THE
INSTIGATOR
Art & Culture magazine
NEWS
ART FAIRS
2026
WORLDWIDE
A unique list of over 60+ selected art fairs around the world throughout 2026
PHOTO / "Exhibition continues behind you" by Philipp Timischl / Photo © Courtesy of Laurent Edeline
PHILIPP TIMISCHL
GALERIE SULTANA
PARIS
EXHIBITION CONTINUES BEHIND YOU
How on earth can you be so unaware of your surroundings?
Entering Austrian artist Philipp Timischl's first solo exhibition at the Galerie Sultana Exhibition continues behind you (Ausstellung Geht Hinter Ihnen Weiter) is not that easy. Before entering the gallery, we are faced with a row of small paintings suspended on a rusty chain, blocking the entrance, like a visual and physical barricade challenging the visitor. We somehow go through.
Inside, we are challenged again. Timischl’s work brings together paintings, videos and sculpture, culminating in site-specific installations. Through his often ironic work, he questions the taste, the power, and the social codes of the art world.
His game goes further. Each work carries an ambiguous title, repeated six times in German, once in English, once in French.
The phrase in German hovers between two readings: the formal “you”, addressing the visitor, and “them”, referring back to the paintings themselves.
In French, “vous” preserves the formal address while remaining open to both singular and plural readings: L’Exposition continue derrière vous.
English also leaves space for his site-specific humour, addressing both the singular and plural as “them”. Is it behind the paintings or behind the visitor?
PHOTOS / "Exhibition continues behind you" by Philipp Timischl / Photos © Courtesy of Laurent Edeline
This ambiguity sets the tone of the show. Across the gallery, Timischl presents a new series of sculptural works pairing each abstract painting in oil with a digital video screen, positioned close to the wall on the floor, neither fully installed nor entirely detached as objects.
The videos made by the artist of the paintings themselves show close-ups and surface details, and these screens create and intensify a perfectly controlled attention through repetition, translating the painting into another register and a quieter understanding.
How on earth could you not become cynical as a painting?
“Exhibition continues behind you"
"Ausstellung Geht Hinter Ihnen Weiter” by Philipp Timischl
Sultana, Paris (France)
30 May – 25 July 2026
PHOTO / "Anthony by the Sea" by Nan Goldin / Photo © Courtesy of Nan Goldin
PHOTO / "Boys don't Cry" by Harley Weir / Photo © Courtesy of Harley Weir
PHOTO / "Untitled" by Tom Bianchi / Photo © Courtesy of Tom Bianchi
SIR ELTON JOHN
JEU DE PAUME
PARIS
FRAGILE BEAUTY
Fifty years after Crocodile Rock, Sir Elton John likes to tell how he started collecting photography in 1991, to replace his cocaine addiction, a passion he shares with his husband, David Furnish. The collection is a passion for photography, reflecting their personal taste and a unique eye as collectors.
Following a great success at the Tate Modern (London) a few years ago, the Musée du Jeu de Paume is showing Fragile Beauty, produced by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, with over 300 finely selected images from the couple's collection of 7,000, considered one of the largest collections in the world. There is a tenacity in buying photographic works to create a historical significance.
Across five thematic sections: desire, celebrity, fashion, reportage, and identity, the collection consists of the biggest names in photography covering a large part of the 20th century and early 21st century, including Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, David LaChapelle, Herb Ritts, Diane Arbus, William Klein, Ai Weiwei, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.
Throughout the collection, including photojournalism - covering 9/11 and last year's wildfires in Los Angeles - one undoubtedly recognises an iconic quality, a Warhol-esque pop glamour. In Fragile Beauty, civil rights, photojournalism, male homosexuality, portraits of fallen idols, and fashion... perfectly present our very Elton.
“Fragile Beauté / Fragile Beauty” by Sir Elton John and David Furnish
Gallery, City (Country)
12 June – 27 September 2026
PHOTO / "Limitless Time" and Isabelle Huppert at the Watermill Center Summer Festival / Photo © Courtesy of Watermill Center
WATERMILL CENTER
SUMMER FESTIVAL 2026
NEW YORK
THE ATTIRE BOLD
MONOCHROME
July is upon us, which means the Watermill Center’s annual Summer Festival is right around the corner to celebrate art and experimentation in support of the centre’s year-round programming: the Artist Residency program, the International Summer Program, Fellowship, Education, and other public programs.
Founded by the late theatre director Robert Wilson, the Center, located less than an hour from New York City, is a laboratory for the arts and humanities, providing a global community with the time, space and freedom to create and inspire. It features dynamic works by groundbreaking international artists; the evening invites guests to a curated series of installations and performances across the expansive property.
