ArtAsiaPacific: Recent pages

Arcus Studio2011

Olivier Krischer — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:08:21 -0500

Blog/ARCUSStudio2011

Arcus Project is Japan’s longest running international artist-in-residence program, established in 1995, located in a repurposed school in the city of Moriya, Ibaraki Prefecture. Artists are invited to spend time on location, developing work which responds to and communicates with the local community and environment, culminating in a weekend-long “Open Studio” event.

Since the earthquake of March 11, 2011 however, Moriya also has the distinction of being a radiation “hot spot,” having registered higher than average levels—higher than some areas geographically closer to the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactors further north.

In this Blog project ArtAsiaPacific invited last year’s three resident artists—Hui Wai Keung from Hong Kong, Fazal Rizvi from Pakistan and Wojciech Gilewicz from Poland—to present their projects and reflect on being the first to complete their three-month residencies since the earthquake.

Wai, who applied after the quake, adapted his interest in technology and cosmology to the particular circumstances the area finds itself in, creating a somewhat whimsical performance based on reclaiming utopia from scientific reason. Rizvi, trained and based in Pakistan as a painter, found his original project—a series of paintings based on the experience of living with a local family—completely redirected by the circumstances he encountered after arriving, leading him to make installations and a symbolic “fire burial” for photographic mementos damaged in the tsunami stricken areas of the Tohoku (“northeast”) area. For Gilewicz, who had applied before the earthquake, he continued to focus on an encounter with Japan in general, responding to the city and visual ephemera he gleaned from everyday life, in a book of collages and a video.

Field Trip Phnom Penh

Elaine Ng — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:21:33 -0500

Blog/FieldTripPhnomPenh

In January, ArtAsiaPacific journeyed to Phnom Penh to visit the burgeoning art scene, comprised of small nonprofit art spaces, café-cum-galleries and artists’ studios. The weather was ideal: sunny and dry, with temperatures averaging 28 degrees Celsius throughout the day. All you needed really was a hat and a potent mosquito repellant. Although there were tourists from all corners of the globe, most visitors just drop into Cambodia’s capital and largest city for a day before continuing on their cultural pilgrimage to one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap.

It is hard to ignore the recent genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians under the Communist Party of Kampuchea, aka the Khmer Rouge, who seized control of Cambodia from 1975–1979. However, a small, but growing group of artists and arts workers strive to create a community where they can openly address memories of the dark past as well as create their own forms of contemporary art in which tradition and innovation are deeply intertwined.

Click on the small arrow buttons at the bottom of the image to view the entire slide show.

Zh

Debbie Poon — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:12:16 -0500

Magazine/77/ARiverOfMemoriesShebaChhachhi/Zh

在过去的三十年里，Sheba Chhachhi已经成型了她横跨纪录片摄制、妇女权益激进主义、以及装置艺术等领域的实践。倾向于陌生的女人世界——从苦行者到亚穆纳女神——Chhachhi的实践为日常生活中的暴行及神话故事提供了声音与见证。在12月雾蒙蒙的一天，ArtAsiaPacific有幸在她新德里的工作室里，同2011年亚太酿酒基金会特出艺术奖获得者进行对话。

您能否从您早期的摄影作品，如“恒河的女儿”（1992–2004），到90年代您的首个装置艺术来谈谈您的创作旅程？

经过十年对于妇女运动的记录，我开始对客观性谎言（在西方社会里的记录规则）和代表性政治抱持疑问。最初，我采集了妇女们挣扎于改变自己状态的图片，一种对大众媒体的纠正。但在十年的时光里，我创建了一个新的原型：激进的女人。一天早上我撞见了一场示威游行，一大群新闻摄影师要求妇女们模仿我的照片摆出姿势！自那以后我开始设计人像摄影这样一个更具协作性的方法，好比“梦中的七条命”（1998）。这种主体和摄影师共同创造的互为主体的性质改变了我的创作模式。在某种程度上，这种改变使我投身到了“艺术”之中。而“恒河的女儿”又是以不同的方式“设计”出来；不管怎样女苦行者是有种表演的身份，而她们也主动的为照片摆出了姿势。在首个装置艺术中，我使用了“恒河的女儿”的两个肖像画片，结合雕塑与文本创作而成。

除了女权主义问题外，你另一个持续关注的问题是城市转型所带来的影响。而这又是如何表现在您的工作中的呢？

［对于这个问题的］第一次表达出现在“Neelkanth——毒/花蜜”（2000-02）中。在2000年，新德里的空气有着难以置信的毒性；每当我离开这个城市而又再次回来时，这几个词总会出现在我的脑海里：“毒化的城市，毒化的城市。”毒物自然的会将你引向另外的两样东西——药品与花蜜。我了解过炼丹术、顺势医疗法，明智的用毒有着医疗效果，而不明智的用药也可将其变为毒药。追寻这个观点在神话里的根源，我了解到了Neelkanth的故事，故事里恶魔与神灵共同提取长生不老的仙丹amrit。伴随着他们对大海的搅动，奇妙的东西开始出现——金银珠宝、丰足的牛。他们继续搅拌，而大海却开始上下起伏，发出冒泡声并开始煮沸，最终起火燃烧。他们剩下的便是这黑团，一个威胁着要毁灭地球的毒药。湿婆出于对这个世界的怜悯，张开了他的嘴并将这黑团吞于喉中，成为了Neelkanth。而对于我来说，这种追寻不朽的贪欲，以及一个你须不断挣扎的毒药的比喻是十分完美的。

我相信这种“黑色的水”与“着火的水” 的意象同样也和您的亚穆纳河的相关作品有着紧密的联系吧？

我从2005年以来一直围绕着亚穆纳创作着。我的所有作品都是建立在文化记忆的复苏以及环境哲学之中，我觉得它们本来就在这些论说里，作为通过这种极端［生态］情况来的一条路径。但这次，从亚穆纳河扑面而来的毒气令人窒息，我也因此步入了绝望的状态。最终我通过创作一个未来派的作品“黑水会燃烧”（2011）才走出了这个阴影。你必须走过了将这条河形容成一个美丽、感性的女人的宗教文本［Yamunashtak歌颂］，才会看见它实际上是一个受伤的女人的形象。对我来说，这首歌颂其实是一个用来观察的工具，透视对女神的崇拜和对河流的完全无视之间的奇怪的欠缺关系。黄昏时分，水中的倒影就如起火了般在燃烧着。这部作品意在同人们对峙——因为对我来说，河流的死亡就意味着女性的死亡。

“水之先知”（2008）着眼于同水之间的不同的关联。作为您最被肯定的作品之一，您能告诉我们它的来源吗？

在［公共艺术项目］“48摄氏度”的初期，我偶然发现了这个写有“游泳池”牌匾的建筑。而我抬头便看见了“新德里公共图书馆”！穿过门廊后便是这个殖民地时代的狮头喷泉，附上大量的报纸、蜘蛛网以及灰尘——和一个堆满了破椅子、腐烂的床垫和书籍的，曾被用作游泳池的地下室。我感觉这就是我不得不工作的地方；一切都被联系起来。我让喷泉重新运作了起来，但却往里面注入了黑色的水。这个工作空间里充满了强烈的蓝色光芒，你一进入便也被转化为蓝色。往下走你会来到一个巨大的房间，堆摞的书籍在四周耸立着，还会碰到带有河流文化经典形象的书籍状灯箱——大多从克里希纳故事绘制的小画——同这个房间的现状并不搭配。沿着中心“檐槽”有一个展示旧德里地图的灯箱，而在你上面的街道曾经是一条运河。流水声响遍了整个空间。再然后，你会从这黑水来到非常纯净的蓝水，并有一头大象的图像。对于我来说，这头大象试图将人们带回水的乐趣的这个中央记忆，当然这也是一个对文化记忆的隐喻。我觉得这仍然是我最喜欢的作品。

Roundabout

Elaine Ng — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:07:40 -0500

Shop/Goods/Roundabout

Roundabout° explores the possibilities of artistic exchanges between geographically separated cultures and of different traditions and languages. This full-color catalog designed by award-winning graphic designer Paul Sahre, features the work of 108 artists from around the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Bhutan, Tibet and Thailand. It also includes four scholarly essays by Nicholas Thomas, Rupert Richard Arrowsmith, Don J. Cohn and Marisa Mazria-Katz, as well as an interview with Roundabout° collector David Teplitzky. Robert Thurman, Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, contributes a special foreword.

