Two compelling art shows to see in 2026: Nancy Holt in the UK and Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna

1.
Nancy Holt
UK

Hulking great concrete pipes don’t sound like poetic artwork but those of American land artist Nancy Holt will change your opinion. Holt (1938- 2014) created work that balances the romantic with the colossal. Her epic 1976 installation “Sun Tunnels”, which still stands today, consists of four 5.5-metre-long concrete cylinders set in a giant X shape in the Great Basin Desert in remote northern Utah. Like an industrial take on Stonehenge, the pipes align with the rising and setting of the sun on the winter and summer solstice. Each 2.7-metre diameter tube is perforated with holes – big enough to push a hand through – that echo the constellations of Capricorn, Draco, Perseus and Columba. The result is humbling, as both the Sun and the environment become Holt’s collaborators.

Holt is finally getting her first major presentation in 2026 at the UK’s Goodwood Art Foundation’s two galleries and surrounding estate. Her art is thought-provoking and timeless. Why only think big when you can dream on a titanic scale?
goodwoodartfoundation.org

---

2.
Kunsthalle Wien
Vienna

Under its artistic director, Michelle Cotton, the Kunsthalle Wien is bringing a new cultural perspective to the Austrian capital with shows and artworks designed to start conversations – without losing their sense of fun.

While super-museums such as New York’s Moma and London’s Tate Modern focus on blockbuster shows, there is quieter, yet profound, cultural innovation happening in Vienna. The city might be known for its art history but Michelle Cotton’s directorship at the Kunsthalle Wien is shifting that idea in the international imagination.

Cotton’s first intervention at the museum, in 2024, was Aaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! – a 62-metre graphic work by Croatian designer Nora Turato that screamed from the exterior of the building. Many of the major shows since have highlighted the relationship between art and technology, bringing in new audiences and turning the gallery into a space of conversation. It is impossible to look at social media in the same way, for example, after experiencing Richard Hawkins’s gothic selfie films.

Kunsthalle Wien’s almost hidden entrance in Museumsquartier leads to an ultra-modernist, cavernous main space big and bold enough to expand the mind. On display later this year will be US-based filmmaker Tiffany Sia’s videos exploring the geopolitical shifts around Taiwan and Dutch artist Magali Reus’s super-sized sardine-tin sculptures. No matter the subject, this is a museum that demonstrates why we should think beyond borders, as well as providing evidence of how powerful art can be when it makes an audience smile.
kunsthallewien.at