Art news to be on your radar this week: 6 - 12 April 2026
Art news to be on your radar this week includes a selection of exhibitions, fairs, and cultural programmes shaping the current moment across the global art scene. From major international events such as Art Paris and Abidjan Art Week to upcoming openings in London, Venice, and New York, alongside expanded public programmes at institutions such as the Barbican and Southbank Centre in London.
Barbican expands anyone can dance series with year long celebration of diaspora sounds
Following the success of its sold-out debut with Eastern Margins, the Barbican Centre has announced the expansion of its anyone can dance series, a year-long programme of late-night parties celebrating global dance music and the UK’s diasporic culture. The series will continue throughout 2026, transforming the Barbican’s Level –1 foyer into an intimate dancefloor running late into the night.
Click here to discover upcoming events.
anyone can dance w/ Eastern Margins. Image credit Jenny Arrowsmith
Southbank Centre announces ‘Letters To The Future’ weekend
The Southbank Centre has announced Letters To The Future, a weekend festival from 18–20 September 2026 celebrating young voices tackling society’s biggest challenges. Writers, activists and performers including Amelia Dimoldenberg, Ash Sarkar, Olly Alexander, Mya-Rose Craig, and Rebecca F. Kuang will lead panels, performances, spoken word, and DJ sets exploring topics from digital media and queer storytelling to education and climate change.
Click here to discover more.
Amelia Dimoldenberg. Image credit Laura Schaeffer
Gabrielle Goliath Presents Elegy Independently at La Biennale di Venezia
In response to the controversial cancellation of the South African Pavilion, Gabrielle Goliath will present an independent exhibition of her long-term performance project Elegy at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin in Castello, Venice, from 5 May. The work, realised with support from the Bertha Foundation and in partnership with Ibraaz, takes the form of a multi-channel video installation featuring three new suites of Elegy performances. Across eight monumental video screens, the piece mourns intertwined losses, from femicide in South Africa and the erasure of Ovaherero and Nama life-worlds in Namibia, to the killing of Palestinian civilians, including poet Heba Abunada. Through voice, song, and shared presence, the exhibition creates a space of collective reflection, care, and imagining a world otherwise.
Click here to discover more.
Gabrielle Goliath © Anthea Pokroy
Early Netherlandish Drawings: From Workshop Tool to Work of Art
An exhibition exploring the transformation of Netherlandish drawings from practical workshop tools into independent works of art will open at the British Museum this month. Bringing together around 110 works, the exhibition features renowned artists such as Rogier van der Weyden, Lucas van Leyden, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Hendrick Goltzius, alongside lesser-known pieces and workshop copies. It traces artistic developments in the Low Countries during the 1400s and 1500s, highlighting how drawings supported the creation of paintings, tapestries, and sculptures while gradually gaining recognition as artworks in their own right. Drawing on the Museum’s exceptional collection and new research, the exhibition also reveals fresh insights into artistic techniques, studio practices, and emerging subjects such as landscapes and scenes of everyday life.
Date: 16 April – 20 September 2026. Location: Room 90, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Price: Free.Book now
Allegory on Life and Death, Joris Hoefnagel and Jacob Hoefnagel, 1598 © The Trustees of the British Museum
A Patrick Heron exhibition of early works from 1950–1954 will open at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert
Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert will open a solo exhibition of Patrick Heron’s early works from 1950 to 1954, highlighting a pivotal period when he worked between figuration and abstraction. Featuring paintings from his estate, including several never before exhibited, alongside loans from museums and private collections, the show will explore Heron’s engagement with the School of Paris masters, Braque, Matisse, and Bonnard, and his emerging visual language. Key works such as Christmas Eve: 1951 and Black Fish on Blue Table will demonstrate his experimentation with gestural lines, interlocking planes, and how he created depth and structure through colour and compositional arrangement, reflecting his pursuit of a “purely sensuous apprehension of colour, space and shape.”
Date: 7 May – 10 July 2026. Location: 38 Bury Street, St James’s, London SW1Y 6BB. hh-h.com
Patrick Heron, Christmas Eve: 1951, 1951, oil on canvas, 71 x 120 inches. Private collection
Agnes Martin’s paintings return to Dia Beacon in major exhibition
Returning to Dia Beacon after nearly a decade, the work of Agnes Martin will be presented in Painting is not making paintings, a major show spanning almost 50 years of her practice. The presentation will highlight her distinctive approach to abstraction, defined by delicate grids, muted tones, and a focus on balance and stillness. Drawing from Dia’s collection alongside key loans, the display will trace her development from early geometric compositions to her later, more minimal works, revealing her commitment to creating art rooted in contemplation and emotional clarity. Through a largely chronological arrangement, the exhibition will emphasise how Martin redefined painting as a personal and disciplined pursuit, reflecting on their influence on modern abstraction beyond movements such as abstract expressionism and minimalism.
