What does it mean to belong, and how does art shape that sense of identity? Bangladeshi artist Tayeba Begum Lipi will explore these questions at the 13th session of Cosmos Art Echo on Friday, in a conversation titled Being & Belonging.
Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier-71 will jointly host the session at 5pm at Cosmos Centre, 69/1 New Circular Road, Malibagh, Dhaka. The discussion will bring together artists, art practitioners, researchers, educators and art enthusiasts to reflect on Lipi’s artistic journey, creative practice and views on identity, belonging and contemporary life.
Born in Gaibandha, Lipi completed her Master of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. She is also a co-founder and trustee of Britto Arts Trust, an artist-led organisation that promotes contemporary art and international artistic exchange.
Lipi has held 17 solo exhibitions in Bangladesh and abroad, as well as six two-person exhibitions with her husband, artist Mahbubur Rahman. She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions in Bangladesh and overseas.
Her solo exhibitions and art projects have reached audiences in Singapore, Istanbul, London, Dhaka, New York, Hong Kong and Delhi. Her work has also featured at prominent international institutions, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Tate Modern in London, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum in the United States, the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai, Museum Arnhem, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Centraal Museum in the Netherlands and Kunsthaus Zürich.
Lipi served as commissioner of the Bangladesh Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. She has also served on juries and co-juries for art exhibitions and events in Bangladesh and abroad. Her experience extends to art workshops, artist residencies and talks in different countries, alongside awards and honours recognising her artistic practice and contributions.
Her major international engagements include the Guggenheim UBS MAP Exhibition, which travelled to New York, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2013–14; SONSBEEK 2016 in Arnhem; the Thailand Biennale in Chiang Rai in 2023; Being and Belonging at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; Statement Chairs at Centraal Museum in the Netherlands; Feminist Futures: Art, Activism and South Asian Womanhood in Kathmandu and Colombo; and Sculpture Contemporaine at Fondation Villa Datris in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France.
Through Britto Arts Trust, Lipi has also contributed to major international exhibitions and platforms. These include documenta fifteen in Kassel, ReCollect at Kunsthaus Zürich, the Harewood Biennale in the United Kingdom, Asia Now Paris, the second Diriyah Biennale in Riyadh, 1+1 Relational Years at MAXXI in Rome, and the 54th and 56th Venice Biennales in 2011 and 2015.
Her works feature in the collections of leading museums and institutions worldwide. These include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, Kunsthaus Zürich, the Royal Ontario Museum, Centraal Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Smith College Museum of Art, Devi Art Foundation in India, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Sydney, Bengal Foundation and Samdani Art Foundation in Bangladesh, among others.
Lipi’s practice has also received attention in international books and publications. Her work features in 50 Contemporary Women Artists: Groundbreaking Contemporary Art from 1960 to Now, edited by John Gosslee and Heather Zises, with a foreword by Elizabeth Sackler and published by Schiffer Publishing in 2018. Other publications and catalogues have documented her work in connection with Being and Belonging at the Royal Ontario Museum and Artist as Activist at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.
The Cosmos Art Echo session will offer participants an opportunity to engage directly with Lipi and discuss her artistic practice and perspectives on contemporary art.
