{"id":932598,"date":"2026-10-14T10:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932598\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T10:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:18:12","slug":"gothic-church-hosts-bagri-foundations-first-london-show-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/932598\/","title":{"rendered":"Gothic church hosts Bagri Foundation\u2019s first London show – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The London-based Bagri Foundation launched its inaugural exhibition as part of its new Springboard curatorial programme last weekend. Located in St Cyprian\u2019s church in Marylebone, just a 15-minute walk from Frieze London, the exhibition\u00a0You Who Sing Into Existence<\/a> (until 24 October) marks the debut UK show for the Mongolian artist Nomin Zezegmaa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still cannot believe we managed to hang a 27-metre batik\u00a0from the ceiling of this hidden London Gothic church,\u201d says the foundation\u2019s director Chelsea Pettitt, who has also curated the exhibition. The monumental indigo installation that she is referring to was originally inspired by the artist\u2019s residency in Indonesia earlier this year. Traversing the nave, the\u00a0central batik cloth is flanked by floating copper sculptures, as well as silk rugs for visitors to lie down on and listen to the traditional Mongolian Long\u00a0Song sound work that fills the space.<\/p>\n

Subtle interventions<\/p>\n

\u201cSince St Cyprian\u2019s has beautiful ornate Gothic architecture, I wished for the works not to wrestle with that,\u201d Zezegmaa says. \u201cRather than fighting and screaming for attention visually, I hoped for the works to be like subtle interventions that do not disrupt the architectural environment, but add a layer to it.\u201d Born in Germany but based in Mongolia\u2019s capital of Ulaanbaatar, Zezegmaa\u2019s practice looks to Mongol cosmology, landscapes and ancestral memory. The blue colour that dominates the exhibition is a recurring motif in her practice and an important colour in Mongolian tradition, referencing the eternal sky across the steppe.<\/p>\n

Zezegmaa\u2019s installation, which closes the week following Frieze, is the first exhibition in the foundation\u2019s Springboard initiative that gives Asian artists their first UK institutional show on an annual basis. Founded in 1990, the foundation looks to broaden awareness of Asian art and culture internationally, and provides grants and other partnerships to support Asian artists and exhibitions. Recent projects include exhibition support at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Saatchi Gallery and Serpentine Gallery in London, as well as an artist commission at the Hayward Gallery and The Whitworth in Manchester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The London-based Bagri Foundation launched its inaugural exhibition as part of its new Springboard curatorial programme last weekend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,320038,49,48,356,75,35111,67354,320037,23513],"class_list":["post-932598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-asian-art","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-exhibitions","tag-foundations","tag-frieze-london-2026","tag-mongolia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}