biennale visitors to slow down and listen.
The Holy See’s pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale presents “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” a multi-sensory exhibition centered on “deep listening” and inspired by the writings and legacy of the 12th-century mystic, composer, and healer Hildegard von Bingen. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective, the project features new commissions by 24 artists, including Patti Smith, Brian Eno, FKA twigs, and Dev Hynes, and unfolds across two Venetian sites: the Mystical Garden in Cannaregio and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice complex in Castello.
Chanel will launch an annual, one-year fellowship in collaboration with the Guggenheim.
Chanel and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation have launched the Chanel Culture Fund Fellowship, a new transatlantic curatorial program beginning in fall 2026 that will place postgraduate scholars at both the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Aimed at MA- and PhD-level researchers working in collection studies and curatorial research, the one-year fellowship includes archival and exhibition-based work across both institutions, as well as travel and financial support.
A father and daughter plead guilty in a $2 million counterfeit art scheme.
A father-and-daughter duo from New Jersey, Erwin Bankowski and Karolina Bankowska, pleaded guilty to orchestrating a years-long counterfeit art scheme that defrauded collectors, galleries, and auction houses of at least $2 million by selling more than 200 forged works falsely attributed to artists including Andy Warhol, Banksy, Pablo Picasso, Richard Mayhew, and Fritz Scholder. Prosecutors said the pair commissioned an artist in Poland to create the fakes between 2020 and 2025, then fabricated provenance using forged gallery stamps, antique paper, and false ownership histories to make the works appear authentic.
A Vienna theater opens its Klimt ceilings to viewers during renovations.
Vienna’s Burgtheater is offering the public a rare close-up view of Gustav Klimt’s early ceiling paintings through guided scaffolding tours during an ongoing restoration project addressing water damage to the 1886–1888 works. Installed nearly 18 meters (60 feet) above the theater’s grand staircases, the ten monumental paintings—created by Klimt alongside his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch when Klimt was just 24—depict scenes from theater history and include the artist’s only known self-portrait. The restoration, which involves meticulous hand-cleaning with cotton swabs and condensed water, allows visitors to see details normally invisible from the ground, including intricate figures and subtle painterly effects that foreshadow Klimt’s later style.
Head Hi Lamp Show will open this week at BOOM at The Standard, High Line.
The sixth edition of the Head Hi Lamp Show will take place May 8–9 at BOOM at The Standard, High Line in New York, ahead of NYCxDESIGN, transforming the rooftop venue into a large-scale exhibition dedicated to experimental lighting and collectible design. Founded in 2019 by Alexandra Hodkowski and Alvaro Alcocer, the biennial exhibition has evolved into a platform for emerging and established designers exploring the intersection of light, materiality, sculpture, and craft through lamps selected from hundreds of international submissions. This year’s edition features more than 35 participants from cities including New York, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, Turin, Prague, and Barcelona, with works spanning aluminum, recycled materials, textiles, ceramics, and kinetic forms. For the first time, the exhibition includes a curatorial collaborator—Stephen Markos, founder of New York design gallery Superhouse.
Today’s attractive distractions:
Kith’s West Hollywood flagship reopens this week—with a new restaurant concept, Ronnie’s Pronto.
Float Studios designed an office that references the original *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* film.
Kim Petras’ new “Jeep” video is a Tumblr–inspired fantasy.
Thames & Hudson chronicles decades of Ralph Lauren womenswear in a new book.
