V&A to Renovate its South Asia Gallery

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has closed its South Asia gallery for renovation, marking the institution’s first update to the space in more than 30 years. Backed by the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund—after initial development support of GBP 250,000 (USD 337,000) in 2024—the GBP 4 million (USD 5.4 million) transformation will be led by London-based architecture studio Gibson Thornley. Set to reopen in early 2028, the redesigned gallery will reframe and expand the V&A’s South Asia collection of over 50,000 objects, offering a fresh interpretation of South Asian artistic production as well as an examination of the collection’s colonial histories. Alongside rarely seen historical artifacts—such as a five-meter-wide copy of an Ajanta Cave mural from India and the 19th-century Kochi Ceiling—modern and contemporary artworks will be featured in the gallery for the first time. Highlights include pieces from Bangladesh and its diaspora, supported through a five-year partnership with Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, spanning acquisitions, commissions, and research programs. Structured chronologically from the early and medieval to modern period, the refurbished venue will be “a vibrant new space where historic masterpieces sit alongside the work of leading contemporary artists, [and] questions of provenance and colonial history are addressed,” noted V&A director Tristram Hunt in a press release.

Busan Biennale 2026 Unveils Participating Artists and Venues

The Busan Biennale has announced an initial group of artists and venues for its 13th edition, “Dissident Chorus,” scheduled to run from August 29 to November 1. Led by artistic directors Amal Khalaf and Evelyn Simons, the exhibition will bring together works across sound, performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to probe the port city’s maritime heritage, layered narratives of migration, and what the directors describe as “alternative political registers.” The biennale will unfold across the Busan Museum of Contemporary Art and two historically resonant sites on Yeongdo island: the 70-year-old former campus of Busan Nam High School and Space OneZ, a converted warehouse. The current artist lineup features 44 artists and collectives from 23 countries, including Paris-based Julien Creuzet, whose site-specific commission will engage Busan’s urban, maritime, and transitory dynamics; Seoul-based Dew Kim, known for his explorations of religion, fandom, and queer experience; and Brazilian interdisciplinary practitioner Jota Mombaça, who will present an immersive auditory piece in collaboration with music producer Anti Ribeiro. Describing the biennale as “a rehearsal for other ways of being together,” Khalaf and Simons noted in a press release that the presentation is bound by “the refusal to be silenced.” Organizers are still confirming a final cohort of approximately seven more artists.

Creative Australia Announces 2026 Recipients of First Nations Arts and Culture Awards

Creative Australia presented the 2026 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards on May 27, marking both National Reconciliation Week and the 59th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, which formally recognized Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Australian Constitution. The ceremony’s top honors, the Red Ochre Awards, each carrying AUD 60,000 (USD 43,100), were awarded to Bronwyn Bancroft and Stephen Pigram for artistic excellence, and to Djambawa Marawili AM and Hetti Kemarre Perkins for cultural advocacy and leadership. Hayley Millar Baker received the Youth Award for Achievement in the Arts, and John Harvey took home the Established Artist of the Year Award. Creative Australia also recognized two First Nations Arts Fellowship recipients: Daen John-Sansbury-Smith and Maurial Spearim. Executive director Franchesca Cubillo congratulated the winners, noting that the honorees “represent excellence across generations and disciplines.”

Jongjin Park Wins 2026 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize

South Korean ceramic artist Jongjin Park clinched the 2026 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize for Strata of Illusion (2025), a sculptural work that visualizes the movement between control and collapse in its resemblance to a seat. Park’s process involves layering paper coated in porcelain slip, which burns away as the piece hardens under the heat of the kiln, leaving behind a form defined by absence as much as material. Established in 2016, the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize recognizes works that reinterpret traditional artistic techniques through a contemporary lens. This year’s winning piece, along with works of 30 finalists, are on view at the National Gallery Singapore from May 13 to June 14.