The catalog is published by ArtAsiaPacific and accompanies the touring exhibition of the same title being launched in New Zealand at the City Gallery Wellington, running from September 25, 2010 to January 16, 2011, and later traveling to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art from October 22, 2011 to April 14, 2012.

Roundabout°
ISBN 978-0-9845625-1-0
Hardcover, 25 × 17.6 cm
384 pages, 142 illustrations, 3.3 Lbs.
English.

Home

Olivier Krischer — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:04:39 -0500

Fulya Erdemci Named Curator Of13th Istanbul Biennial

Ashley Lee — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:14:33 -0500

News/FulyaErdemciNamedCuratorOf13thIstanbulBiennial

Though the 12th Istanbul Biennial only ended three months ago, plans are being made for its 13th edition, scheduled for September 10 to November 10, 2013. On February 14, Fulya Erdemci was named curator of the biennial’s next iteration by an advisory committee organized by the Istanbul Biennial Foundation, which consisted of Turkish artist Ayşe Erkmen; Hou Hanru, director of exhibitions and public programs at San Francisco Art Institute; Jack Persekian, director of the al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem, and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director of documenta 13.

Erdemci’s appointment surprised few in the Turkish art scene: in addition to having been director of the Istanbul Biennial from 1994 to 2000, she produced the Istanbul section of the 25th São Paulo Art Biennial (2002), co-curated SCAPE, the Fifth Biennial of Art in Public Space in Christchurch (2008), and has been the director of Amsterdam’s SKOR Foundation for Art and Public Domain since 2008.

In 2011, Erdemci was curator of the critically acclaimed Turkish Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, entitled “Plan B.” It featured just one work: Erkmen’s eponymous installation Plan B (2011), which consisted of a labyrinthine collection of colorful pipes that purified the water in Venice’s canals—a futile attempt to cleanse the city’s famously polluted waterways.

The Istanbul Biennial’s distinct format emphasizes curatorial decisions. Rather than having separate international pavilions, it is comprised of one cohesive exhibition. For the 12th Istanbul Biennial, last year, curators Jens Hoffman and Adriano Pedrosa unified the enormous show based on the work of Cuban-American sculptor Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957—1996). Erdemci is expected to reveal the curatorial framework of the 13th Istanbul Biennial later this year.

Untitled Selection Nobuypshi Arak

Elaine Ng — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:20:39 -0500

Blog/UntitledSelectionNobuypshiArak

This photobook, self-published by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, captures the artist’s honeymoon trip with his bride Yoko Aoki.

Opening Of Asia Society Hong Kong Center

Elaine Ng — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:18:39 -0500

Blog/OpeningOfAsiaSocietyHongKongCenter

A new kind of energy is emanating from Justice Drive in Hong Kong. The Asia Society’s Hong Kong Centre and its inaugural exhibition are a neatly orchestrated project, which opened to the public on the 10th of February. The exhibition, “Transforming Minds – Buddhism in Art,” presents ancient and contemporary Asian art in an eloquent dialogue. After ten years of preparation, the final result has been as well conceived as it is executed. The building is a convincing mix of Hong Kong’s colonial past and its present ambitions, epitomizing the broader ideas of the Asia Society—to promote past and present Asian art within a global context.

Benefitting from a hillside aspect, the Asia Society’s converted site is unusually peaceful for Hong Kong and centrally located, in the Admiralty area. In the 19th century, under British rule, the complex consisted of two ammunitions stores (known as Magazine A and Magazine B), a laboratory and a masonry building (GG Block). The Asia Society transformed the historical buildings, while retaining and restoring some of the colonial architecture’s original characteristics. The contemporary additions—stone slabs and stainless steel columns—highlight the site’s rocky, hillside aspect. The old laboratory and the GG Block were converted into administrative offices, and the two storage magazines into a gallery and auditorium. The vaulted ceilings and dark spaces of Magazine A lend themselves well to the exhibition gallery, being ideal for installations or works needing sensitive lighting. Magazine B now houses an auditorium and theatre, where the International Buddhist Film Festival will be held from 16 March to 12 May, this year.

The evolution of the exhibition lays out a clear path from the inception of Buddhism in India and Pakistan to its development in China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia. And in each of the exhibition space’s three rooms a correlation is created between ancient and contemporary works. Moreover, the antique works on show are “jewels of the collection’s crown,” as exhibition co-curator Adriana Proser described them during the press visit. These were selected from the Asia Society Museum’s core collection—that of John D. Rockefeller III.

A schist stone sculpture from 11th century Bihar, India, shows Buddha seated, about to touch the ground, which represents the moment just before he reached enlightenment. Around the base of this main figure are sculpted scenes attesting to the struggle that Buddha had to face when the demon Mara put before him different temptations and finally an army of guards.

Exhibited alongside early Buddhist works such as this, are contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Huan’s ash sculptures, expressing the struggles of Buddhism and underlining its fragility in a different way. Made with incense ashes from a Shanghai temple, Zhang was inspired to create these works after a visit to Tibet in 2005. Summer Buddha (2007) gives the simultaneous impression of being created and dissolving; it hauntingly resembles Buddha statues from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, destroyed by the Taliban in 2009.

2011

Ashley Lee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:18:25 -0500

Magazine/WebExclusives/2011

“Two Thousand Eleven,” at Hong Kong’s independent art space Para/Site, is the first effort by new artistic director Cosmin Costinas, formerly of the Netherlands’ BAK (Basis voor Actuele Kunst). The exhibition, featuring works by Heman Chong, Olga Chernysheva, Federico Herrero and John Smith, took a bleak, somewhat cynical look back at the events of last year—a year in which Arab Spring protests destabilized governments throughout West Asia, Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy SEALS, the Eurozone nearly collapsed, and major earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan left millions devastated.

Before even entering the gallery, the viewer encounters sky blue rectangles of paint on the curb in front of Para/Site and on the space’s goldenrod-yellow and black facade, painted by Costa Rican artist Federico Herrero. Such patches of paint also appear within the main gallery space, and even up the stairs, to the first floor. Herrero’s intervention was originally planned only for the gallery’s facade, but when he saw the space, he was inspired to paint the interior as well. However, these whimsical blue markings seemed disconnected to the rest of the exhibition—it wasn’t clear what they represented about the year 2011.

Inside, the small gallery has been divided with a diagonal wall, resulting in a jarringly triangular space, which comes to an acute angle at the far corner. Aside from purportedly representing the backslash in “Para/Site,” the triangle’s corner seems to mark an ending; once the viewer reaches its narrow point, there is nowhere else to go and nothing else to see. Costinas has said that it is supposed to represent the end of time—a depressing review of the past year and a prophecy for the one ahead.

Though the other three works featured were created before 2011, they have gained vastly different meanings in the context of the last year’s events. Heman Chong’s Monument to the people we’ve conveniently forgotten (I hate you) (2008), consisting of a million black glossy pseudo-business cards carpeting the gallery’s lower floor, immediately commands the viewer’s attention. While sliding over piles of cards—they are not the easiest surface to walk on—one contemplates their overstated role in the workplace. They represent all the casual acquaintances we have collected and subsequently forgotten—the clause “I hate you” in the title reinforces the silent bitterness of these ignored connections.

Hanging along the broad side of the space, right into the sharp corner, is a series of 25 monochrome photographs by Olga Chernysheva, titled “Alley of Cosmonauts” (2008). The small prints require close inspection; at first, they seem to depict otherworldly plastic-covered beings in an alien wasteland, showing oddly phallic forms in drastic contrast with their barren setting. In reality, Chernysheva took these photographs at a memorial for Russian cosmonauts in Siberia, referring to a Soviet government project that became obsolete immediately after the fall of the USSR. The rapid collapse of the USSR in 1990-91 seems analogous to the recent fall of autocratic regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, beginning in December 2010. Furthermore, “Alley of Cosmonauts” also poses a question to viewers: what will happen to large public works projects in these countries now that their dictators have been deposed? Will they be preserved, or will they, as relics of bygone powers, be forgotten or destroyed?

On the opposite wall is British artist John Smith’s 24-minute video shot on 16 mm film, titled The Black Tower (1985-87). The film, set in London, is a semi-abstract story narrated by a man who is haunted by a menacing black tower that no one else sees. The tower seems to follow him everywhere as he completes rather mundane tasks, but the structure always remains the same distance away—out of his grasp—as the man is slowly driven to madness. Eventually the looming tower seems to descend upon him, resulting in his death; in this sense it details the narrator’s loneliness in the urban environment. Nearly twenty years later, though communication tools are everywhere—iPhones are ubiquitous and approximately 14 percent of the world is on Facebook—its theme of isolation in inner-city life continues to resonate today.

