Anselm Franke to Curate the Shanghai Biennale

Berlin-based Anselm Franke has been appointed chief curator of the tenth edition of the Shanghai Biennale. Franke, who currently works as the Head of Visual Art and Film at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, says the Biennale will explore notions of subjectivity and creative process as it exists in contrast to “the logic of modernization, its rationalizations and standardizations” in an age of technological mediation.

Japanese Architect Shigeru Ban Wins Pritzker Prize

On March 24, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was announced as the 2014 laureate for the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. The self-proclaimed “paper-architect” is recognized for his humanitarian practice, and innovative use of low-cost recyclable materials such as bamboo, fabric, fiber and paper tubes.

Chinese Modernist Painter Chu Teh-Chun dies at 93

On March 26, the renowned abstract painter Chu Teh-Chun died in Paris at the age of 93. Following closely after the passing of his friend and fellow proponent of the Chinese Modernist movement Zao Wou-ki (1920–2013), last year, as well as Wu Guangzhong in 2010, Chu’s death marks the end of generation of Chinese painters living in Europe whose works continue to offer salient cross-cultural perspectives.