Our first impressions, Chinatown storefront art, and things to do on a glorious spring day.
Lisa Yin Zhang
March 10, 2026
— 5 min read
My god, it’s beautiful out. Spring in New York really makes you work for it, but then it makes it worth your while.
Just in time. This (very likely temporary) warmth coincides with the start of the peak art season, starting with the Whitney Biennial, which opened to the public on Sunday. Read below for some of our editors’ first impressions, including what we liked, what we didn’t, and what we’re ambivalent about. Spoiler: Associate Editor Lakshmi Rivera Amin didn’t, uh, love that Zach Blas installation on the first floor (I think her exact words were: “red-pilled Reddit thread’s BDSM dungeon”).
Also, make sure to read Aruna D’Souza’s thoughtful review of the Biennial, and see if you agree. And go outside!
SPONSORED
Artists Thinking Out Loud: Julie Mehretu, Derrick Adams, and Donald Sultan at IFPDA Fair
The IFPDA Print Fair, the “gold standard for fine art print collecting” (ARTnews, April 2025), returns to the Park Avenue Armory from April 9 to 12, featuring conversations with Julie Mehretu, Christophe Cherix, Derrick Adams, Donald Sultan, Susan Dackerman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Terry Winters. 80 exhibitors from Stockholm to Singapore will present contemporary to old master drawings, prints, and editions.
Get ticketsWhitney Biennial
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s “Until we became fire and fire us” (2023–ongoing), three-channel high-definition video, color, and two-channel sound (photo Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)The Polycrisis Sublime of the Whitney Biennial
This year's biennial isn't "weird," as so many others have called it, writes Aruna D'Souza in her review. It's beautiful, smart, charming, joyful, mournful, and it has a curatorial logic even without a theme.
First Impressions From the 2026 Whitney Biennial
A giant inflatable jester, moody installations, and cameras everywhere — see what caught our eye, what made us think, and what we'd like to never see again.
Ali Eyal Gives Testimony
Renée Reizman interviewed the Iraqi artist, who has a painting and drawings in the Whitney Biennial, about the war in his childhood, its reverberations today, and how it shapes his art.
Making a Mess With CFGNY
We spoke to the fashion collective, who will be in the Whitney Biennial and shows at Pioneer Works and Amant, about collectivity and taking chances
These Are the Artists in the 2026 Whitney Biennial
All 56 participating artists, including duos and collectives, featured in the Whitney Biennial.
SPONSORED
The Museum at FIT Presents “Art X Fashion”
This exhibition explores the entangled and shifting relationship between fine art and fashion, tracing parallel aesthetics from 18th-century Rococo to postmodernism.
Learn moreKeeping It Local
Installation view of From Chinatown, With Love (photo AX Mina/Hyperallergic)The Political Potential of the Chinatown Storefront
AX Mina paid their annual visit to Abrons Arts Center's art exhibition/ mutual aid initiative From Chinatown, With Love, and found fire horses, Guan Yins, and other symbols of resilience, interdependence, and abundance.
Can Diya Vij Make NYC More Affordable for Artists?
Aaron Short talked to former Queens Museum director Laura Raicovich, former culture commissioner Tom Finkelpearl, artist Chloë Bass, and others about their hopes for Diya Vij's tenure as the city's new commissioner of cultural affairs.
Road Trips
Jeremy Dennis, “Hill Top” (2019) in Regeneration: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care at the Parrish Art Museum (© Jeremy Dennis; courtesy Parrish Art Museum)15 Art Excursions Outside NYC This Spring
If you think this is nice — lounging around in some city park when it's 70 degrees, I mean — imagine what it's like Upstate and in other surrounding regions. There are some wonderful shows up, including on Agnes Martin, Rina Banerjee, Piero Manzoni, and more — as good a time as any to take a daytrip!
What Else Is Happening?
A 3D rendering of a “Marble female figure,” dated to 4500–4000 BCE (screenshot Hyperallergic with permission from The Met)- Ever really wanted to go to a museum, but your couch was just too damn comfortable? Lucky for you, The Met just released 100 scans of objects from its collection you can examine for free on its website.
- Index Space in Greenpoint is hosting a “Disengineering” workshop, in which you will learn how to transform a discarded desk phone into two instruments. (Sat Mar 14) [index-space.org]
- Gottscheer Hall will be hosting more than 50 vendors at its Tiny Arts Makers Market. There will also be demos, and fantastic food and drink, always. (Sun Mar 15) [tinyartssupply.com]
- No Borders Collective will be holding a soft opening this week with books, art, and community. (Thurs Mar 12–Sat 14) [No Borders Collective]
- The Southeast Queens Film Festival is currently accepting submissions for its juried screening. (Due Fri Mar 13) [Southeast Queens Film Festival]
- Ridgewood Open Studios is hosting a mixer at Lorimoto Gallery! (Sat Mar 14) [Ridgewood Open Studios]
- Do you look like Bad Bunny, or want to find someone who looks like Bad Bunny? There’s gonna be a lookalike contest, with $500 at stake. (Sat Mar 14) [Instagram]
- Bring your people to the Museum of Moving Image for a documentary project where visitors can interview one another. (Sun Mar 15) [movingimage.org]
- The Astoria Fig Tree Exchange — in which you can bring fig tree cuttings or come get a free fig tree cutting — is this weekend at Astoria Food Pantry! (Sun Mar 15) [Astoria Food Pantry]
- Purgatory in Brooklyn is hosting a free fiber night every other Monday, in which you'll learn to cast, knit, purl, bind, and more. (Ongoing) [Purgatory Brooklyn]
- Hell Gate has the scoop on a new visitor in town. Behold NYC's first-ever Trumpeter Swan. [Hell Gate]
