May 26-July 2: What Now | 2026 Across Philadelphia

Opening this week, ArtPhilly "What Now: 2026" is a five-week citywide festival that bypasses colonial nostalgia to pose an urgent civic riddle: A lot has changed since 1776, so... what now? What follows is not white cube retrospective, but a vibrant, democratic display of a city wrestling with its own layers of history, identity, and erasure. Above: Jai Perez in rehearsal for in case of fire, speak. Photo: Daniel Jackson

More than 35 original, newly commissioned public works and 100+ events will transform Philly’s everyday infrastructure—from the historic bricks of Germantown to local SEPTA bus shelters—into an open, multidisciplinary canvas. The lineup is multidisciplinary, multicultural—even multifarious. In Germantown, a participatory "choreopoem" dining experience resurrects the overlooked history of an enslaved Black woman who altered local history. Meanwhile, downtown, the Bearded Ladies Cabaret is preparing a massive, cathartic sing-along to help participants collectively digest the modern news cycle. It is a rare cultural moment where the rigid barrier between art, viewer, and community is entirely removed. There is so much to chose from that a filter might be wanted—see this overview in today’s Hyperallergic.

The festival runs through July 2, 2026, across neighborhood hubs citywide. For anyone interested in how the intersections of contemporary design, performance, and social activism can reshape an urban landscape, this is a great pick.

The full interactive calendar and registration info can be found on the official ArtPhilly Festival Hub.

Opinion: In April 2026, the Danziger Gallery of New York exhibited and offered for sale an AI-generated color version of Moonrise for $10,000 at The Photography Show in New York, an event hosted by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). The piece was reportedly created via an AI prompt: "Make a realistic color version of Ansel Adams' iconic 'Moonrise Over Hernandez'" and was subsequently refined in Photoshop over a period of several months. 

The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust then issued a scathing public condemnation. While they reached out to James Danziger privately to demand the work's removal, the gallery refused to comply and reportedly used the presentation to pitch similar AI-powered ventures to other artists' estates. 

While Danziger issued a public statement regarding legalities and public trust, a larger question looms: Why do something that utterly undermines the original intentions of an artist as deeply entrenched in the history of photography as is Ansel Adams, whose motto was, “F.64 and be there.” Judge for yourselves. [see my 2009 take on AIPAD hosting Moonrise here]

Extended through June 6: Martin Wong | Popeye at PPOW

which explores the artist’s fascination with comic book and tattoo subcultures. Curated by Mark Dean Johnson and Anneliis Beadnell, this show is animated by massive cutouts of the titular sailor in his signature allover brick façade patterning, reuniting eight major sculptures from his final decade. The show brings together disparate bodies of work created over three decades of Wong’s career, highlighting an under explored throughline in Wong’s output that is equally indebted to lowbrow comix as it is to the highbrow associations of Asian and European art histories.Channeling the sensual and comedic in equal measure, the exhibition, as the gallery describes, “[highlights] an under explored throughline in Wong’s output that is equally indebted to lowbrow comix as it is to the highbrow associations of Asian and European art histories.”

PPOW Gallery, 392 Broadway, New York, NY Info