Venice Biennale Strike Makes History
Plus, the LA Art Book Fair, and a seagull becomes a Biennale star.
Visitors at the Venice Biennale preview encountered a historic sight on Friday: Palestinian flags draped over artworks and more than two dozen shuttered national pavilions. As part of a 24-hour strike organized by the Art Not Genocide Alliance and local activist groups, thousands marched down one of Venice’s main streets as Italian police beat back protesters. Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara reports from the thick of the action at the first cultural strike in the Biennale’s 131-year history.
Another sight to behold in Venice last week: A nesting seagull planted herself near the shuttered Polish pavilion with the “aura of an accidental artwork,” reports Avedis Hadjian. Also today, Matt Stromberg gets messy with zines, vintage photos, and lavish monographs at the LA Art Book Fair, and Dan Schindel takes us inside the life of the “maintenance-artist” Mierle Laderman Ukeles in a review of her new documentary.
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
Historic Strike Disrupts Biennale as Thousands March in Venice
Dozens of national pavilions were partially or fully shut down in a strike for Palestine and for workers’ rights. | Hakim Bishara
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.
Feature
15 Artists Share the Best Advice They Got From Their Mother
“She taught me how to play, how to laugh until my face burns, and how to dance in the kitchen to ‘Believe’ by Cher.”
Nesting Seagull Becomes Unexpected Star of Venice Biennale
Organizers believe this is the first known instance of the bird nesting in such a prominent area of the exhibition grounds. | Avedis Hadjian
Getting Messy in the Archive at LA’s Art Book Fair
This year’s edition of the annual Printed Matter show unearths and remixes historical media, collapsing time and giving the past new relevance. | Matt Stromberg
From Our Critics
Mary Frank Creates Her Own Pantheon
Across sculptures and works on paper, her subjects are self-sustaining survivors who have not lost their capacity for tenderness. | John Yau
The Making of a Maintenance Artist
A new documentary traces Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s decades-long practice of spotlighting marginal, unpaid, and feminine labor. | Dan Schindel
Community
A View From the Easel: Brenda Zlamany
This week, Brenda Zlamany returns to her ancestral village near the Pollino National Park in Italy, where she paints in an old sausage factory and grows her own olives. “Rome has Michelangelo. We have the mountain.”
Member Comment
William Conger on Hakim Bishara’s “A Whole Lot of Nothing at the US Pavilion”
From the Archive — Happy Late Mother's Day!
A Tribute to Art and Motherhood
Artists and art workers reflect on the maternal figures in their lives, on being mothers, and on the many layers of a universally beloved and misunderstood figure.
Oak Spring Garden Foundation - Fellowship for Distinction in Fine Crafts and Design
The fellowship will be awarded to an early-career craftsperson or designer whose work meaningfully engages with the natural world. It includes a $10,000 grant and a two- to five-week stay at OSGF in Northern Virginia.Deadline: May 31, 2026 | osgf.org
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
