NewsMuseums & Heritage
Influential Singapore arts centre the Substation closes down permanently after 30 years
Venue's board announced closure "with profound sadness" in March after losing sole tenancy of the theatre and gallery space
NewsMuseums
By Art Matters—Hangzhou's new contemporary art museum—announces inaugural programme
Curator Francesco Bonami leads long-awaited Chinese kunsthalle with a Theaster Gates-designed concept store and artist residency
AnalysisMuseums
Why are top jobs in Chinese museums going to white men?
Local professionals continue to be overlooked for highly paid leading roles
AnalysisArt market
JingArt fair returns to Beijing—with a new crop of young collectors
The fair was cancelled last year due to Covid-19 but this year was bigger than ever before, at 43 galleries
NewsMuseums
OCAT Shanghai closes after public outcry over Uglier and Uglier video that ranks women's attractiveness
The work by Song Ta consists of eight hours of secretly shot footage of 5,000 college women
NewsArt market
New Shenzhen DnA event this autumn aims to fill southern China's dearth of contemporary art fairs
New art and design fair in the Chinese boom town of Shenzhen launched by organisers of Art021 in Shanghai and JingArt in Beijing
InterviewCao Fei
'Chinese audiences know my name but not my work': Cao Fei on her first major solo show in her home country
Exhibition Staging the Era at Beijing's UCCA includes a working Cantonese canteen at one end and a replica of a 1950s Beijing cinema at the other
AnalysisArt fairs
'It’s impossible to compare 2019 and 2021; it’s a completely different world': what has sold at Art Basel in Hong Kong
Fair reaches full Covid capacity on VIP day and the big galleries report hefty sales, including a $19.5m painting by Joan Mitchell
NewsOpenings
UCCA Edge: Shanghai outpost of Beijing museum opens to China's 'most engaged and active' contemporary art audience
Opening exhibition looks back at the global emergence of the Chinese art world at the 2000 Shanghai Biennale
NewsArt market
Artists Samson Young, Angela Su and Lee Kit donate works to fundraise for Hong Kong dealer Anthony Tao Xinshu's hospital treatment
The Gallery Exit founder was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm in December—now 43 artists are selling work to pay for his care
PreviewArt market
Art Basel in Hong Kong: fair still on track to open amid calls to boycott city and tough coronavirus restrictions
Exhibitors are down from 242 to 104 in a condensed fair that runs alongside Art Central in the same venue from 21 to 23 May
AnalysisArt market
Busy Gallery Weekend Beijing brings city's art scene back to life
This year's event, delayed from March, included 30 galleries and museums across the city
NewsActivism
Art world: pay attention to anti-Asian abuse, activists urge
The alarming rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans is just part of a long history of discrimination in the US and elsewhere
NewsArt market
Send art, not staff: more than half of Art Basel in Hong Kong galleries take 'ghost booths'
Of the 104 exhibitors at the fair next month, 56 will take remote participation stands instead of travelling in person
NewsAcquisitions
Acquisitions round-up: trio of paintings by Italian artist nun Orsola Maddalena Caccia bequeathed to the Met
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections
NewsProtest art
The artists on the frontline of Myanmar’s deadly protests
Art has played a central role in the country’s civil disobedience movement since its democratically elected government was ousted last month
NewsArt market
Will it ever happen? Inaugural Art SG postponed for a fourth time
The first edition of the Singapore fair, first announced in 2018, is now scheduled to happen in January 2022
NewsArt market
Asia’s art fairs pin hopes on vaccine rollouts
Spring events must negotiate ongoing travel restrictions and quarantines, and some organisers have already postponed
AnalysisChina
'A win for internationalism': what a Biden presidency will mean for the Chinese art world
Donald Trump's trade war and 'cold war mentality' led to uncertainty and a fractured relationship
NewsMuseums
Acquisitions round-up—Fondation Beyeler gets a frosty Fischli/Weiss snowman
Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections
NewsExhibitions
Cai Guo-Qiang returns to China with a (virtual) bang in major new show at Beijing's Forbidden City Palace Museum
The Chinese artist has gone back to the mainland after a long stint in the US—but publicity for his retrospective appears muted
NewsChina
Consulates provide new safe haven for political art in China
Artists tackling contentious issues have found an unlikely home in the form of foreign diplomatic services such as the Goethe-Institut and consular residences
AnalysisArt fairs
'Dealers are smiling under their masks': Shanghai art week pulls in art-starved collectors
More than 100 art exhibitions and events have taken place in the Chinese city this week and galleries are reporting strong sales
NewsArt market
All eyes on Shanghai as city hosts multiple fairs despite first coronavirus case in months
New Art Tower will be hub of a busy art week alongside Art021 and West Bund Art & Design Fair
NewsBiennials & festivals
Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor and John Akomfrah among artists condemning Thai state violence against democracy protestors
Almost half of the artists participating in the Bangkok Art Biennale opening this week have expressed "support for the struggle for democracy"
NewsSingapore
Singapore art space prepares final show in Gillman Barracks after Covid-19 shortfall
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art to close physical venue in March, casting doubt on future of gallery district
NewsHong Kong
Hong Kong's M+ museum delayed to autumn 2021 amid management troubles and spiralling costs
West Kowloon Cultural District chief executive heads for early exit, accused of contributing to cost overruns and delays
NewsteamLab
TeamLab to open permanent installation in Shanghai nightclub
It is the latest move by the multimedia collective whose interactive works often attract large crowds
NewsArt market
Art Basel in Hong Kong and Art Central—under one roof in 2021
The two fairs will take place at the same time in the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre in March
AnalysisProtest
Student flash mobs in Thailand target ‘art scene run by elite old men’
Recent demonstrations break a long-held taboo–criticism of the Thai monarchy, an institution which protesters believe is the main obstruction to democracy
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
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
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
AnalysisArt market
Sanyu, Zao Wou-Ki and Liu Ye: the Asian masters fetching millions at the Hong Kong auctions
Despite pandemic delays and the new National Security Law, the spring sales in the city last week fetched solid results
ReviewArt market
Undeterred by looming National Security Law, Hong Kong's newest art fair draws nearly 3,000 visitors
Twelve galleries ventured out again for the bijou pop-up event Unscheduled
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
NewsArt market
Gallery Weekend Beijing draws a local crowd to a city cautiously reawakening
Event was postponed from March due to coronavirus and, while China is still closed to international visitors, mainland collectors were eager to attend and spend
Newscoronavirus
New outbreak of coronavirus in Seoul has caused the re-closure of its museums, perhaps a sign of things to come
Some art institutions foresee a rolling series of partial lockdowns in future
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
Gallery Weekend Beijing will go ahead—but who will go?
