AnalysisArt market
The fairs are back in town: greater China reopens for business
Art021, West Bund Art & Design Fair and Art Taipei among fairs due to open in the region this autumn despite travel restrictions, shipping woes and Covid-19 fears
InterviewAi Weiwei
Ai Weiwei: If you do not question Chinese power, you are complicit with it—that goes for art organisations too
Dissident artist says that European museums in China are betraying their own values
NewsMuseums
Museums grapple with ethics of China projects
Institutions including Tate, V&A and Pompidou are forging partnerships with the country despite terrible human rights abuses
NewsMuseums
European museums defend their partnerships in China
As China faces growing criticism over its detention of Uyghers and crackdown in Hong Kong, Tate, V&A and the Pompidou explain why it is important to continue working in the country
NewsArt market
Undeterred by pandemic and political tumult, Western galleries expand to Greater China
The New York dealer Edward Ressle opens a space in Shanghai, in the footsteps of the UK's Flowers Gallery and France's Villepin ventures in Hong Kong
NewsLGBTQ
Shanghai Pride announces suspension of operations shortly after opening exhibition
Move comes amidst increased official scrutiny of civil society in China
AnalysisArt market
In the first partnership of its kind, Phillips and Poly Auction set their sights on Hong Kong
Mutually beneficial collaborations between Western and Chinese auction houses are on the rise
NewsChina
National Museum of China exhibition commemorates country's fight against Covid-19
Open-submission show of professional and amateur art celebrates medical workers with propaganda posters and Socialist Realist statues
NewsProtest art
Artist Chen Weiming to create a monument to Hong Kong protests in California's Mojave Desert
As US levies toughest sanction yet on China for its destruction of Hong Kong’s relatively free political system, Weiming says he wants to pay tribute to the "people's fight for freedom"
AnalysisHong Kong
Some artists planning to leave Hong Kong in response to new national security law
Concerns over freedom of expression and self-censorship on the rise after introduction of new rules
NewsLi Zhensheng
In memoriam: Chinese dissident photojournalist Li Zhensheng, chronicler of China's Cultural Revolution
Li, who died aged 79, spent his life “striving to bear witness and document history”
NewsArt market
Beijing gallery to open near Old Street putting unsung Chinese artists on the London map
Tabula Rasa, which was founded in the 798 art district in 2015, hopes to open in the UK capital this autumn
Newscoronavirus
Beijing art world starts shutting down again amid new coronavirus cluster
M Woods among private museums closing as China reports 137 new infections in wholesale food market
NewsArt market
Shanghai fair launches immersive art show—in a shopping mall
With the future of large-scale events and travel still uncertain, the November fairs Art021 and West Bund are exploring "consumer alternatives" in unusual settings
NewsHong Kong
Hong Kong artists abroad launch pro-democracy platform as China's security law looms
Online project documents one year of anti-government protests in the territory and aims to rally support from international art community
NewsChina
Will the loss of Hong Kong’s special trade status and stricter oversight from Beijing end its appeal as Asia’s biggest arts hub?
A new draconian law against protests imposed by Beijing and the end of a more open trade agreement with the US has the city’s arts community worried
NewsMuseums & Heritage
X-appeal: millennial collectors open private museum in Beijing
Founded by Michael Xufu Huang and Theresa Tse, the X Museum opens in the Chinese capital this weekend after Covid-19 delay
NewsArt market
Christie's and China Guardian Auctions team up for sales and exhibitions series in Shanghai
Collaboration, dubbed 2020+, will take place in late September: Christie's says it is not a reaction to easing of coronavirus lockdown in Chinese city
NewsMuseums & Heritage
China’s Giacometti and Picasso museum delayed by coronavirus
Launch of Beijing venue combining works by both artists is postponed—and some loans in doubt
NewsChina
Beijing reopens Forbidden City in time for May Day holiday
State museums in the Chinese capital will reopen with crowd control measures for "golden week" of travel
Newscoronavirus
Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art to reflect on our post-Covid world when it re-opens in May
Opening exhibition "grew directly out of this unprecedented situation,” says the museum's director Philip Tinari
Newscoronavirus
Shanghai's galleries reopen after Covid-19 with optimistic spate of spring shows
Temperature and health QR code checks at the entrance are still required
Newscoronavirus
Ai Weiwei: 'This is just a sign of another failure for the Chinese government'
In a two-day digital conference, the artist shares his thoughts on the Communist party’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the role of artists in society
NewsMuseums & Heritage
All eyes on Asia: normality is still a long way off as museums emerge from lockdown
Visitor numbers at some of the world’s most popular art venues have nosedived and uncertainty for the future remains
Commentcoronavirus
'The real ideological war has just begun and Covid-19 is only the starting point': Ai Weiwei on China's response to the outbreak
The Chinese artist and activist reflects on how authoritarian political systems have been able to tackle the crisis more effectively
Podcast
Coronavirus: dispatches from Italy and China
We speak to our journalists Anna Somers Cocks and Lisa Movius about their experiences of lockdown. Plus, we begin a new feature—Lonely Works—where we look at individual works of art that are now hanging unseen in galleries. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793
