From museum-scale diplomacy in Mexico City to powerful meditations on memory, architecture and repair in the UK and Europe, these are the exhibitions catching our eye this week.
Mexico City, Mexico
WHAT: Somos PacĂfico
WHEN: Now until 31 May 2026
WHERE: Colegio de San Ildefonso
Ahead of opening an embassy in Mexico, Singapore presents over eighty works from its Asian Civilisations Museum and National Gallery. Crossing the Pacific, Somos PacĂfico traces historic trade routes between Asia, particularly Manila, and the Spanish-speaking Americas, positioning art as an early form of cultural diplomacy.
Eastbourne, United Kingdom
WHAT: Dana Awartani: Standing By the Ruins
WHEN: Now until 25 January 2026
WHERE: Towner Eastbourne
Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani creates a contemplative space of loss and repair, with textiles and floor works referencing destroyed architecture. Standing by the Ruins III (2025) reconstructs the fractured floor of Gaza’s historic Hammam al-Sammara bathhouse, reflecting on memory, erasure and rebuilding.
Kochi, India
WHAT: Kochi-Muziris Biennale
WHEN: Now until 31 March 2026
WHERE: Various venues, Fort Kochi
The sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale opens under the artistic direction of Nikhil Chopra in collaboration with HH Art Spaces. Spilling across the streets and historic buildings of Fort Kochi, the biennale brings together artists including Dani Abidi, Anupama Kundoo, Ibrahim Mahama, Cynthia Marcelle, Hiwa K and Marina Abramović. Long celebrated for its ability to introduce unexpected voices alongside established names, KMB once again positions itself as a vital site for global artistic discourse.
Berlin, Germany
WHAT: Saâdane Afif: Five Preludes
WHEN: Now until 13 September 2026
WHERE: Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart
French artist Saâdane Afif’s first solo institutional exhibition in Berlin brings together his long-standing fascination with archives, authorship and art’s institutional frameworks. Highlights include L’Humour Noir, a coffin shaped like the Centre Pompidou, and works from his ongoing Fountain Archives, which collect and reframe reproductions of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Witty, cerebral and quietly subversive, the show asks how meaning is built, circulated and preserved within art history.
On your radar too? These exhibitions span continents but share a common thread: art as a way of carrying history forward, whether through trade, memory, or re-imagined institutions.
