Explore New Perspectives Through Five Global Shows in Spring 2025
From Venice, Italy to Houston and Tokyo to New York, international art exhibitions this spring offer an immersive lens into culture, identity, and innovation. Spring 2025 promises a powerful season of storytelling through visual art, spanning centuries, continents, and technology.
Venice, Italy and the Ottoman Empire Meet in Nashville Nashville, TN | Frist Art Museum www.fristartmuseum.org
The Frist Art Museum in Nashville presents Venice and the Ottoman Empire (May 31–September 1, 2025), an exhibition exploring four centuries of cultural exchange. It focuses on diplomacy, aesthetics, and maritime life between two Mediterranean powerhouses.
Organized by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and The Museum Box, the exhibition features more than 150 artworks. Visitors will see Murano glass, Ottoman velvets, nautical maps, and salvaged treasures from the Gagliana Grossa shipwreck.
The show includes a gallery devoted to Mariano Fortuny’s designs, and guests can experience the spice trade through scent devices and a chef-led video. It’s a rich, multisensory journey through history and art.
A Futuristic War Memorial Finds a Home in New York New York, NY | 601Artspace www.601artspace.org
New York welcomes Repeat After Me II by Ukrainian collective OPEN GROUP (May 8–June 22, 2025), a relocation of the 2024 Venice Biennale’s Polish Pavilion. Exhibited across 601Artspace and a converted garage, this deeply resonant work uses karaoke as metaphor. Survivors of the war in Ukraine imitate gunfire, sirens, and drones—sounds that echo across displacement and time. Accompanying this is Untitled (2015–ongoing), a growing scroll listing names of the living, in contrast to war casualties. Both works address memory, sound, and the emotional data of conflict.
Cosmic Resonance at Milan Design Week Milan, Italy | Alcova at Villa Bagatti Valsecchi www.stenstudio.com.mx
During Milan Design Week (April 7–13), Mexico’s Sten Studio presents Cosmic Resonance at Alcova Milano. Curated by Jorge Diego Etienne, the installation transforms historic Villa Bagatti Valsecchi with stone furniture and sculptures crafted from lava rock and onyx. The pieces explore Earth’s natural energies and Mexico’s geological history while bringing a contemporary, almost otherworldly aura to classic Milanese architecture. It’s an invitation to contemplate time, texture, and our connection to the natural world.
Tomashi Jackson Returns to Her Roots in Houston Houston, TX | Contemporary Arts Museum Houston www.camh.org
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston debuts Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe (May 30, 2025), the artist’s first major museum survey. Born in Houston and raised in Los Angeles, Jackson is known for works that layer historical memory with color theory and geometry. Her vibrant paintings and videos confront gerrymandering, civil rights, and systemic inequity through a lens of joy and resistance. Highlights include her alter ego “Tommy Tonight” and group D’TALENTZ—blending 90s R&B with themes of political change. Through vinyl, marble dust, and archival prints, Jackson transforms social movements into visual symphonies.
NEO-JAPONISM Brings Samurai to the Future Los Angeles, CA | JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles www.japanhousela.com
Running through September 1, NEO-JAPONISM | SAMURAI AND BEYOND: Exploring Tradition Through Technology brings the legacy of Japan’s samurai into the digital age. The exhibition fuses NHK’s technological prowess with historical artifacts to show how Japan’s cultural treasures are preserved and reimagined. Inspired by the international success of shows like Shōgun, this experience includes interactive media, videos, and representations of ancient swords, attire, and traditions. Complementary events this spring include a samurai sword talk and Dodgers Japanese Heritage Night. JAPAN HOUSE continues to bridge ancient traditions with modern storytelling.
Global Conversations Through Art
These five exhibitions reflect how art can connect personal histories with global stories. Some explore ancient trade and diplomacy. Others capture war through sound and statistics or celebrate resilience through sculpture and song.
Art invites us to hold memory, explore new identities, and experience presence across time and place. Plan your cultural calendar this spring and immerse yourself in exhibitions that challenge, connect, and inspire.
