Weekly News Roundup: May 23, 2025
By THE EDITORS
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YAKTHUNG CHO SANGJUMBHO, Cable Car Shall Burn, 2024. Photo by Sonam Chamling Rai (Yakthung Cho Sangjumbho). Courtesy the Ulaanbaatar Biennale.
Ulaanbaatar to Host City’s First Biennale
The inaugural Ulaanbaatar Biennale is set to launch next month in the Mongolian capital, running from June 6–20. Curated by Tian Zhang and titled “On the Horizon, Under the Moon,” the exposition will delve into themes of home, land rights, and environmental devastation through the works of 25 international and homegrown artists. Highlights include photographic and sound works by Diné artist and composer Raven Chacon; Yakthung Cho Sangjumbho, an artist collective supporting Indigenous struggles in eastern Nepal; and a new mixed-media installation by Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar, who represented Mongolia at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. The event will span various venues across the city, with partner exhibitions taking place at institutions such as the Museum of Natural History, Ancore Center, and the Chingis Khan Museum. In a press release, Zhang stated that she “wanted to prioritize voices and perspectives less heard,” and foreground artists whose works “celebrate resistance, honor ancestral practices, and offer solutions for thriving futures.”
Installation view of "Supports/Surfaces" at Galerie Ceysson & Benetiere, Tokyo, 2025. Photo by Osamu Sakamoto. Courtesy Galerie Ceysson & Benetiere.
Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière Debuts Asia Venue
Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière has announced a new Tokyo space—marking the gallery’s first expansion to Asia, and its eighth location alongside Saint-Étienne, Paris, Lyon, Luxembourg, New York, Geneva, and the Domaine de Panéry near Uzès. Occupying the eighth floor of the Cura Tower, an office-shopping complex in the Ginza district, the 325-square-meter Tokyo venue is decked out with metal furniture and minimalist Japanese wooden craftworks, courtesy of French architect-designer Sophie Dries. To inaugurate its new space, Galerie Ceysson & Bénétière is presenting a group show, “Supports/Surfaces,” dedicated to the eponymous movement that emerged in the late 1960s in southern France. On view until August 29, the exhibition features works by 13 seminal artists from this era—including André-Pierre Arnal, Vincent Bioules, Louis Cane, and Daniel Dezeuze, among others—surveying the unconventional materials and ethically focused creations from this radical period.
View of Art Osaka, 2024. Courtesy Art Osaka.
Art Osaka 2025 Reveals Program Details
From June 5–9, the 23rd edition of Art Osaka 2025 will take place across two areas in the city—Nakanoshima and Kitakagaya—coinciding with the Expo 2025, Osaka International Art (OIA), and Osaka Art & Design (OAD). In Nakanoshima, the Galleries section will occupy the entire Osaka City Central Public Hall for the first time, featuring 44 galleries from Japan and abroad. Here, the building’s grand theater will host a special screening program about the evolution of Japanese moving image art from the 1960s to today. Meanwhile, in Kitakagaya, the Expanded section will present 19 galleries in the Creative Center Osaka—a repurposed shipyard-turned-cultural space showcasing ambitious site-specific and experimental artworks by 19 galleries. Among the highlighted projects are performances by video artist Masayuki Kawai, as well as a monumental installation by Yoko Ono. Since 2002, Art Osaka has shaped Japan’s contemporary art landscape by spotlighting emerging talents, especially those from the Kansai region. As the country’s longest-running art fair, it continues to bridge Osaka’s cultural heritage with the international art world.
View of Yan Du Projects, London. Courtesy Yan Du Projects.
Chinese Collector and Philanthropist to Open Nonprofit Space in London
This October, Chinese-born collector and philanthropist Yan Du will launch a new nonprofit space, YDP (Yan Du Projects), in the London borough of Bloomsbury. Located in a Grade I-listed Georgian townhouse on Bedford Square and adapted by Hong Kong-based Beau Architects, the venue will present exhibitions focusing on Asian and Asian diasporic artists, beginning with an inaugural show by Chinese painter Duan Jianyu. In addition, YDP will host artist residencies, welcoming Bangkok-based Harit Srikhao as their first resident. YDP will be Du’s second London-based nonprofit initiative, after she established Asymmetry Art Foundation—an independent platform dedicated to promoting Chinese and Sinophone contemporary art and curatorial practices—in 2019.
Render of Serpentine Pavilion designed by Marina Tabassum, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA). Photo by MTA. Courtesy Serpentine Galleries.
New Details Revealed for the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion Design
On June 6, London’s Serpentine Galleries will unveil this year’s Pavilion, A Capsule in Time (2025), designed by Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum. According to a press release, the Pavilion’s design was “inspired by the tradition of park-going and arched canopies that filter soft daylight through green foliage.” With four wooden capsules—one of which is kinetic—and a translucent facade that diffuses light into the space, the structure reflects Tabassum’s ongoing interest in the balance between interior and exterior, light and dark, height and volume. A Ginkgo tree will feature at the center of the Pavilion, and the tree’s leaves will shift colors as the season changes over the course of the structure’s display. With her design, Tabassum intends to create a versatile space where visitors can gather to share conversations, knowledge, and stories. The space will include a selection of books focusing on Bengali culture and ecology. Tabassum’s design will host a series of public programs and events until October 26.
