Weekly News Roundup: September 27, 2024
By The Editors
Installation view of "A Closer Look" at Pearl Lam Galleries’s new space, 70 Square Metres, Shanghai.
Pearl Lam Galleries Opens Another China Venue
Hong Kong’s Pearl Lam Galleries has opened a second gallery space, 70 Square Metres, in Shanghai. Located in the Chinese megacity’s historic former French Concession, the new venue will host artist residency programs, as well as exhibitions for emerging non-residency artists, demonstrating the namesake gallerist’s dedication to “promoting underrepresented voices while fostering cross-cultural dialogue and understanding.” Ahead of the inaugural artist residency show later this year, the gallery is presenting the group exhibition “A Closer Look,” featuring the works of 11 international artists in their 20s and 30s with ties to Africa, including Ghanaian painter James Mishio, Nigerian artist Ayobola Kekere-Ekun, and Los Angeles-based figurative painter Moses Hamborg, among others.
Portrait of TENZIN GYURMEY DORJEE at his 2023 solo exhibition "Behind Two Mountains" at The Other Space. Photo by Adele Tomlin. Courtesy The Other Space, Dharamsala.
Tibetan Artist Wins Rubin Museum’s First Himalayan Art Prize
Ahead of closing its physical space in New York, the Rubin Museum of Art has announced Tibetan artist Tenzin Gyurmey Dorjee as the winner of its inaugural Rubin Himalayan Art Prize, comprising an unrestricted USD 30,000 cash prize. The annual award is now the largest source of funding dedicated to artists from the Himalayan regions. Age 37, Dorjee is a second-generation Tibetan refugee based in Himachal Pradesh, in northern India, and he explores themes of displacement, identity, and cultural heritage in his vibrant thangka works inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist painting style. A jury comprising museum staff and external experts selected him out of 32 artists participating in the Rubin’s exhibition “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now,” which will run until the museum shuts on October 6. Once the Rubin becomes a traveling “global museum model,” it plans to select the winners of its Himalayan Art Prize via submissions.
The 2023 Islamic Arts Biennale at the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Courtesy Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
The Islamic Arts Biennale Reveals Details on its 2025 Edition
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation has announced that the second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale (IBA) will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from January 25 to May 25, 2025. Titled “And all that is in between,” a verse that appears several times in the Quran, the event will explore the expression, experience, and commemoration of faith through more than 500 exhibited objects and artworks. These will comprise new commissions by over 20 international artists, including Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist Charwei Tsai and Libyan mixed-media artist Nour Jaouda, as well as loans by leading institutions such as the Louvre in Paris and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Led by three artistic directors, the distinguished Islamic art historians Julian Raby and Abdulrahman Azzam, and director of the Al Thani Collection Amin Jaffer, the 100,000-square-meter biennale exhibition will take place across the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport.
An AI data-style rendition of The Grand LA, which will house the forthcoming Dataland museum. Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio, Los Angeles.
Refik Anadol to Launch World’s First AI Art Museum
Turkish artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkiliç have announced plans to open Dataland, the world’s first artificial intelligence art museum, in the Grand LA building in downtown Los Angeles. Scheduled to open in 2025, the 1,860-square-meter institution will be located near other arts and culture landmarks such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. “Dataland will unite pioneers in diverse fields, including the arts, science, AI research, and cutting-edge technology under the artistic leadership of Refik Anadol Studio,” the LA-based studio, established by Anadol and Erkiliç in 2014, announced on its website. Inaugural Dataland exhibitions will be produced by the studio’s Large Nature Model, the “the world’s first open source AI model based solely on nature data.” Promoted as “ethically sourced,” the AI model shares its dataset with prominent institutions such as the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, and the National History Museum in London.
