The US Pavilion Wants Your Money
An unusual funding call for Alma Allen’s Venice exhibition, a sculpture at LACMA creates controversy, and join Hyperallergic’s event with Jeremy Frey.
In a twist that sounds straight out of our annual April Fools edition, the American Arts Conservancy — the nascent MAGA-studded nonprofit commissioning this year’s US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale — is fundraising for the exhibition via a “Donate” button on its website. In fact, there’s a lot that’s curious about the financing for Alma Allen’s pavilion. Staff Reporter Isa Farfan has the story.
Personally, I encourage you to skip the pavilion donation and get a Hyperallergic membership instead. For less than 10 bucks, you’ll support our work and get access to exclusive members-only events, like today’s virtual conversation with artist and MacArthur grant winner Jeremy Frey and Hyperallergic Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian. There’s still time to sign up here.
It's a news-heavy day. At the newly unveiled LACMA building, a sculpture by Pedro Reyes that recalls his 2021 commission for Mexico City, ultimately rejected after protests from Indigenous and feminist activists, has rekindled questions about agency and representation. Also in LA, the experimental nonprofit The Box shutters after two decades.
Read Eliana Perozo on artist and DACA recipient Arleene Correa Valencia, co-published by Hyperallergic and Next City; Aditya Iyer on Nigerian modernism at the Tate; and more.
— Valentina Di Liscia, senior editor
The US Pavilion Is Taking Online Donations
The American Arts Conservancy, the nascent nonprofit executing Alma Allen’s 2026 pavilion project, said it received no financial support from institutions. | Isa Farfan
Early 2026 Art Books From Yale University Press
Biographies of Anni Albers and Dorothea Tanning, The Met’s blockbuster “Raphael,” Edward Steichen and his flowers, and more books for art lovers. Shop the annual sale this May.
News
- Mexican cultural workers denounce a sculpture by Pedro Reyes at LACMA, saying the museum ignored the contentious history of a similar artwork rejected by Mexico City in 2021.
- The Box LA, known for its fearless, playful programming and support of unconventional work and exhibitions, closes after 19 years.
From Our Critics
The Revolutionary Tapestry of Nigerian Modernism
The first show on the subject in the UK offers an ambitious, if uneven, look at how artists forged a postcolonial identity. | Aditya Iyer
The Mysterious Life of Fluxus Dame Alison Knowles
Even a book by a leading expert on the avant-garde artist can’t tell us much about her personal life. | Lauren Moya Ford
NYU Steinhardt Presents 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibitions
Part II: May 6–23. On view at 80WSE Gallery in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Feature
DACA Artist Uses Thread to Weave Immigration Stories
Arleene Correa Valencia transforms bark paper and embroidery into a tender reckoning with the reality of being undocumented in the United States. | Eliana Perozo
Member Comment
Gail Weddington on Julie Schneider’s “The Kaleidoscopic World of Amish Women’s Quilts”
ICYMI
Can the V&A’s New Museum Fulfill Its Democratic Promise?
In contrast with the institution’s behemoth architecture, its recently unveiled East London branches seem built on a human scale. | Naomi Polonsky
