There are very few places where contemporary art and history coexist as beautifully as they do in Venice. During Biennale season, the entire city becomes part of the exhibition experience.

Over the past few days, I visited exhibitions housed inside remarkable Venetian palazzos and historic... spaces, each one offering a completely different atmosphere. I was particularly drawn to works that explored texture, scale, and materiality, from large immersive installations to deeply expressive paintings and intricate handcrafted pieces.

What makes the Biennale so compelling is not only the work itself, but the setting in which it is encountered. Seeing contemporary pieces framed by centuries of architecture creates moments that feel unexpectedly emotional and unforgettable.

It was also lovely to spend time with friends and colleagues from across the international art community, all brought together through a shared appreciation for culture and creative dialogue.

A truly inspiring few days in one of the world’s most extraordinary cities.

#VeniceBiennale #ContemporaryArt #Venice #ArtCollector #ArtsAndCulture Biennale2026

Rome has always had a certain energy to it. Elegant, cinematic and endlessly inspiring. One experience stood out in particular during my most recent trip this May: visiting VENUS at PM23, the exhibition space founded by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti.

Presented by the ...Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti and curated by Pamela Golbin, the exhibition places monumental installations featuring 33 archival Valentino garments. The result is a fascinating conversation between couture and contemporary art, where craftsmanship, scale and emotion all intertwine.

What remains most inspiring was learning how many different communities contributed to the making of the exhibition, from students and artisans to refugees, patients and women supported by social initiatives across Italy – beneath the grandeur was a true sense of humanity.

Considering Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti first met in Rome back in July 1960, it felt particularly fitting to experience an exhibition so deeply connected to the cultural and creative spirit of the city itself.

#Valentino #Rome #ArtsAndCulture #FashionExhibition #PM23

Between ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, AI was undoubtedly one of the biggest buzz words of 2025.

While certainly groundbreaking in its own way, it’s given rise to a host of unusual implications for culture. Let’s take AI-generated art, for example. AI being trained on existing artworks ...has perpetuated an art style which tends to favour a highly rendered, photorealistic style. Ethics aside, I’ve been thinking quite deeply about how this, essentially, creates a repetitive aesthetic – ones that might fail to consider any further creative innovation.

Pair this with what American writer W. David Marx @wdavidmarx calls the “blank space” of culture in our today’s society. In his 2025 book, he notes today’s society as one consumed by what he calls ‘retromania’ – which promotes a constant recycling of existing ideas to avoid financial risk – and contrasts this against the inventive nature of the early internet, which gave way to the possibility of fun, imaginative content going viral.

While I’m exposed to so much thought-provoking art in my day-to-day life, these contemporary trends do make me wonder if certain aspects of today’s culture have gone stagnant.

What do you think – are we stuck in an endless loop of boring ideas, or are we on the verge of a new age of creative innovation?

#PearlLam #ArtsandCulture #AI #ArtificalIntelligence

Passion has a way of opening unexpected doors.

Speaking with Harry Lee, we reflect on his 31-year association with the Metropolitan Opera, serving in various capacities on its board. What began as a deep personal commitment to music became something much broader, creating relationships, ...opportunities, and connections across the world.

Watch the full conversation, only on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

Presented as an official collateral event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Alchemical Universe brings together a significant selection of works by Su Xiaobai at Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel.

Organised by @pearllamprojects in collaboration with the Su Xiaobai... Foundation and LACMA, the exhibition spans key moments across the artist’s practice, tracing his continued exploration of lacquer, texture and surface. Installed throughout the palazzo, the works engage closely with the architecture and shifting Venetian light, revealing subtle tonal and material variations across each space.
The exhibition remains on view in Venice throughout the Biennale period, until November 22nd.

There are different ways of thinking about impact.

For the likes of Harry Lee, the choice to not have children, doesn’t mean he can’t support them. In fact, through his work, Harry Lee has chosen to focus on creating a system that can support and influence them over time.

Hear... the full exchange on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

There is still a very narrow expectation of what “African art” should look like.

A few months ago in Lagos, I had the opportunity to speak with artist Alimi Adewale and visit his studio following our conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast. We spoke about how certain visual languages ...continue to be stereotyped or culturally assigned, even when they speak to something far more universal.

His work moves beyond those expectations, drawing from forms and symbols that cut across geography, race, and culture. It is this tension between categorisation and universality that makes the work so compelling.

Hear the full discussion on The Pearl Lam Podcast now.

#PearlLam #AlimiAdewale #ContemporaryArt #AfricanArt #Sculpture

While in Lagos, I visited the studio of artist Alimi Adewale following our conversation with curator Maria Bojan on The Pearl Lam Podcast.
After discussing authorship, cultural context, and the frameworks that continue to shape how art is produced and interpreted globally, Alimi shared a closer... look into his practice and the ideas behind his latest works.

