ArtAsiaPacific - March - April 2020

In this issue

With governments imposing quarantines and travel restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19, the questions of how we might commune are all the more pertinent. For our cover feature, Beverly Yong spoke with textile artist Yee I-Lann about the social importance of tikar (mats) and her principle of mansau ansau, or “to keep journeying without knowing where you’re headed.” Embracing uncertainty as a fact of life was likewise central to the practice of Huang Yong Ping, the subject of our second Feature by curator Hou Hanrou. In Up Close, AAP editors examine recent video works by Li Ran, Ho Rui An, and Jen Liu. Curator David Ho Yeung Chan interviews Hong Kong-born artist Tsang Kin-Wah on his text-based installations and videos about humanity’s self-destructive behavior for Inside Burger Collection. The issue also includes Profiles of Chloe Suen and Haryanto Adikoesoemo, founders of Hong Kong’s Sun Museum and Jakarta’s Museum MACAN, respectively. Tuan Andrew Nguyen penned a One on One reflecting on how his mentor, the artist Daniel Joseph Martinez, changed the way he thought about collectivity and political agency. Elsewhere, Clara Tang files a Dispatch from Berlin, and artist Sean Raspet highlights the contradictions faced by an increasing number of art initiatives on the topic of climate change. Finally, for Where I Work, Lauren Long visited Zhang Peili in one of his Hangzhou studios, where the multimedia artist explained his study of the human condition through his videos, paintings, and installations. Despite his use of cultural references specific to China, Zhang’s works suggest we all share agency in our responsibilities to process the shifting conditions of our world.

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.