THE ART FAIR THAT’S PUTTING SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Art SG will be returning for its third iteration from January 17 to 19, 2025 with the VIP Preview on January 16. The fair will be held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center and will include 106 leading galleries from 30 countries. Major names like Gagosian, White Cube and Thaddaeus Ropac will be featured alongside prominent galleries from the region such as Richard Koh Fine Art and Yeo Workshop. This year also welcomes cultural partners like Bangkok Kunsthalle and Delfina Foundation. In addition, there will be curated presentations covering themes of memory, identity, and technology. Fair director Shuyin Yang shares her insights on this year’s Art SG. Yang discusses the potential that the Southeast Asian contemporary art currently holds, reflected in the growing presence of global art enthusiasts at Art SG. Art SG acts as a connection between galleries with an international audience and artists from the region. Yang shares that the vision for Art SG is “to become a cultural destination, not just during the fair but as part of Singapore’s broader role as an arts and cultural hub in Southeast Asia. A key goal is to champion Southeast Asian artists and galleries, and we’re committed to showcasing the richness of the region’s artistic diversity.”
Xin Liu & Nan Zhao, Lycorises Reverie, 2023. Courtesy of Gazelli Art House and the artists.
5 EMERGING ART CAPITALS TO WATCH IN 2025
Artsy places the spotlight on five emerging art world capitals: Milan, Warsaw, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, and Marrakech. Although already established as a design stronghold in Europe, Milan has an increasingly prominent contemporary art scene. Many international collectors and galleries have plans to expand and capitalize on this surge of interest. The support and growth of art institutions and infrastructure has been a priority for the Polish government, quickly establishing Warsaw as a key Eastern European arts hub. NADA Villa Warsaw was launched last year, bringing together 44 galleries and art spaces from 25 cities to present in a collaborative exhibition format. Due to an influx of investment and interest, Abu Dhabi is set for growth with international institutions like the Louvre and the Guggenheim opening branches in the city. The city has also established itself within the art world circuit, with rumours of potential investment from Art Basel. The next city on the list is Mumbai, with its new wave of collectors and the rapidly growing Indian art market. Art Mumbai is set to return in November, having become a prominent event since its launch in 2023. The final city is Marrakech, a long-time creative hub poised as a cultural crossroads. The city established itself as a hub for contemporary African art, particularly with 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair. In February, the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden is also set to re-open after extensive renovations.
Installation view of Kisterem’s booth at NADA Villa Warsaw, 2024
JAPAN’S ART MARKET HAS GROWN 11% SINCE THE PANDEMIC, NEW REPORT FINDS
Between 2019 and 2023, the art market grew by 11% to an estimated $681 million, compared to 1% growth worldwide during that same period. Authored by Clare McAndrew, The Japanese Art Market 2024 was commissioned by Japan’s Agency of Cultural Affairs. 68% of sales were made through galleries and dealers in 2023, with 74% of the gallery sales conducted in-person at gallery facilities and only 10% happening at fairs. Online sales only constitute for 5% of sales, contrasting with the 20% of art sales happening online worldwide. With regard to auction trends, art in Japan is priced more affordably, despite the high prices of the Japanese artists collected globally like Yayoi Kusama or Yoshimoto Nara. Currently, Japan holds a global market share of 1% and is Asia’s second-largest market. McAndrew shared that some 47,320 visual artists are based in Japan, and the country has more than 5,000 museums, of which 1,000 specialise in art.
11 MUST-SEE MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS IN 2025
Last year’s lineup was brimming with blockbuster exhibitions and biennials, from the celebration of the centenary of surrealism to Caspar David Friedrich’s “Infinite Landscapes” at Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie. This year holds an exciting array of debut solo exhibitions alongside surveys, Artsy rounds up 11 of the upcoming shows. The first is All Day All Night, a survey presenting the works of Christina Sun Kim held at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Focused on exploring sound, language and the complexities of communication, Sun Kim draws from her own experiences to campaign against the systemic marginalization of the deaf community. The works of Anselm Kiefer will be presented in Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind (Tell me where the flowers are), at Stedelijk Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. Works that have not been exhibited prior to this will be shown at the Van Gogh Museum in combination with prominent paintings by van Gogh. The Centre Pompidou will be presenting Paris noir: Artistic movements and anti-colonial struggles 1950-2000, celebrating Black artists like Beauford Delaney, Guido Llinás, and Aimé Césaire. Many of their works have never been shown in France, despite the artists’ contributions to prolific movements such as Surrealism, modernism, and free figuration. Other exhibitions mentioned include Rashid Johnson, A Poem for Deep Thinkers, at the Guggenheim Museum and Jenny Saville, The Anatomy of Painting, at the National Portrait Gallery.
Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980), My Voice Acts Like ROYGBIV, 2015
ART DUBAI ANNOUNCES 2025 EXHIBITORS
Art Dubai returns to Madinat Jumeirah for its 18th edition, from 18 – 20 April 2025. 109 galleries will be presenting, with over 20 first-time participants. Returning galleries include Almine Rech, Sabrina Amrani and Experimenter. With a number of Dubai-based galleries, there is an increasing number of Emirati and UAE-based artists being celebrated. The list of new participants includes galleries like Bortolami, Cortesi Gallery, and Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art. Pablo del Val, artistic director of the fair, shared in a statement how, “the line-up demonstrates the growing interest in this region's art scene whilst staying true to Art Dubai's DNA as a place for discoveries.” The fair will have four sections: Contemporary, Bawwaba ('gateway' in Arabic) curated by Mirjam Varadinis, Modern curated by Magalí Arriola and Nada Shabout, and Digital curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado.
5 CURATORS TO WATCH IN 2025
Frieze has collated their top 5 curators from across the world, sharing their plans and projects for 2025. The first on the list is Jun Tirtadji, co-founder of ROH Projects in Jakarta. With a goal to increase exposure for Indonesian artists, Tirtadji will be curating a large-scale exhibition with Tromarama, a collective of Jakarta and Bandung-based artists at the SongEun Art and Culture Foundation in Seoul. The next on the list is Natasha Ginwala, a Berlin and Colombo based curator, editor, and writer. Ginwala currently holds roles as associate curator at Gropius Bau in Berlin and artistic director of Colomboscope, Sri Lanka’s only contemporary arts festival. In February, Ginwala will open the Sharjah Bienniel 16 with a team of 5 women curators. Following on is Diana Campbell, the curator of the Bukhara Biennial, opening this year in September. Campbell is the founding artistic director of Samdani Art Foundation since 2013 and the curator of the 2014 and 2023 editions of Dhaka Art Summit. Mohamed Almusibli was announced as the new director of Kunsthalle Basel in 2023. While continuing previous director Elena Filipovic’s legacy of supporting emerging artists, the highlights for this year include solo exhibitions by Bagus Pandega and Dala Nasser. Finally, Frieze names Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, who took over as director of Haus der Kulturen der Welt in 2023. Ndikung has since produced a series of exhibitions aimed at redefining the German concept of Heimat (home) to account for the changing landscape of the country’s population. In September, Ndikung is set to open his edition of the São Paulo Biennial as chief curator, his first large-scale curatorial project in South America.
Jordan Tan holds an MA in History of Art from the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art. With a passion for fine art and the art market, Jordan plays a key role at Art Works by researching and interpreting trends across the primary and secondary markets, delivering valuable insights and business intelligence for the fine art department.
