Weekly News Roundup: March 21, 2025

Taipei Biennial 2025 Unveils Theme and Artist Lineup 

Titled “Whispers on the Horizon” and curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, the 14th edition of the Taipei Biennial will feature 54 international artists and 33 newly commissioned works. Deriving its conceptual framework from three Taiwanese cultural objects—a puppet from Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s 1993 film The Puppetmaster, a diary from Chen Yingzhen’s 1960 short story My Kid Brother Kangxiong, and a bicycle from Wu Ming-Yi’s 2015 novel The Stolen Bicycle, the event explores dimensions of yearning as a force suspended between memory and imagination, connecting local narratives to a more universal experience. The artist lineup features international figures including Mona Hatoum, Fuyuhiko Takata, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Rana Begum, Nari Ward, and Yu Ji. Opening on November 1 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the biennial will run until March 29, 2026.

Activist Fund Condemns Japanese Art Museum’s Dubious Relocation Plans 

After the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture—run by the cash-strapped Japanese chemical giant DIC Corporation—postponed its closure until March, Hong Kong-based activist fund Oasis Management issued a public statement condemning the company’s decision to relocate some of its most valuable artworks to the private, nonprofit organization International House of Japan (IHJ). The latter is a members-only club with close ties to DIC director Yoshihisa Kawamura. In a statement published on March 13, Oasis criticized DIC’s plans to move several postwar American artworks from its museum collection—including Mark Rothko’s Seagram Murals (1958–59)—to the IHJ-operated I-House building in Tokyo. Oasis, a major DIC shareholder, described the decision as “an extreme misallocation of company assets,” as well as “an apparent attempt to deprive shareholders of their rightful assets” that would “effectively transfer wealth and/or control of the assets to facilities under . . . Kawamura’s influence.” The activist fund urged other shareholders to demand that DIC amend its shareholder agreements and provide more transparency regarding “related-party transactions.” 

Aisha Sherman-Noth Receives the 2025 Glover Prize 

Tasmanian-based artist Aisha Sherman-Noth has won this year’s Glover Prize for her landscape painting Weeping birches on the avenue (2025). Selected out of 42 finalists, the 24-year-old artist impressed the three-person jury with her oil-on-canvas, which portrays the busy Brooker highway near her home. Commenting on the winning work, jury member Melisaa Loughnan noted in a press release that the painting is “an exemplary landscape work” and “a very impressive achievement for a young artist at the beginning of her career.” As the winner, Sherman-Noth took home an AUD 80,000 (USD 50,330) cash prize along with a bronze maquette of Australian colonial painter John Glover. An exhibition of the finalists’ works was held at the historic Falls Park Pavilion in Evandale, northern Tasmania, from March 8–16.

Iconic Australian Artworks Seized from Criminal Gang 

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has seized several valuable artworks as part of an ongoing investigation into a Melbourne-based crime syndicate led by George Marrogi, who is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for drug trafficking. Among the artworks recovered are a page of erotic drawings by Brett Whiteley, a Ned Kelly portrait by Adam Cullen, and landscapes by Ben Quilty and Fred Williams. Authorities valued the artworks at an estimated AUD 500,000 (USD 314,460), contributing to over AUD 11 million (USD 7 million) in total seized assets. According to officials, three of the five forfeited paintings have already been sold through a Smith & Singer auction in Sydney last November, with proceeds directed toward crime prevention, jail diversion, and law enforcement initiatives. AFP detective superintendent Scott Raven emphasized the importance of targeting the financial foundations of organized crime, stating that disrupting the flow of illicit funds is essential to preventing further harm to the community.

2025 SXSW Special Jury Award Winners Revealed 

At this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Taiwanese artist Ting-Tong Chang and UK-based collective Blast Theory were jointly honored with the XR Special Jury Award for their immersive video installation Proof As If Proof Were Needed (2025). Debuting as part of the XR Experience Competition, the work centers on the theme of a broken relationship, unfolding across various rooms that shift in meaning as the viewer moves through them. Laden with economic references, such as Taiwan’s post-Asian Tiger boom and the UK’s austerity measures, the work reflects the artists’ perspectives on their respective domestic realities. The jury for the 32nd edition of SXSW described the piece as “a slow burn” that evolves into “an unexpected dance between space, story, technology, and human behavior.” 

Tainan Art Museum Appoints New Director and Chairman

On March 17, the Tainan Art Museum (TNAM) announced significant leadership changes during its fifth board of directors and supervisors meeting. Art critic and curator Gong Zhuojun—who is currently a professor at Tainan National University of the Arts and the editor of Art Critique of Taiwan, a quarterly contemporary art journal—was appointed as the museum’s new director. Joining him as chairperson of the TNAM board is You Wenmei, secretary-general of the Taiwan Art Gallery Association. The appointments come as the museum gears up for major institutional transitions, with Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture planning to establish the Tainan National Art Museum in TNAM’s former Building 2. Gong is expected to lead TNAM through this shift while overseeing the revitalization of a new heritage site within its revamped Building 2.

Winners Named for Hong Kong’s Hari Art Prize 2025 

Out of 600 Hong Kong-based emerging artists, Chan Ka Kiu has won the second edition of the Hari Art Prize, receiving HKD 100,000 (USD 12,900) donated by Aron Harilela, founder of The Hari, a luxury hotel in Hong Kong. Chan’s winning video installation, Tickle Tickle (2024), features surreal AI-generated scenes foregrounded by a humorous script. Experimental artist Nicole Wong was recognized as the first runner-up for her installation The Definition of Rain (2024)—a floor-to-ceiling suncatcher curtain made from opalite and glass beads. The second runner-up prize went to Chinese painter Wu Jiaru for her oil on linen series spillovers_i & ii (2024), which delves into subtle expressions of violence. The selected finalists’ works will be displayed at The Hari until May, among selected works from other finalists. Each runner-up was awarded a two-day and one-night stay at the hotel.

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