Latest news with #visualarts
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
What the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards need to learn from Art Basel's
The 19th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards were held at Hong Kong City Hall on June 10, organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). This annual event acknowledges achievements in many categories, but as an art critic, I was watching the visual arts prizes closely. The artist of the year award (visual arts) went to Enoch Cheng Tak-yan, while the young artist award (visual arts) went to Dony Cheng Hung. Cash prizes of HK$50,000 (US$6,400) and HK$25,000 respectively were awarded. Cross-disciplinary artist-curator Enoch Cheng has fingers in many pies. He was the curator of gallery programmes at the Hong Kong art fair Art Central in March, and in 2024, he directed and translated the play Jerome Bel at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Inspired by French dancer and choreographer Jérôme Bel, Enoch Cheng's collaboration with theatre and dance producers Dick Wong and Mui Cheuk-yin combined dance, projected text and lighting. Enoch Cheng (right) receives the artist of the year (visual arts) award from Takahashi Mizuki, executive director at the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Development Council awards, at Hong Kong City Hall. Photo: Hong Kong Arts Development Council Dony Cheng has been particularly busy over the past two years. After completing her postgraduate fine art studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, her graduation paintings and animation videos were repurposed into her solo exhibition, 'Finding Rest on the Highway', at Gallery Exit, in Hong Kong's Aberdeen neighbourhood, in 2024. Speaking to the young artist winner, it struck me that the HKADC has a thing or two to learn from the newly established Art Basel Awards.
CBC
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
This program gives neurodiverse adults a chance to showcase their art
The Art-Seen program highlights the work of neurodivergent adults. Students had the opportunity to display their art at the Visual Arts Centre in Westmount, Que.
The Guardian
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Triptych of Mondongo review – one part art documentary, two parts directorial megalomania
About as inside-baseball for visual arts as you can get, Mariano Llinás's three-part portrait of Argentinian art collective Mondongo is knackering, infuriating and, infuriatingly, often brilliant – especially in its more sincere second instalment. The film nominally tries to document Mondongo's 2021 Baptistery of Colours project, in which the artists catalogued the chromatic spectrum with plasticine blocks inside a dodecahedron chapel. But it quickly snowballs into Llinás's own scattershot inquiry into colour and portraiture, a tone poem that ceaselessly interrogates its own tones, a crisis of faith about representation, and – as he falls out with artists Juliana Laffitte and Manuel Mendanha – a droll depiction of a director's nervous breakdown. As Laffitte lets fly at him at one point, Llinás can never resist the urge to interrupt with his latest brainwave. By quoting one critic referencing his previous 13-hour portmanteau from 2018, the director pre-empts any criticism of the almost five-hour work in front of us: 'You get the feeling he doesn't know what to do next, and the solution he's found is to autodestruct.' But this impish postmodernism quickly darkens in the Triptych's first part, titled El Equilibrista (The Tightrope Walker); soundtracking Mondongo's colour classification to bursts of music from Psycho and Vertigo, he seems disturbed by their quest to break down art into its constituent elements. This strand alternates with another in which an art historian attempts to document Mondongo's process; both are constantly intercut with excerpts of Llinás's documentary script, him revealing the canvas on which he is daubing his own strokes. Llinás redeems this lugubrious introduction in the second part, Retrato de Mondongo (Portrait of Mondongo), which begins with him pitching the film to Laffitte and Mendanha as a duel about their respective ideas of colour. His extends the emotional pitch to the elements from which film is constructed, like the stabs of Bernard Herrmann, or his own incorrigible addiction to metatextuality. But as he digs himself in deeper – redramatising his arguments with Mondongo, inflicting on us the writing of a long prose poem about his aesthetics – something breaks. Laffitte dresses him down about his egoism, saying it amounts to a form of 'evil'. He sheds a solitary tear. Lost in midlife 'tempest' about how to best represent reality, he admits nostalgia for 'feverish nights' with Mondongo in the early 2000s, when he shared their sense of purpose. (Their portraits in plasticine, wood and other materials are indeed very beautiful.) It turns out the arch-maximalist pines for the simplicity of la bohème. Alas, this Argentinian size queen can't just leave it there. He has to give us part three, Kunst der Farbe (named for the 1961 manual on colour by Johannes Itten that inspired Mondongo's project). Adding the proviso that it is his unfinished contribution to the duel, he's right about it being a failure. Broken down into eight colour-coded subsections with pretentious titles such as Green or the Conclave of the Ancient Plant Bishops, most are pedantic montages with little insight into the hue in question. Llinás hams it up as a monocled Fritz Lang majordomo overseeing the farrago but this adds little; only traditional documentary-style commentary from his colourist offers any worthwhile perspective. If nothing else, the third part serves as a reminder that form can never divest itself entirely of content. Jokey deconstruction of directorial megalomania though it may be, The Triptych of Mondongo is compelling only when Llinás gets candid about his insecurities. But the buffoonery does have the odd moment: his cameraman Agustín – the Sancho Panza to this rainbow-dazzled Quixote – repeatedly screaming 'I represented Argentina well!' as their hound barks along sums up this art-theory dog's dinner. The Triptych of Mondongo is at the ICA, London, from 19 June.