While Chinese capital starts to relax restrictions, uncertainty over domestic travel arrangements may impact on event
NewsArt market
Hong Kong’s art galleries abandon pricey Central district
As galleries feel the impact of Art Basel’s cancellation, many consider moving to cheaper, up-and-coming locations such as Kowloon and South Island
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
Analysiscoronavirus
How Korea's galleries evaded a coronavirus standstill
Although the country's museums have been closed since February, its commercial galleries were allowed to remain open—and sales have continued at a steady pace
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
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
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
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 market
Coronavirus: Beijing's Jingart is the latest Asian art fair to cancel
A look at how the market is responding to the epidemic
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
'The arts will continue to thrive': Hong Kong galleries band together in face of coronavirus fears
Local dealers plan to forge ahead with exhibitions even if Art Basel decides to cancel this year's edition of the fair in the city
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
AnalysisArt market
Singapore's SEA Focus fair navigates censorship and Taipei Dangdai date clash
Strong second edition of event, dedicated to Southeast Asian art, narrowly avoided coronavirus panic
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
PreviewArt fairs
Singapore and Taipei art scenes vie for Hong Kong trade
Fairs hope political upheaval and ongoing protests will not deter pan-Asian collector base
NewsExhibitions
Taiwan to host censored Aichi Triennale show
Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art is planning to restage the exhibition, which was partly closed due to violent threats over the inclusion of a 'comfort woman' statue
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
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
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
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
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
NewsArt market
Travel restrictions reduce Mainland Chinese visitors to Art Taipei, but Japanese, Indonesian and Malaysian collectors step in
Sales were stable at Asia's oldest contemporary art fair despite political tensions and the spectre of the US-China trade war
NewsArt market
'This is not the end, this is not doomsday': Hong Kong fairs survive escalated violence in city
Law banning face masks sparks more protests and brings Metro and buses to a halt, but Fine Art Asia chief says impact on fair is minimal
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
NewsLaw
Art history professor Gary Xu Gang accused of sexual assault and rape by two former students
Plaintiffs' lawyer says sexual harassment of university students remains an 'epidemic' despite the progress of the #MeToo movement
AnalysisArt market
East Asian unrest plays in Art Jakarta's favour
Fair is benefitting from Indonesia's burgeoning economy as well as cancelled Singapore fairs
NewsHong Kong
Hong Kong's cultural workers defy government pressure to hit streets in protest
Several thousand civil servants, including many from state-backed arts institutions, come out in support of ongoing pro-democracy protests
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
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
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
PreviewArt market
Art Busan hopes to dodge US-China trade war crossfire
Free of the high taxes and stringent customs of mainland China, the fair adds to a burgeoning art scene in South Korea's second largest city
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
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
Brisk sales at satellite fair Art Central Hong Kong despite economic downturn
Upbeat mood at harbourfront fair despite a "recent slow market in the region," founder says
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”
InterviewCommercial galleries
Five minutes with… Brett Gorvy on the Asian art market
Lévy Gorvy launches its Hong Kong space with a group show exploring how nature and tradition have provided comfort in turbulent times
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
NewsLiu Ye
Liu Ye announced as David Zwirner's first Chinese artist following gallery's Hong Kong expansion
Zwirner plans to hold a solo exhibition of Liu's work in New York next year
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
NewsBiennials & festivals
Singapore Biennale to look on the bright side of life
Exhibition in November "puts its faith squarely in the potential of art to rework the world”
NewsArt market
Taipei Dangdai attracts cautious but ‘committed’ local collectors in its first edition
Dealers report a high rate of works on reserve amid some strong sales at the launch of Taiwan’s new contemporary art fair
NewsArt fairs
Inaugural Taiwan and Singapore fairs shrug off the gloom
Economic doldrums and stiff competition do not deter Taipei Dangdai and SEA Focus, but Art Stage Singapore is cancelled at the eleventh hour
NewsArt fairs
Art Stage Singapore cancelled
Fair director Lorenzo Rudolf says the "given circumstances" leave no other choice