Lina Ghotmeh Tapped to Lead Major Expansion of Qatar’s Mathaf Museum

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha has commissioned Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh to lead a major, multiphase expansion of its campus. This marks the latest commission for Ghotmeh, who was recently selected to design the Jadids’ Legacy Museum in Bukhara, as well as Qatar’s permanent pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Announced on the museum’s 15th anniversary, the ambitious project begins with a reconfigured ground floor and lobby featuring a majlis-inspired open library and conversation space, an extended gift shop, and a new café. Future phases will convert the surrounding plaza, parking and service areas into specialized studios for ceramics, glass, woodworking, sound, and more, repositioning Mathaf as a hub for diverse material experimentation and artmaking, rather than just a site for viewing art. In a statement, Mathaf’s director Zeina Arida said: “By expanding [our] programs and spaces to include residency studios, maker spaces, and workshops, we are transforming the museum into a place where artists can also create.”

Lee Bul Wins Abu Dhabi Festival Award

Korean artist Lee Bul has received the Abu Dhabi Festival Award from the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF) in recognition of her global influence on contemporary visual art. Presented in Seoul on December 17, 2025 under ADMAF’s Art @ Embassies initiative, the honor acknowledges her longstanding contribution to global artistic discourse through works that span sculpture, installation, performance, and painting. In particular, ADMAF cited Lee’s recent projects, such as her Genesis Facade Commission presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2024–25, which continue to critique the fragility of technological progress. Lee’s work was also included in “Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits,” co-organized with the Seoul Museum of Art as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival 2025 at Manarat Al Saadiyat.

Natasha Tontey Commissioned for 2026 Venice Biennale

Indonesian artist Natasha Tontey has been commissioned to present a major multimedia installation, The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs, at the forthcoming 61st Venice Biennale, which opens on May 9. This ambitious work, co-commissioned by Berlin’s LAS Art Foundation and Amos Rex in Helsinki, centers on the story of Len Karamoy, a female resistance fighter involved in Indonesia’s 1950s Permesta movement. The work weaves together themes of bodily transformation, Minahasan cosmology, and military imagery to consider how agency and subversion operate under conditions of surveillance. By recasting antiwar resistance through biological modification, ancestral practices, and monitoring technologies, the project engages with contemporary questions of digital systems and embodied autonomy. After its presentation in Venice, the installation will be shown at Amos Rex in 2027.

Antenna Space to Open Hong Kong Branch

Shanghai’s Antenna Space will open its first Hong Kong branch in March 2026. The gallery will occupy the 19th floor of Leader Centre, a former industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang, the city’s Southern District arts hub. Jeff Li will direct the new space, which launches with a group exhibition during Hong Kong’s art month. Founded by Simon Wang in 2013, Antenna Space has developed its program around close collaborations with artists working across China, the US, and Europe. The gallery represents Chinese artists with significant institutional and market visibility, including Xinyi Cheng, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, and Guan Xiao, as well as international artists such as Mire Lee and Hanna Hur.

Diriyah Biennale Announces Full Artist Lineup for 2026 Edition

The Diriyah Biennale Foundation has released the full artist list for the 2026 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, “In Interludes and Transitions (في الحِلّ والترحال),” which opens on January 30. Led by artistic directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, the third edition will take place in the JAX District in Diriyah, a historic town located northwest of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The event will feature more than 65 artists and over 20 new commissions. Participating artists include Pacita Abad, Pio Abad, Etel Adnan, Rand Abdul Jabbar, Ahaad Alamoudi, Afra Al Dhaheri, Shadia Alem, Samia Halaby, Ho Rui An, Thảo Nguyên Phan, and Raqs Media Collective, among others. ​​