CTV News
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
London's visual art competition opens for the summer
Exterior of the facility on Kellogg Lane. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) London's not-for-profit visual arts competition, ART COMP, is now open for its 2025 exhibition in London. The immersive exhibition, located at 100 Kellogg Lane, is open daily until Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 'ART COMP is more than a competition — it's a platform to ignite imagination, spark dialogue and inspire connection through art,' said Emily Barnes, an organizer of ART COMP in a statement. The opening ceremonies revealed work from 100 emerging and professional artists. 'We invite the public to explore the exhibit, celebrate local and national talent, and participate in shaping the future of Canadian art,' said Barnes. Visitors are encouraged to vote online on artwork for the People's Choice Award. This award includes a first-place prize of $50,000, second-place prize of $30,000 and third-place prize of $20,000. A panel of judges determines the Panel's Choice winner, who will receive a prize of $100,000. Voting remains open until Sept. 7, and the winner will be announced during a closing ceremony on Sept. 19.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
From Tradition to Modernity: Kingdom Photography Award Frames Saudi Narratives
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, May 22, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Visual Arts Commission has launched two evocative photography exhibitions at Hayy Jameel in Jeddah— "Hay Ainek – In a New Light" and "When the Fog Whispers"—marking the third edition of the Kingdom Photography Award, a platform celebrating powerful visual storytelling from across Saudi Arabia. The award received over 1,300 submissions and more than 6,000 images, showcasing talent from across the Kingdom. "Hay Ainek – In a New Light" features 30 standout winners who captured Saudi culture through a contemporary lens. Among them, Huda Ali Al Neb reimagined Najdi architecture with vibrant hues, challenging the traditional view of colorless mudbrick homes. Mohammed Aljuraybi portrayed a potter at work, reflecting on craftsmanship as a bridge between generations. Kawthar Ali Ibrahim photographed a man sitting in an empty airport lounge, highlighting quiet introspection in a space built for transience. Hayat Osamah and Sawsan Abdullah used black and white photography to explore serenity, resilience, and the connection between nature and identity—Abdullah's work is especially notable as she overcame physical challenges to tell layered, meaningful stories. Judged by a distinguished panel—Kholood Saleh Al-Bakr, Sara Al-Mutlaq (Saudi Arabia), Rola Khayyat (Qatar/USA), Roi Saade (Lebanon), and Shannon Ghannam (Australia)—the award celebrated images that combined technical craft with emotional depth. Running alongside it, "When the Fog Whispers" features commissioned work from Abdulmajeed Al Roudhan, Elham Al Dawsari, Lina Geoushy, Mohamed Mahdy, and Hicham Gardaf, capturing poetic, personal reflections of the Aseer highlands. A robust public program accompanies the exhibitions, including interactive workshops for photographers of all levels, artist talks, and community events aimed at fostering artistic engagement. These workshops offer a platform for aspiring photographers to gain hands-on experience, receive guidance from industry experts, and enhance their skills in various aspects of visual storytelling. Dina Amin, CEO of the Visual Arts Commission, reflected, "The Kingdom Photography Award began as an initiative to spotlight local talent and now reflects a bold, confident visual arts scene in Saudi Arabia. Through exhibitions, mentorship, and storytelling, we're nurturing a generation of artists deeply rooted in identity and ready to engage the world. Photography is capturing the soul of our nation—its heritage, its people, its future—as we build a creative ecosystem where Saudi stories take center stage globally." These exhibitions reaffirm photography's power to preserve, document, and connect—positioning Saudi Arabia as a rising hub for artistic expression. About The Ministry of Culture Saudi Arabia has a vast history of arts and culture. The Ministry of Culture is developing Saudi Arabia's cultural economy and enriching the daily lives of citizens, residents, and visitors. Overseeing 11 sector-specific commissions, the Ministry works towards the support of and preservation of a vibrant culture that is true to its past and looks to the future by cherishing heritage and unleashing new and inspiring forms of expression for all. Find the Ministry of Culture on social media: X @MOCSaudi_En (English) | Instagram @mocsaudi *Source: AETOSWire View source version on Contacts Mohamed Alshiblepr@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
