Colossal

Avant-garde style, technology, and performance converge in a fantastical, joyous competition every year in New Zealand. World of WearableArt is a vibrant multimedia competition established in 1987, which continues to invite entrants from around the world to sew and sculpt their most ambitious garments. Whimsical and technically impressive, many of the works call upon cultural traditions, while others tap into nature, futurism, and the chimerical. This year’s show is titled GLO!, with Ka

Against a patchwork wall of hammered copper, a black veil appears to billow in mesmerizing motion. The fabric-like layer writhes and twists against the glimmering backdrop, revealing its diaphanous texture as it unfolds to translucence. Like a curtain flapping in an open window, the digital projection floats across the metallic surface of one of teamLab’s latest works. Part of teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity at the Smart Museum of Art, “Sea of Darkness, Memory Shining

Hailing from the French West Indies in the Caribbean—specifically the island of Guadeloupe—and currently based in Montréal, multi-disciplinary artist Eddy Firmin is deeply interested in the history and politics of colonization and identity. His home region’s inextricable ties to the dark legacy of slavery informs a practice that interrogates how knowledge is shared and passed down through generations. Throughout more than three centuries, upwards of 20 million or more people were trans

Reuben “Rube” Goldberg (1883-1970) was known for his comic strips, political cartoons, and unique inventions. His most enduring legacy, however, is arguably the Rube Goldberg machine. Still bearing his name, these contraptions are often comical or playful due to their “overengineered” nature, using complex sequences of simple chain reactions like rolling ramps, weight and pulley systems, domino chains, and pendulum swings. “Busy Bodies,” created by animator

Known for his fantastical paintings of hybrid flora and fauna, Jon Ching channels the otherworldly in vibrant and meticulously detailed canvases. His precise renderings of regal creatures conjure elemental energies like fire and water, merged with the personalities of mammals, birds, and marine life. Inspired by his island upbringing on O’ahu, Hawai’i, Ching continues to turn to nature as a boundless source of wonder and solace. The Los Angeles-based artist’s forthcoming solo exhibition

Niklas Roy is fascinated by the convergence of art and technology. From robotics to gaming systems, the Berlin-based artist and inventor creates quirky yet thought-provoking sculptures and installations that investigate relationships between creativity, science, and tech. His mechanical contraptions are often infused with a lighthearted twist that prompts viewers to think critically and get involved. And his most recent project draws on one of the most fundamental types of technology humans have

Every month, we share opportunities for artists and designers, including open calls, grants, fellowships, and residencies. Make sure you never miss out by joining our monthly Opportunities Newsletter. Arch Enemy Arts Call for ArtistsFeaturedArch Enemy Arts is seeking submissions for an annual group exhibition in January 2027. This spotlight exhibition of new and emerging talent has no themes or direction in subject matter, although the gallery focuses on representational, dark surrealism

Earlier this month, a monumental, metallic spiral appeared on the High Line to coincide with New York Fashion Week. The elevated, art-filled public park on the West Side of Manhattan runs from Gansevoort Street near the Whitney Museum of American Art to 34th Street near Hudson Yards. Commissioned by Bulgari as part of its Serpenti Infinito series, which celebrates its famous Serpenti collection through artistic partnerships, the temporary installation invited visitors to walk through an enormous

In the Buddhist tradition, mandalas are devotional images that represent the universe, their precise geometry and motifs depicting holy realms and a sense of order through symbolic references to the elements and astrology. Tibetan Buddhist monks painstakingly create colorful sand renditions as part of their mindfulness practice. Once complete, the pieces are ritualistically destroyed—the sand is customarily returned to moving water—to illustrate the impermanence and transience of life and the co

Built throughout the 1960s and ’70s, the Aylesbury Estate is an enormous public housing complex in South East London that at its peak, boasted 11,000 residents. Like other social projects of this kind, Aylesbury has struggled with violence and vandalism throughout its run, and in 2005, local officials decided to demolish the estate and rebuild in phases rather than rehabilitate the existing structures. Living and working in South East London for nearly four decades, Harriet Mena Hill wa

