Friday, January 3, 2020
Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media Names Winner
Lebanese-British artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan is the recipient of the 2022 Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media, which is awarded jointly by the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art to support the creation and acquisition of artworks in the mediums of video, film, performance, and sound. Now in its third year, the award carries a cash prize of $125,000 to support a work’s production. Hamdan is best known for works which investigate the effects of audio surveillance on human rights. He was a recipient of the 2019 Turner Prize, and his art is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Modern in London, among others. Hamdan will create a speech-based installation which will premiere at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in spring 2022 and then show at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo before its joint acquisition by the institutions.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Yinka Shonibare Launches Nigerian Residencies
British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare has announced plans to establish two artist residencies in Nigeria, through the Guest Artists Space Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering international artistic exchange. A residency space in Lagos will include a gallery, studio, and housing for artists in the program. Participating artists are also invited to a second residency location in Ijebu, in the Nigerian state of Ogun. Both locations are slated to open in 2021, coinciding with the Art x Lagos art fair in November of that year. “Artists want to share ideas and have galleries and studios. But if that’s not provided, it’s left to the artists to fill that gap and take that [responsibility] upon themselves,” Shonibare told the Art Newspaper.
Cheung Yee, Visionary Sculptor, Dies at 83
Cheung Yee, a pioneer figure in the Hong Kong art scene, has died at 83, according to Artforum. He was renowned for his paper castings and wood, stone, and bronze sculptures—in particular a series of iconic bronze crab sculptures started in the 1980s—that blended traditional Chinese elements, aspects of folklore, and modernist aesthetics imported from Europe. In 1963, Cheung cofounded the Circle Art Group with fellow artists such as Van Lau, Hon Chi Fun, and Wucius Wong. The collective—an important avant-garde group that kickstarted Hong Kong’s contemporary art scene—was active through 1971. Cheung’s first major retrospective was organized in 1964 by the City Museum and Art Gallery at Hong Kong City Hall. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Hong Kong’s AO Vertical Art Space and Galerie Du Monde. His art is included in the collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan, among others.