Asia Art Weekly News Bulletin – ISSUE 49 Week of 26 January 2026
(1) Chinese tech company JD announces plans to open art museum
JD.com, one of China’s largest tech companies and online retail platforms, has announced that it will be building the JD Museum in Shenzhen, set to open for the end of 2027.
(2) Icelandic artist Sruli Recht’s first solo exhibition in Asia – Lair: Relics for the Future
Icelandic artist Sruli Recht, celebrated for his innovative approach to materials and design, brings a philosophical and tactile vision to Shenzhen.
(3) ART SG fair returns amid rising confidence in Singapore’s art market
Industry players say the fair underscores Singapore’s role as Southeast Asia’s gateway for contemporary art.
(4) Digital homecoming for a buried city’s lost masterpieces
A remarkable collection of art, lost for centuries in the sands of the Gobi Desert before being taken to Russia, has been digitally reunited and is now on display in China for the first time.
(1) Chinese tech company JD announces plans to open art museum
(Photo Credit: Büro Ole Scheeren)
JD.com, one of China’s largest e-commerce and technology companies, has announced plans to build the JD Museum in Shenzhen, with an opening target of late 2027. The museum, positioned as a platform for art and technology, will occupy over 10,000 square meters within JD’s new Shenzhen headquarters tower, designed by the renowned architecture firm Büro Ole Scheeren. The project highlights JD’s expansion beyond its core retail and supply-chain logistics business into the cultural sphere.
The museum has appointed Robin Peckham, former director of the Taipei Dangdai art fair and ex-editor-in-chief of LEAP magazine, as its executive director. This strategic hire signals a serious commitment to developing a credible institution within the art world. The museum will be situated in Shenzhen’s emerging “Houhai Headquarters Base,” a district that is also set to host the headquarters and upcoming museum of fellow tech giant Tencent.
By establishing a major museum, JD.com joins a growing trend of Chinese technology corporations investing in cultural institutions and public-facing art platforms. The JD Museum aims to leverage the company’s technological expertise while creating a new civic and cultural landmark in Shenzhen, further integrating the tech industry with the city’s cultural and urban development.
News Source: https://artreview.com/chinese-tech-company-jd-announces-plans-to-open-art-museum/
(2) Icelandic artist Sruli Recht’s first solo exhibition in Asia – Lair: Relics for the Future
(Photo Credit:Info Guangdong)
Icelandic artist Sruli Recht presents his innovative, materially-focused work in Shenzhen with the exhibition “LAIR: Relics for the Future”, exploring the intersection of nature, craft, and human desire. Celebrated for transforming natural processes like crystallization and organic growth into sculptural forms, Recht’s practice blurs boundaries between the natural and the manufactured, inviting viewers to reflect on materiality, perception, and longing.
The exhibition marks the Asian debut of Recht’s “Alternative Creatures” series, featuring nearly 70 works across 11 interconnected, multi-sensory zones. From delicate, jewelry-like pieces to large-scale installations that capture natural phenomena in suspended time, the display integrates narrative, sound, scent, and light to guide visitors through an immersive journey. Each zone is designed to challenge conventional viewing, encouraging physical movement and emotional engagement with the artworks.
“LAIR: Relics for the Future” redefines contemporary art exhibition as a living environment where creativity, philosophy, and sensory experience converge. By combining intellectual stimulation with tactile and visual richness, Recht creates a thought-provoking space that captivates audiences beyond visual spectacle, offering a rare opportunity to experience art as an immersive, multi-sensory encounter.
News Source: https://info.newsgd.com/node_ff52103c08/e240f49da9.shtml
(3) ART SG fair returns amid rising confidence in Singapore’s art market
(Photo Credit: channel news asia)
ART SG, Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary art fair, returns for its fourth edition from January 23 at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The fair takes place amid renewed confidence in Singapore’s art market, with Sotheby’s reporting a 33% increase in Singapore-based collectors between 2021 and 2025. Over 100 exhibitors from 30+ countries are participating, showcasing diverse works, such as a collaborative photography series by Singaporean artist Robert Zhao and South Asian artist Atul Bhalla exploring heritage and the environment.
The fair reflects shifting collecting behaviors, particularly among younger generations. A recent Art Basel and UBS survey revealed that Gen Z collectors (aged 20-28) spend nearly twice as much as millennials on non-traditional art forms like digital works, film, and photography. Despite global economic uncertainty, over 80% of Singapore-based investors remain optimistic about the art market’s prospects for the next six months, indicating sustained confidence in its growth.
ART SG co-founder Magnus Renfrew noted the fair has achieved its strongest level of support to date, with record sponsorships and partnerships. The event has attracted representatives from major global institutions like London’s Tate and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, while also collaborating with Asian institutions such as Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum. These partnerships aim to expand Singapore’s role as an international art hub and foster mutually beneficial connections that reinforce the city-state’s growing reputation as a key meeting place for the global art community.
News Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/art-sg-fair-rising-confidence-singapore-art-market-5878506
(4) Digital homecoming for a buried city’s lost masterpieces
(Photo Credit: Xinhua)
An exhibition at the Inner Mongolia Museum in Hohhot is digitally reuniting a remarkable collection of 197 ancient paintings from the lost Silk Road city of Khara-Khoto (Heishui City), originally discovered by Russian explorer Pyotr Kozlov between 1908–1909 and housed in The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg for over a century. Titled Black Water City Treasures: Russian-collected Paintings from Khara-Khoto, the display features ultra-high-definition reproductions created through digital scanning technology, offering Chinese audiences their first collective glimpse of these 12th–14th century artworks blending Xixia, Yuan, Tibetan, and Central Asian artistic traditions.
The paintings vividly illustrate the cultural fusion along the Silk Road, combining styles from China’s Central Plains and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with Central Asian influences. The collection includes both religious works—such as the 12th-century Water-Moon Guanyinand 13th-century Amitabha Buddha Welcoming Scene—and rare secular subjects like portraits of Xixia rulers, scenes of daily life, and even a Taoist depiction of Emperor Zhenwu. These artifacts represent the most systematic extant treasure of Xixia relics and provide invaluable historical evidence about life during the Xixia and Yuan dynasties.
The exhibition marks the culmination of a 14-year effort by scholars at Zhejiang University to digitally repatriate these cultural treasures through the Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings project. After persistent negotiations with The State Hermitage Museum beginning in 2010, the team finally secured permission for scanning in 2024. Enhanced by interactive digital scrolls and detailed annotations, the display creates a “cross-temporal dialogue” that organizers describe as a spiritual homecoming, allowing these long-lost masterpieces to tell their stories where they originated for the first time in centuries.
News Source: https://www.chinadailyasia.com/hk/article/627858
