Asia Art Weekly News Bulletin – ISSUE 43 Week of 8 December 2025
(1) New arts venues in Shenzhen and Guangzhou give Hongkongers more options for short visits
Shenzhen Bay Culture Square (MAD Architects) and Aranya Art Centre Guangzhou open late 2025, reinforcing Greater Bay Area’s cultural push with global exhibitions and “art-plus-property” models amid accessibility debates.
(2) Architect Bernard Chang explores climate change through art in new exhibition
Architect Bernard Chang’s 6–12 Dec HK exhibition uses dramatic paintings of Hong Kong, NYC, London etc. ravaged by floods and haze to highlight urban vulnerability and spur climate-awareness dialogue.
(3) Vancouver Art Gallery gifted 131-work private collection from Hong Kong
Vancouver Art Gallery receives landmark 131-work Hong Kong donation (1950s–present); largest in its history, boosts Centre for Global Asias, with 2027 exhibition marking 30 years since Hong Kong handover.
(4) 82 galleries, countless artists and one iconic venue, Art Mumbai returns with its third edition
Art Mumbai 2025 (Nov 13–16) unites 82 galleries, Tyeb Mehta retrospective, women sculptors, talks, music, and design at Mahalaxmi Racecourse, bridging South Asian and global art.
(1) New arts venues in Shenzhen and Guangzhou give Hongkongers more options for short visits
(Photo Credit: MAD Architecture Studio)
In late 2025, the Greater Bay Area reinforced its cultural ambitions with two major openings: Shenzhen Bay Culture Square (SCS, 1 November) — a 51,000 m², RMB 3.7 billion (US$523 million) “Airpod building” by MAD Architects, housing one of the world’s largest design museums — and Aranya Art Centre Guangzhou (November), Dong Gong/Vector Architects’ project within the upscale CTG Aranya Jiulong Lake community. SCS launched with eight exhibitions including Anthony McCall’s light installations and a century of chairs with London’s Design Museum; Aranya debuted with Wiebke Siem and Isamu Noguchi shows.
SCS, initially government-funded and now operated by China Resources, partners long-term with Tate Modern, Design Museum London, and others to bring global exhibitions, while Aranya’s “art-plus-property” model — led by founder Ma Yin — treats culture as lifestyle branding with stable institutional-level budgets. Both reflect hybrid public-private strategies: SCS aims for world-class design leadership, Aranya extends its Beidaihe cultural-resort blueprint southward, joining recent landmarks like Shenzhen Art Museum (2023) and Guangzhou’s Baietan Art Centre (2024).
These projects signal the GBA’s shift from hardware-heavy megaprojects to sustained cultural “software” investment, though challenges remain — SCS faced opening-day unfinished sections and ticket-price backlash (RMB 180 all-access), while Aranya’s gated-community model raises accessibility questions. Success hinges on consistent curatorial vision and operational maturity; if executed well, the duo could position Shenzhen and Guangzhou as serious rivals to Hong Kong and Singapore in Asia’s cultural economy.
News Source: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3335744/new-arts-venues-shenzhen-and-guangzhou-give-hongkongers-more-options-short-visits?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article
(2) Architect Bernard Chang explores climate change through art in new exhibition
(Photo Credit: The Standard)
Renowned architect Bernard Chang, with over 30 years of international experience, will present his first solo art exhibition from 6–12 December 2025 in Hong Kong, using paintings to explore the impact of climate change on global cities. The collection visualises urban vulnerability through dramatic depictions of rising sea levels, floods, storms, and atmospheric haze affecting skylines in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, New York, San Francisco, and London.
Chang’s works portray structurally solid buildings that simultaneously convey instability, with advanced urban networks torn apart by natural forces and cityscapes reduced to haunting silhouettes against polluted skies. Some paintings present eerily deserted scenes, evoking stillness and prompting reflection on the uncertain future of densely populated metropolises amid escalating environmental threats.
By merging his architectural expertise with artistic expression, Chang transforms technical knowledge into a powerful call for ecological awareness, positioning cities as battlegrounds between human construction and nature’s reclaiming forces. The exhibition bridges professional urban design discourse with public consciousness, using visual impact-driven imagery to stimulate dialogue on policy, sustainability, and the fragility of modern civilisation in the face of climate crisis.
News Source: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/arts-and-culture/article/317640/
(3) Vancouver Art Gallery gifted 131-work private collection from Hong Kong
(Photo Credit: Artist and Blindspot Gallery)
The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) has received its largest-ever donation of Hong Kong art — 131 works by 78 artists spanning the 1950s to the present — from an anonymous Hong Kong-based collector under the banner Art Continuum Hong Kong (ACHK). The landmark gift, announced in late 2025, significantly expands VAG’s holdings in modern and contemporary Hong Kong art across painting, sculpture, printmaking, film, installation, and lens-based media, including works by Luis Chan, Irene Chou, Tsang Kin-wah, Wesley Tongson, Sin Wai Kin, Wucius Wong, and Vancouver-based Hong Kong artists Howie Tsui and Lam Tung Pang.
The donation strengthens VAG’s newly renamed Centre for Global Asias (launched November 2024), reflecting Vancouver’s demographic reality — nearly 50% Asian population, including 28% Chinese. Senior curator Diana Freundl noted the collection’s role in presenting “intersecting modernisms” such as Quebec Abstraction and the New Ink Movement, while interim co-CEO Sirish Rao described it as enabling stories of culture, migration, and exchange that resonate locally and globally. A major exhibition of the ACHK works alongside VAG’s permanent collection is planned for 2027, marking the 30th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover.
This transformative gift underscores deepening cultural ties between Hong Kong and Vancouver — forged by decades of migration, positioning VAG as a key North American hub for Hong Kong and broader Asian diaspora narratives. By embracing “many Asias” and transnational identities, the donation moves beyond traditional Chinese-focused programming to a pluralistic vision, amplifying underrepresented voices while leveraging Vancouver’s unique East-West identity in global art discourse.
News Source: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/12/10/vancouver-art-gallery-art-continuum-hong-kong-collection-gift
(4) 82 galleries, countless artists and one iconic venue, Art Mumbai returns with its third edition
(Photo Credit: Asian Art Museum)
On 8 December 2025, San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum repatriated four 1,400-year-old bronze Buddhist sculptures — three Bodhisattvas and one Buddha — to Thailand, nearly 60 years after they were looted from a Khmer temple complex in the northeast and smuggled abroad. The joyous ceremony, attended by Thailand’s ambassador H.E. Dr. Suriya Chindawongse, San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie, and museum leadership, marked the culmination of years of collaborative research confirming the artefacts’ illicit removal.
The bronzes were donated to the museum in the late 1960s and linked to indicted antiquities trafficker Douglas Latchford. Extensive investigations involving Thai scholars, U.S. Homeland Security, and the museum’s curatorial team established provenance, leading to voluntary return. Curator Natasha Reichle described the process as complex yet rewarding, noting Thai researchers’ decades of interviews and art-historical work that identified the statues as part of a larger hoard — none of which remained in Thai museums.
Museum director Dr. Soyoung Lee and chief curator Dr. Robert Mintz framed the repatriation not merely as legal/ethical obligation but as building “equitable relationships” and trust with Thailand and Southeast Asia. The return — celebrated with orchids and mutual goodwill — shifts focus from possession to partnership, promising long-term scholarly and community ties while enabling Thai citizens to finally view masterpieces from their own heritage.
News Source: https://www.7×7.com/asian-art-museum-stolen-art-2674382814.html
