Art World Agenda
June–August 2025

Text gets loud in Bilbao this season. Barbara Kruger, the high priestess of punchy provocation, takes over the Guggenheim with her first full-scale survey in Spain—and it’s anything but polite. Spanning forty years of razor-sharp critique, the show brings together Kruger’s iconic paste-ups from the ’80s, immersive room-wraps, and new large-scale digital commissions. Slogans come at you in all caps: YOUR BODY IS A BATTLEGROUND; THINK OF ME AS A FRIEND. Vinyl text stretches from floor to ceiling, soundscapes fill the air, and multichannel video works flicker across LED walls, building a space that feels like a charged conversation. Many pieces are reimagined for this architectural setting, giving familiar works a new bite. It’s bold, confrontational and strangely intimate—a rare chance to see Kruger’s language-driven world fully unleashed.

Rotas Brasileiras doesn’t follow the usual map. Tucked into the concrete bones of ARCA, it veers off the Rio–São Paulo axis and straight into the deep, regional veins of Brazilian art. Now in its fourth edition, Rotas puts tradition and innovation in direct conversation—and lets the sparks fly. Curated by Rodrigo Moura of MALBA, Buenos Aires, the fair pulls together projects developed just for this moment. Expect Indigenous voices, forgotten greats, and young artists bringing fresh voltage to traditional forms. The Mirante section sets the tone with museum-scale works with institutional muscle, all pushing at the edges of national identity and how we see it. Rotas trades spectacle for intimacy, and the host country spills into the fair through a packed circuit of exhibitions and events. There’s nothing generic here—just a vivid, sometimes messy, always compelling portrait of Brazil, up close and unfiltered.