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Editor’s Letter
| MAY/JUN 2017 | ISSUE 103In from the Cold
In the lead-up to this year’s Venice Biennale and Documenta,
I was reading a 1979 edition of the art journal Black Phoenix.
Discussed within the pages of this dense, 31-page issue was the
question of barriers raised by the art world establishment at
the time against both experimental art and artists from non-
European or American geographies. “Marginal” was the word
commonly applied to artists who were engaged in practices
including performance, participatory and kinetic art, and
those hailing from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern
Europe. Fast-forward 38 years. Christine Macel, the director of
the 57th Venice Biennale, intends to upend the current status
quo—in which exhibition-making has become politicized,
commercialized or driven by certain dominant personalities—
through a simple but elegant gesture: to give prominence to
artists and the transnational spirit of the creative process. In the
May/June issue of ArtAsiaPacific, the editors spotlight many
no-longer-marginal artists from around the world who will show
their art—often not fit for the marketplace—at one of the two
prestigious, and now truly international, exhibitions.
This issue’s cover features the work of rising star Samson
Young, Hong Kong’s representative at Venice this year who is
also part of Documenta 14’s radio program. AAP managing editor
Ysabelle Cheung examines the classically trained composer’s
13-year career, during which he has investigated the cultural and
historical associations of specific sounds, from buzzing, hissing
and humming along the “Frontier Closed Area” of the Hong
Kong–China border zone to the more hypnotic tones struck
from bells around the world. Young also discusses the story
behind his ambitious new work—inspired by pop music, online
myths, cultural imperialism and the fetishization of developing
countries by industrial nations—which he will debut at the
Hong Kong Pavilion in May.
Also exploring family legends, geopolitical borders and
imbalances in today’s globalized world is Bali-born, Brisbane-
based artist Tintin Wulia. Independent curator Eva McGovern-
Basa sits down with Wulia to discuss notions of migration and
the “next frontier” in her project for the Indonesia Pavilion,
“1001 Martian Homes.” In their conversation, Wulia reflects:
“It’s interesting to hear people comment that my works on the
border are so relevant now. Haven’t these issues been relevant
since Plato’s Laws (300 BCE)? In that book, a section discusses
how strangers, or foreigners, could disrupt an ideal city-state
by suggesting unusual ideals, and therefore, their access to and
interactions with locals need to be restricted.”
From Manila, AAP contributor Dominic Zinampan revisits
the work of enfant terrible Manuel Ocampo, who along with
Lani Maestro will present work in the Philippines Pavilion at
Venice. Ocampo is known for his sardonic paintings that take
aim at religion, corruption and politics, and Zinampan explains
the artist’s legacy on the Philippines’ art scene: “He retains a
deep affinity with, and has strong reactions to, the ever-shifting
circumstances arising from within his native country. To shock
or hurt is not his intention, nor is he being nihilistic. Instead,
Ocampo’s message is that we must arm ourselves with humor in
order to transcend the traumas of history.”
Similarly targeting social conformity in an increasingly
materialistic world is Lee Wan. The 38-year-old artist from Seoul,closely watched since he won the Leeum, Samsung Museum of
Art’s prestigious Artspectrum Award in 2014, will represent South
Korea in Venice, along with Cody Choi. Guest contributor Yujin
Min walks us through the up-and-coming artist’s work, from his
unusual sculptures and assemblages—including hyperrealistic
baseballs made of dried, ground chicken meat—to his most
recent “Made In” video series that looks at Asian products, from
his breakfast food to his clothes, and the political implications of
capitalism and urbanization in the region.
Capping our Features section is our special column Inside
Burger Collection. London-based curators Nicolas de Oliveira and
Nicola Oxley focus on Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck, whose
work has appeared in previous editions of the Venice Biennale
as well as in museums across Asia. Employing a diverse practice
that incorporates sculpture, painting, installation and the moving
image, Op de Beeck creates immersive experiences that allude to
memory, storytelling and fictional realities.
In Profiles, AAP looks at three artists pushing age-old media
in new directions. AAP reviews editor Brady Ng goes backstage
with Syrian-German “sound scientist” Rashad Becker on the
eve of his performance for Documenta 14’s radio program,
which kicked off in Athens in April. In Los Angeles, Vietnam
desk editor Ruben Luong meets up with filmmaker and artist
Tuan Andrew Nguyen to discuss his new film The Island (2017),
which debuted in March at the Whitney Biennial in New York.
In Beijing, Olivia Wang interviews ink artist Li Jin, who has
captivated audiences with his humorously sensual imagery
of lovers, food and other prosaic aspects of life in the revered,
classical Chinese medium.
Elsewhere in the issue, in Essays, Thomas Mouna escorts
readers through the historic, yet quickly vanishing hutong lanes
and alleys of Beijing, where many modest, yet unconventional
creative clusters are mounting engaging, community-driven
art projects. From Kazakhstan, regular contributor Lesley
Ann Gray considers sustainable art initiatives for post-oil
economies. For the Point, Manu Park, curator and director
of Platform-L Contemporary Art Center in Seoul, reflects on
how nonprofit and commercial art ventures are increasingly
blurred—especially in Asia. Park reminds us, “Arts patronage is
not an act of commerce, but an activity within the public sphere
of art.” Rounding out the issue, in Where I Work, UAE desk
editor Kevin Jones travels to the studio of Sahand Hesamiyan
in Tehran, where he views the artist’s large-scale geometric
sculptures, some of which are public commissions for his
hometown. Hesamiyan readily admits, “It’s satisfying to engage
both the space and the public with a work.” No doubt, this was
the same desire that motivated so many of the artists engaged
in international avant-garde movements of the 1960s and ’70s
around the world, reminding us how far the art world has come.ELAINE W. NGSee our website for Arabic and Chinese versions of this article.