The Bulletin bringing you the latest highlights in the art world
APRIL 2026
Osman Hamdi Bey Masterpiece Surpasses £3.6 Million at Bonhams
A major painting by Osman Hamdi Bey led the 19th Century Paintings sale at Bonhams in London, achieving over £3.6 million. Cami Kapisinda (At the Mosque Door) significantly exceeded expectations, marking its first appearance at auction since being acquired directly from the artist in the late 19th century. The work, noted for its scale and intricate detail, reflects Hamdi Bey’s engagement with Orientalist themes while offering a more nuanced, insider perspective shaped by his Ottoman background.
Trained in Paris and influenced by European academic painting, Hamdi Bey occupied a unique position between artistic traditions. Beyond painting, he played a central role in cultural institution-building in Istanbul. The strong result underscores continued market interest in historically significant works that bridge cultural and artistic contexts.
Sharjah Film Platform 8 Awards Short Film Production Grants
Sharjah Art Foundation has named the recipients of the Sharjah Film Platform 8 Short Film Production Grant: CounterArchive Collective for We Return in Pieces, Rajan Kathet for Oxygen, and Nadeem Alkarimi for Mila in The Mountains. The selected projects explore questions of memory, identity, and place through distinct cinematic approaches.
Each will receive support through development and production, with completed works set to premiere at a forthcoming edition of Sharjah Film Platform. The grant continues to back independent filmmakers working across genres and geographies.
ATHR Gallery Announces Representation of Abdullah Al Othman
ATHR Gallery has announced the representation of Abdullah Al Othman, reinforcing its commitment to artists shaping contemporary discourse in the region. Working across installation, light, and text, Al Othman’s practice reflects on the transformations of everyday life in Saudi Arabia, drawing from urban landscapes, desert narratives, and visual fragments of the built environment. His works often take the form of subtle spatial interventions, inviting closer attention to overlooked details and shifting perceptions of place. Exhibited locally and internationally, his practice bridges material, language, and environment, offering a nuanced reading of a rapidly evolving cultural context.
Armenia Debuts at Malta Biennale 2026 with Raffi Yedalian Installation
In 2026, Armenia joins the Malta International Art Biennale for the first time, contributing to its second edition under the theme “CLEAN/CLEAR/CUT.” The national pavilion presents The Sound of What Was Never Seen, a sculptural and sonic work by Raffi Yedalian, curated by Sona Hovhannisyan.
The installation reflects on absence, perception, and the tension between what can be sensed and what remains concealed. Positioned within an international context, the pavilion marks a significant step in presenting Armenia’s contemporary artistic voice, while extending its cultural narratives to new audiences.
MARCH 2026
Lina Ghotmeh to Debut First Outdoor Installation in Italy at Milan Design Week
Paris-based, Lebanese-born architect Lina Ghotmeh to design Metamorphosis in Motion, a new installation set to anchor MoscaPartners Variations 2026 at Palazzo Litta from 21 to 26 April 2026. Marking her first site-specific outdoor work in Italy, the project positions architecture as both scenographic device and spatial inquiry.
Conceived for the palace’s central courtyard, the installation draws on Ghotmeh’s concept of an “archaeology of the future,” weaving together memory, landscape, and movement. Responding to the site’s role as a threshold between city and interior, the work frames circulation as a choreographed experience. Presented during Milan Design Week, the intervention extends Palazzo Litta’s evolving role as a platform for experimental design and contemporary spatial practice.
Zayed National Museum Named Among TIME’s World’s Greatest Places 2026
The Zayed National Museum has been recognised as one of TIME’s World’s Greatest Places 2026, joining a global list of 100 standout destinations. Selected by the publication’s international network, the museum stands among a small number of sites from the Middle East and wider MENA region. Located within Saadiyat Cultural District, the institution opened in December 2025 and traces the deep history of the UAE while reflecting on the legacy of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Designed by Norman Foster, the museum combines architectural ambition with a wide-ranging collection, reinforcing its position within the region’s evolving cultural landscape.
