Weekly News Roundup: May 19, 2025
By THE EDITORS
Portraits of (clockwise from top left) SAODAT ISMAILOVA, PAN DAIJING, CAO FEI, and HO TZU NYEN. Photos by and courtesy Anvar Rakishev, Dzhovani, David Heald, and the Singapore Art Museum.
Asian Artists Among Art Basel Award Medalists
On May 15, Art Basel announced the 36 winners of its inaugural Art Basel Awards—an international honors program dedicated to celebrating outstanding talents in contemporary art, from curators and institutions to artists and other creators. In tandem with the fields of fashion, design, music, film, publishing, and the performing arts, the initiative aims to “bridge contemporary art and global culture.” Several renowned Asian artists were among the recipients: Uzbek filmmaker Saodat Ismailova and Berlin-based artist-composer Pan Daijing were spotlighted in the Emerging Artists section, while Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei and Singaporean filmmaker and visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen were recognized under the Established Artists category. The accolades will be officially presented on June 19 at the Kunstmuseum Basel, during Art Basel’s flagship fair. Later this year, the 36 awardees will vote to select up to 12 gold medalists from their respective cohorts. In a press release, Vincenzo de Bellis—Art Basel’s director of fairs and exhibition platforms—described the Art Basel Awards as “not a competition, but a beacon,” adding that they “shine a light on those working with radical vision, skill, and commitment to building communities of practice and exchange.”
S. J. MOODLEY, Boy in a wicker chair, c. 1978, inkjet print on Innova FibaPrint White Matte 280 gsm rag paper, 50 × 50 cm (unframed). Courtesy the S. J. Moodley Family.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Receives Major Bequest from Photography Collector
German American collector Artur Walther and the Walther Family Foundation have donated around 6,500 photographs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The generous gift includes photography from China—such as works by contemporary artists Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan, and Yang Fudong—as well as Japan, Africa, Germany, and the Americas. The Met’s director and chief executive Max Hollein foregrounded the “impressive scope, depth, and quality” of Walther’s bequest, which allows the museum to expand its ability “to tell a global history of photography [reflecting] the diversity, complexity, and artistry of the medium across centuries and continents.” Meanwhile, Walther emphasized the collection’s mission “to break away from traditional frameworks and to juxtapose works from African and Asian artists with those from Europe and America, creating a dialogue across time and place, across temporalities and geographies.” A suite of photographs from Africa will be showcased in the newly renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, while other works from the donation will be included in the permanent collections at the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing, The Met’s new modern and contemporary art complex which is slated to open in 2030.
ANDREA FARAGUNA, Heatwave, at the Kingdom of Bahrain national pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, 2025. Photo by Andrea Avezzu. Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.
Bahrain Wins Golden Lion Award at 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale
The Kingdom of Bahrain’s pavilion has been awarded the 2025 Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Titled Heatwave, the pavilion featured a site-specific installation curated and designed by architect Andrea Faraguna in collaboration with architect and urban designer Wafa Al Ghatam, multidisciplinary artist Eman Ali, geotechnical engineer Alexander Puzrin, and structural engineer Mario Monottoi. Based on traditional Bahraini building styles, the work features a passive cooling system for public areas or outdoor workspaces such as construction sites, as an innovative strategy to combat the stressor of rising global temperatures. Heatwave’s design was praised for its thoughtful consideration of environmental and social challenges in Bahrain and across the world, drawing attention to the crucial civic role of architecture. The awardees were selected by an international jury comprising Swiss curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist; Italian architect and curator Paola Antonelli; and South African researcher, theorist, and curator Mpho Matsipa.
Portraits of (top row, left to right) ERFAN GHIASI, ZAHRA MOSADDEQ, MAHSA KARIMIZADEH, and FRANCIA VILLABONA TRIANA; (bottom row, left to right) ZAHRA BAGHERI, ANA MARIA MONTENEGRO, BOLUN SHEN, and MONA MOGHADDAM. Courtesy the Tehran Summit.
Tehran Biennale 2025 Reveals Program Details
The Tehran Biennale is set to launch its second edition from May 29–31, marking a significant return of the original event that was active from 1958 to 1975. Titled “Rhizomatic Chaos,” the forthcoming edition will highlight interventionist and socially engaged practices that extend beyond traditional art venues. Curated by Erfan Ghiasi, the exposition will spotlight an roster of international artists from Iran, China, and Colombia, including Zahra Bagheri, Mahsa Karimizadeh, Mona Moghaddam, Ana María Montenegro, Zahra Mosaddeq, Bolun Shen, and Francia Villabona Triana. The Biennale will open after the fourth Tehran Summit, which runs from May 19–25 and is organized in collaboration with BO—The Association of Visual Artists Oslo, and the nonprofit New Centre for Research and Practice. Themed “. . .And The Rest Were Those Nomads Who Found The Black Holes,” the summit will explore intersections of geography, history, and time through a series of talks by acclaimed practitioners.
STEVEN RENDALL, Myriad Reflector IV, 2025, oil on canvas, 107 × 107 cm. Courtesy the artist.
2025 Bayside Painting Prize Winners Announced
Melbourne-based Bayside Gallery has named the top winners of its 2025 Bayside Painting Prize, jointly awarding the non-acquisitive AUD 25,000 (USD 16,060) Major Prize to Australian artists Steven Rendall and Ella Dunn. Rendall’s winning piece, The Myriad Reflector IV (2025), depicts a gleaming disco ball, while Dunn’s oil-on-linen, Small town gossip (2024), tenderly captures a moment of communal chatter. Additionally, Michelle Ussher clinched the acquisitive AUD 10,000 (USD 6,420) Beckett Local Prize with Glimmer (2025), an organically abstract oil-on-canvas. Established in 2015, the Bayside Painting Prize is the only annual award in Melbourne dedicated to painting. All works by the 47 finalists are currently on view at the Bayside Gallery until June 22.
