ArtAsiaPacific Magazine - September - October 2020

In this issue

The pandemic-plagued world is ripe with divisions. As communities look to address various crises, artists have the ability to create spaces of understanding, empathy, and awareness. Issue 120’s cover Feature centers on Hajra Waheed’s explorations of the possibilities for “radical hope” and solidarity. Our second Feature is on Hong Kong-based multimedia artist Lam Tung Pang, who personifies landscapes and elements of nature to convey the pathos of his hometown in times of upheaval. Up Close looks at new moving-image projects by Diane Severin Nguyen and Allison Chhorn, and an investigation by Forensic Architecture. Inside Burger Collection examines the career of Canadian painter Tim Gardner. In Essays, Cheng Mun Chang, the winner of our Young Writers Contest 2020, argues that the logic of colonialism undergirds post-independence Singapore’s land reclamation projects. She considers the impact of these development policies through the works of Charles Lim, Zarina Muhammad, and Debbie Ding. The Profiles section features Los Angeles-based Miljohn Ruperto, artist-anthropologist duo Zheng Mahler, and Singapore arts patron Rachel Teo. In The Point, Lucas Ihlein and Kim Williams reflect on their experience of working with the Biennale of Sydney to curb the organization’s reliance on plastic. For One on One, Palestinian artist Inas Halabi writes about how Rosalind Nashashibi’s approach to filmmaking has influenced her own explorations of “the construction of identity in relation to history and place.” Also included are a Dispatch from Vancouver, and gallerist Johnson Tsong-zung Chang’s tribute to Hong Kong artist Gaylord Chan (1925–2020). Lastly, for Where I Work, John Alexis Balaguer visited the studio-residence of Norberto “Peewee” Roldan, who co-founded Manila’s oldest nonprofit space, Green Papaya. A longtime advocate for regional artists in the Philippines, Roldan embodies the spirit of art, community, and camaraderie that runs through this issue.

ArtAsiaPacific Magazine Description:

For 20 years, ArtAsiaPacific Magazine has been at the forefront of the powerful creative forces that shape contemporary art from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. Covering the latest in contemporary visual culture, ArtAsiaPacific is published 6 times a year in Hong Kong, with editorial desks in 25 countries around the world. Our special annual issue, the ArtAsiaPacific Almanac, published in January, covers the major art events of the past year and forecasts the key trends of the year to come.
The dominant artistic influence in the world today - and for many years to come emanates from the vast territory that lies between Turkey and the Pacific island of Tonga that we call the Asia-Pacific. This territory includes India, China, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Pakistan, New Zealand, Korea and Indonesia, whose combined populations make up an amazing half of the world's total population. Also included are Burma, Cambodia, Kiribati and Uzbekistan - places hitherto overlooked, but which like their gigantic neighbors, are producing cutting-edge art of stunning and unexpected quality.
ArtAsiaPacific is authoritative, accurate, even-handed, exact and essential. Included in each issue is an up-to-date directory of the major galleries, not-for-profit organizations and museums with a focus on contemporary art from our geographical footprint. ArtAsiaPacific offers thoughtful reportage, analysis, comment and criticism to its readers made up of collectors, gallerists, curators, artists and those who want and who need to know the latest developments in the fastest-growing and most astonishing region of the contemporary art world.