The sense of family, community, and continuity felt deeply present throughout the visit and very similar to that of Chinese families! There is a different kind of strength in extended family structures, where generations remain closely connected and support exists collectively rather than individually.

Subscribe for more behind-the-scenes moments and studio tours, only on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLam #AlimiAdewale #ContemporaryArt #LagosArt #AfricanArt StudioVisit

Speaking with Harry Lee, we reflect on how discipline and respect cannot simply be taught through pressure or repetition. He points out that if children cannot learn these values through something they are naturally interested in, additional tutoring will not solve it.

Instead, learning ...needs to happen in an environment where they feel respected and at ease.

Discover the full conversation with Harry, only on the Pearl Lam Podcast.

In the museum world, there’s been one recent acquisition that’s gotten many professionals and art aficionados talking: the first-ever video uploaded onto YouTube.

The video was collected by the V&A (@vamuseum), alongside a reconstructed early webpage. Titled ‘Me at the zoo,’ ...the video features the then-25 year old co-founder Jawed Karim talking about elephants at the San Diego Zoo. First uploaded on 8 December 2006, Karim’s video has the oldest timestamp documented online, according to one of the museum’s spokespersons.

What’s particularly charming to me is that while we might view the video as low-quality in today’s world of crystal-clear 4k footage, it was definitely mind-boggling in the 2000s. Even owning a handheld video recorder was quite impressive back in the day, in contrast to how normalised it is to walk around with our app-laden smartphones today.

If you’re curious about viewing his slice of history in person (and pondering the rapid development of technology through time), ‘Me at the zoo’ is on display in the Design 1900-Now gallery at V&A South Kensington.

Image credit: YouTube “Me at the zoo,” uploaded on April 23, 2005, by co-founder Jawed Karim.

#PearlLam #ArtWorld #ArtHistory #Museums

The world today is more globalised than ever, and nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of arts and culture.

Culture has always been defined by an exchange of ideas and perspectives, and legendary Maison Chanel (@chanelofficial) is paving the way for a greater understanding of ...artistic craftsmanship on a global scale. Later this year, the historic fashion house will bring programming from its Paris-based creative complex La Galerie du 19M (@le19m) to the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai.

The programme will feature Chanel’s ateliers, engaging with both Chinese and French craftsmanship. What I’m particularly impressed by is how intentionally localised the entire project is. An all-star lineup will be involved, featuring prominent Chinese artists and curators from some of the country’s most esteemed cultural institutions, alongside craft and design specialists.

To me, this reads as the ideal way to contextualise new ideas for a local context, and ensures that cross-cultural dialogue remains a two-way street.

Will you be visiting the exhibition later this year?

#PearlLam #ArtWorld #Chanel

Can values like compassion and empathy be taught?

In this episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, I’m joined by Harry Lee, who reflects on how these ideas are not easily explained, but can be experienced. Through music and art, he sees a way of reaching younger generations and shaping how they... understand the world around them.

Continue the conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

In this episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, I’m joined by Harry Lee, founder and chairman of the Hong Kong Choral Foundation.

We discuss the role of choral music beyond performance, and how it can function as a form of education and social infrastructure. Through his work, access to ...structured choir training is being extended to students from under-resourced schools, creating opportunities that go far beyond music itself.

The conversation also considers how collective singing can shape confidence, discipline and a sense of shared identity, particularly within the context of Hong Kong.

Watch or listen to the full episode of The Pearl Lam podcast now YouTube and Spotify.

A collector had used his money to buy the artist Su Xiaobai’s paintings instead of other things. And when asked why, he couldn’t give a clean answer. Only fragments, “Maybe I saw... maybe I saw... I don’t know why.”

But something in those small ink wash paintings held him. He ...couldn’t leave it. He had to possess it.

He loved the calligraphy. The composition. And then, almost quietly, he said this: “In a small frame, I feel there is the compositional method of Song Dynasty painting.”

Zhangfa. A structure centuries old, alive in a tiny frame.

The complete discussion is now live on YouTube.

This week on the Pearl Lam podcast, Artist Su Xiaobai discusses on the unseen forces shaping his work.

He never consciously thought about the Tao Te Ching or the Heart Sutra while painting, yet they are present, because he comes from a country shaped by Chinese culture. But he is also a ...Christian. And so his paintings carry a great deal of Christian spirit, Renaissance elements, and even something scientific, especially in the colors.

The question he leaves hanging in the air is both simple and profound: Where do these colors come from?

Continue the conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.