Fifth Jeju Biennale Announces Participating Artists and Programs

South Korea’s Jeju Museum of Art has announced the full artist lineup for the fifth Jeju Biennale, titled “Iyahong: The Art of Transformation,” which will run from August 25 to November 15. This edition will bring together 69 artists and collectives from 21 countries. One third of the participants are locally based practitioners, including painters Byun Shi-Ji and Kang Yo-bae, reflecting the event’s commitment to promoting the region’s creative scene. More over, the presentation will feature Korean masters Lee Ufan, Yun Hyong-keun, Lee Ungno, Suh Se Ok, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha alongside international figures such as Egyptian artist Wael Shawky and Uzbek filmmaker Saodat Ismailova. Spanning sculpture, painting, installation, video, and other media, the exhibition will unfold across three main venues, each dedicated to a distinct theme: “Human” at the Jeju Museum of Art; “Deities” in the island’s historic downtown, where Jeju Arts Platform will present a special film program; and “Stone” at Jeju Stone Park, where UK-based International Visual Arts Exchange’s touring site-specific project, Performance Art Land, will feature French Korean multidisciplinary artist Jisoo Yoo’s A Moment of Wind (2026). In a statement, the organizing committee noted that the forthcoming iteration will examine how “Jeju’s Indigenous culture has mingled with northern civilizations,” presenting “the metamorphic ways of convergence, connection, and becoming.”

Kate Newby Debuts Portland International Airport Commission

Kate Newby’s large-scale installation, The Sound of Trees (2026), has debuted at Portland International Airport (PDX) in Oregon, marking the Auckland-born artist’s first permanent public commission. Auckland-born artist Kate Newby’s large-scale installation, The Sound of Trees (2026), has debuted at Portland International Airport (PDX) in Oregon as part of the airport’s USD 2.15 million renovation project. Born in 1979, Newby often uses concrete, glass, clay, and textile to create site-specific sculptures that engage with nature and the body. She was awarded New Zealand’s Walters Prize in 2012 and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant in 2019. The Sound of Trees, which was developed as part of the airport’s USD 2.15 million renovation project, is an approximately 23-meter-long mural installed in the arrivals terminal, featuring 1,600 handmade ceramic tiles embedded with found materials including leaves, pine needles, melted glass, and window fragments from Oregon’s old airport. The monumental work evokes a topographic image of woodland, nodding to both the US state’s forested landscape and the architectural history of the site.

Lydia Yee to Helm New NonProfit in Kuala Lumpur

London-based curator Lydia Yee has been appointed artistic director of Muara Arts, an upcoming nonprofit gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Established by the Creador Foundation and dedicated to Southeast Asian art, the institution will span more than 1,800 square meters across six reconditioned shophouses in Medan Pasar, a 19th-century square in the city center. Yee previously served as chief curator at Whitechapel Gallery (2015–23) and as curator at Barbican Art Gallery (2007–15) in London, following a decade at New York’s Bronx Museum of the Arts beginning in the mid-1990s. In her new role, she will oversee Muara Arts’s curatorial direction, space, and exhibition program. Speaking with Ocula, Yee said she is “drawn to the opportunity to develop a new art space in Southeast Asia from the ground up,” describing the region as “home to so many talented artists and curators.” The gallery will open on November 1 with an inaugural group exhibition titled “A–Z of Southeast Asian Art: A Critical Dictionary.”

Hong Kong Palace Museum Director Louis Ng to Step Down in 2027

Louis Ng, director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM), will end his seven-year tenure in January 2027 upon the conclusion of his contract, according to an announcement by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). Appointed in August 2019, Ng oversaw the museum’s planning and construction through its opening in July 2022, and went on to lead its exhibitions, research, collections, educational initiatives, and international programs. Under his leadership, HKPM mounted nearly 40 exhibitions and developed partnerships with the Palace Museum in Beijing as well as cultural institutions in France, the UK, Qatar, and Egypt. In a press release, Ng expressed his “heartfelt thanks to [Beijing’s] Palace Museum for its unwavering support” and said he is “confident that [HKPM] will continue to serve as a platform to promote the Palace Museum culture to the world.” WKCDA will launch an international search for Ng’s successor.