Presented by Van Cleef & Arpels, “Limitless Time” is the title of the current theme that starts with an intimate, seated dinner and performances, featuring works by Laurie Anderson and Shane Weeks, Lou Reed, Pina Bausch, Ruth Childs and Cécile Bouffard, EYE, Madeline Hollander, Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Knowles, Arlene Schechet, and Robert Wilson.
At the end of August, the exhibition "The Disappearance of Landscape: Oakleyville, 1964–2022" will open and investigate the practices of four artists who lived and worked between New York City and the sparsely populated Fire Island community of Oakleyville from the mid-1960s to the present day:>
The exhibiting artists are: Sheyla Baykal (1944–1997), Peter Hujar (1934–1987), Matthew Leifheit (1988), and Paul Thek (1933–1988). The exhibition features a selection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures made by the artists while living in Oakleyville.
PHOTO / "The Disappearance of Landscape: Oakleyville, 1964–2022" at the Watermill Center Summer Festival / Photo © Courtesy of Peter Hujar and Watermill Center
"Limitless Time" Summer Festival 2026” Watermill Center
Watermill Center / an hour from New York City (USA)
24 July 2026 / Artist Dinner
25 July 2026 / Festival opening
"The Disappearance of Landscape: Oakleyville, 1964–2022"
29 August 2026 – 20 March 2027
PHOTO / (left) Les Rencontres d'Arles poster / Photo © Courtesy of Festival d'Arles and Finn Partner Paris / (right) Photo © Courtesy of Paul Kodjo
ARLES 2026
LES RENCONTRES D'ARLES
ARLES
LES RENCONTRES D'ARLES
Les Rencontres d'Arles returns for its 57th edition today, on 6 July, until 4 October 2026. In the South of France, this major annual photographic festival, this year, is focusing on the theme of "Worlds to Re-read” “Des Mondes à Relire " and their event takes over the entire city of Arles.
Every summer, the city transforms into the world capital of photography. For the 57th edition, director Christoph Wiesner has chosen an ambitious program that spans around six major thematic sections, each offering a unique perspective on the contemporary world and its legacies. It is also defined by complexity and sensitivity, countering narratives that rely on oversimplification or polarisation. The stated ambition is to capture the full depth of reality through the photographic lens, exploring narrative paths that are both historical and intimate.
The program runs from post-colonial Africa to Mediterranean landscapes and family archives to formal experimentation. In cloisters and various exhibition spaces, the festival offers diverse journeys through Arles's historic and cultural sites and establishes itself as a unique location for dialogues between renowned documentary photographers and emerging voices.
The highlight of the festival is the opening week - running from July 6 to 12, 2026 - which marks the festival’s most intense period, traditionally featuring exhibition openings, meet-the-artist sessions, and night-time screenings.
Cultural events in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region bring together many international artists from around the world and the largest number of professionals, collectors, and photography enthusiasts.
RDV at the Hotel Nord Pinus.
Throughout the summer, we will be reporting back with some exclusive interviews.
A festival not to be missed!
“Les Rencontres d'Arles” Arles (France)
6 July - 4 October 2026
VIDEO / "Fog" by Fujiko Nakaya at the Bourse de Commerce / Video © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
FUJIKO NAKAYA
BOURSE DE COMMERCE
PINAULT COLLECTION
PARIS
DISAPPEARING IN CLOUD #07156
At the heart of the current exhibition Clair-Obscur at the Bourse de Commerce, a new installation replaces Pierre Huyghe’s giant screen, and a white cloud fills the space.
Beneath the historic fresco and glass dome, Tadao Ando’s iconic circular concrete space, the Rotonde, hosts a site-specific artwork by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, who "installed" the space with a fog sculpture, a Sculpture Brouillard.
The artist has artificially reproduced a white cloud, titled Cloud #07156, and transformed the space into an atmospheric landscape with uncertain contours, shaped by variations in the air and a slow-motion appearing-disappearing movements of the visitors.
Forming a square-shaped grid on the floor inside the Rotonde, water mist emanates from multiple nozzles, and the visitors immerse themselves in the wet, cloudy texture. The cloud rises like fog, then turns into thick, white smoke in which people disappear completely, leaving only some silhouettes behind that move from total solitude to a collective contemplation of a smoke-filled building.
We invite you to come and disappear in the fog, in this ephemeral, constantly shifting phenomenon.
