Daily Newsletter
The artist’s stirring commencement speech at RISD, the best art shows in NYC this summer, and can you really have friendships in the art world?
“Beauty and poetics carry weight. They are how human beings have always processed what is unbearable, imagined what is not yet possible, and kept alive the sense that something else could exist.” These beautiful words belong to artist Julie Mehretu, who delivered the commencement address to the Rhode Island School of Design class of 2026. Today, we’re publishing the full speech, courtesy of the artist. It’s a great read, even if your college days are way behind you.
Also today: Those art-world “friends” of yours — are they really friends if they always need something from you, and what can you do about this problem? Paddy Johnson has some ideas. Finally, if you’re in New York, check out our guide of excellent exhibitions to see in and around the city this summer.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Artist Julie Mehretu’s Commencement Address to the Class of 2026
To RISD’s graduating class, I say: The most necessary work comes from the willingness to stay in the discomfort of the open question.
You bet four years of your life…your late nights, your all-nighters, your failures, your breakthroughs, your entire formation as a
thinking, feeling, making human being, on the belief that conjuring something into existence that wasn’t there before is not a waste of time, that it matters, that it might be the thing that matters most. | Julie Mehretu
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Maine College of Art & Design Announces 2026 MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
Graduate candidates work with a roster of renowned visiting artists during an eight-week summer intensive for MECA&D’s MFA in Studio Art.
Learn more
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All your points are good, but even if Talwar’s students lived in a place where they might never encounter any Palestinians, Queer people (or females) the assignment still seems like a good one, precisely because, as you mention, it opens the imagination; it should not matter if it could be a real-life situation. When I first read this article, I was too stunned to reply: now I will write to SAIC.
Margaret Wilson on “They Want to Control Our Imagination”
From the Archive
Hyundai Motor Group – The 7th VH Award
A global award for emerging media artists engaging with the context of Asia, featuring grants, a residency with Ars Electronica, and global exhibitions. Read more on Hyperallergic. Deadline: July 21, 2026 | vhaward.com
See more in this month’s list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers!