Somalia Debuts First National Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2026
For the first time, The Federal Republic of Somalia will participate in the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with a dedicated national pavilion. Representing the country are artists Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire, whose practice engages memory, materiality, and displacement. Curated by Mohamed Mire and Fabio Scrivanti, the presentation unfolds at Palazzo Caboto. Titled SADDEXLEEY, the project draws on a Somali poetic structure based on repetition and relational meaning. Rooted in oral traditions, the exhibition translates this form into a spatial and sensory experience, where sound, language, and material converge, marking a significant moment for Somalia’s presence on an international cultural stage.
FEBRUARY 2026
Armen Agop to Represent Egypt at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
Egyptian artist Armen Agop has been selected to represent Egypt at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, presenting a new body of work at the National Pavilion of Egypt.
Agop’s practice, shaped over three decades, distils form into meditative sculptures and paintings that privilege stillness, material memory, and duration. Drawing on ancient Egyptian sculptural traditions and a wider Mediterranean inheritance, his work proposes identity as layered and evolving. The pavilion frames art as a space for reflection, offering a measured counterpoint to spectacle through restraint and quiet intensity.
Boghossian Foundation Hosts Zaventem Ateliers at Villa Empain
From 11 to 19 March, the Boghossian Foundation welcomes Zaventem Ateliers to the Villa Empain for a temporary inhabitation of the historic residence. Founded in 2019 by Lionel Jadot, Zaventem Ateliers brings together around thirty artisans, artists and designers working across disciplines. During the event, participants live and create on site, transforming the Art Deco villa into a functioning domestic and creative environment. Objects are integrated into daily routines rather than displayed as static works, fostering a dialogue between the building’s residential origins and contemporary approaches to design, material experimentation and collective making.
National Museum of Qatar Receives GSAS Platinum for Operations
The National Museum of Qatar has been awarded Platinum certification under the GSAS Operations framework by the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development, marking the first museum globally to achieve this distinction. The upgrade from Gold reflects sustained efforts to embed environmental responsibility into daily operations, reinforcing Qatar Museums’ broader sustainability agenda. Presented on Qatar Environment Day, the recognition builds on the museum’s earlier GSAS 4-Star design and build rating and aligns with the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030, positioning the institution as a benchmark for sustainable museum practice.
FROMM.Lab Announces 12 Finalists Ahead of Design Doha Biennale 2026
Following its debut at Milan Design Week 2025, FROMM.Lab has announced the 12 finalists of its first international design competition, with selected projects set to advance towards presentation at the Design Doha Biennale 2026. Founded by Alia Rachid, the platform invited designers to reinterpret Arab heritage through contemporary practice. The shortlist includes Abeer Borhan, Areej AlGhonaim, Assaad Feghali, Catalina Martínez Rojo, Cecilia Rinaldi, Daniel Heilig, the duo Galyiah AlMohannadi and Lolwa AlMohannadi, collaborators Ismail Hutet and Blanca Scully, the studio Kuranoie, Marwane Soumer, the collective of Noor Alabdulmalik, Noof Alnaama and Amina Fakhroo, and Xinyi Wang. Their proposals explore intersections of heritage, identity, and contemporary design, often translating personal narratives into objects with broader cultural resonance. The finalists will now enter a mentorship and development phase guided by an international panel, including Giulio Cappellini, Joseph Grima, Aline Asmar d’Amman, and the FROMM.Lab team led by Luca Fois.
The Kingdom of Morocco to participate for the first time at La Biennale di Venezia
The Kingdom of Morocco will participate for the first time with a national pavilion at the Arsenale during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, marking a significant milestone for the country’s contemporary art presence. Titled Asǝṭṭa, the project is a monumental, site-specific installation by Amina Agueznay, curated by Meriem Berrada, and conceived for the Artiglierie spaces of the Arsenale. Rooted in the symbolism of thresholds and ritual weaving, the work explores transmission, shared memory, and the living knowledge embedded within Moroccan craft traditions. Resonating with In Minor Keys, the theme of this edition curated by Koyo Kouoh, the installation unfolds as an immersive environment shaped by gesture, material, and collective histories. Through scale and spatial rhythm, Asǝṭṭa transforms the pavilion into a sensory passage, foregrounding artisanal practices as active cultural languages rather than static heritage.
