Aranya Art Center Launches Guangzhou Outpost with Wiebke Siem Solo Exhibition

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Aranya Art Center will open its nearly 3,000-square-metre Guangzhou outpost next month with German artist Wiebke Siem’s first solo exhibition in China, presented alongside a work by Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.

Following venues on the Gold Coast of Qinhuangdao, launched in 2019 and 2024, Aranya will now expand to southern China with the inauguration of Aranya Art Center Guangzhou. 

Located within the CTG–Aranya Jiulonghu Ecological Resort, about an hour’s drive from downtown Guangzhou, the new museum will open on 28 September.

Designed by Chinese architect Dong Gong, known for Aranya’s Seashore Library and Seashore Chapel—landmarks often described as lonely and soulful—the lakeside building integrates banyan-lined avenues, autumn maples, and layered topography. A canopy of 25 banyan trees forms a 50-metre corridor linking the main exhibition hall, a garden-like theatre, and three independent galleries set into the landscape.

The inaugural programme features Siem’s first survey in China, spanning nearly one hundred sculptures, installations, and works on paper, alongside the unveiling of Noguchi’s Giacometti’s Shadow (1982–83) in the Pavillion space.

While many ventures have struggled under economic pressures, Aranya has managed to sustain its art centres as both community hubs and national destinations. The Guangzhou outpost extends this formula to southern China, launching with an international programme that signals ambitions beyond local audiences. —[O]

Main image: Courtesy Vector Architects and Aranya Art Center.