While “Two Thousand Eleven” does not paint a particularly rosy picture for the year ahead, the show bodes well for the future of Para/Site. Costinas’ interesting curatorial choices suggest that, under his direction, this seminal Hong Kong art space will turn its attention towards ambitious, internationally minded contemporary art.

Art Spaces Directory

Debbie Poon — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:51:22 -0500

Shop/Goods/ArtSpacesDirectory

The Art Spaces Directory is an international guide to the sites where contemporary art and artists are nurtured, interrogated and sustained. With detailed profiles of over 400 independent art spaces from 96 countries around the world, this easy-to-use volume is a useful tool for artists, curators, students and the general public. In addition, it includes essays by Víctor Albarracín, Reem Fadda and Christine Tohme, Stefan Kalmár, Naiza H. Khan, Catalina Lozano, Elaine W. Ng, and tranzit.org.

Co-published with the New Museum on the occasion of the exhibition “The Ungovernables” curated by Eungie Joo, February 15 – April 22.

Art Spaces Directory
ISBN 978-098456253-4
Softcover, 24.8 × 28.8 × 3.5 cm
448 pages, full color illustrations, 2.6Lbs.
English.

Interview With Para Site Executive Director Cosmin Costinas

Elaine Ng — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:20:51 -0500

Blog/InterviewWithParaSiteExecutiveDirectorCosminCostinas

In May last year, 28-year-old Romanian writer and curator Cosmin Costinas, previously a curator at the contemporary art center BAK (Basis voor Actuele Kunst) in Utrecht, was appointed as the new executive director of Hong Kong’s seminal non-profit, Para/Site. ArtAsiaPacific spoke to Costinas about his inaugural curatorial offering, “Two Thousand Eleven,” and his plans for Para/Site this year.

What is the background of Para/Site, and its mission? Are you planning to make any major changes?

When Para/Site was founded in 1996, it was the only contemporary art structure in Hong Kong. Its mission was to fill the gaps in the art scene—which was pretty much nil. To that end, it assumed the role of multiple institutions. Similar to a museum, it produced historical shows, generated research and published books and periodicals. It also behaved like an artist-run space. Today Para/Site doesn’t need to fill the same role it once did; Para/Site is no longer so invested in its former objective: to bring relevant international art to Hong Kong and promote Hong Kong artists internationally. The art world has changed, and there are now other institutions that serve that purpose. What hasn’t changed is Para/Site’s dedication to the local art scene. We want to bring a creative spirit to Hong Kong and create dialogue with the community, which will be reflected in Para/Site’s programming.

Do you perceive more similarities or differences working at Para/Site compared to the Dutch art center BAK?

Para/Site and BAK have very similar histories. BAK also started as an artist-run space, in 1989. In 2001 it appointed an artistic director, then later its name changed and its budget was increased. More than Para/Site, it completely abandoned its former motto, becoming a professional art organization. Still there are many differences. BAK is situated in Holland, where culture is understood as a public good to be supported through public funding. The entire BAK budget was given by the Dutch state and the city of Utrecht. It was also, unlike Para/Site, a large institution, but the relevant difference would be the context in which the two operate. Utrecht, while it is a small Dutch town, is very accessible because it is part of the Randstad megalopolis, which includes Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague. It was not lacking a public to address, but still didn’t have Para/Site’s prestige of being situated, in a major city in a very dynamic region. That determines everything, the ways you work, the kinds of projects that you do, who you are addressing and how. At BAK, one had the luxury and freedom to do things that were relevant internationally, but didn’t necessarily relate to the locality. Whereas Para/Site, precisely because of its almost strategic location, bears a great responsibility to the community.

How did you select the artists for your first Para/Site show? What is the exhibition’s relation to the Hong Kong art scene, particularly when none of the artists are locally based?

It is always a complex process when conceiving an exhibition. The list of prospective artists grew organically as I thought about the topic to propose for “Two Thousand Eleven.” I had in mind that it would be interesting to show some of the people that I worked with before—such as Olga Chernysheva and John Smith—but not exclusively. I also didn’t want to have Hong Kong artists in my first show with Para/Site. It would be patronizing to come and my first gesture to be my own take on Hong Kong. It was important for me to showcase artists outside of Hong Kong and artists whom I had collaborated with before. This exhibition talked more about me as a curator and what I could bring to Para/Site, rather than my premature assessment of Hong Kong contemporary art.

At the same, “Two Thousand Eleven” is an exhibition very relevant to Hong Kong. For example, the title of the exhibition could be read in two ways: one reading is to take 2011 as a cornerstone year in the world, and the other is simply that 2011 was the year in which we were. It is a comment on the city and its complicated relation with the rest of the world. Hong Kong became, in the week just before the opening [on December 17], the leading financial center of the world, overtaking New York and London. It sees itself as a very cosmopolitan city, which it is in many regards. But at the same time, there is a strange detachment from many discussions and many phenomena that are going on in the rest of the world. There was a sense of crisis and of supreme uncertainty that reigned over the last year pretty much everywhere in the world except Hong Kong. “Two Thousand Eleven” confronts visitors with this tension between the city’s image of itself that is sheltered from international developments, and what is actually happening around it. It is also meant to be a message of how Para/Site might want to operate in the future, in terms of fostering critical thinking that is accountable to real developments in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

The gallery space was altered, to come to a point in the far corner. Was the decision to limit the showroom based on the works in the show, or were you trying to say something about the tiny galleries on Hong Kong Island?

There were multiple factors in arranging the space. For one, Heman Chong’s business cards are easier to install in a small space. Also symbolically, the tapered room functions well in situating “Two Thousand Eleven.” It points to the prevailing mood in that year in the face of the global financial crisis, this sense of having no future. As you progress through the space, the visible “future” constricts to a point. I also wanted to make a statement, not about the SoHo district per se, but specifically that the physical scale of Para/Site’s space shouldn’t limit us from accomplishing grander goals.

Congratulations on Para/Site recently being awarded the HKD 2.8 million Springboard Grant from the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme. What events or new developments can we hope to expect in this year?

The grant money will go towards workshops, conferences, research and other areas outside of exhibition, such as the three-week seminar, “Deconstruction of a Show,” co-curated with Venus Lau, which will take place in April. Para/Site will invite artists, writers and curators to discuss the theme of curatorship. In May, our next exhibition, co-curated with Doryun Chong [associate curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art], will contemplate historicity and the ways in which Chinese artists were written into the discourse of the 1980s New York art scene.

Michael Brand Appointed Agnsw Director

Elaine Ng — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:19:51 -0500

News/MichaelBrandAppointedAGNSWDirector

In the race to be the first to announce a new director, Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has beaten Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to the post by announcing their appointment of 54-year-old, Canberra-born Michael Brand—consulting director of the Aga Khan Museum currently under construction in Toronto and former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

In a surprise announcement made by e-mail in the early hours of Friday, February 10, Steven Lowy, president of the AGNSW board of trustees, said he was “delighted the Gallery had been able to recruit such an outstanding director, whose scholarship and reputation was well recognized globally.”

There was no press conference; Brand remained in Geneva to answer questions selectively by telephone, although he had not responded to e-mail queries from ArtAsiaPacific at the time of writing.

What a difference a day makes—or in this case ten: just ten days ago Lowy announced that the AGNSW’s search for a director to fill the shoes of recently-retired Edmund Capon might go on until the end of the year, and that deputy director Anne Flanagan had been appointed acting director in the interim. Trustees had placed “no deadline” on making the new appointment, Lowy had said—an indication the recruitment process had stalled.

In the high-stakes game of recruiting gallery directors, suddenly everything had changed. Odds had been shortening in recent days on Brand being the favorite for the NGV position, which is to be vacated by Gerard Vaughan by mid-year. Only last week the NGV said that an announcement of Vaughan’s replacement was imminent, “within a day or two.”

If Brand was the leading candidate to take up the position in Melbourne, the NGV must now be in damage control. The gallery is certainly back-tracking from its earlier statement that a replacement for Vaughan was imminent and now says “no date has yet been fixed” for its announcement.

Meanwhile, according to figures confirmed by Lowy, Brand’s salary at the AGNSW will be AUD 445,000—a massive hike on Capon’s annual stipend of $241,250.

Brand would not comment when the Sydney Morning Herald asked if he had been enticed from Melbourne by the AGNSW offer. He said, “I make a point of not discussing other searches. But obviously when there are two art museum positions available at the same time, it’s of huge interest and intrigued everyone.”

