News

artist / e-flux (Announcements)

2025 exhibition program (MOCA & season listings referencing Wael Shawky)

Program-summary announcement listing 2025 exhibitions across venues; includes mention of the U.S. debut of Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882 at MOCA Geffen (February 20–March 16, 2025) following its 2024 Venice presentation, situating the artist in institutional season programming.

artist / e-flux (Announcements)

494h 29m 53s

Event/series listing for 494h 29m 53s at Akademie der Künste (in cooperation with n.b.k.), opening July 3, 2025. The opening program on July 3 includes a 7pm panel discussion featuring Hito Steyerl among other participants, followed by video screenings and an exhibition running July 4–August 2, 2025 (with extended non-stop programming times listed).

institution / e-flux.com

Epic Fantasies: An Introduction to Fantasies of the People - Journal #161

Kerstin Stakemeier examines the role of fantasy in the work of German writer and feminist Lu Märten (1879–1970), situating Märten’s interventions within a historical-materialist framework. The piece reads Märten’s essays and pamphlets—including references to her 1903 text and the 1924 Taifun publication—against broader theoretical sources cited in the article (Günther K. Lehmann, Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, Sigmund Freud, Anselm Franke) and later editorial collections. Stakemeier highlights how fantasy operates as both poetic practice and political imagination in forms for everyday life, drawing on translations and archival materials assembled in the 1982 edited volume of Märten’s writings.

artist / ArtAsiaPacific

Up Close: Hito Steyerl

ArtAsiaPacific feature on Hito Steyerl addressing her recent work and themes (AI, digital images); highlights Mechanical Kurds (2025) and notes its recent showing at MCA Australia, Sydney.

artist / The Art Newspaper

Are we seeing the demise of statement stands at art fairs?

Feature examining shifts in art-fair presentation strategies (25 Feb 2026). Discusses the decline of immersive/statement stands and notes recent models that prioritise solo presentations and artist-led formats, citing the inaugural Art Basel Qatar and its single-artist presentations.

institution / ARTnews.com

Kazakhstan's Tselinny Arts Center Puts Decolonization into Practice

The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture opened this September in Kazakhstan as an intentional counterpoint to hierarchical Western arts institutions, centering decolonization in practice. Its inaugural programming included Barsakelmes, a 90-minute multidisciplinary performance that summoned the Aral Sea through music, dance, and visual installation: a monumental multi-colored yurt by Berlin-based Kazakh artist Gulnur Mukazhanova with visuals by Darya Temirkhan, throat singing, synthesizer, and dancers. Guided by a creative advisory board including cultural sociologist Diana T. Kudaibergen, the project reinterpreted Central Plains myths to address Soviet-era ecological and cultural trauma. The audience mixed local and international patrons, professionals, and journalists, and the center foregrounds regional memory and post‑Soviet artistic renewal.

artist / ArtAsiaPacific

One on One: Lin Jingjing on Wael Shawky

Profile/interview-style piece reflecting on Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882 (45-minute video) and its Venice Pavilion presentation; discusses his storytelling, historical research, and theatrical staging.

artist / ArtAsiaPacific

Layers of Accumulated Time—Depicting the world we live in

Exhibition listing/coverage for a group show at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (April 29–September 28, 2025) that includes William Kentridge’s work (The Refusal of Time, 2012) in its lineup.

artist / e-flux (Announcements)

Wael Shawky

Announcement of a major solo exhibition by Wael Shawky at Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, presented as part of the gallery’s 50th anniversary programme. The presentation spans contemporary and neoclassical galleries and includes works such as Drama 1882, material from the Cabaret Crusades, Murano glass sculptures, drawings and paintings.

institution / The Art Newspaper

As Kazakhstan cautiously strengthens ties with western Europe, new art venues herald a change of direction

Feature about two new private cultural institutions in Almaty, Kazakhstan — the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture and the Almaty Museum of Arts — covering design, funding, programming aims, and political context.

artist / The Art Newspaper

Artists including Theaster Gates, Miranda July and Martine Gutierrez receive Guggenheim Fellowships

News report listing recipients of the 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships, naming Theaster Gates among the visual-arts fellows; outlines scope of fellowships and contextual remarks about arts funding.

institution / e-flux (Announcements)

Opening and programme

Announcement of the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture’s opening programme (Barsakelmes) for Spring/May 2025 in its new home—the former Tselinny cinema transformed by Asif Khan—plus related 2025 events including the Korkut Sonic Arts Triennale (6 Sep–1 Nov 2025), film programmes, exhibitions, and a site-specific commission by Taus Makhacheva.

artist / e-flux (Announcements)

Elevation 1049: Energies

Announcement for Elevation 1049: Energies (Luma Foundation, guest curator Stefanie Hessler) in Gstaad, Switzerland. The exhibition runs February 2–March 16, 2025 across two venues (The Station and The Carpentry) and features works by 14 artists including Theaster Gates (The Duet, 2023); the opening weekend included a performance by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks.