Spectacle in all its many forms is the big theme of this summer when big, glitzy projects will take over museums across the globe. Laure Prouvost has been given a wide playing field for a show about quantum physics at Paris's Grand Palais, while Carsten Höller is planning a vast exhibition for Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. Meanwhile, Tomás Saraceno will bring his monumental sculptures to Munich’s Haus der Kunst; a permanent land artwork by him is also going on view in his native Argentina.

This period of relative quiet will also leave collectors, curators, critics and artists with plenty of time to travel—perhaps to the Venice Biennale, which remains on view through November. It's not the biennial happening this season, however: Manifesta, a roving European biennial, touches down in Germany’s Ruhr region, while two new biennial-style shows will launch in the Northeastern US.

Among the highlights is ‘Akinsanya Kambon: Soul Sessions’ at Center for Art, Research and Alliances and SculptureCenter, New York. Before appearing in the 2023 edition of the Hammer Museum’s ‘Made in L.A.’ biennial, he was not so well known. Now, this California artist who once helped lead the Sacramento chapter of the Black Panther Party seems poised to become a star of the New York scene this summer.

Meanwhile, Carolina Caycedo is having a show at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and the National Gallery of Canada is surveying contemporary Indigenous artists from Inuit Nunaat, Sápmi and Denendeh. This period will also see Tate Modern giving Ana Mendieta a proper retrospective, in one of the season’s most anticipated art events.