Despite apprehension about the post-pandemic economy, cultural organizations saw returns on their investment in new ventures. After a three-year renovation, Artspace, a contemporary art center in Sydney funded by the New South Wales government, reopened its Woolloomooloo headquarters, the Gunnery, on December 15, coinciding with the institution’s 40th anniversary. Artspace now occupies all three floors of the heritage-listed building, providing increased exhibition and multiplatform space, a learning studio, an accessible archive, and ten subsidized artist studios to combat the city’s raising rent prices.

Receiving a total architectural revamp by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Istanbul Modern returned to its base in Karaköy after a five-year absence to a new 10,500-square-meter, glass-walled complex inspired by its waterfront location on the Bosphorus. The private museum reopened on May 4 with a chronological showcase of more than 110 artists based in Turkey from the museum’s collection. 

In the UK, after a three-year hiatus, the rebranded and reconceived Manchester nonprofit esea contemporary, formerly the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, debuted on February 18 with an expanded focus on East and Southeast Asia, reflected in the group exhibition, “Practise Till We Meet,” featuring artists’ diasporic, immigrant experiences.