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Weekly News Roundup: February 14, 2025
By The Editors
Portrait of RAJIV MENON. Courtesy Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles.
Rajiv Menon Contemporary to Launch Permanent LA Space
On February 17, Rajiv Menon Contemporary will open its flagship gallery space on Highland Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2023, Rajiv Menon Contemporary bridges South Asian and diasporic perspectives with the United States. Though rooted in South Asian identity and aesthetics, the gallery aims to demonstrate the universality of the broader region’s art and culture. To inaugurate the new venue, Rajiv Menon Contemporary is holding the group show “EXHIBITIONISM,” featuring 19 contemporary emerging and established South Asian artists whose works explore the complex dichotomy of both desiring and resisting attention. The gallery will donate a portion of proceeds from the exhibition to philanthropic organizations SevaSphere and the California Community Foundation, to aid Los Angeles residents who are struggling in the aftermath of the wildfires that ravaged the state last month.
View of Centre Pompidou, Paris. Courtesy ArchDaily.
Centre Pompidou to Open Busan Branch in 2030
Paris’s Centre Pompidou continues its global expansion with plans for a second Korean outpost, located in Busan and scheduled to open in 2030. The French embassy in Korea made the announcement during a press conference in Seoul this Thursday, as the museum prepares to launch its first Korean satellite in Seoul’s 63 Building next year—developed in partnership with Hanwha Group, a major conglomerate that came under fire last September for its affiliation with Israeli arms manufacturers. While details of the Busan branch remain unclear, French cultural attaché Yohann Le Tallec confirmed that there are ongoing discussions between the Centre Pompidou and the Busan City Government regarding a potential site at Igidae Park. Set to open in May 2026, the tentatively named Centre Pompidou Hanwha-Seoul will debut with an ambitious program of eight exhibitions featuring modernist masters such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, and Joan Miró.
View of Fukuoka City Museum. Courtesy Fukuoka City Museum.
City of Fukuoka to Proceed with Major Cultural (Re)Development
As part of plans to transform the city’s cultural landscape, the Fukuoka municipal government has announced the development of a new underground art museum, as well as the renovation of its City Museum in Sawara Ward. Construction will begin in the coming fiscal year, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the city’s “Tenjin Big Bang” redevelopment project. Set to be constructed beneath Kego Park, the underground museum will serve as a branch of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum,with a design inspired by the Louvre’s iconic entrance—a plaza leading to exhibition spaces with 5-meter-high ceilings. “This will create a tourist destination befitting a city that is leading the way in Asia,” said Fukuoka mayor Soichiro Takashima. Meanwhile, the Fukuoka City Museum will undergo extensive renovations, including integration with its waterfront surroundings, scheduled for completion in March 2029. The JPY 16 billion (USD 105 million) project will incorporate new facilities for international conferences, restaurants, and a 170-meter-long garden pathway connecting to Fukuoka Tower.
Digital rendering of Floating Museum on Anjwa Island. Courtesy YANAGI + ART BASE.
Anjwa Island to Welcome New Floating Museum
Amid a sequence of museum openings and revamps in South Korea this year, the Floating Museum on Anjwa Island is expected to open in early 2025. Designed by YANAGI + ART BASE—a collaborative team realizing the designs of Japanese postwar artist Yukinori Yanagi—the Floating Museum marks the second architectural project for Yanagi after the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum on Inujima Island in Okayama, western Japan. The museum’s unconventional but dreamlike architectural form merges seamlessly with the surrounding landscape, featuring seven floating and reflective cubes on a reservoir. Each represents the collection of islands in Sinan County—known as the “Angel Islands”—as well as the number of continents on Earth. The artworks housed in each cube will explore the history of the Korean Peninsula. Further details about the collection and featured artists are expected to be revealed closer to the museum’s opening.
Portrait of SOPHIA CAI. Courtesy Canberra Contemporary.
Canberra Contemporary Names New Director
Canberra Contemporary art space has announced the appointment of Melbourne-based curator and arts writer Sophia Cai as its new director. She will succeed Janice Falsone, who stepped down in mid-January after a three-year tenure. Cai brings to the role over a decade of curatorial and leadership experience in the art world. In her most recent position from 2023–24, she served as the artistic director of Bus Projects, one of Australia’s longest-running artist-led organizations. A postgraduate of London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, her research interests include Asian art histories, the intersections between art and craft, and community-building practices rooted in feminism and anti-racism. Since its establishment in 1981, Canberra Contemporary has supported local artists in developing their practice and career. Cai will assume her new role on February 25.
Portrait of YANG JUNG-UK. Courtesy the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
Yang Jung-uk Receives Korea Artist Prize 2024
Seoul’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) has awarded its Korea Artist Prize 2024 to South Korean sculptor Yang Jung-uk. Crafted from wood, motors, lamps, and everyday materials, Yang’s kinetic assemblages transform personal narratives into emotionally resonant tales of the human experience—a distinctive approach that was commended by the jury. The annual prize—established in 2012 and co-organized by the MMCA and the SBS Foundation—aims to support emerging and mid-career artists who are significantly contributing to Korean contemporary art. Yang was one of four finalists, along with sculptor Yoon Ji-young, multimedia artist Kwon Ha-youn, and filmmaker Jane Jin Kaisen. Shortlisted artists are each awarded a KRW 50 million (USD 34,600) grant, with the winner receiving an additional KRW 10 million (USD 6,900). An exhibition of the finalists’ work runs through March 23 at the MMCA's Seoul branch.