Diriyah Art Futures Launches Open Call for Mazra’ah Media Arts Residency 2026
Saudi Museums Commission’s Diriyah Art Futures has announced the second edition of the Mazra’ah Media Arts Residency, a three-month programme centred on the theme Intelligent Matter. Open to established new media artists, researchers and machine learning practitioners, the residency explores AI as a material condition shaped by data, systems and computational processes rather than as a distant abstraction. Participants will work in advanced production environments, including machine learning infrastructure and film, sound, XR and fabrication facilities. Taking place in Diriyah, the programme concludes with a public open studio connecting residents with curators, institutions and wider audiences. Applications close 8 March 2026.
Ramzi Mallat to Open Leighton House Centennial with Arab Hall Commission
In March 21, 2026, Ramzi Mallat will inaugurate the centenary programme at Leighton House with Atlas of An Entangled Gaze, his first UK institutional commission, presented in the historic Arab Hall. Conceived by Frederic Leighton in the late nineteenth century, the interior is set to become the focus of a wider initiative pairing contemporary interventions with research and publication. Mallat’s installation will suspend thousands of luminous blue ceramic forms above the central fountain, drawing on Levantine protective symbols and Islamic craft traditions to explore perception, heritage, and exchange. Through material repetition and architectural alignment, the work aims to establish a dialogue between past and present, positioning the Arab Hall as a site of layered histories rather than static ornament.
Roudhah Al Mazrouei Participates in Reassemblage in London
Abu Dhabi–based artist Roudhah Al Mazrouei is among the three artists featured in Reassemblage, a group exhibition presented by General Assembly in collaboration with Teaspoon Projects, on view in London until 28 February 2026. Curated by Gigi Surel, the exhibition considers materials as carriers of cultural memory. Al Mazrouei’s contribution centres on what she approaches as embodied archives, drawing from Emirati rituals, objects and landscapes connected to Al Ain and the Hajar Mountains. A film set in Qatara Oasis reflects on girlhood and intergenerational care through the preparation of snaah, while sculptural works preserve gestures of adornment in resin. Across her practice, materials hold knowledge shaped by desert ecologies, women’s traditions and the persistence of memory.
Albania Announces Pavilion for Venice Biennale 2026
The National Pavilion of Albania has announced A Place in the Sun, a new moving-image installation by Genti Korini for the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Małgorzata Ludwisiak. Presented at the Arsenale from 9 May to 22 November 2026, the project combines live action, puppetry, animation and sound within a three-channel film environment. Drawing on experimental language and historical references, the pavilion proposes a speculative reflection on identity, perception and cultural projection. The announcement positions Korini’s installation as a continuation of his ongoing research into Albania’s relationship with modernity and representation.
Qatar Foundation’s BilAraby Highlights Arabic Language in Global Knowledge Debates at Oxford
Qatar Foundation’s BilAraby initiative took part in panel discussions during the second UK Universities Arabic Debating Championship, held at University of Oxford from 7 to 9 February 2026 and organised by QatarDebate Center. The participation focused on the role of Arabic in knowledge production within digital environments, addressing questions of representation, algorithmic bias and epistemic equity. Discussions also explored migration narratives and the contribution of Arab expertise globally. Through its presence, BilAraby reinforced its mission to position Arabic as an active language of research, dialogue and innovation, while expanding international engagement with youth and academic communities across disciplines.
Dubai Collection Nights Returns for 2026 Edition
Dubai Collection Nights 2026 unfolds from 24 February to 8 March, activating multiple venues across the city, with Al Safa Art and Design Library as its central hub. The programme opens on 24 February with the launch of In Attunement. The Dubai Collection is a public initiative built through long-term loans from private patrons, granting wider access to significant modern and contemporary works. Through talks, tours and curated encounters, the programme invites audiences to engage closely with artworks usually kept out of public view, alongside a private visit reserved for invited guests.
Eight Artists Join Sharjah Art Foundation Residency 2025–2026
Sharjah Art Foundation has announced the second cohort of its 2025–2026 Residency Programme, taking place from 2 February to 30 March 2026 across Bait Obaid Al Shamsi in Arts Square and the Kalba Ice Factory. Selected through an open call, the participating artists are Richi Bhatia, Rai, Monya Riachi, Azzah Salwaa, Zenaéca Singh, Joar Songcuya, Gian Spina and Abdullah Tabaza. Working across disciplines that include visual art, writing, performance, music and research, the residents will develop experimental practices while engaging with Sharjah’s cultural landscape. The programme offers time, space and dialogue, supporting process-led work shaped through exchange with local contexts and creative communities.
