June

Basel fills the first half, the Ruhr opens churches in the second.

Art Basel's fifty-sixth edition, with Parcours turning Clarastrasse into a public route again. Manifesta 16 opens on 21 June across twelve decommissioned churches in the Ruhr. Two very different pieces of infrastructure, asked to hold contemporary art for the summer.

Show of the month

Manifesta 16 Ruhr

Curatorial team led by Josep Bohigas with Gürsoy Doğtaş

21 JUN Twelve churches across Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen and Bochum Ruhr

The European Nomadic Biennial's first Ruhr edition. Twelve churches left over from the region's coal-and-steel years, now asked to carry contemporary art and whatever public programme comes with it. Free entry, four cities, a train pass that works across all of them. The opening is at Zeche Zollverein on the Saturday.

Gallery site ↗

Also this month

16 JUN · BASEL · MESSE BASEL

Art Basel 2026

Fifty-sixth edition. Two hundred and ninety galleries. The new Basel Exclusive initiative asks dealers to hold marquee works until the preview day.

Gallery site ↗

Overview shot of Art Basel at Messe Basel.

6 JUN · LONDON · SERPENTINE SOUTH LAWN

Serpentine Pavilion 2026: A Serpentine

LANZA Atelier

A curvilinear brick wall snakes across the Kensington lawn. The curvature does the structural work, with fewer bricks than a straight wall. The café sits outside it this year.

Gallery site ↗

Aerial design render of a serpentine, the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion by LANZA atelier.

25 JUN · LONDON · TATE MODERN

Frida: The Making of an Icon

One hundred and thirty works. Garments and jewellery hung alongside the self-portraits, and the show treats the image-making as part of the practice.

Gallery site ↗

Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird, 1940, oil on canvas mounted to board.

13 JUN · BREGENZ · KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ

Cyprien Gaillard

New site-specific film in the Zumthor concrete. Sculptural interventions on the upper floors.

Gallery site ↗

Film still from Cyprien Gaillard's Retinal Rivalry, 2024.

27 JUN · SAINT-PAUL-DE-VENCE · FONDATION MAEGHT

Ellsworth Kelly

Kelly on the Maeght grounds. A painter of cut-out canvases in a foundation that was built around sculpture.

Gallery site ↗

Ellsworth Kelly, Long Bay Beach (study for White and Dark Gray Panels I), 1977, postcard collage.

Footnote

— Messeplatz and Münsterplatz. Nairy Baghramian holds one square, Ibrahim Mahama the other, for Art Basel Parcours. Both stay up through Liste.