Friday, August 28
Bangkok Art Biennale Reveals Artist List for Second Edition
The Bangkok Art Biennale in Thailand has named the 82 artists that will show work in its next edition, which is set to run from October 29 to January 31, 2021. Participating artists include Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, John Akomfrah, Anish Kapoor, and Yoko Ono, among others. Three venues for the exhibition will open on October 12, with another six locations opening on October 29. The full list of participating artists can be found here.
Para Site Appoints Curator
The Hong Kong–based arts nonprofit Para Site has promoted Celia Ho, who previously served as assistant curator of the organization, to the post of curator. In 2018, Ho staged an exhibition at the Dak’Art African Contemporary Art Biennale in Dakar, Senegal. She has also organized shows at Para Site, including its ongoing “A Garden of Six Seasons” presentation. This year, she will curate solo exhibitions for Luke Ching and Vvzela Kook.
Thursday, August 27
Lunder Institute Appoints Maya Lin to Senior Fellowship
The Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, has appointed artist and architect Maya Lin as a senior fellow for the 2020–21 academic year. During her tenure Lin, who won the National Medal of Arts in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, will lead online courses that engage topics at the intersection of art and the environment. The fellowship will culminate in Lin’s participation in the Colby Summer Institute in the Environmental Humanities in August 2021.
New Museum Details Seventh Annual New Inc Class
The New Museum in New York will offer five tracks to 64 members in the seventh year of New Inc, the institution’s cultural incubator. Running from September 2020 to August 2021, the program will include five tracks: Creative Science, Cultural Futures, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), Hybrid Practice, and XR: Bodies in Space. Participants in this year’s class include artists, designers, nonprofits, startups, and more individuals and organizations working at the intersections of art, technology, and business. Artists in the program include Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, Eric Moed, Carla Gannis, and others.
The New Museum in New York will offer five tracks to 64 members in the seventh year of New Inc, the institution’s cultural incubator. Running from September 2020 to August 2021, the program will include five tracks: Creative Science, Cultural Futures, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), Hybrid Practice, and XR: Bodies in Space. Participants in this year’s class include artists, designers, nonprofits, startups, and more individuals and organizations working at the intersections of art, technology, and business. Artists in the program include Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, Eric Moed, Carla Gannis, and others.
Wednesday, August 26
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery Now Represents Shilpa Gupta
Shilpa Gupta, whose interdisciplinary practice incorporates sculpture, sound, light, text, and ephemera, has joined Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, which maintains locations in New York and Los Angeles. Gupta’s work often explores the interplay between nationalism, religion, trade, and notions of identity. She participated in the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, and has also showed at the 2018 Kochi Muziris Biennale, the 2014 Berlin Biennale, and other international art festivals. The artist has exhibited her work at the Contemporary Art Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, Kiosk in Ghent, the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and more institutions around the world.
Tuesday, August 25
Frieze Announces Winner of 2020 Artist Award
Filmmaker Alberta Whittle has been named the recipient of the Frieze Artist Award 2020, a prestigious commission awarded to an emerging artist at Frieze London. A virtual edition of the now-canceled fair will take place October 9 through 16. Whittle, who is based in Scotland and South Africa, is known for her image-based works which examine narratives around the African diaspora and decolonization. Eva Langret, the artistic director of Frieze London, stated that Whittle’s winning proposal explores “timely questions relating to personal healing and the cultivation of hope in hostile environments, be it the pandemic, colonialism, or xenophobia.”
Monday, August 24
Garage Museum Announces Artists for Second Triennial
The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow has revealed the artists participating in its second triennial, which will have its virtual preview on September 8 ahead of its September 11 opening in the Russian capital. Titled “A Beautiful Night for All the People” after a 2017 book by mathematician Roman Mikhailov, the triennial is organized by Garage Museum curator Valentin Diaconov and curator of public programs Anastasia Mityushina. The exhibition will feature work by some 70 artists, including Alexandr Agafonov, Shamil Ahmed, Pavla Markova, and Suzanna Oriordan. The full list of artists can be found here.
Kariye Museum in Turkey to Be Turned into a Mosque
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a decree to reconvert the Kariye Museum in Chora, Istanbul, into a mosque. The Byzantine structure, originally the Church of St Savior in Chora, is referred to as the “Sistine Chapel of Byzantium” for its brilliantly preserved mosaics and frescoes. Last November, Turkey’s government announced the controversial decision to convert the Hagia Sophia, which has similarly functioned as both a religious site and church since its creation in the 14th century, back into a mosque. Both the Hagia Sophia and the Kariye Museum are named on Unesco’s World Heritage list in recognition of their status as “architectural masterpieces” of Byzantine architecture.
Artadia Reveals 2020 San Francisco Awardees
Artadia has named Marcela Pardo Ariza and Lava Thomas as its 2020 awardees in San Francisco. The artists, who were selected from a shortlist that also included Zeina Barakeh, Sofía Córdova, and Chanell Stone, will each receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds. They were selected following a jury process and virtual studio visit with Anthony Huberman, director and chief curator of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, and Lucy Mensah, a clinical visiting assistant professor in the school of art and art history at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
CORRECTION 8/26/20, 1:00 p.m.: This post has been updated to reflect that the Frieze Viewing Room will run from October 9 to 16.