“Cloud #07156“ by Fujiko Nakaya
Bourse de Commerce / Pinault Collection, Paris (France)
4 June – 14 September 2026
PHOTO / Clément Grimm / Photo © Courtesy of Ronan Debosque
CLÉMENT GRIMM
L'ÉCOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS
PARIS
TALES OF GRIMM
In the chapel of the Petits-Augustins of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Clément Grimm presents his final-year installation “Hôtel, Été 1928 ou 29“ that blurs the lines between sculpture, sound and performance, fiction and materiality, visible and invisible, constructing spaces where memory, architecture and narrative meet.
The artist pierces the piano with an immense white needle, its pointed tip traversing the structure.
This minimalist form seems to generate a paradoxical tension between gravity and poetry, just like La Nona Ora of Maurizio Cattelan, The Pope struck down by a Meteorite. Except Grimm’s installation is a much more promising contemporary structure.
His piano is not just a piano; it plays music on its own, as if inhabited by an invisible presence. Grimm’s music, composed with Antoine Poudret, was inspired by French Nouvelle Vague psychological drama, Last Year at Marienbad (1961) by Alain Resnais.
With this installation, Clément Grimm reveals himself as a promising contemporary artist, creating a striking link between music and a conceptual sculpture.
“Hôtel, Été 1928 ou 29“ by Clément Grimm
L'École des Beaux-Arts de Paris / Paris (France)
June 2026 - 3 days only
PHOTO / José Castellar Carayol's opening at the Galerie Obsession / Photo © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
JOSÉ CASTELLAR CARAYOL
GALERIE OBSESSION
PARIS
LA PIGALLE OBSESSION
Paris is made for loving. Nothing else.
In that spirit, for the first time, Pierre Passebon and Florent Barbarossa of the Paris-based Galerie Obsession present the photographic world of José Castellar Carayol, centred around the male nude, the symbolic part of Paris, Pigalle, that became the core of his work, and Christian Louboutin’s iconic stilettos. In his pictures, they are far more than just fashion accessories; this shoe represents a true obsession for the artist.
José Castellar Carayol was born in Ibiza and trained in analogue photography between his native island, Barcelona and Paris. His inspiration comes from the glamorous lighting of the 1930s, his work explores identity, freedom, and the body’s genuineness, via an intimate and cinematic aesthetic.
“I discovered José’s personal work long after he started working with me. I loved his spirit. His photos have a lot in common with my work, both in terms of the people he portrays and the ability to elevate them. Even if his images seem classic at first glance, there’s always that touch of very provocative Ibizan humour!”
Christian Louboutin
In his black and white series, the models are nude, and simply enhanced by these stilettos, which act as a point of equilibrium between strength and vulnerability. The heels are liberating, and the nudity, marked by social codes, is transformed into confidence.
“La Pigalle Obsession” by José Castellar Carayol
Galerie Obsession, Paris (France)
17 June 2026 - 1 August 2026
PHOTO / Portrait of Rubén Molina by José Castellar Carayol / Photo © Courtesy of José Castellar Carayol
PHOTO / Youssef Nabil / Photo © Courtesy of Youssef Nabil and Musée d'Orsay
YOUSSEF NABIL
MUSÉE D'ORSAY
PARIS
TO KEEP DREAMING
DE RÉVER ENCORE
Franco-Egyptian photographer Youssef Nabil dreams on at the Musée d’Orsay this month. His first visit to France in 1992 remains a source of inspiration.
He is the first contemporary artist to occupy the Orientalist galleries at the Musée d'Orsay. With De Réver Encore he is placing his works in perspective along with symbolism, and the core of his aesthetics. The themes of exile, rebirth, and dreams are omnipresent in his work.
The black & white silver gelatin prints, enhanced by Youssef Nabil using an ancient hand-colouring technique, evoke the glorious and idealised Egypt of his childhood.
"De Réver Encore" by Youssef Nabil
Musée d'Orsay / Paris (France)
19 May - 13 September 2026
PHOTO / Louis Le Kim's painting at Reiffers Initiatives
/ Photo © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
PHOTO / Khaled Jarada's drawing at Reiffers Initiatives / Photo © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
REIFFERS
INITIATIVES
REIFFERS ART PRIZE
PARIS
THE REIFFERS ART PRIZE
Paris-based Reiffers Initiatives, part of the MAZARINE group, presided by Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers, is a well-known philanthropic fund, supporting emerging contemporary artists.
Their mission is to support thirty artists each year, fostering the international emergence of the new French art scene. The organisation initiates projects to fund, exhibit, and raise the profile of the emerging artists, the future of contemporary art.
