The Roving Eye
Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia
18 September 2014–4 January 2015
ARTER – space for art
Istiklal Caddesi, 211
Beyoglu, Istanbul
Turkey
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday 11–19h
Friday–Sunday 12–20h
Admission free
Upcoming at ARTER is a large exhibition of Southeast Asian contemporary art titled The Roving Eye. Curated by researcher and critic Iola Lenzi, the exhibition will present more than 40 works by 36 of Southeast Asia’s most innovative contemporary artists from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
As well as introducing forms, materials, conceptual methodologies, and aesthetic codes commonly featured in the artistic production of the region, the exhibition will offer critical insights into today’s regional culture and the many tensions cleaving the societies of Southeast Asia. In particular, The Roving Eye will argue multiple points of view on self and society as a central canon of Southeast Asian contemporary art. The exhibition will thus emphasize this particular way of looking at the world that has evolved in the region from the 1970s on whereby the artist usually involves multiple positions and viewpoints. According to Lenzi, it is this sophisticated play of perspectives, this ‘roving eye,’ that lends the works their particular texture that makes them easily accessible outside the local context.
Placing particular emphasis on works that embrace experience, interactivity and participation, The Roving Eye will feature installations, videos, sound pieces, photography and performances, a number of which were especially commissioned for the exhibition. FX Harsono has produced a new three-channel video titled Purification while Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan have conceptualised a monumental mosaic collage pair of portraits depicting OFW (overseas foreign workers) and Sutee Kunavichayanont has extended his iconic 2013 History Class with a blackboard diptych. Michael Shaowanasai has produced illuminated portraits of the Thai King and Queen for Istiklal Street, while Tawatchai Puntusawasdi is constructing a site-specific work following his research in Istanbul. Young artists Duto Hardono and Restu Ratnaningtyas have also made new pieces for the exhibition as have Srey Bandul and Trinh Luong Hue & Nguyen Xuan Son.
The exhibition will also introduce local viewers to Southeast Asian performance art. Three performances will take place on the opening day, including the seminal five-hour I Love You by Melati Suryodarmo, a two-person piece by Bui Cong Khanh, and a third by Jason Lim.
Artists in the exhibition
Alwin Reamillo, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Aung Ko, Aung Myint, Bui Cong Khanh, Chris Chong Chan Fui, Dinh Q. Le, Duto Hardono, FX Harsono, Heri Dono, Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan, Ise Roslisham, Jakkai Siributr, Jason Lim, Josephine Turalba, Krisna Murti, Lee Wen, Luong Hue Trinh & Nguyen Xuan Son, Manit Sriwanichpoom, Melati Suryodarmo, Mella Jaarsma, Michael Shaowanasai, Nguyen Van Cuong, Restu Ratnaningtyas, Srey Bandaul, Sutee Kunavichayanont, Tawatchai Puntusawasdi, Tay Wei Leng, Vasan Sitthiket, Vertical Submarine, Vu Dan Tan, Yee I-Lann
Curator Iola Lenzi
Iola Lenzi is a Singapore-based researcher, curator and critic of Southeast Asian contemporary art. She has conceptualised numerous exhibitions of Southeast Asian art, major institutional projects including Negotiating Home History and Nation: two decades of contemporary art in Southeast Asia 1991–2011, Singapore Art Museum (2011); Concept Context Contestation: art and the collective in Southeast Asia, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2013); and Masterpieces: digital art in Southeast Asia, Samsung art projects (ongoing). She is a lecturer in Lasalle-Goldsmiths Singapore’s MA of Asian Art Histories programme and the author of Museums of Southeast Asia (2004).
Opening events
Wednesday, 17 September
16h, IKSV Salon*: Performance: Melati Suryodarmo, I Love You, 5 hours
18h, ARTER: Performance: Jason Lim, Last Drop, 30 minutes
19h, ARTER: Performance: Bui Cong Khanh, Hymne National, 15 minutes
Thursday, 18 September
16–18h, IKSV Salon*: Iola Lenzi in conversation with the artists
*IKSV Salon
Nejat Eczacıbaşı Binası
Sadi Konuralp Caddesi No: 5 Şişhane
For additional information, images or interview requests, please contact:
Idil Kartal
idil.kartal [at] gmail.com / T +90 212 243 37 67 / M +90 542 216 60 09