Like the Argentinian writer Samanta Schweblin, the first time I found myself in front of a painting by the Spanish-Mexican artist Remedios Varo (1908-1963), I was stunned. Who was this elegant owl-figure with dainty fingers and feet? What was animating the creaturely machine at her side with tentacle-like brushes as hands? And, would I ever be able to look away? Feeling mesmerized and awe-struck by Varo’s Surrealist visions isn’t an uncommon position to find oneself in. A new rele

“I try to avoid playing it safe or going for the obvious. Instead, I look at plants from a different perspective and express them in my own way,” South Korean artist Taehyoung Maria Jeon says about a fantastical series of illustrations. “Ironically, having rules is what gives me the freedom to experiment with plant shape.” Although she’s trained as a printmaker and continues to build compositions in layers, Jeon turns to digital methods as she reimagines the spec

Delicate waves, mysterious fissures, and diffused lightning set some of the scenes in Sarah Lee’s dreamy landscape paintings. Moons with strangely direct beams of light and supple mountains cradled by lakes and forests are tinged with magical realism. Most of the works seen here are part of Lee’s current solo exhibition titled Deeper at Albertz Benda, in which the artist highlights different ecosystems and the nature of clarity and concealment. She often titles her works in reference to th

In tender paper collages featuring woodland creatures in relief, Kanako Abe imagines dreamlike scenes reminiscent of childhood narratives and folk tales. Giant wolves, diminutive bunnies, and curious deer wander through a Narnia-like realm that we glimpse through foliage-filled portals. In her practice, “the paper becomes a canvas for stories untold, where every cut is a deliberate step into a world where imagination and reality intertwine,” a statement says. Paper-cutting has lon

“Do you ever think about concrete?” opens the trailer for The History of Concrete, a documentary released in select theaters in the U.S. last Friday. If your answer is no, the quirky new feature by filmmaker John Wilson may mean you can’t get it out of your head. Wilson is known for the cult-favorite, comedic HBO docuseries How To with John Wilson, which he described as being “kind of like that show Planet Earth, except if it was only in New York and David Attenborough

In the winning video of Nikon’s Small World in Motion competition, Dr. Ning Xu captures the abnormal beating of airway cilia from a child with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD)—a genetic disorder affecting respiratory function. “When people watch cilia beating, they immediately understand that something beautiful and important is happening inside us,” says the Beijing-based researcher. “I think this competition turns microscopy into a shared language.” The marvelous sight is just one of

Vibrant, amorphous shapes intersect with squiggles and occasional geometric lettering in the murals of Chicago-based artist Emmy Star Brown. She describes her studio practice as a space where her inner child emerges, paring down her expressions to formal qualities of line, shape, and contrast. In her large-scale installations on urban buildings, which draw on her background in visual communications and advertising, both interior and exterior surfaces transform into energetic, edge-to-edge romps

It’s all things avian at Bird Photographer of the Year, the world’s largest contest dedicated to images of feathered creatures planet-wide. This year, the program welcomed more than 24,000 entries from photographers around the globe, capturing diving penguins, urban denizens, mating rituals, dramatic flights, and more. Highlighting birds of all kinds, the competition emphasizes the diverse appearances and behaviors of the animals and also raises awareness of the challenges they fa

In our era of digital screens and virtually endless images and videos, it’s a challenge to imagine the time before photography existed. Two centuries ago this year, French inventor Nicéphore Niépce successfully captured the first known permanent image. He called his new process héliographie, or “sun writing,” employing light-sensitive bitumen dissolved in lavender oil, which he used to coat a polished pewter plate. After exposing the plate on his windowsill for several

As deep swells from an offshore hurricane were further empowered by king tides in Southern California over the past several days, residents experienced firsthand the impacts of human-generated climate change. Erosion is an innate process along coastlines, where waves and wind constantly shift the sand and gnaw away at bluffs. Infrastructure projects and residential development over the last several decades have also meant changes to the natural coastline, and beaches are regularly refilled with