Make. Act. Play: Spring Arts Camp for Young Creatives by Jameel Arts Centre
This March (16 until 27), Jameel Arts Centre hosts a two-week daytime programme inviting children aged six to twelve into a hands-on exploration of art and performance. Structured around observation, movement and making, the camp introduces participants to different ways of seeing and expressing the world through drawing, theatre-based exercises and collaborative projects. Led by the centre’s learning team, each day combines guided activities with opportunities for experimentation across materials and forms. With meals and supplies included, the programme is designed as an immersive creative environment. Places are limited, with a small group format that supports focused learning and shared discovery.
Lebanese design duo David/Nicolas have been commissioned to design to Equestrian Library and Saddle Workshop for ADREA
Abu Dhabi Royal Equestrian Arts (ADREA) forms part of a wider cultural initiative dedicated to classical horsemanship, grounded in the Arab tradition of Furusiyya. As the first institution of its kind outside Europe, ADREA combines performance, study, and hands-on learning. Design studio David/Nicolas was commissioned to create the Equestrian Library and Saddle Workshop, translating equestrian heritage into spatial form. Drawing on stable environments, craft traditions, and material sensitivity, the interiors emphasise rhythm, proportion, and function. The project bridges design and horsemanship, shaping spaces where knowledge, discipline, and making are experienced as interconnected practices.
AlUla Contemporary Art Museum Moves Closer to Realisation
Announced in early 2026 by Arts AlUla, the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum is emerging as a major platform for contemporary art in north-west Saudi Arabia. While its permanent building is still in development, programming is already underway through exhibitions and festivals across AlUla. Designed by Lina Ghotmeh, the future museum will sit within the oasis landscape, shaped by environmentally responsive architecture informed by the area’s deep history. Its pre-opening exhibition, Arduna, introduced this vision through works exploring human relationships with land and time, establishing a foundation centred on site, dialogue, and long-term cultural exchange.
Record Night for Saudi Art at Sotheby’s Diriyah Auction
At the Diriyah’s amphitheatre, Sotheby’s held its second Saudi auction, Origins II. The auction brought together modern and contemporary works by leading Saudi, regional, and international artists before a full audience. The evening’s defining moment came early, when Safeya Binzagr’s Coffee Shop in Madina Road achieved $2.1 million – over ten times its estimate – setting a new auction record for a Saudi artist. The result ranked among the highest prices for an Arab artist at auction and became the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in Saudi Arabia.
Qatar–Mexico 2026 Year of Culture Programme Announced
Qatar–Mexico 2026 Year of Culture unfolds as a year-long cultural partnership linking heritage, contemporary practice and public life across both countries. The programme brings Mexican and Qatari artists, designers and chefs into dialogue through exhibitions, residencies and shared platforms, positioning exchange as an ongoing process rather than a single event. Early highlights include culinary collaborations at the Qatar International Food Festival, design residencies bridging craft and innovation, and exhibitions featuring Mexican creatives in Doha’s museums. Public art commissions and mural projects extend the initiative into urban space, while film, education and community programmes foster knowledge exchange. Together, these strands frame culture as a meeting point for lived traditions, creative experimentation and long-term collaboration.
Spain Cultural Days Drew 300,000 Visitors to Ithra
Spain Cultural Days drew close to 300,000 visitors to Ithra in Dhahran this January, as the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture presented a wide-ranging programme under the theme Live Spain. Across plazas, galleries, theatres and gardens, audiences encountered Spanish culture through exhibitions, performance, film, workshops and food. Visual arts explored sport, fashion and regional identity, while stage productions centred flamenco as a living tradition. Interactive sessions introduced rhythm and movement, and cinema screenings expanded the cultural lens. Outdoor culinary events added a sensory dimension. Moving between spaces and disciplines, visitors experienced a connected programme where artistic expression and everyday life met in a shared cultural setting.
JANUARY 2026
Hyejeong Ko Wins Boghossian Foundation International Prize 2025
The Boghossian Foundation International Prize 2025 has been awarded to Korean artist Hyejeong Ko, selected from nearly 130 applicants representing 62 nationalities. This year’s edition focuses on design and crafts, celebrating practices that connect contemporary creation with inherited knowledge, in keeping with the Foundation’s mission to foster dialogue between East and West.
