Weekly News Roundup: February 9, 2024

Yang Fudong to Debut M+ Facade Commission During Art Basel Hong Kong

M+ announced on February 6 its latest co-commissioned project with Art Basel: the screening of Beijing-born artist and filmmaker Yang Fudong’s Sparrow on the Sea (2024) for the M+ Facade overlooking Victoria Harbour. Yang’s monochromatic film elicits nostalgia for classic Hong Kong cinema from the 1970s to the 1990s and integrates scenes with the city’s landscapes, architecture, and sounds. The new “architectural film” is presented by UBS and will show every night from March 22 to June 9. Sparrow on the Sea will premiere with sound at the M+ Cinema on March 23, followed by a post-screening talk between the artist and M+ associate curator for digital special projects Kate Gu.

New Art Fair-Exhibition-Social Space to Launch During Hong Kong Art Week

A new hybrid-format art fair meets pop-up exhibition, named The Supper Club and featuring more than 20 galleries, is set to debut at Hong Kong’s Fringe Club from March 25–28 during the Hong Kong Art Week. Initiated by the gallerists Willem Molesworth and Ysabelle Cheung of PHD Group along with Alex Chan of The Shophouse, The Supper Club will be curated by Anqi Li, with an exhibition design from BEAU architects in the historical building. Exhibiting galleries include Tabula Rasa (Beijing/London), Cylinder (Seoul), Anomaly (Tokyo), Nova Contemporary (Bangkok), 47 Canal (New York), TARQ (Mumbai) and MadeIn Gallery (Shanghai). Its initiators, Molesworth and Cheung, said it follows similar pop-up-style presentations in Seoul and Basel, and fills a void in the city’s Art Week events for more emerging artists and galleries to exhibit. Several of the participating galleries have previously exhibited in the Discoveries sector of Art Basel Hong Kong. Billed as “a third space to gather, a hub for engagement with contemporary art,” the event will run from 4pm to 1am during the Art Week.

Hawai‘i Triennial Announces Theme For Next Edition

On February 2, Hawai‘i Contemporary, the presenter of the Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 (HT25), revealed the curatorial theme and title for its fourth edition: “ALOHA NŌ.” After a nearly year-long process of curatorial research and collaboration, co-curators Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Binna Choi, and Noelle MKY Kahanu settled on the theme of “Aloha,” as the word represents “an action that embodies a profound love and truth-telling.” The curators describe the theme as “a call to action” for “loving in every (im)possible moment and way,” especially following the trying times of the pandemic. The multisite exhibition will for the first time expand beyond the island of O‘ahu, while organizers are currently working with the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts to add additional venues and programming. HT25 is slated to take place from February 15 to May 4, 2025, and an artist list will be announced early this year.

Chu Teh Chun Retrospective Planned for Venice Opening

The Fondation Chu Teh-Chun and Venice’s cultural foundation Fondazione Giorgio Cini announced the upcoming exhibition “In Nebula,” to be held in parallel to the 60th Venice Biennale’s opening in April. Curated by French art historian Matthieu Poirier, the exhibition is a retrospective of the late Franco-Chinese painter Chu Teh-Chun (1920–2014) and will be held on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, opposite across the lagoon from Piazza San Marco. Featuring 50 paintings emblematic of Chu’s practice, most of which were produced from 1955 onward, the show will be presented in reverse chronological order, from recent large-scale works to earlier, smaller paintings, displayed across three levels of the Cini Foundation building. Poirier has also written a new monograph on the artist, published by Gallimard, that will accompany the event, running from April 20 to June 30.

Terry Wu Appointed Board Chair at Melbourne’s ACCA

The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art’s (ACCA) board of directors announced on February 5 the appointment of Terry Wu as its new chair. A plastic surgeon specializing in facial reconstruction, Wu boasts an impressive resume in arts and cultural patronage: as a board member of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and Dublin’s Science Gallery International, as well as being a member of Creative Australia’s Venice Biennale Ambassadors Council. Wu was awarded the Emerging Philanthropy Leadership Award by Creative Partnerships Australia in 2019. Responding to his appointment, Wu stated: “I am honored . . . to continue to work with the ACCA Board and team . . . I’m especially excited to expand ACCA’s role as a platform for artists, through our ambitious and groundbreaking exhibitions and commissioning, our transformative education and public programs, and our strong community engagement.”

Hyundai Motor Company Links Up with Whitney Museum For Partnership

On February 6, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York revealed it has partnered with South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company for a decade-long collaboration, marking one of the longest and most expansive global corporate partnerships for the museum to date. The Hyundai Terrace Commission will be annually supported by Hyundai Motor, allowing artists to create monumental installations located in the Whitney’s largest outdoor gallery, located on the fifth-floor terrace. The museum will present site-specific commissions such as outdoor installations, sculptures, performances, and multimedia projects. Additionally, Hyundai will serve as the presenting partner for the 81st Whitney Biennial, titled “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” which opens March 20, 2024. During the Biennial, the fifth-floor terrace will feature artworks for the Hyundai Terrace Commission and its inaugural launch will run alongside the exhibition. 

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