Whether or not Lowy did pluck Brand from Melbourne’s clutches by the largess of the salary package remains unknown. However, the general consensus among those approached by AAP concerning the appointment was unanimous praise of Brand and support for his record; a record only slightly tarnished by clashes with the Getty management structure that forced him to leave that institution one year before the end of his five-year contract, in 2010.

Doug Hall, former director of the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), under whom Brand served from 1996 to 2000 as assistant director, said Brand is “exceptional, a scholar who knows art history, loves contemporary art and artists.” Capon commented to AAP, “I am really delighted about the appointment . . . he was the first person I contacted many months ago . . . really very pleased.”

Speculation remains as to who will get the plum job in Melbourne, with Tony Ellwood’s name continuing to surface even though he has just signed a new five-year contract at QAG, where he is its current director. Ellwood declined to speak to AAP.

Brand, whose expertise, like Capon’s, is in Asian art, will be the ninth director in the AGNSW’s 120-year history. He plans to move to Sydney to take up his new position midway through this year.

Due To Unforeseen Events

Kathy Zhang — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:35:30 -0500

Magazine/WebExclusives/DueToUnforeseenEvents

Beirut Art Center (BAC), Lebanon’s first non-profit space dedicated to contemporary art, recently took over the fifth floor of New York’s New Museum, for the “Museum as Hub” exhibition series. Continuing their mission to “produce, present and promote local and international contemporary art,” for “Due to unforeseen events…” BAC created a satellite space, which functioned much like their center in Beirut, by incorporating their very own digital archive of resources about artists from West Asia, called “Mediatheque,” and a display of specially commissioned artworks from Lebanese artists. The exhibition reexamined five artworks produced between 1983 and 2005, which were dramatically altered after their release to the public. This includes a public sculpture that disappeared, a play that was censored by the Lebanese government, and a film whose screening was cancelled and the work subsequently altered due to public outrage. Guest curators Sandra Dagher and Lamia Joreige invited artists Ziad Abillama, Tony Chakar, Rabih Mroué, the duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, and anthropology professor Kirsten Scheid, to describe the circumstances and compromises experienced by the artists through detailed accounts of past reckonings with public space and opinion, as well as new artworks by these artists, exploring their experiences.

At the entrance of the exhibition, a six-foot-tall white sculpture made from interconnected foam blocks, titled The Mysterious Sculpture and its Missing Fixity (2011), was accompanied by relevant newspaper articles and a video documentary. This was Kirsten Scheid’s reconstruction of a 1983 public sculpture by Saloua Raouda Choucair, which was first vandalized, then mysteriously disappeared, only months after a jubilant state ceremony unveiled the sculpture as a symbol of unification and solidarity between two previously warring factions in Beiruti politics. Scheid’s reconstruction reclaims the importance of Choucair’s first public sculpture for Lebanon and comments on the disjuncture between artistic intent and public reception.

In addition to government-sanctioned art that fails to express the public mood, the desire of the government to control information distributed within the country furthers the detachment between artists and the public. Rabih Mroué’s new video installation Un-Spread Your Legs (2011), shows a split screen of a woman dictating the long list of changes—on the right of the screen—mandated by government’s censorship department (General Security) for his play Who’s Afraid of Representation (2005), which contrasts radical performance art of the 1960s with violent events from Lebanon’s recent history. The list of edits included removing any mention of the president, army and politics, along with replacing anything deemed indecent—for example replacing expressions such as “tits” with “breasts.” The accompanying vinyl text mentions the small victory by Mroué of keeping the English version unedited, but also his feeling of “intimate failure” of having succumbed to censorship.

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige examine the changing meaning of images in a spatial and historical context. In 2005, they quite unknowingly ran into restrictions of a more public and local kind. Their work Any Recognition Will Be Purely Fortuitous (2011), exhibited here, is an enlarged photographic print of a missing persons notice, taken from their earlier short video about a missing man, titled A Perfect Day in Beirut (2005). During A Perfect Day’s premiere in Lebanon, the film caused distress to an audience member, who recognized the ostensibly fictional “missing” character as her deceased husband. Initially demanding that the image be removed from the film, the widow finally agreed that only the version to be shown in Lebanon would omit the photograph, since he would be recognized in Beirut, but to the rest of the world he would only be a character.

So, “Due to unforeseen events…” also illustrated the ways in which international distribution can be used to maintain the integrity of art works, allowing their original intention to be communicated. The obstacles that Lebanese artists face navigating official and community restrictions highlights the importance of an internationally-connected organization such as the BAC. Rather than succumbing, artists such as Mroué, Hadjithomas and Joreige, have identified these hurdles within their works, defiantly harnessing such challenges toward furthering their creative production.

Sopheap Pich

Hanae Ko — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:49:26 -0500

Magazine/WebExclusives/SopheapPich

Sopheap Pich’s second solo exhibition in the US has as its centerpiece a 5.3-meter-long sculpture of a morning glory plant with two large flowers and intertwined stems. The piece, entitled Morning Glory (2011), is one among several exhibited works created in the Cambodian-born, American-educated artist’s signature media of bamboo, rattan and burlap. Inspired by his childhood in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge period (1975–79), Pich’s biomorphic sculptural and installations represent his response to the history and culture of his homeland.

With one flower closed and one in full bloom, Morning Glory was laid out on the floor in an entangled coil near the gallery entrance. The smooth curvature of the snake-like stems belies the work’s woven rattan-and-wire structure, attesting to Pich’s detailed craftsmanship. A common component of Cambodian cuisine, the artist remembers the morning glory as being a vital source of sustenance during the period of destitution brought upon by the Khmer Rouge. Along the walls of the gallery hung smaller versions of the work, Morning Glory 2 and Morning Glory 3 (both 2011), which snaked up diagonally like flowers in search of sunlight. Together, Pich’s renditions of this particular flower appear to be commemorative symbols of survival, family and people coming together during times of need.

At the opposite end of the gallery was Seated Buddha (2011), over 2.5-meters-tall, was a Buddha sitting cross-legged on the floor in the “lotus position,” made with rattan, bamboo, wire and plywood. Seated Buddha consists of a minimal outline, recognizable by its distinct head shape and iconic pose. Buddhism, the state religion of Cambodia for hundreds of years, was banned and virtually eradicated during the Khmer Rouge era, in which the Communist-inspired regime accused the religion of being reactionary and exploitative. With the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Buddhism was restored as the national religion, and is once again practiced by the majority of Cambodians today. Seated Buddha may then be a monument to or celebration of the Buddhist religion’s survival.

Moreover, the Buddha is believed by followers to be omnipresent and to manifest himself invisibly, such that one might sense his presence in everyday life without him being physically incarnate. Resonating with this idea, Pich’s sculpture is an abstract rendering of the deity, yet the Buddha’s presence in the work remains clearly recognizable.

Though addressing serious issues such as the travesties of the Khmer Rouge regime, Pich’s simple and elegant installations illustrate the artist’s triumphant reverence for the living customs and culture of his homeland.

Edge Of Arabia We Need To Talk

Olivier Krischer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:52:16 -0500

Blog/EdgeOfArabiaWeNeedToTalk

Any discussion of the Edge of Arabia’s homecoming exhibition “We Need to Talk” must begin with its context, the city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Criticized for its alleged draconian treatment of women, the Kingdom was a radical choice for an exhibition whose central artist was Manal al-Dowayan—a Saudi woman. A platform co-founded in 2008 by British artist Stephen Stapleton, and Saudi artists Ahmed Mater and Abdulnasser Gharem, Edge of Arabia has organized exhibitions of contemporary Saudi art in cities including London, Venice, Berlin and Istanbul. “We Need to Talk” brought these works home, with the largest showing of Saudi contemporary art thus far in the Kingdom. Both the city and the exhibition itself surpassed all expectations, proving Jeddah to be a swiftly maturing center for contemporary Saudi art.

To appreciate the importance of “We Need to Talk,” the reader needs to understand the logistics involved in putting together a contemporary art exhibition in Jeddah. When an exhibition is produced in North America or Europe, the greatest hurdles are usually physical: the shipping of works to their intended destination and their installation alongside each other so they can coexist coherently. In Saudi, these challenges are the same, but they also apply to the visitors themselves. The two fundamental problems that Edge of Arabia encountered were: how to bring foreign guests to Jeddah and how to organize an exhibition where men and women could mingle freely and enjoy a post-opening dinner together in a restaurant.

I had firsthand experience of how difficult it was to get to Saudi Arabia. As a Russian woman with an American passport traveling alone to Saudi for the first time, I went through three months of preparatory paperwork and four trips to Saudi consulates in two countries before I was finally issued a visa, six hours prior to my flight, with the help of my friend and host Sharifa al-Sudairi, a Jeddah native and supporter of Saudi art currently working at Pace Gallery in London.

Many more friends—male and female—were not as lucky. By my count, at least ten invited guests were not able to obtain a visa, and those who succeeded had to fight. Photographer Wolfgang Tillmans actually applied for a second German passport because his original had an Israeli stamp, which automatically disqualified him from a visa. These obstacles ensured that the attendees were all incredibly committed to Edge of Arabia and the contemporary culture of the Middle East at large. Among the guests were Chris Dercon, director of Tate Modern; Jerusalem-based curator Jack Persekian; Alia al-Senussi, a patron of Middle Eastern art; Negar Azimi, editor of Bidoun magazine; Bashar al-Shroogi, founder of Cuadro gallery in Dubai; and Jussi Pylkkänen, president of Christie’s Europe.

The program for “We Need to Talk” kicked off on January 18 with a symposium about the development of contemporary art in Saudi. Before it began, however, the gathering itself provided a lesson in diplomacy for Abdullah al-Turki, creative director of Edge of Arabia. Just to allow men and women to convene in the same public space required a highly bureaucratic process to secure multiple permissions from the government. While the paperwork may have been in order, there were other hurdles that could not be stamped away: both sexes had separate entrances and reception areas for mingling, and the women were asked to sit in the nosebleed section of the auditorium. As it was the inaugural event, several Western guests were confused about the local social norms. Some men stumbled into the women’s section during a coffee break, dolling out double-kisses to their long-time, female art-world acquaintances only to be ushered out with the warning that such behavior is not acceptable. Western women were seen tripping on the tails of their long abayas, or fumbling about with unruly headscarves before eventually giving up and walking around bare-headed which, by the way, was underwhelmingly unproblematic.

At once critical and hopeful about the development of contemporary art in Saudi, the symposium merited the logistical hassles. As the program was largely attended by a local and Arabic-speaking audience, the first panel, featuring artists Abdulnasser Gharem, Ayman Yossri Daydban, and Manal al-Dowayan, was conducted almost exclusively in Arabic. While I do not speak Arabic, the frequent use of three prominent words encapsulated the general topics of the discussion. Halas: “enough” with the local collectors ignoring Saudi artists, “enough” with not allowing female artists to attend their own openings, and “enough” with not having enough galleries and institutions for the development of contemporary art. Mashallah: “thank God and let’s not jinx” that there is Edge of Arabia and a few other such institutions that enable the development of Saudi contemporary art, “thank God and let’s not jinx” that we are able to be here together today to discuss these issues, and “thank God and let’s not jinx” that the exhibition is finally taking place in the homeland of the artists. Inshallah: “God willing” there will be more initiatives like this, and “God willing” Saudi citizens with means will direct their attention and resources to Saudi artists by investing in the institutions they need to thrive.

The second panel examined the enduring relevance of Saudi traditions, with architect Sami Angawi, outspoken critic of the commercialization and redevelopment of Mecca and Medina, in conversation with his son Ahmed, an industrial designer and artist currently making a film about the hookah pipe. For the concluding discussion, Alia al-Senussi, Basma al-Suleiman (of the virtual, private museum BASMOCA), and dealer Hamza Serafi (from Jeddah’s Athr Art gallery) joined others in reinforcing the importance of art patronage for cultural preservation of the past and the development of contemporary Saudi art in the future.

For the next 24 hours, the guests of Edge of Arabia mixed visits to the remnants of Jeddah’s old city with receptions in the homes of various art patrons. While the latter delighted guests with their eagerness and dedication to supporting contemporary art, the government’s disheartening attitude toward preservation was apparent in the disrepair of sites like the beautiful merchant house, Beit Nassief, that King Abdulaziz chose as his home base during his rule.

The topic came up at a farewell dinner at Dr.Angawi’s home, where the host lamented to Dercon about the inefficiency of the authorities when it comes to protecting the local cultural treasures. Tillmans concurred, adding that this doesn’t just extend to the ancient treasures. When he went to the seaside boardwalk in search of sculptures by internationally famous artists—Alexander Calder and Henry Moore, among others—installed there by a visionary Jeddah mayor in the 1970s, he found them crumbling and covered up for indefinite restoration.

As a privately funded organization, Edge of Arabia’s professionalism and dedication to the display of contemporary art came into stark contrast with the state’s indifferent attitude towards culture. With more than 40 new works by 22 artists, “We Need to Talk” was installed in an impressive 1000-square meter, raw cement space in a commercial space near the Jeddah marina temporarily outfitted to meet global museum standards. Works by woman artists included Maha Mulluh’s cassette-tape installation, Food for Thought 7000 (2012), and Hala Ali’s Brainwash (2011), an installation of stacked newspapers in a long hallway that resembles the rotating dryers in an automatic car wash. The show also featured a variety of Abdulnasser Gharem’s works made of rubber stamps and Ahmed Mater’s Cowboy Code (2011), made of 3000 plastic cap gun discs.

As the 800 Jeddah VIPs filed into the long-awaited opening ceremony, the importance of Edge of Arabia as a local institution became clear. It is not only the ultimate platform for Saudi art, but it also serves as a forum that brings together Saudi society to discuss relevant, if uncomfortable, issues. Here, again, the organizers managed to bypass local rules about segregating men and women. It was a pleasant sight, as conservative, veiled women stood side-by-side with their more liberal, robed sisters with uncovered hair. The crowd in attendance showed that abayas are not tools of oppression, but rather a source of individual expression and style.

Encapsulating the open discussion of relevant issues was the most challenging project in the exhibition: Manal al-Dowayan’s Esmi (“My Name,” 2011). The project comprises volleyball-sized strings of prayer beads, woven together by Bedouin women and hung from the ceiling at the center of the exhibition space, with each bead displaying a woman’s name. Esmi addresses an alarming, recent phenomenon in which Saudi men are becoming increasingly embarrassed about pronouncing women’s—especially their mother’s—names aloud. Raised in an enclosed compound in the Eastern Province that did not adhere to Saudi’s strict social norms, al-Dowayan is perplexed by this societal development. She set off to do field research, enlisting hundreds of women to participate, only to discover that there was no rational or religious explanation for the men’s behavior. Al-Dowayan decided it was time to bring this issue up for public discussion and asked Saudi women to contribute their time, efforts, and names by painting them on the beads. The project went viral on multiple social media platforms, commanding international attention and support from women worldwide.

The prominence of al-Dowayan’s work in the exhibition, the crowds that gathered around it, and the fact that every string of prayer beads was sold to Middle Eastern collectors by al-Dowayan’s Dubai-based gallery, Cuadro Fine Art, encapsulated the dynamic transition which Saudi Arabia is undergoing. Mashallah, the work is universally important and Saudi patrons are noticing; this exhibition will be the first of many on the road to developing contemporary Saudi art, inshallah.

Around The World In331 Spot Paintings

Olivier Krischer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:01:12 -0500

Blog/AroundTheWorldIn331SpotPaintings

Do you have plans to be in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong in the upcoming two weeks? If the answer is yes—as in, “yes, I will be in all those places”—then this is the event for you.

To coincide with its current multi-venue Damien Hirst exhibition, “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011,” Gagosian Gallery is hosting an intercontinental campaign in which visitors can win a signed print, featuring a personalized dedication by the British artist. Dubbed “The Complete Spot Challenge,” it requires participants to visit all 11 Gagosian galleries while the shows are still running.

After registering on the website, participants are given a card, which they can have stamped at each of the locations. According to the Challenge Update on the Gagosian website, 19 participants have completed the challenge so far, including Valentine Uhovski, socialite founder of the online art bulletin Art Ruby, Jeff Chu, a journalist for the business magazine Fast Company and Tan Wong, founder of art blog Arrested Motion.

The actual exhibition features 331 works in total, from the first spot painting that Hirst created in 1986 to the most recent piece completed in 2011. The latter work contains 25,781 spots, each just one millimeter in diameter, with no color ever repeated. No doubt, by the end of your dotty Hirst World Tour, you too will be seeing spots.

In January, ArtAsiaPacific attended the exhibition opening in Hong Kong, which saw heavy traffic to Gagosian’s new premises in the historic Pedder Building. Proving this is not an idle challenge: entering the gallery, visitors are immediately met by gallerinas on standby to stamp participants’ Complete Spot Challenge cards. The main gallery showcases—you guessed it—a universe of spotty paintings, of all shapes and sizes. At the opening, the space quickly became filled with fashionistas, collectors, art lovers and expats—but, alas, the blue-chip maestro had a spot of work elsewhere. Hirst was on the other side of the globe, at the simultaneous New York opening. One Gagosian artist who was spotted in attendance, is Chinese painter Zeng Fanzhi, best known for his “Mask Series” (1994-2001)—one of which sold for a record-setting $9.7 million at Christie’s in 2008.

During the course of the evening, I was stopped by a fellow visitor—a self-described casual gallery-goer—who soon addressed the polka-dotted elephant in the room: “What is the significance of these paintings of dots that all look so alike?”

The simple, cynical answer is that they are by Damien Hirst—once (some may say still) the enfant terrible of the contemporary art world. Hirst, who is lauded for his work as a Young British Artist, has also attracted criticism for mass-producing and over-commercializing his work. For instance, the vast majority of the current exhibition’s works were created by an army of assistants, which some may argue is the reason these works, and this exhibition, should not be commanding the attention they do.

Ironically, Hirst’s artistic process, involving such a cast of assistants, is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this potentially vacuous series. The thousands and thousands of dots are, in fact, colored enamel discs that have been applied to white canvases in grid form, with the space between each dot equal to the diameter of one disc. As it turns out, the dots are not “all the same,” with their size ranging from one millimeter to over one-and-a-half meters in diameter, and the paintings spanning from two-and-a-half centimeters to over 12 meters across. The people assigned to making each painting chose the color of its dots, which Hirst specified could be of any hue, so long as none were repeated on the same canvas. The result is a formulaic randomness that is at times vapid, but also possesses a sense of incidental rhythm and enjoyable variety, which would perhaps not exist had the paintings been created by the artist alone.

And despite using his skilled hive to create the majority of the works, Hirst speculates that there are around five pieces, of the 331 paintings featured in Gagosian exhibitions, which were (drum roll please)—personally made by him. For those who won’t be up to par for the international Complete Spot Challenge, may we suggest the single-venue event: “Spot the Hirst original.”

Your February Horoscope

Olivier Krischer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:42:23 -0500

Blog/YourFebruaryHoroscope

The Moon, with its constantly changing phases, reflects our needs, describes the ebb and flow of our energy, mirroring our moods and daily deeds. Looking at the monthly chart of the lunation can offer us precious insight…

With Sun-Moon in Aquarius, we can expect to see a new wave of idealism suggesting new ways of looking and seeing things that will open our minds. The challenge of this global crisis is to ratify new sets of rules that defend freedom of choice and expression without losing sight of individual rights. Fresh perspectives will help us find ways to work together yet recognize the uniqueness of each person.

With the New Moon in Aquarius apex of a T-square with Saturn and Jupiter opposition, enthusiasm may rise and fall; critical Saturn and optimistic Jupiter will push and pull us in different directions. Finding a way to harmonize the two tendencies will get the best from Saturn’s “focus on the here-and-now” pragmatism and Jupiter, who always strives for philosophical knowledge and moral truth. Instead of being trapped in the crystallized dynamics of the past, we should try to remain focused on creating a sustainable future for ourselves and those around us.

Saturn retrograde will be in Libra for another five months, until June 25. This will give us plenty of time to instill discipline, patience and hard work to establish strategies for meeting long-term goals. We must remember that finding inner peace is the primary key to harmonious partnerships. Balance in relationships is restored when individuals take responsibility for themselves instead of laying the blame on others.

The new moon is in sextile to Uranus in Aries. This will bring sudden flashes of insight that can also push us outside our comfort zones. It will suggest exploring alternatives to the current status quo. With Sun also in objective, open-minded Aquarius, buried emotions that suddenly surface can be addressed openly. This will reveal unexpected opportunities, innovative and alternative ways to express ourselves, and contribute to the well-being of the collective.

Proactive Mars, limited in analytic Virgo, on the day of the lunation goes retrograde until April 13. Before throwing a tantrum, remember that the most efficient way of spending this period is to focus on one task at a time; we can invest some energy into establishing a healthy routine: exercise, diet, housework, tying up loose ends and long-deferred activity of any sort.

Cerebral Mercury in responsible Capricorn is excellent for rational thinking and clear communication. In this period, we will be inclined to put our thoughts in order and find the intellectual discipline needed to concentrate on achieving our ambitions. Mars trine to Mercury could inspire rather aggressive and outspoken language; however, Mercury in Capricorn makes us slow down, giving more time for reasoning and giving ideas a second thought before putting them into practice.

A long term configuration sees Neptune soon move into Pisces. It has been in Aquarius since 1998, and its visionary attitude, joined with the powerful abstract Aquarian, has spawned a wave of new technology, such as the internet. All kinds of “extended reality” tools are now connecting us to the world in ways we could never have imagined . So if old friends are not resonating with us anymore, aided by social networks like Facebook, we may find ourselves surfing the net with a new crowd of like-minded people.

Pluto in Capricorn is the the chart’s bass line, with its slow pace, transformative and profound. Like a plow turning the soil to allow fertile nutrients to surface and opportunity for growth, its deconstructing, obsolete structure holds society as we know it together.

On a more personal level, in the chart of the lunation, we can see that Venus is in Pisces, showing a way to express the spiritual and compassionate side of our natures. It is not a question of sacrificing ourselves so that we can be loved, but instead values emphatic sensitivity. Imagination and inspiration through music, art and nature will give us plenty of input to do so. This approach will enrich our relationships in all kinds of interpersonal exchanges, especially in our private lives.

If we have planets in the first degree of any sign, it is in that sign and house that we can expect to experience the tensions and the gift of this lunation. The need to manifest new seeds of change will be particularly present in the area of the first degree of Leo. Because this is a sign completing the T-square into a Grand Square, it is an image of great challenges, but also represents the ability to concretely express our skills and talents.

This lunation can be seen as the seed of the process planted in the spring, when all personal planets were in Aries, energized by Uranus. This month can be an opportunity to look at all the changes that happen in our lives, to see the bigger picture—the one we choose to put in motion. This “seed of awareness” is precious and must be cultivated. Spring is coming!

Dream And Reality Modern And Contemporary Women Artists From Turkey Part One

Kathy Zhang — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:40:53 -0500

Magazine/WebExclusives/DreamAndRealityModernAndContemporaryWomenArtistsFromTurkeyPartOne

This is part one of a two-part review on Istanbul Modern’s “Dream and Reality.” A link to the second half can be found at the bottom of this page, which will be posted later this week.

Dream And Reality Modern And Contemporary Women Artists From Turkey Part Two

Kathy Zhang — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:38:23 -0500

Magazine/WebExclusives/DreamAndRealityModernAndContemporaryWomenArtistsFromTurkeyPartTwo

A link to the first half of this review can be found at the bottom of this page.

Massimiliano Gioni Named Artistic Director Of55th Venice Biennale

Kathy Zhang — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:56:20 -0500

News/MassimilianoGioniNamedArtisticDirectorOf55thVeniceBiennale

On January 31, Massimiliano Gioni, the associate director and director of exhibitions of the New Museum in New York, was appointed artistic director of the 55th Venice Biennale, which is scheduled for 2013. At 38, Gioni will be the youngest artistic director in the 110-year history of the Biennale, often dubbed “the art world’s Olympics.”

Gioni, who is also the artistic director of Milan’s Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, is no stranger to biennales and art mega-events: he was the co-curator of the 50th Venice Biennale (2003), the Berlin Biennale (2005) and Manifesta 5 (2005), as well as the artistic director of the Gwangju Biennale (2010).

His appointment gives Asian artists and practitioners hope for a more diverse Central Pavilion—an area where the artistic director of last year’s 54th Venice Biennale, Parkett founder and editor-in-chief Bice Curiger, was criticized for her heavy focus on European artists. Conversely, Gioni has demonstrated a strong interest in the Asia-Pacific region. Aside from being artistic director of the Gwangju Biennale, he organized the New Museum’s critically acclaimed “Ostalgia,” a 2011 survey of more than 50 artists from the former USSR and Central Asia, and co-curated the museum’s 2009 triennial, “Younger than Jesus,” which featured, among others, Chinese video artist Cao Fei, Indian multimedia artist Shilpa Gupta, Turkish conceptualist Ahmet Öğüt and Kazakh photographer and video artist Alexander Ugay.

Agnsw Announces Anne Flanagan As Acting Director

Ashley Lee — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:24:48 -0500

News/AGNSWAnnouncesAnneFlanaganAsActingDirector

Anne Flanagan, deputy director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) since 2010, has been appointed acting director of the gallery after an international search failed to find a replacement for the AGNSW’s former director, the ebullient Edmund Capon, who retired in December after 33 years at the gallery’s helm.

Applications for the position closed in early November without producing any standout candidates, although rumors persist in the Sydney press that negotiations with Dr. Timothy Potts, current director of the UK’s Fitzwilliam Museum, stalled in December. Stephen Lowy, president of the AGNSW board of trustees, said in a statement released by the gallery, “The Trustees had placed no deadline on making a new appointment . . . Edmund built up a team of committed and highly professional staff during his tenure, and under Anne’s leadership the gallery will be in safe hands.”

While the AGNSW’s search for a new director seems to have stalled, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne has accelerated its efforts. The NGV has been searching for a new head following the preemptory announcement last September by incumbent Dr. Gerard Vaughan that he would leave after serving only three years of his five-year term.

An NGV insider told ArtAsiaPacific that an announcement on Vaughan’s successor was “imminent.” Originally reported to be leaving in July this year, the NGV now says that Vaughan will go in May, clearing the slate for his replacement. The Premier of Victoria also needs to appoint a new president of the gallery’s Council of Trustees, a the current president, Allan Myers, has decided to leave after serving his third three-year terms.

Both Melbourne and Sydney see themselves as “Australia’s cultural capital.” With the NGV poised to make an announcement, the art world may well conclude that the southerners have beaten the AGNSW to the post, in a market where good, qualified—and available—candidates are few and far between.

Meanwhile, business at AGNSW continues uninterrupted, with the announcement today, February 2, of a three-year partnership between the gallery and the luxury Italian brand Bulgari, which will award AUD 80,000 annually to a mid-career Australian artist. The Bulgari Art Award will consist of a $50,000 painting acquisition and an artist residency in Italy, valued at AUD 30,000—making it one of the most valuable art awards in Australia.

Despite this positive development, several key members of Capon’s AGNSW team have in recent months either resigned or said they are re-considering their future at the gallery. The incoming director, however, remains positive, saying this will allow the institution to refresh itself.

Flanagan, who joined the gallery in 1992 and recently oversaw the development of the institutions basement floor into the John Kaldor Family Gallery, to showcase the Kaldor collection, was upbeat about the future and her temporary role as acting director when talking to AAP. “The gallery is in phenomenal shape, with plans this year for a major Francis Bacon show and to integrate the gallery’s contemporary collection into the new basement space. There will also be an important re-hang of the Australian collection,” she said.

John McDonald, one of Sydney’s most outspoken arts writers, weighed in on the debate earlier this year over the lack of an announcement by imploring the AGNSW not to rush into a decision, but to wait until the right candidate came along. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, he said, “Appoint the wrong director and it can be a costly, embarrassing exercise to correct the mistake. If there is even the slightest doubt… the AGNSW should not be rushing to fill the post.”

It is advice that Stephen Lowy and the trustees seem to have taken to heart; however the Sydney media have reported that Lowy nevertheless expects a new director to be in place before the end of the year.

Istanbul Modern Deems Artwork Unacceptable For Fundraising Auction

Olivier Krischer — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:30:32 -0500

News/IstanbulModernDeemsArtworkUnacceptableForFundraisingAuction

On December 27, artists arrived at Istanbul Modern with a banner that read, “There is censorship in this museum” and hung posters declaring “we spotted censorship” alongside their work in the exhibition, “Dream and Reality.” The action came amid a storm of criticism from the Turkish art community directed at the privately funded museum for suppressing freedom of expression, after the institution refused to enter a commissioned artwork by Bubi Hayon into a fundraising auction or to acquire the artwork for its permanent collection. The museum provoked further ire for its unapologetic response to the artist and to subsequent outcry from other members of the art community.

The affair first became public earlier in December when, in a written statement, Hayon accused Istanbul Modern of censorship. The sculptor was one of eight artists originally selected to create works for the museum’s seventh annual Gala Modern, held on December 10, to support the institution’s educational program. His sculpture Oturak (“Chamber Pot,” 2011), an upright wooden chair with bedpan embedded in the seat, was not displayed after curators asked him to make modifications to the piece—specifically, to cover up the toilet seat—and Hayon refused.

Hayon insisted that the museum gave him full creative freedom in conceiving the work and that it did not specify the piece’s purpose when he was first approached about the commission. The artist claims that Oturak was intended to be critical of the quasi-sacred status of art museums in society. After seeing the final outcome, Istanbul Modern claimed that the artwork did not meet the proper requirements for the auction and would not accept it without alterations.

Hayon and others speculated that the museum deemed that the piece wasn’t as saleable with the chamber pot in its seat, and that this was the motivation for asking him to cover up, or remove, the supposedly undesirable component. After the artist had circulated his account of the episode, others members of Turkish art community agreed that the museum was committing a form of soft or “conditional” censorship. Numerous discussions were held on social-media sites, leading many people to express long-held frustrations with the museum’s lack of professionalism.

However, even within the art community, there was broad disagreement about whether Istanbul Modern’s decision did in fact constitute censorship. The board of directors of both the Turkish National Committee of the International Plastic Arts Association (IPAA) and the International Association of Art Critics (IAAC) released separate statements saying that they did not believe Istanbul Modern’s action was censorship, because the event was a private auction, closed to the public, and there was no third-party intervention that caused the work to be removed. Istanbul Modern maintains that its curators had the right to select which artworks would be included in the auction. Hayon, a member of the IPAA, resigned on December 26.

On December 27, a panel discussion in the Istanbul Modern auditorium in conjunction with the current exhibition “Dream and Reality” turned into a public discussion of the incident, though neither Hayon nor the any of museums’ curators were present. One of the evening’s panelists, Mürüvvet Türkyılmaz, announced that she would remove her work from “Dream and Reality” in protest and walked out of the museum because she believed that the museum was no longer taking care of artists shown under its roof. Eight other artists—Ceren Öyküt, Gözde İlkin, Güneş Terkol, İnci Furni, Ekin Saçlıoğlu, Neriman Polat, Leyla Gediz and the collective AtılKunst—subsequently announced that they would also withdraw their works from “Dream and Reality.”

In a statement released on December 30, the museum rejected charges of censorship, noting that the Gala Modern event was not open to the public and that “the sole purpose of the evening and the art in question was to raise money for Istanbul Modern’s educational programs.” The museum disputed the Hayon’s account, and maintained that the purpose of the commission had been “explained carefully” to the participating artists:

“Bubi [Hayon], too, received a detailed briefing about the character and importance of Gala Modern. He knew that Gala Modern was not an exhibition and that the primary purpose of the work he created was to raise funds for Istanbul Modern’s educational programs. In events of this kind, the curatorial team selects the artists that will participate and determines which works will be included. This is standard international practice.”

However, the museum’s chief curator Levent Çalıkoğlu told Today’s Zaman that Istanbul Modern would honor the artists’ wishes to have their works removed from “Dream and Reality.” Despite media reports in late December that the pieces had been taken down, as of January 3, none of the artworks had been physically removed or altered.

Leyla Gediz, one of the eight artists who wished to have her work removed from “Dream and Reality,” explained in an email to ArtAsiaPacific that the artists had been advised by lawyers that they could not remove their works, since most of the pieces are on loan from private collectors (and are therefore no longer property of the artists), and furthermore that the consignment agreements between the museum and collectors cannot be easily canceled. However, Gediz remarked, “We are content with the harm we’ve done to the museum’s so-called prestige and morale, and feel that we’ve done enough to challenge them into rethinking their principles and aims.”

By the last day of the exhibition, on January 21, six artists had been able to secure the necessary permissions to take down their works. Ceren Oykut’s large wall drawing had been painted over in white, and Neriman Polat took down her installation of photographs and a video, leaving behind a large red, empty wall, and the collective AtılKunst’s wall of small collage projects was bare. A two-channel video by Selda Asal had been turned off, Mürüvvet Türkyılmaz emptied a small room of her photographs, and Güneş Terkol removed her hanging fabric piece.

Istanbul Modern is privately funded by the corporate holding company Eczacıbaşı Group, which comprises 39 enterprises in diverse industries. The museum’s collection is comprised of artworks on long-term loan or donated to the museum by the Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı Foundation, Oya-Bülent Eczacıbaşı Collection and other private collections. Oya Eczacıbaşı is the chair of the museum’s board of directors.

All of Turkey’s major cultural institutions are backed by corporate holding groups, as there are no national art museums or state-funded galleries. A persistent complaint in the Turkish art community—again raised during debates over the Hayon incident—is that cultural institutions have no public accountability and their decision-making processes are nontransparent. Despite their claims of adhering to “standard international practice,” Istanbul Modern, since opening in 2004, has run into problems before in working with both artists—most notably over a large-scale film commission by Doug Aitken—and professional curators, as in the case of David Elliott, who served as the museum’s director for just eight months in 2007.

The artist Hakan Akçura has circulated an online petition that was signed by prominent members of the Istanbul art community and several international figures, decrying this act of “conditional” and “commercially orientated” censorship. In a light-hearted moment, the petition announces that “Our guiding free spirit is awareness of our existence and surely is R. Mutt’s Fountain”—a reference to another famously censored toilet-as-artwork: Marcel Duchamp’s readymade, upturned urinal, which was hidden from view in 1917 exhibition at the Society of Independent Artists in Philadelphia.

Vision Of Nature Lost Found In Asian Contemporary Art

Elaine Ng — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:17:10 -0500

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“Vision of Nature: Lost & Found in Asian Contemporary Art,” co-curated by Connie Lam and Mori Art Museum director Fumio Nanjo, has been one of the highlights of the Hong Kong Arts Centre’s (HKAC) exhibition line up for 2011. Part of HKAC’s third annual guest curator program, “Vision of Nature” invites audiences to uncover forgotten aspects of the traditional Asian concept of nature and to reconnect with this through contemporary works by eight celebrated artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and China.

Takashi Kuribayashi, from Japan, and Lam Tung-pang, from Hong Kong, take their inspiration from the theme of the forest. Kuribayashi creates a white forest wonderland using traditional papier-mâché in his work Wald aus Wald (Forest from Forest) (2011). With this, he asks the audience to rethink what constitutes a natural landscape. The paper in a book, for example, is easily dismissed as a synthetic object, but within a paper landscape, it takes on the quality of a living environment. Forest from Forest revitalizes the holistic concept of nature—which includes the man-made world—shared in the philosophical heritage of East Asia (Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism). Parts of the installation are also intentionally hidden from the audience and unveiled as viewers peer through holes, which dot various levels of the gallery-spanning terrain, to see different parts of the forest. In one sense, the experience is not unlike viewing a scroll painting—the totality of which can never be viewed at once.

In Past Continuous Tense (2011), Lam Tung-pang uses unconventional media to tackle a seldom explored subject in Chinese ink painting: the forest fire. With charcoal on plywood, Lam depicts a forest blaze, with collapsing trees, by combining rubbing, erasure and burning to allude to humanity’s destruction of the natural environment. While the seasonal cycle of nature is a recurrent theme in traditional Chinese painting, the ruined landscape can symbolize war, human resilience to natural disaster and nature’s ability to regenerate. While refusing to be labeled a traditional artist, Lam references centuries old East Asian painting traditions, sourcing images of trees from Korean, Japanese and Chinese painting manuals dating from the 10th century to the present—to illustrate the ever relevant, equivocal relationship between humans and nature.

The conceptual work of Pak Sheung-chuen, another Hong Kong artist, critiques the loss of sensitivity and responsibility toward our surroundings. As a means of personally recovering this lost sensibility, Pak embarked on the journal project 2011.7.27 – 2011.11.14 (2011), jotting down sentences of inspiration that flashed through his mind as he wandered around the city. Out of the 400 ideas he noted over a period of three months, some 30 sentences were selected for this exhibition — the rest have been compiled in a book. One reads, “Give yourself fewer choices, spend less money, slow down your life. Such backwardness is a progressive alternative.” Pak’s solutions to urban living are reminiscent of the ideals of the traditional literati way of life—such as the classic Chinese novel Xianqing ouji (“Random Jottings of My Leisurely Mood”) (1671) by Li Yu, which describes the aesthetic thoughts and idle character of a cultivated Chinese gentleman.

The Taiwanese art collective LuxuryLogico’s conscientious installation, Solar (2011), incorporates more then a hundred unwanted lamps, which are refitted with LED light bulbs, into the figurative shape of the sun. In a darkened room, the lights flicker and shine in different patterns and intensities to create an ambiance of something akin to satellites blinking in outer space. Solar is an attempt to make the audience rethink the necessity of consumption. While modern conservation rather than tradition features in this work, nevertheless its call for environmental responsibility could signal the loss of an ancient awareness of nature to urban development.

Allusions to traditional subject matter in some of the exhibited works invite questions about how old modes of thinking about nature have carried over to a contemporary context in an urban environment such as Hong Kong. The interrelationships between East Asian aesthetic traditions and universal artistic values have great potential for further exploration. While a less symbolic, more direct critique of people’s reckless ambivalence toward nature is yet to be seen, this refreshing exhibition aptly introduces new sensitivities, concepts and visions of art on nature.

Lacoste Elys E Prize Cancelled

Elaine Ng — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:34:41 -0500

News/LacosteElysEPrizeCancelled

In late December, the 25,000 euro Lacoste Elysée Prize for photography was canceled after reports that the French clothing company had allegedly demanded the exclusion of photographer and video artist Larissa Sansour for her “pro-Palestinian” artwork, a series of three photographs entitled “Nation Estate” (2011).

Despite Lacoste and the museum having originally agreed on the selection of artists, in mid-December Sansour was asked to remove “Nation Estate” from the exhibition accompanying the prize, organized and presented by the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, due to the work’s perceived political sensitivity. In an e-mail interview with ArtAsiaPacific, Sansour explained: “In addition to being eliminated from the competition, I was also asked to approve a statement saying that I had withdrawn voluntarily ‘in order to pursue other opportunities.’ Asking the censored artist to help mask the act of censorship was almost worse than having my work removed in the first place.”

Though the museum’s initial actions seemed questionable, it ultimately supported Sansour, first offering to display the work elsewhere, then deciding to cancel the 2011 edition of the prize on December 20. Immediately after the museum’s decision was announced, Lacoste withdrew its corporate backing for the award. Lacoste, which did not respond to interview requests from AAP, claimed in a statement released on its website that Sansour’s exclusion was not politically motivated, rather that “Nation Estate” did not fit the competition theme of “Joie de Vivre.” Meanwhile, in the wake of the controversy the museum proposed a solo exhibition of Sansour’s work, but as yet nothing has been confirmed.

The three photographs that comprise “Nation Estate” envision a dystopian Palestinian state. Each depicts different views inside a fictional skyscraper, located in Jerusalem, which houses the entire Palestinian population. Each floor represents an important Palestinian city, including Jerusalem (al-Quds, in Arabic) on the third floor and Ramallah on the fourth. Sansour writes about the series: “Set within a grim piece of hi-tech architecture, this narrative photo series envisions ‘la joie de vivre’ of a Palestinian state rising from the ashes of the peace process.” The digital renderings show how replicas of important monuments from each city will be displayed on each floor, including a full-scale Dome of the Rock on the Jerusalem floor. From the skyscraper’s upper floors the actual Dome of the Rock would be visible above the concrete separation wall. Sansour explained: “With Israeli settlements leaving very little land for a future Palestine, I decided to explore a vertical solution to statehood . . . Intercity trips previously marred by checkpoints are now made by elevator.”

It would surprising if Lacoste was unaware of the political nature of Sansour’s work and her sardonic humor. In the last decade, her works—accesible on her website—have been largely dedicated to the formation of a Palestinian national identity, as well as showing abuses by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. “For Palestinians, politics is not just one option among many, but a fundamental circumstance . . . That said, in the early years of my artistic practice, Palestine was virtually absent in my work. It was not until 2001, just after 9/11 and the second Palestinian intifada that I could no longer separate the Palestinian political context from my art,” says the artist.

Sansour often subverts Western popular culture to demonstrate the plight of her nation. “Hijacking signature Western cultural models and turning them into vehicles for ideas they were never designed to convey creates an interesting friction,” she explains. “I think, when the reality on the ground is more surreal than fiction, it is valuable to find different modes of tackling that reality rather than presenting pure documentation.”

Though she alluded to television shows such as the 1970s US sitcom Happy Days in her earlier work, Sansour has recently favored science-fiction. “Even the slickest sci-fi almost invariably carries a sense of the ‘retro,’ as ideas of the future tend to appear cliché, yet are presented as visionary. In the case of Palestine, there seems to be an eternal sense of forecasting statehood, independence and the end of the occupation. The ambitious ideas we hope to achieve have become so repetitive that the odd mix of nostalgia and self-congratulation that the sci-fi genre often embodies lends itself well to the topic.”

Safety Island Sarah Lai

Olivier Krischer — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:26:14 -0500

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Click arrow to view reverse side of Double Exit.