Visual Arts
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Many of us have had travel plans cancelled these past few years, and plenty of time to dream how to get back into it. ArtsHub make it easy this year with a few itineraries tailored for arts lovers.
Hong Kong: Australians have had a growing interest in the art fairs in Hong Kong, led by the mega fair group, Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK). The dates this year have been set for 23-25 March, with preview dates 21-22 March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. There has been much talk about the decline of Hong Kong as the centre of Asia’s art market over the past two years – and with the new ART SG (Singapore) creating a buzz with its inaugural edition (which wrapped up last week), ABHK is aiming to be bigger post pandemic, with 177 exhibitions confirmed.
While in town check out Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now at M+, which is one of the first major retrospectives of the Japanese artist’s work in nearly a decade. Now open, it continues until 14 May to overlap with the fair.
Korea: If Korea is on your bucket list, then 2023 is a good year to tick it off. Curated by Sook-Kyung Lee for its 14th edition, the Gwangju Biennale returns this year from 7 April – 9 July 2023. With the theme/title, ‘soft and weak like water’, it proposes to imagine our shared planet as a site of resistance, coexistence, solidarity and care, by thinking through the transformative and restorative potential of water as a metaphor, a force and a method.
If you head across a week earlier, you could catch MMCA Lee Kun-hee Collection: Monet, Picasso and the Masters of the Belle Epoque, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, in Gwacheon, through to 26 February. Nearly 100 works donated to the museum by the heirs of the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee are on view.
Later in the year you could combine a visit to the second edition of Frieze Seoul, aligned with local art fair KIAF, with both opening on the same day at COEX Convention Center in Seoul, 6-9 September. The timing is perfect to tour around a bit, and catch the opening of the 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, which takes place from 21 September until 19 November, under director Rachael Rakes. The SMB12 public program will kick off on 6 September to coincide with the fairs. Details to be announced in May.
Others dates to consider:
May – June: If you are itching to get to Europe, here are a few excuses. The MEP in Paris is offering a major retrospective survey of one of the hottest artists at the moment, Zanele Muholi. Showing 1 February – 21 May, the timing is perfect to also catch an extensive group of paintings by Johannes Vermeer (1632-75) – the largest gathering of his works to date. This is a rare opportunity given the fragility of his works to tour. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 10 February – 4 June.
And why not make it a trifecta, and extend your trip down to Italy and take in the Venice Architecture Biennale running from 25 May – 26 November? Titled ‘The Laboratory of the Future’, it will place Africa centre stage for the first time in its 42-year history. It is curated by Ghanaian Scottish architect and academic, Lesley Lokko.
You could also be savvy and plan your travel to take in the iconic Art Basel, Switzerland, presented 13-18 June with around 300 galleries confirmed this year. It will be the first edition helmed by new CEO Noah Horowitz.
February: The Diriyah Biennale Foundation (DBF) has announced that the first Islamic Art Biennale will be held at the Hajj terminal in Jeddah from 23 January – 23 April 23. The main theme will be Awwal Bayt (the First Home). Jeddah is on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
You can time it nicely to also catch Sharjah Biennial 15 returning 7 February – 11 June. With the theme ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’, it pays tribute to the celebrated curator Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019) with an exhibition shaped by Hoor Al Qasimi and the SB15 Working Group: Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Ute Meta Bauer, Salah M Hassan and Chika Okeke-Agulu.
June: Perfectly paired this year are Momentum 12 – the Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art, in Moss Norway (2 June – 8 October), which has been curated by the Tenthaus Art Collective, and Helsinki Biennaali (12 June – 18 September) in Finland. It is curated by Joasia Krysa and her team with the theme ‘New Directions May Emerge’. It will be delivered across Vallisaari Island and locations around Helsinki, and is organised by HAM Helsinki Art Museum.
July: Always worth travelling to, the Liverpool Biennial returns for its 12th edition from 10 June – 17 September. Its theme/title is ‘uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things’, which takes the isiZulu word meaning spirit, breath, air, climate and wind. Taking over historic buildings, unexpected spaces and art galleries, it has been curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.
If you plan your visit to the Biennial in early July, you will also be able to catch Michael Rakowitz’s incredible exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art at Gateshead, which reimagines the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and replicates the archeological heritage looted and destroyed since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, 15 July – 26 May 2024.
In London, the Design Museum, London is showing Ai Weiwei: Making Sense – the first exhibition to present the provocative Chinese artist’s work as a commentary on design and what it reveals about our changing values, 7 April – 30 July. You can also catch the long-awaited retrospective of the iconic architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron at the Royal Academy, London, 14 July – 15 October. Other shows to seek out on your epic European summer visit include Erwin Wurm (his first major exhibition in a British institution) at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 10 June – 28 April 2024, and (the now) Sir Isaac Julien at Tate Britain, London, 26 April – 20 August, which is the first survey of his film works over the past 40 years.
Other dates for your diary:
May musings: Fashion designer and creative director of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld gets a look at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 5 May – 16 July, in the exhibition, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. Also in NYC, Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time is running at MoMA from April until 12 August – displaying over 120 artworks made over a period of four decades. It’s a rare moment to catch this.
Known for its exhibitions, the Art Institute of Chicago is presenting Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: The Modern Landscape, 14 May – 4 September. And keep heading west to catch Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody at The Broad, Los Angeles 27 May – 8 October. Continuing the pop/popular lens on contemporary society, the Baltimore Museum of Art has curated an interesting exhibition, The Culture: Hip Hop and the Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, April to July. Embrace the non-conformist!
Other dates for your diary:
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub’s National Visual Arts Editor. For a decade she worked as a freelance writer and curator across Southeast Asia and was previously the Regional Contributing Editor for Hong Kong based magazines Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. Prior to writing she worked as an arts manager in America and Australia for 14 years, including the regional gallery, biennale and commercial sectors. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Twitter: @ginafairley Instagram: fairleygina
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