Newscoronavirus
China, South Korea and Japan start to reopen museums after strict coronavirus lockdown
Shanghai's Power Station of Art and Shanghai Museum welcomed visitors today after China's tough measures helped curb the spread of the disease
AnalysisChina
How Chinese museums are coping with coronavirus: an in-depth report
As museums remain on lockdown in China, we reveal the full extent of the crisis for both state and private institutions and their innovative short-term solutions
CommentChina
Where is the West? Art world should be supporting China during coronavirus crisis
Our beleaguered art colleagues need our help and we must not turn our backs on Chinese art institutions, says Philip Dodd, head of Made in China
Newscoronavirus
Coronavirus impact on China’s art world now eclipses Sars
The region’s art scene has experienced relentless growth since the 2002-03 epidemic. Will it be able to recover from the latest health crisis as quickly as it did almost two decades ago?
NewsArt Basel Hong Kong
'With changes come opportunities': first reactions to the cancellation of Art Basel in Hong Kong
Local galleries are determined to forge ahead after the fair announced it will not take place this year in light of coronavirus fears
Newscoronavirus
Coronavirus: Australia stops two Chinese artists from entering country as more of China's art organisations halt programming
Beijing's Gallery Weekend and UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art have been forced to cancel or delay their events
NewsMuseums
Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum postponed because of coronavirus
The X Museum in Beijing has also delayed its opening show
NewsHong Kong
Coronavirus crisis: Hong Kong follows China in shutting museums
Special administrative region has also limited travel to the mainland to lower transmission risk
NewsPolitics
Taiwan's re-election of president Tsai Ing-wen is good news for its art world
Politician has been working on professionalising the island nation's cultural sphere
NewsExhibitions
#MeToo show manages to evade authorities in Shanghai
Previous iterations of the show were closed early by authorities
NewsChina
Yuz Museum and Lacma confident they can show Middle Eastern art in China—despite crackdown on Islam
Joint exhibition programme under way between Shanghai and Los Angeles will soon involve Qatar Museums
AnalysisChina
Why museum partnerships between China and the West are booming
Cultural institutions have embraced mutual benefits of collaboration, despite challenges of communication and censorship
NewsUffizi galleries
Hong Kong plans 2020 Botticelli exhibition in unprecedented deal with Italy's Uffizi
This is the first time the Florentine museum has formed a long-term partnership with a foreign institution
NewsPolitics
Three artists among pro-democracy candidates who scored landslide win in Hong Kong elections
Susi Law Wai-shan, Clara Cheung and Wong Tin Yan ran in the elections which had an unprecedented 71.2% turnout
NewsChina
Guangzhou museum given three days’ notice to evacuate before demolition
Privately funded Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art says its forced closure follows “a long period of disputation” with the local authorities
NewsChina
German art worth €300m disappears in China, media reports
Collector Maria Chen-Tu says she had loaned works by Markus Lüpertz and Anselm Kiefer to a businessman to be shown in museums
NewsCensorship
Beijing officials deny permit for show of Chinese-American artist amid political tensions
Exhibition of Hung Liu at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art has been censored by the government at the last minute
NewsAcademia
St Petersburg art school explores tie-up with China
Head of Repin Institute, which is popular with Chinese students, says it has "a lot in common" with Chinese art academies
NewsMuseums
'We are the opposite of Starbucks': Pompidou chief on the challenges of setting up a Shanghai satellite
The French museum's president on censorship threats and settling the costs of the new project
NewsChina
Museum dedicated to Picasso and Giacometti to launch in Beijing
Paris-based institutions Musée National Picasso and the Fondation Giacometti will open space in 798 district next June
PreviewArt market
Slowdown, what slowdown? Shanghai launches biggest art week yet
Inaugural government-backed Shanghai International Artwork Trading Month aims to boost city's art market as economy takes a turn
NewsOpenings
UCCA Center for Contemporary Art to open space in Shanghai
New outpost of the Beijing-based institution is due to open in 2021
NewsMuseums
TeamLab to open spaces in Shanghai and Macao after breaking attendance records in Tokyo
Multimedia collective's first permanent gallery in Japan was the most popular single-artist museum of 2018, beating Picasso and Van Gogh museums
FeatureCartoons
Badiucao: meet the Chinese artist illustrating the Hong Kong protests
China’s ‘artful dissident’ has attracted worldwide attention through his drawings of protests, but he is still little-known in the art world
NewsCensorship
Feminist exhibition in China suddenly axed following alleged governmental pressure
Show in Shanghai cancelled after being deemed "too sensitive" to run during 70th anniversary of country's founding
NewsOpenings
Centre Pompidou’s satellite space in Shanghai to open early November
New offshoot joins Málaga and Brussels in French museum’s burgeoning international network
ArchiveExhibitions
The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology provides a revolution in Chinese history
265 works discovered by Chinese archaeologists, mostly over the last twenty-five years, are on loan in an exhibition that shows why the textbooks have had to be rewritten.
