ArtAsiaPacific - May/June 2024

In this issue

For our cover feature, we speak with Los Angeles-based Kang Seung Lee about his practice of investigating cultural figures whose lives were neglected by the mainstream narratives of history. In our second feature, we interview Manal AlDowayan about her long history of working with the collective memory of women in Saudi Arabia, and her participatory workshops in the run-up to her representation at the Venice Biennale. In our final feature, Philippe Parreno discusses the complex phenomenon underpinning his exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, and his construction of a 13.6-meter tower that houses a virtual, bodiless character in the process of developing its own language. For Up Close, we spotlight a recent film installation by Amar Kanwar, The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023); Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti’s Concrete Tent (2015/23) in Sharjah; and Abiding Nowhere (2024), the latest feature film directed by Tsai Ming-liang. Our Profiles this issue look at two artists representing their countries in Venice: Gülsün Karamustafa (Türkiye Pavilion) Mark Salvatus (Philippine Pavilion), while in New Currents we explore the emerging video-based practice of two Venice Biennale participants, Charmaine Poh from Singapore, and Aziza Kadyri, whose collective, Qizlar, is representing Uzbekistan. We also discover new paintings by the Indonesian artist Roby Dwi Antono. In Essays, Hutch Wilco recounts his experiences of embarking on a preparatory visit with fellow curators to the desiccated Aral Sea for the still-pending Aral Culture Summit in Uzbekistan. Our Reviews span from the 24th Biennale of Sydney to Los Angeles, covering major exhibitions in Tokyo and London, as well as solo showcases of leading artists in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, and New York. Finally, for Where I Work, we visit the plant-filled Hong Kong studio of IV Chan, whose fabric sculptures and performance works explore themes of motherhood, interfamily relationships, and corporeality.

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.