Date: from 4 April 2026 (on view for one year). Location: Dia Beacon, 3 Beekman Street, Beacon, New York 12508, United States. diaart.org
Agnes Martin, Untitled, ca. 1959. © Agnes Martin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York
Saatchi Gallery announces contemporary textile art exhibition
The Saatchi Gallery has announced a new exhibition celebrating the innovation and creativity of contemporary textile art, showcasing the work of 15 international artists who are redefining traditional techniques such as embroidery, weaving, knitting, and crochet. Opening this month, and inspired by Helen Adams’ book Fine Art Textiles, the exhibition highlights a renewed appreciation for handmade art in a digital age while pushing the boundaries of the medium. Featuring a diverse range of works, from recycled material installations and large-scale silk pieces to delicate fabric portraits and intricate sculptures, artists including Ian Berry, Kaffe Fassett, Benjamin Shine, and Magda Sayeg demonstrate the versatility of textiles through use of colour, texture, and design, ultimately presenting textile art as an evolving form of contemporary artistic expression.
Date: 10 April – 10 May 2026. Location: Gallery 4, Ground Floor, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY. saatchigallery.com
Conversación sobre arte, Chiachio & Giannone. Photograph by Nacho Iasparra
Art fairs
Art Paris 2026 to open at the Grand Palais
Art Paris, the leading spring fair for modern and contemporary art, will return to the Grand Palais in Paris from 9 to 12 April 2026 for its 28th edition, hosting around 170 French and international galleries across four main sections. Babel – Art and Language in France, curated by Loïc Le Gall, explores how contemporary French artists experiment with letters, signs, and language as visual and conceptual tools. Reparation, curated by Alexia Fabre, presents international artists reflecting on care, resilience, and historical memory, linking personal and collective experiences. Promises, curated by Marc Donnadieu, highlights emerging galleries under ten years old, giving twenty-five young galleries a platform to showcase new talent. The French Design Art Edition, curated by Jean-Paul Bath and Sandy Saad, returns following its 2025 debut, bringing together around twenty exhibitors of contemporary design and decorative arts, including interior designers, designers, and galleries specialising in unique or limited-edition pieces.
Date: 9 – 12 April 2026. Location: Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris, France. Price: 35 - 15 EUR. artparis.com
Art Paris 2025 at Grand Palais © Marc Domage
Art weeks
Abidjan Art Week 2026 to open in Côte d’Ivoire
Abidjan Art Week, a week‑long celebration of modern and contemporary art in Côte d’Ivoire, will take place from 7 April 2026 in Abidjan, bringing together galleries and cultural spaces to highlight the city’s expanding artistic landscape. The event will offer a programme of exhibitions and activities across multiple galleries, providing a platform to experience a broad range of contemporary artistic practices from Côte d’Ivoire and beyond. A key moment of the week will be La Nuit des Galeries (The Night of the Galleries), during which participating galleries stay open until midnight.
Date: 7 – 11 April 2026. Location: Various galleries and exhibition venues, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Price: Many exhibitions are free to attend; specific programmes may vary in cost. abidjanartweek.com
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Image credit Silvere Meya.
Review
Konrad Mägi at Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is currently presenting the work of Estonian artist Konrad Mägi, offering a rare chance in the UK to experience an exhibition dedicated to one of Estonia’s most celebrated painters. The show features a wide range of his landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, demonstrating his mastery of colour, light, and texture. It traces Mägi’s artistic journey across Europe, from his early experiments in the Åland Islands and travels to Paris and Oslo, to his later work in Estonia, showing how different environments and experiences shaped his style.
Click here to read the full review.
Date: 24 March – 12 July 2026. Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, Dulwich, London SE21 7AD. Price: from £18. Concessions available. Book now
Konrad Mägi, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Installation Photos, 2026. Image credit Graham Turner.
Visit
Soft Robots: The Art of Digital Breathing, Copenhagen Contemporary
It’s the final weeks to catch Soft Robots: The Art of Digital Breathing at Copenhagen Contemporary before it closes on 19 April 2026. The exhibition brings together international artists to explore how human identity, emotion, and authenticity are evolving in a digital age shaped by AI, robotics, and virtual personas. Through engaging installations, from cocoon-like sculptures to AI-generated avatars and machine-made environments, it questions what it means to be alive, present, and “real” in a world increasingly shared with intelligent machines.
Date: until 19 April 2026. Location: Copenhagen Contemporary, Refshalevej 173A, 1432 København, Denmark. Price: from 140 DKK. Book now
Wash, 2023 by artist Silas Inoue. Part of exhibition Soft Roberts at Copenhagen Contemporary, 2026. Image credit MTotoe/FLO London
