Weekly News Roundup: May 6, 2025
By THE EDITORS
Portrait of (left) VYJAYANTHI RAO. Photo by Alfonse Chiu. Portrait of (right) TAU TAVENGWA. Photo by Samer Moukarzel. Courtesy the artists and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
Sharjah Architecture Triennial Names Curators for 2026 Edition
The Sharjah Architecture Triennial has appointed Vyjayanthi Rao as the curator of its third edition, with Tau Tavengwa joining as associate curator. Currently teaching at the Yale School of Architecture, Rao is an anthropologist, writer, artist, and curator whose work focuses on urbanism in India and the US. Her artworks have been featured at several international events, including the Kochi Biennale (2016), the Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), and the Chicago Architecture Biennale (2023). Tavengwa is the founder and editor of Cityscapes Magazine, co-founder of the interdisciplinary urbanism studio CS Studio, and curator-at-large at the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities. Previously, he curated the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2022) and participated in juries for the Venice Architecture Biennale (2023) and Art Electronica’s STARTS Prize (2025).
Render of AI WEIWEI’s Camouflage, 2025, installation. Courtesy the artist.
Ai Weiwei to Inaugurate Public Art Program in New York
The New York-based nonprofit Four Freedoms Park Conservancy has commissioned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to inaugurate a new public art initiative, dubbed Art X Freedom, on Roosevelt Island. The installation, titled Camouflage, will debut on September 10 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park. Featuring an open sanctuary draped in camouflage netting, the work will explore “vulnerability and protection, truth and concealment, and the reverberating impacts of violent human conflicts around the world,” according to a press release. This project—which will be on view until December 1—marks Ai’s first major public artwork in New York since his 2017 citywide cage installations that protested the strict immigration policies of the first Trump administration. As an annual program, Art X Freedom will invite one artist every year to create a site-specific work that engages with themes of social justice and liberation. The commission comes with a USD 25,000 prize. Finalists for the September 2026 installation will be announced later this year.
Portrait of BINNA CHOI. Courtesy International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CiMAM).
Korea Appoints Artistic Director for National Pavilion at 2026 Venice Biennale
On April 30, the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) announced South Korean curator Binna Choi as the artistic director for the 2026 Venice Biennale’s Korean Pavilion. Choi was selected out of 18 candidates for her proposal to present “a monumental space designed to transform the state of social conflict and chaos into dynamic and inclusive kinetic energy.” Previously, Choi curated the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016) and served as co-artistic director of the fifth Singapore Biennale (2022). From 2008–23, she led the Utrecht-based nonprofit Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons. Most recently, Choi worked alongside curators Wassan Al-Khudhairi and Noelle M.K.Y for this year’s edition of the Hawai'i Triennial, which closed on May 4.
Installation view of SANDRA SINGH’s VIRTUAL WAR (on Women), 2024-25, mixed-media installation, dimensions variable, at the IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen. Photo by Lola Pertsowsky. Courtesy the IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art.
IKOB Feminist Art Prize Winners Revealed
The IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art in Eupen, eastern Belgium, has named the three winners of its triennial IKOB Feminist Art Prize 2025, which celebrates feminist artmaking amid growing trends of “political revanchism and right-wing populism worldwide.” The EUR 3,000 (USD 3,400) top prize went to German Indian artist Sandra Singh, who examines women’s autonomy and migrant identity across photography, printmaking, and digital installation. Belgian artist Herlinde Raema clinched the EUR 2,000 (USD 2,265) award for her analog photography, which explores themes of home, community, and family. Meanwhile, Chinese-born artist and fashion designer You Huize received EUR 1,500 (USD 1,700) in recognition of her unique garments blending her personal and cultural histories. The winners were selected by an international jury comprising independent art consultant and curator Caitlin Hennen; Jemima Kulumba, curator and founder of the Biennale of Women in Art, Brussels; Noor Mertens, director of the Bochum Art Museum; Stilbé Schroeder, curator at Casino Luxembourg; and New Zealand-born artist Marnie Slater, who won the IKOB Feminist Art Prize 2022. An exhibition showcasing works by all 11 finalists is currently on view at the IKOB Museum until August 24.
Portrait of IMANTS TILLERS. Courtesy ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne.
Australian Artist Receives Latvia’s Highest State Honor
On May 4, Australian artist Imants Tillers was awarded Latvia’s highest state honor, the Order of Three Stars, for extensively engaging with his own Latvian heritage throughout his practice. Latvia’s president Edgars Rinkēvičs presented the accolade during an official ceremony at Riga Castle. Tillers, whose parents were Latvian refugees, has consistently addressed themes of displacement, migration, and cultural identity in his paintings. In a statement, Tillers dedicated the award to his family, and affirmed his responsibility to share their story: “Their experience, as well as that of so many others around the world, of being displaced, affected the rest of their lives in myriad ways.” In 2018, Tillers held a major retrospective at Riga’s Latvian National Museum of Art.
