This Georgian Townhouse Became London's New Asian Art Destination

Yan Du has a solid reputation in the art world. Named a top 200 collector by Art News she has used gains made through inheritance and entrepreneurship to work towards social enterprises ‘bridging east and west art worlds’ and collecting contemporary art at an impressive scale. Her latest project YDP in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury aims to transform a Georgian building into a transcultural hub for exhibitions, site specific commissions, as well as future seeking educational programmes. Will it succeed? We will see.

Press release: Yan Du Projects

A non-profit project space dedicated to supporting artists of diverse Asian backgrounds and drawing from different diasporic experiences, YDP will open on Bedford Square, central London, in October 2025. With dialogue and transcultural connections at its core, YDP will host a varied programme of exhibitions, artist residencies, site-specific commissions and artist-led experiments.

YDP is born as a personal project of London-based arts philanthropist Yan Du, part of her overarching vision to facilitate transcultural dialogues and support Asian and Asian diasporic artists. YDP will foster diverse explorations of contemporary art practices and amplify artists’ voices through a fluid and experimental programme.

YDP will open with a solo exhibition by Duan Jianyu (b.1970, Zhengzhou; lives in Guangzhou), an artist celebrated for her painterly exploration of the complexities of modern life.

YDP's space on Bedford Square, 2025. Photo by Jooney Woodward. Courtesy of YDP — YDP’s space on Bedford Square, 2025. Photo by Jooney Woodward. Courtesy of YDP

YDP’s programme will be flexible and responsive to the current arts landscape and individual artists’ needs. Informed by conversations with artists, YDP will host up to three exhibitions per year, mapped out alongside periods kept open for reflection and more spontaneous durational programming such as performances, film screenings, talks and more.

Additionally, YDP will host bespoke artist residencies with a dedicated on-site studio and a space for work-in-progress display. The process-oriented residencies will devote individual attention and care to each participating artist, supporting them to conduct research and artistic experiments in London for new works.

The inaugural artist-in-residence, Harit Srikhao (b.1995, Bangkok; lives in Bangkok), will be hosted by YDP from September to November 2025.

Located in a Grade I Listed eighteenth-century townhouse, YDP’s home was carefully conceptualised as a ‘suitcase project’ that reflects the diasporic experience of nomadic home-making. The redesign was developed collaboratively with BEAU Architects, a Hong Kong-based studio. Modular and temporary in its structure, this redesign introduces flexibility and adaptability into the original Georgian architecture of the building while honouring the historical heritage of Bedford Square.

Address: 19 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA
www.ydp.co
Instagram: @ydp_space
Artnews profile

YDP’s space on Bedford Square, 2025. Photo by Jooney Woodward. Courtesy of YDP.