Bangladesh art, culture week in Bangkok

via “Prothom Alo”

The first-ever ‘Bangladesh Art and Culture Week 2016’ began in Bangkok on Tuesday evening.

Bangladesh ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem inaugurated the event at Thailand’s most prestigious art gallery, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, said a press release on Wednesday.

“We have arranged the Bangladesh Art and Culture Week to showcase Bangladesh’s art and culture to the Thai people with a view to portraying a progressive, liberal and culturally vibrant image of Bangladesh and of its people to Thailand, its elites and its common people,” Ambassador Tasneem said.

This is the first Bangladesh art and culture week in Bangladesh’s 44 years of diplomatic relations with Thailand. Foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali has issued a good will message on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the art works produced in the joint art camp by nine eminent Bangladesh artists and nine senior Thai artists will be inaugurated in an art exhibition on 29 March at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre by Thailand Culture Minister Vira Rajpoj Chanarat.

The ‘Art and Culture Week’ will also include a colorful cultural programme by prominent music and dance artists from Bangladesh at the prestigious Royal Wangna Theatre in Bangkok on 26 March, on the occasion of the 45th Independence Day of Bangladesh.

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TaiwanFest showcases culture, art, and paper cranes

by Alison Shouldice via “The Star“

For Harry Chen, a folded paper crane is a hope for many things: freedom, democracy, world peace — and his own good health.

Chen, a Taiwanese-Canadian, has recently made a habit of folding small origami paper cranes.

He has also spent the last two years living with kidney cancer.

“When I was in the hospital, I started to fold those things,” he said, but it’s a skill he’s had for some time. At six years old, his kindergarten teacher first taught him origami to stop his crying.

After undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Chen’s cancer is now under control. In July 2014, when he was out of the hospital but still recovering, he began folding more cranes in his spare time: on the bus, in the doctor’s waiting room and while out shopping with his wife.

He was inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who famously attempted to fold 1,000 paper cranes in 1955 for good health. Sasaki developed leukemia after she had been exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima atomic bomb as a young child.

With Sasaki in mind, Chen kept folding, and just 10 months later, he stopped at 2,345: a representation of Taiwan’s 23.45 million population.

Chen is displaying his cranes, attached onto mobiles, at TaiwanFest this weekend at the Harbourfront Centre. On Friday evening, a crowd had already gathered around Chen’s display.

Organizers expect up to 50,000 people to pop in between Friday and Sunday for the festivities.

In addition to Chen’s mobiles, there are several other art and cultural pieces on display throughout the Harbourfront grounds. The festival is multidisciplinary, incorporating art, music, culture and food.

It’s held for two weekends back to back: this weekend in Toronto the next in Vancouver. The guests tend to be Taiwanese-Canadians coming from all areas of the city, according to the festival’s managing director Charlie Wu.

But the event is also for Torontonians who may not know a lot about Taiwan.

“It’s important for TaiwanFest to be in downtown venues,” Wu said. “We always feel that Taiwanese-Canadians and Asian-Canadians like to share their cultures in a more mainstream environment where other Canadians get to see it.”

Diverse programming is the key to attracting non-Taiwanese Canadians to the festival, he said. For instance, this year, they are hosting a fashion designer whose heritage is of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, who dwelled on the island for thousands of years before the now-predominant Han Chinese began arriving in numbers in the 17th century. It’s hoped that presence of the designer, known simply as Andre, attracts Torontonians with a general interest in fashion or indigenous peoples’ culture and art. . . . .

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Coming Exhibition: Beirut Art Fair

“Beirut Art Fair”

Who:  ME.NA.SA

When: Sept. 17, 2015 – Sept. 20, 2015 (View Hours Here)

Where: 

Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center
Downtown
Beirut, Lebanon

How Much:  (View Pricing Here)

More Information: Here

“Since its inception in 2010, BEIRUT ART FAIR established itself on the international artistic scene with the vision of a ME.NA.SA. labeled art which shaped its identity and power of attraction. In tune with the centers of interest of international collectors, the fair displays the creation of this region which stretches from Morocco to Indonesia, in its wide diversity.

From 17 to 20 September 2015, organizers will receive at BIEL around fifty international modern and contemporary art and design galleries. Exhibiting artists represent all of the trends of current art and express themselves through painting, drawing, sculpture, video, design or performance… Confirmed and developing artists mingle and invite the viewer to share their visions of the world, their dreams or their positions. 

BEIRUT ART FAIR confirms the position of Beirut as the cultural and intellectual capital of the Arab world, at the junction between the East and the West. It is part of the international fairs dedicated to art and serves as a window for the ME.NA.SA. creation which is open to the world.”

Coming Exhibition: Art Basel ~ Shanghai Art Fair

“Shanghai Art Fair”

Who:  Shanghai Art Fair (Various Exhibitors)

When: Nov. 13, 2014 – Nov. 15, 2014 (View Hours Here)

Where: 

ShanhaiMart
99, Xingyi Rd.
Shanghai, China

How Much:  50 Yuan

More Information: Here

Shanghai Art Fair 2014 (18th), as Aisa’s celebrated art exchange with long history and high internationalization degree, will be grandly held from Nov.13-16 at ShanghaiMART, continuing the scale as before, presenting domestic and overseas collectors a gorgeous art event in Shanghai as well.
Shanghai Art Fair, established in 1997, has been successfully held under the support of Saulterretimized art event, which not only bridged the gap between worldwide and Shanghai, public and art, but also shaped a paradigm for the domestic art fairs.
More than 20 countries and areas’ art galleries, organizations, agencies participated in this lively art exchange during the past dozen years. Many original artworks from the world-class masters, such as Picasso, Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Monet, Zhu Dequn, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, made the debut in China or Asia through the great stage established by Shanghai Art Fair. Number of spectators was around 60000 persons, turnover of 2013 exceeded one hundred and forty million yuan. Meanwhile, Shanghai art Fair creates a proud history of the transaction:
SAF 2000: The most spectacular one is Rodin”s sculpture called, The Thinker, brought by Sayegh Gallery (France), which was purchased at the price of $1,000,000 by Pudong Lianyang Land Development Company and set in Shanghai forever. This has been the biggest overseas transaction in Shanghai Art Fair.
SAF 2002: Another sculpture, called Cesar”s Thumb, was collected at the price of 2,600,000 RMB by Shanghai Zendai Group.
SAF 2003: One of Zhang Daqian”s paintings was sold at 5,500,000 RMB, which became the highlight of the fair.
SAF 2007: Saulterre’s “Series of Angel” was collected by Jing’an Sculpture Park at a high price…
Peter Denger, the famous curator of Basel Art Fair which is called Olympic in art, once gave Shanghai Art Fair a high rating “It”s a great international art fair with bright future”.

Coming Exhibition: Abu Dhabi Art Fair

“Abu Dhabi Art Fair”

Who:  Abu Dhabi Art 

When: Nov. 5, 2015 – Nov. 8, 2014 (View Hours Here)

Where: 

Saadiyat Island
UAE Pavillion
PO BOX 126888 Abu Dhabi
UAE – Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
+971 2 657 5800

How Much:  (View Pricing Here)

More Information: Here

“Abu Dhabi Art presents museum quality artworks from modern, contemporary and design galleries. This year it includes a wide spectrum of installations and large-scale sculptures, as well as a new section titled Artists’ Waves that places the discovery and re-discovery of artists at the core of Abu Dhabi Art, through a curated exhibition.”