Ko’s work reimagines sterling silver through a language shaped by Asian aesthetics and the natural landscapes of Jeju Island, where she was raised. Her sculptural objects evoke wind, water and stone, transforming metal into tactile, organic forms. The jury recognised the precision, material sensitivity and cross-cultural resonance of her practice.
Fady Jameel Awarded Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters
Fady Mohammed Jameel has been named Chevalier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters, in recognition of his long-standing support for arts and culture internationally. The honour was presented in Paris by the French Minister of Culture, acknowledging his role in advancing cross-cultural exchange and sustained arts patronage. As Chair of Art Jameel, Jameel has overseen initiatives including Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai and Hayy Jameel in Jeddah, alongside wide-ranging programmes in art, film, and learning that reach audiences globally. The distinction also reflects the Jameel family’s decades-long philanthropic engagement and their contribution to strengthening cultural connections between the Middle East and Europe.
Lebanon Mourns the Passing of Rima Amyuni
Rima Amyuni, born in Lebanon in 1954 and trained in Britain and the United States, passed away early this January. Across more than three decades of painting, she developed a singular figurative language rooted in observation yet charged with quiet estrangement. Her work moved between landscapes, portraits, and self-representation, gradually giving rise to painterly figures that hovered between the familiar and the uncanny.
Through dense colour, expressive geometry, and attentive looking, Amyuni reworked the traditions of portraiture and landscape to foreground lives often rendered invisible. Her paintings remain attentive, humane, and deeply alert to presence, difference, and the soft unrest of the everyday.
Ithra Cultural Days Returns to Celebrate Spain
Ithra Cultural Days returns from 12 to 31 January 2026 with a programme dedicated to Spain, activating spaces across the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran. Spanning exhibitions, performances, film screenings, talks, and workshops, the programme invites visitors to encounter Spanish culture through photography, fashion, sport, cuisine, and live arts. Daily performances animate the Theatre, Plaza, and Lush Garden, while cinema and public discussions explore film, literature, and architecture. Designed for all ages, the programme combines hands-on activities, family events, and food experiences, foregrounding cultural exchange through participation and shared discovery.
Zayed National Museum Marks the Launch of Magan Rediscovered
Zayed National Museum will mark the launch of Magan Rediscovered: The Building of a Bronze Age Boat That Sailed the Arabian Gulf with a public weekend programme on 10–11 January 2026. The publication traces the research behind the Magan Boat project, a collaborative initiative that reconstructed a full-scale Bronze Age vessel using archaeological evidence from the region. Across talks, workshops, performances, and a documentary screening, the programme offers insight into the project’s making and its connection to maritime heritage. Bringing together researchers, boatbuilders, and museum specialists, the weekend foregrounds shared knowledge, experimentation, and the enduring relationship between craft, history, and place.
The Third Line to Present Sophia Al-Maria at Art Basel Qatar
The Third Line will present HiLux, a new body of work by Sophia Al-Maria, at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar 2026. The presentation centres on a newly commissioned scroll installation, accompanied by works on paper and a sound piece, unfolding across the booth at M7 in Doha. Drawing on the Toyota Hilux as a recurring motif, Al-Maria repositions the vehicle as a carrier of memory, labour, and survival across Gulf landscapes. Expanding her long-standing engagement with extractive modernity and embodied experience, HiLux revisits Gulf futurism through intimacy, resilience, and relational histories. Sophia Al-Maria is a Qatari-American artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans visual art, film, and writing, engaging with speculative histories and the cultural politics of modernity.
BeMA: Archiving the Legacy of Gebran Tarazi
In line with its mandate to preserve Lebanon’s national collections, BeMA initiated an extensive archiving and digitisation project in 2023, encompassing Tarazi’s full press archive from 1993 to 2023 alongside his complete artistic production. In recent years, the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) has played a central role in recognising and safeguarding the legacy of Gebran Tarazi. This long-term effort positions Tarazi’s work within an institutional framework of care, research, and public memory, ensuring its accessibility for future generations and affirming its significance within Lebanon’s cultural heritage.