In 2026, Stanislava Kovalcikova won the Reiffers Initiatives Prize. She succeeded Anhar Salem (2025), Clédia Fourniau (2024), Ser Serpas (2023), and Pol Taburet (2022).
For the 5th edition of the Reiffers Initiatives Prize, eight emerging artists were selected by the artistic committee, under the direction of Bernard Blistène, curator of the exhibition and Honorary Director of the National Museum of Modern Art – Centre Pompidou. The group exhibition, entitled "Tampering with the Unknown," brought together Khaled Jarada, Louis Le Kim, Stanislava Kovalcikova, Arthur Marie, Eva Helene Pade, Ibrahim Meïté Sikely, Minh Lan Tran, and Manon Wertenbroek.
Reiffers Art Prize
Reiffers Art Initiatives, Paris (France)
17 April – July 2026
PHOTO / "Spledeurs du Baroque” from El Greco to Velázquez at the Musée Jacquemart-André / Photo © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
BAROQUE SPLENDOURS
/ LA TRAVIATA
MUSÉS JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ
PARIS
EL GRECO TO VELÁZQUEZ
& LA TRAVIATA
The new exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Baroque Splendours, presents masterpieces from El Greco to Velázquez. Yet, the museum added another level to the splendour: Verdi’s La Traviata, performed throughout the museum’s prestigious salons. Our duo-article covers both events.
It was a wealthy American philanthropist, Archer Milton Huntington, who founded the Hispanic Society of America in 1904. The New York-based institution is currently undergoing major renovations, to the delight of the Parisian art scene, and it is in this context that the institution's treasures crossed the Atlantic to be seen in France for the first time.
Walking through the different salons of the museum, it is an immense joy to rediscover Saint Luke (1590) by Doménikos Theotókopoulos, known as El Greco, with his unique and delicate style, the gaze of Saint James the Greater (1597-1599) turning towards heaven, and Sainte Lucie (1630) of Zurbarán, who gained the nickname of Spanish Caravaggio owing to the forceful use of light and dark, strong contrast: the Chiaroscuro.
In parallel with Baroque Splendours, the Musée Jacquemart-André presents two Baroque concerts: Verdi's La Traviata and Rigoletto, and in July, houses the Paris Opera Festival.
Our duo-article covers both the exhibition Baroque Splendours and Verdi’s opera, La Traviata. What could be a better place to discover or rediscover his operas?
“Baroque Splendours” by El Greco / Velázquez / Zurbarán
Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (France)
26 March - 2 August 2026
PHOTO / "The Seven Celestial Spheres” by Anna Peter Breton / Photo © Courtesy of Adriano Mura
ANNA PETER BRETON
LA SCUOLA GRANDE DEI CARMINI
VENICE
THE SEVEN CELESTIAL SPHERES
THE LIGHTMAKER OF VENICE
Paris-based artist Anna Peter Breton opens her first solo exhibition in Venice, during the 61st Venice Biennale, at La Scuola Grande dei Carmini. “The Seven Celestial Spheres”, curated by Roberta Semeraro, marks a new chapter in the artist’s life.
Altogether, 14 large-scale oil paintings, in the exact shape and proportions of the windows, cover the lights in the church, casting a temporary shadow over the masterpieces. Through her oil paintings, she rebuilt the space with her own light.
“The Seven Celestial Spheres” by Anna Peter Breton
La Scuola Grande dei Carmini. Venice (Italy)
61st Venice Biennale
6 May - 22 November 2026
'The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.' Jean Cocteau
PHOTO / "Lisa Lyon" by Robert Mapplethorpe / Photos © Courtesy of Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
ROBERT
MAPPLETHORPE
GALERIE THADDAEUS ROPAC
PARIS
THE FABULOUS THREESOME
What could be more intriguing than a fabulous threesome in Paris with MAPPLETHORPE, ENNINFUL and ROPAC? We asked Edward Enninful about his very first curatorial work pairing Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography at Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris.
Enninful gives the exhibition a sensational visual harmony. Curating and pairing a selection of 46 prints brilliantly together, he forges a new dialogue between the images, inviting visitors to see Mapplethorpe’s work differently.
The exhibition spans fashion photography as well as stark portraits, nudes and still lives. By capturing unexpected subjects with a classical formality, Mapplethorpe defied prevailing aesthetic standards, paving the way far ahead for unconventional, and often shocking beauty to be appreciated as ART.
“Everything has to be with storytelling, and that’s why the pairings in this exhibition were so relevant and exciting to me.” Edward Enninful
“Mapplethorpe” by Robert Mapplethorpe
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (France)
2 March - 6 April 2024
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