Weekly News Roundup: March 15, 2024
By The Editors
LEE BAE, Brushstroke 21h, 2023, charcoal ink on paper, 220 × 152 cm. Courtesy the artist and Johyun Gallery, Busan.
Lee Bae Exhibition Planned in Venice
The 60th Venice Biennale announced that it will present the collateral event “Lee Bae - La Maison de la Lune Brûlée,” hosted by the city’s Wilmotte Foundation. Curated by Valentina Buzzi, the exhibition will present the works of renowned South Korean artist Lee Bae and his exploration of a century-old ritual known as “Moonhouse Burning.” With themes of renewal, circularity, and nature, Lee’s works intertwine folklore and heritage with contemporary art. The show will present his video work Burning (2024); the charcoal-on-canvas works Issu du Feu (2024) and Brushstroke installations (2024); a sculpture nearly five-meters tall, Meok (2024); and the structural installation Moon (2024). The exhibition is organized by the Hansol Foundation—Museum SAN in South Korea and the French architectural firm Fondation d’Entreprise Wilmotte. “Lee Bae” will coincide with the Venice Biennale, which is slated for April 20 until November 24, 2024.
MARKIT SANTIAGO, A Seat at the Table (Magulang) (in collaboration with Maella Santiago, Santi Mateo Santiago, and Sarita Santiago), 2022, acrylic, oil, pen and gold leaf on found cardboard, 122 × 83 cm. Courtesy the artist, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and La Prairie Art Award 2024.
Marikit Santiago Receives 2024 La Prairie Art Award
On March 12, Filipina–Australian artist Marikit Santiago was named the winner of the third La Prairie Art Award. Presented by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) in Australia and Swiss skincare company La Prairie, the award aims to honor Australian women artists. The USD 80,000 prize was given for Santiago’s paintings A Seat at the Table (Magulang) and A Seat at the Table (Kapatid) (both 2022), which will become a part of the AGNSW’s collection. The artist will also be granted a residency in Europe. During the residency, Santiago will travel to Switzerland to attend the Art Basel art fair in June 2024, as a guest of La Prairie. The newest additions to the AGNSW’s collection are on display as part of the “Making Worlds” exhibition, which runs until July 28, 2024.
Portrait of YOU YANG. Courtesy UCCA.
You Yang, Former UCCA Art Director, Spearheads Beijing’s X Museum
On March 10, Beijing’s X Museum announced the appointment of You Yang as its incoming director. The former art director at of the UCCA Group, You will take up the helm at X Museum in May, joining board members Michael Xufu Huang and Theresa Tse in overseeing cultural programming and development. You has extensive experience working in art institutions, including joining UCCA in 2011, where he worked until December 2023. During his decade-long tenure, he led various departments, including public programs, public relations, development, visitor experience, retail, and the UCCA Foundation. You is also a member of the art committee at 798 Art District in Beijing, as well as a researcher at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts’s Research Center of the New Art Museum. Founded in 2020 by Michael Xufu Huang and Theresa Tse, the private X Museum is committed to supporting emerging artists from multicultural and multidisciplinary backgrounds.
Exterior of Palazzo Diedo. Courtesy the Berggruen Arts and Culture Center.
Berggruen Arts & Culture to Open in Venice
Established by Berggruen Arts & Culture, Palazzo Diedo, a new major space for contemporary art, will be unveiled in Venice on April 20, 2024. It will launch its inaugural exhibition “Janus” with site-specific commissions by internationally acclaimed artists such as Swiss visual artist Urs Fischer, Italian conceptual artist Piero Golia, German artist Carsten Höller, Ghanaian installation artist Ibrahim Mahama, Japanese multidisciplinary artist Mariko Mori, American artist Sterling Ruby, American painter and sculptor Jim Shaw, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, Japanese artist Aya Takano, Korean minimalist artist Lee Ufan, and Chinese artist Liu Wei. Palazzo Diedo will also host special projects in collaboration with New York’s The Kitchen and the Polaroid Foundation, all of which will coincide with the 60th Venice Biennale. Palazzo Diedo plans to organize artist residencies, exhibitions, events, films, and performances across its five levels, which total an area of 4,000 square meters.
The "Chats Over Cha" community forum at Chungking Mansions in December 2021. Courtesy Be/longing HK.
Be/longing HK’s “Seated with Strangers” Returns This Weekend
The weekend of March 16 and 17 will mark the return of the art-for-education lab Be/longing HK’s second art festival, “Seated with Strangers.” The event aims to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and will be hosted at Eaton hotel in Jordan. It will include a series of experiential workshops and forums such as the opening of the research exhibition “Navigating Belonging” (March 16– April 30); a film screening and discussion of Fallen Leaves, Broken Lighters (2024), an anthology feature film; a poetry writing workshop with poet Sa’diyya Nesar titled “Sacred Solidarity”; the zine-making workshop “Archiving Community Histories,” co-hosted by Be/longing HK’s director Christine Vicera and graphic designer and illustrator Daniella Bilo; a community open-mic session “Spill the Creativi-TEA”; and the community forum “Chats Over Cha” with tattoo artist Krishna Wadhwani, motion designer and illustrator Roda Mei Bargo, filmmaker Phirens Rai, and artist Yusuf Mohideen.
