Mar 12–Jun 9

Asia Society, Hong Kong

“A Story of Light” at Asia Society, Hong Kong, is the first retrospective of the late Hong Kong modern artist Hon Chi Fun. A co-founder of the local, pioneering Circle Art Group in the 1960s, the self-taught artist devised a unique visual language that reflected his diverse aesthetic and conceptual influences, from Abstract Expressionism and Pop art to Chinese ink painting and Zen Buddhism. Curated by Katherine Don and Kaitlin Chan, the exhibition focuses on the centrality of light in Hon’s creative practice, presenting more than 30 of his paintings, prints, and photographic works produced over his four-decade-long career. 

Mar 22–Jun 16

Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, China

The second edition of the Hyundai Blue Prize asked emerging curators to submit exhibition proposals responding to the theme of “Future Humanity.” Wei Ying’s winning entry, centered on transcending the boundaries between art and science, and between nature and technology, will be realized at Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, under the title “Quasi Nature—Bio Art, Borderline and Laboratory.” The group exhibition is split into three sections, with the first reflecting on the history of bio-art; the second probing interspecies relationships; and the third, “Laboratory as Surprise Generator,” considering the potential for art to cross over to the realm of science and technology. Participating artists include bio-art pioneers Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Oron Catts, and Eduardo Kac; multidisciplinary artist Ai Hasegawa; multimedia artist Liu Wa; and conceptual artist Liang Shaoji. 

Mar 23–May 27

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, United States

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, will stage “They Live,” the largest midcareer survey of Huma Bhabha to date. Over the past two decades, the Pakistani artist has garnered acclaim for her sculptures of fantastical, hybrid characters, assembled from a variety of materials such as Styrofoam, wood, wire, and clay. Centered on the artist’s engagement with the human figure, the exhibition will present nearly 50 sculptures, drawings, prints and photographs, split into three sections representing key art historical poses: standing, sitting, and reclining. Highlights include Bhabha’s recent sculptural experiments with cork, and the large-scale Benaam (2018), a bronze prostrate figure clad in black garbage bags that originally formed part of the installation We Come in Peace, the artist’s 2018 Roof Garden Commission for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Mar 31–Sep 2

MoMA PS1, New York, United States

Lebanese-American artist Simone Fattal’s first solo institutional presentation in the United States, “Works and Days,” will bring more than 100 abstract and figurative ceramic sculptures, paintings, and collages to MoMA PS1 in New York. Featuring works created in the past four decades, the retrospective, curated by Ruba Katrib, will probe issues of displacement and the politics of archaeology—key themes that run throughout Fattal’s oeuvre—in addition to exploring the artist’s longstanding sources of inspiration, such as ancient history, mythology, and Sufi poetry. Notable exhibits include Fattal’s two-legged, torso-less sculptural figures suggesting war injuries, The Wounded Warrior (1999) and Man in the Desert (2000).

Apr 4–Sep 15

Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy

Sheela Gowda combines photography, painting, sculpture and installation to craft large-scale three-dimensional works that interrogate the anxieties surrounding India’s rapid urbanization. Utilizing items associated with the daily rituals of Indian life, such as hair, cow dung, incense, and natural pigments, Gowda examines the cultural weight of materials, and their spatial interactions. The artist’s first solo show in Italy, “Remains,” at Milan’s Pirelli HangarBicocca, will present watercolors, prints, and installations from 1996 to the present, including Kagebangara (2008), an installation of rusty tar drums and colorful tarpaulin squares, alluding to makeshift shelters protecting workers from rain at construction sites. The exhibition will also include site-specific, newly commissioned works that will reflect on the architecture of the Pirelli HangarBicocca, a former factory.

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