NewsArt fairs
'It was painful, it was hardship': Marina Abramovic on her ill-fated, epic walk towards Ulay across the Great Wall of China
Three decades after the artists made the journey, in the dying throes of their relationship, PhotoFairs Shanghai is showing the work for the first time in the country
NewsArt market
US-China trade war expands to books and maps as increased tariffs hit art imports
Trump's newly increased tariff of 15% on Chinese goods now applies to the antiquarian trade, further affecting dealers and auction houses
NewsPolitics
Ai Weiwei: 'Hong Kong is on fire and the world is indifferent'
Chinese artist and activist’s team has been documenting the intensifying anti-government protests over the weekend
NewsArt market
Trump delays tariffs on Chinese goods until December—but not for art and antiquities
New 10% tax will come into force on 1 September and apply to all works originating from China, regardless of where they are imported from
NewsHong Kong
As crisis deepens, activists stage pro-democracy exhibition in Hong Kong
Show at WMA Space tells the “story of HongKongers” through protest ephemera
NewsHong Kong
Ai Weiwei sends research team to Hong Kong as demonstrations continue
Speaking to the BBC, Chinese dissident artist says West is unlikely to interfere and he has 'no trust in Britain at all'
NewsCopyright
Taipei gallery accuses Mac Cosmetics China of plagiarising artist's work for lipstick campaign
Project Fulfill Art Space says Chinese branch of the cosmetics company did not have permission to use Chen Sung-Chih installation
NewsMuseums
Beijing's art scene gets much-needed boost as M Woods opens second space
Private museum is due to open a new venue in capital's historic Longfusi area
ArchivePrivate Museums
The Ullens Centre for the Arts will be the first private museum for Chinese and contemporary art in Beijing
...and this is where a Belgian collector will put his art on show
NewsChina
Two Beijing art districts abruptly evicted to make way for demolition
Police in riot gear escort hundreds of artists working in area studios from the premises
NewsCommercial galleries
US-China trade war proves the 'last straw' for Pace Beijing
The gallery closed its mainland China outpost after ten years due to ongoing tariff hikes, but may expand its Hong Kong presence
Podcast
Ibrahim Mahama's ghosts of Ghana. Plus, China's epic Picasso show
We speak to the Ghanaian artist as he unveils a major new commission at the Whitworth as part of the Manchester International Festival. Plus, we find out about the Picasso blockbuster at UCCA in Beijing. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.
NewsLGBTQ
Shanghai shows of queer art hampered by venue issues and government censorship
LGBTQ exhibitions and works that are explicitly out and proud are magnets for official ire in mainland China
NewsHong Kong
Hong Kong’s art world unites as demonstrations gather momentum
The gallery community has encouraged strike action, with many closing to enable staff to join protests
CommentHong Kong
Hong Kong demonstrations are driven by creative spirit
The city's artistic response to the political unrest proves that the best work often comes at times of crisis
NewsChina
Tate to send its collection to Shanghai's forthcoming Pudong Museum of Art
The gallery signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned developer in Shanghai
InterviewChina
An artist’s memories of Tiananmen Square
The Bay Area artist Stella Zhang was a senior at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing during the student-led protests. She has created a new work based on those memories—and the government’s efforts to silence them
ReviewExhibitions
Liu Xia, widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, gets first show in Asia since release from house arrest
Exhibition at Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art reveals grief of families of political prisoners
ReviewArt market
Expanded Art Chengdu bucks slowing Chinese economy
Second edition of fair moves from tent to bricks-and-mortar in western China's 'skyrocketing' city
NewsContemporary art
Wallinger's upside-down globe outside LSE angers Chinese students for portraying Taiwan as an independent state
British artist says colouring Taiwan differently from China was his "error"
NewsProtest art
Stars Art Group, China's artistic freedom fighters, celebrate 40th anniversary
History repeats for avant-garde Beijing artists reflecting on groundbreaking exhibition and protests in 1979
NewsArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
Fair share: parity for Asia’s female artists gains ground at Art Basel in Hong Kong
While men still dominate the local market, there are signs of progress towards equality in Hong Kong this week
NewsPrizes
Shortlist for inaugural Sigg Prize announced
Six artists in line for Uli Sigg’s $64,000 Chinese contemporary art prize
CommentArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
'Fingers crossed for China’s art market'
The latest Art Basel and UBS report makes for uncomfortable reading
InterviewPainting
Liu Xiaodong: an interview with China’s great documentary painter
The artist on portraying ordinary people and travelling the world with a “local spirit”
NewsArt's Most Popular 2019
Museum visits drop in Taipei as relations sour with China
Taiwanese museum has seen a significant decline in visitors since 2015, our Art's Most Popular research shows
NewsRestitution
Italy and China team up to fight looting
During president Xi Jinping's visit to Rome, Italy announced that it will return 796 artefacts to China
NewsCensorship
Self-censorship on the rise as Hong Kong grows closer to China
Artists voice concern for Hong Kong’s artistic landscape amid so-called “mainlandification” of the SAR
PreviewArt Basel in Hong Kong 2019
US-China tension creates buyer’s market in Hong Kong
Despite a burgeoning arts scene in the city, worries persist that the trade war and economic uncertainty could affect business at Art Basel in Hong Kong
NewsOpenings
Collector Qiao Zhibing's delayed Tank Shanghai museum opens on West Bund waterfront
The reborn oil tanks host shows by teamLab, Adrián Villar Rojas and assorted Chinese artists
NewsChina
Is Budi Tek's Yuz Museum branching out?
The Indonesian-Chinese collector, who is behind the Shanghai institution, recently partnered with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
PreviewExhibitions
Ai Weiwei show brings out tensions between Canada and China
Survey at Gardiner Museum ranges from artist’s broken Han Dynasty urn to zodiac signs
NewsCensorship
Ai Weiwei’s contribution to Berlin movie scrapped amid censorship fears
“It was infuriating to find our involvement had been erased,” Ai says
NewsMuseums & Heritage
New York architect Annabelle Selldorf to lead design of visitors centre in Beijing’s Forbidden City
When restoration is complete, the public will have access to Qianlong Garden complex for the first time
NewsChina
'Hundreds' of cultural figures caught up in China’s Uyghur persecution
Most of the north-west Chinese region's Uyghur writers, artists and scholars have already been imprisoned
NewsAcquisitions
Why a six-ton scholar’s rock is making its way from China to Texas
A low-key request from the San Antonio Museum of Art director resulted in a big gift from Lake Taihu near Wuxi
NewsArt market
Censorship could stifle China's art market
Under president Xi Jinping's increasingly stringent regime, galleries must negotiate a slow and capricious approval process to show works of art
ReviewExhibitions
Unlocking the secrets of China’s Qing dynasty empresses
From portraits to robes to jewelry, Peabody Essex Museum explores the intricate trappings of female power and influence
NewsChina
Pompidou pops up in Chengdu but 'is not considering a permanent presence'
French museum takes Cosmopolis biennial platform to southwestern China less than a year before Shanghai outpost opens
News
Sackler Museum in Beijing turns 25 and plans expansion
As Sackler heirs continue to deny claims of involvement in US opioid crisis, Jillian Sackler honours Arthur’s achievements
AnalysisArt market
Is Hong Kong 'the problem solver for the global art industry'? Fine Art Asia's director thinks so
Andy Hei says tax advantages and broad Asian clientele help keep city's edge of Mainland China—but he is not deterred from holding Beijing fair this month
NewsChina
Chinese curator and critic Li Bowen resigns editor post following anonymous allegations
Highlighting a “gray area between morality and law”, a WeChat user has accused Li of a pattern of emotional abuse and deceptive behaviour
NewsArt market
Chinese art and antiquities spared from Trump’s tariffs
Auction houses and art dealers express ‘relief’ even as the US-China trade war escalates
CommentContemporary art
Quintessentially Chinese art gives way to a global identity
Contrasting Zhang Xiaogang with a young 'post-passport' generation
CommentChina
'We cannot build a truly globalised art world without China'
Artistic exchange has been vital to the mutual understanding between China and the West, says Karen Smith, the director of OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal, Xi’an, China
Karen Smith