Apr 12–May 20

Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China

Yuz Museum will mount a solo presentation of Ye Yongqing’s works that delve into the first ten years of the artist’s career. Curated chronologically, from the years 1982 to 1992, the exhibition will feature 85 works that range from oil and watercolor paintings, prints and sketches to multimedia works, letters and poetry manuscripts. Divided into six sections, the show expands on Ye’s formative years, following his artistic journey beginning with his landscape sketches and paintings from Guishan, his explorations of Cubism, Chinese folk art and Persian illustrations, until his eventual foray into mixed media installations and collage. The curator describes the presentation as “a transition from the natural expression of inner heart, to the dawn of conceptual art.”

Apr 18–Aug 12

Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany

Presented at Museum Ludwig to mark Berlin and Seoul-based artist Haegue Yang’s reception of this year’s Wolfgang Hahn Prize, “ETA,” or “Estimated Time of Arrival,” is the artist’s first-ever survey, featuring some 120 works created across the artist’s two-and-a-half decade long career. Best known for her Venetian-blind installations inspired by historical figures, and wheeled sculptures draped in lights, bells and textiles, Yang masterfully manipulates readymade objects to stage abstract compositions that disassociate materials from their original context. This exhibition will spotlight some of her signature installations and anthropomorphic sculptures, as well as her early lacquer paintings, photographs, video essays, and more. 

Apr 19–29

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, South Korea

“Cracks in the Concrete” will survey modern and contemporary Korean art focusing on the themes of body and belief. Displaying some 100 works from across generations, the show will examine moments when Korean artists reflected on the ruptures of their own sociopolitical realities, and confronted existing systems of power. By tracing the transformation of artists’ depictions of the human figure, and interrogating the values and beliefs of citizens through their renderings, the show aims to gain a deeper understanding of Korea’s contemporary psyche, in addition to acknowledging artists who have challenged conventional thought in order to make way for a better future. Included are works by notable artists such as the founder of video art Nam June Paik, sculpture and installation artist Lee Bul, feminist conceptual artist Park Youngsook and filmmaker Nikki S. Lee. 

Apr 25–Sep 17

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Divided into nine thematic sections including “Possibilities of Wood” and “Hybrid Architecture,” Mori Art Museum’s comprehensive survey will trace the history of Japanese building design from the Edo period to the present, exploring the influences such as local artisan craftsmanship and Western modernism that have metamorphosed the country’s landscape. Of note is a full-scale replica of tea master Sen no Rikyu’s Kyoto Tai-an Tea House, and a new interactive work by Rhizomatiks Architecture titled Power of Scale (2018). The installation simulates several highly acclaimed architectural sites in Japan with fiber lasers, including one of the few remaining examples of a Metabolism building, the Nakagin Capsule Tower, which fuses megastructure with bio-organic forms. 

May 4–Jul 4

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States

This summer, Guggenheim brings us several new site-specific commissions by five key experimental Chinese artists: Cao Fei, Duan Jianyu, Lin Yilin, Wong Ping and Samson Young—all of whom have been significant in their radical use of new media. Co-curated by Xiaoyu Weng, Hou Hanru and Kyung An, “One Hand Clapping” will look at how technological advancements in the 21st century have, for better or worse, affected our lives and experiences, and will question how our social values have morphed into this age of “technologically mediated reality.” Multimedia projects and paintings will be staged around the six-floor rotunda, highlighting the creations of some of the most forward-thinking interdisciplinary artists from Asia. The show is the third and final exhibition of the Robert HN Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative.