ArtAsiaPacific
September/October 2014
Out now
The September/October issue of ArtAsiaPacific concentrates on artists who create projects directly informed by local conditions. We begin with Akram Zaatari, whose practice encompasses filmmaking, research, photography and curating. AAP editor at large HG Masters ruminates on some of the artist’s earliest photography as a teenager during the Lebanese Civil War and on his co-founding of the Arab Image Foundation in 1997, as well as discussing his acclaimed projects that explore personal narratives embedded within Lebanese history, including the Israeli invasion of 1982.
From Delhi, contributing editor Jyoti Dhar revisits the career of the late Rummana Hussain (1952–99), who trained as a painter, but shifted to performance and installation as a response to the right-wing religious fundamentalism of the 1990s. Dhar discusses Hussain’s legacy, the political climate of the period in which she worked, and the influence she has had on the generation of artists and curators working on the Subcontinent today.
In a similar vein, independent curator Susan Gibb delves into the work of Seoul-based artist Minouk Lim. Like Hussain, Lim studied painting, but encountered limitations in the medium and sought alternative forms of art-making—often participatory in nature—to engage with the historical and economic realities of South Korea. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, managing editor John Jervis sits down with offbeat conceptualist Kwan Sheung Chi, who explains his interest in pursuing collective, community-focused endeavors, and his experience of working in an atmosphere burdened with its own particular set of socioeconomic barriers. Kwan’s participatory work To Defend the Core Values Is the Core of the Core Values, made with his wife Wong Wai Yin, graces our cover.
Rounding out the Features, our special column Inside Burger Collection explores performative practices, real-time activities and script works as artistic methods through the work of Titus Kaphar, Wong Wai Yim, Lau Ching Ping, Choi Yan-Chi, Florian Germann, Vittorio Santoro and Fiona Banner.
Our Profiles include a visit to the home of Sydney’s Andrew and Cathy Cameron, known for their unwavering support of Australian artists and institutions, and a survey of Adelaide-based artist Hossein Valamanesh, lauded for his sparse sculptural installations. We also meet the peripatetic Qatari-American artist Sophia al-Maria, who first achieved renown for her idiosyncratic project The Gaze of Sci-Fi Wahabi, and, from Beijing, “post-happy” artist Chen Zhou—both are currently embarking, or trying to embark, on feature-length films.
In Essays, contributing editor Michael Young considers whether Australia’s commercial galleries are experiencing a crisis, and if this is indicative of systemic failings in its art market, while Taipei desk editor David Frazier reassesses the career of Xu Bing, grappling with his ability to be many things to many people, both at home in China and abroad.
For Where I Work, we visit the psychedelic studio of Zürich-based Tibetan artist Kesang Lamdark, known for his neo-tantric forms, often composed of plastics or aluminum cans. In One on One, Aboriginal artist Tony Albert reminisces about the late Gordon Bennett, whose paintings addressed racism in Australia, and explains the impact Bennett’s work had on his own worldview as a young artist. Jenny F. So—scholar and director of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s art museum—argues in The Point that budding art historians pursuing PhDs still face bleak career options, despite Hong Kong’s ambition to be Asia’s cultural entrepôt. Guest contributor Stefan Tarnowski files his Dispatch from Beirut, offering insights into the almost miraculous tenacity of the city’s art scene, which established itself from the ground up following 15 years of civil war.
Select articles now online in Arabic and Chinese: artasiapacific.com
Subscribe to the print edition, buy digital copies on iTunes, Zinio or Magzter, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
