A good punch of commentary always gets attention… tutoK are doing it, the artist initiative in the Philippines questioning political killings; and The Danger Museum are doing it with a Cultural Podcast series dissecting the recent Singapore Biennale from the ground roots; and how about exchange projects in Vietnam with Saigon Open City continue on despite difficulties, Berlin’s new Glowing Whistle Festival, or Taiwan’s Avant-Garde Documenta III chewing on contemporary regional issues.
And to keep stirring the pot, an interesting juxtaposition is to take a look at Asialink and Singapore’s National Art Council’s Annual Report. Although providing different functions, I would argue both are deeply seated in bureaucracy and their own agendas, however I am delightfully surprisingly by the breadth of NACs funding over the past year, trickling down to alternative spaces and independent projects – counter to the accepted opinion.
Ouch! – Oink! Welcome to the year of the pig and the Asian Art Report for 2007.
Sadly, Focal Point is ‘on holiday’ this month, but I am back on the road in February and will bring you the word from the ground – having a gaze beyond the back fence at one of our neighbour’s art scene, from the inside out.
TOO : SITE
This month’s website to check out is www.artconcerns.com
Whilst not in the usual sweep of sites for their ‘cool factor’, Artconcerns is definitely one to check on every now and again to stay abreast of the Indian art scene. Touted as ‘the true voice of Indian contemporary art’, just launched this new site is a bit of a chat and listing zone that offers some critical reviews. Set up by JohnyML, an alumnus of the Goldsmiths College Curating Program and Dilip Narayanan, a Kerala-based gallerist, it looks to be a promising resource for Indian contemporary practice.
And similarly void of cool interface gadgetry, Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art is a clean, simply designed site and I would recommend anyone interested in sinking their teeth in for a good chew on Filipino art to check it out at www.trauma-interrupted.org/ctrlp With the catch-call, “a journal of contemporary art published digitally for easy reproduction and circulation by anyone and everyone around the world”, it is lead by the renown editorial team of Flaudette May V. Datuin, Judy Freya Sibayan and Varsha Nair from Bangkok. Be sure to download their monthly issue or why not subscribe to their free mailing. I am terribly excited by this initiative – to publish quality writing from a place that economically struggles to sustain your ‘traditional’ art journal.
THE ASIAN PICTURE: EXHIBITIONS & EXCHANGES
Congrats to all those who got the golden plane ticket to Asia this year courtesy of Asialink. Of the 10 Arts Management Residencies offered, 4 were appointed and the remaining 8 of the 12 residencies granted were self-initiated projects. Last year only 4 of the 11 offered by Asialink were appointed, so one could say they are pretty consistently open to new ideas, but what does this signal to Asian host venues when Asialink, repeatedly, does not deliver its promised Arts Management resident? While a record number of Art Management residencies were granted this year, the number of applications is slightly on the decrease: 34 this year, 35 in 2006 and 41 in 2005 – I suppose that makes the odds pretty good – Oh, but be sure to suggest your own project if you want to work the odds! Applications for Visual Arts residencies average around 100-150 each year with 145 applications applying in 2006 and 10 selected – clearly a tougher field. Sadly at the time of writing this column, I did not have a full list of the 2007 visual artists residents (will endeavor to present next month). Given Asialink still has not posted the 2007 recipients on their website, here’s the Arts Managers list to chew over. Congrats to all – I am particularly excited to see a little blah blah and East Timor feature.
2007 Asialink Arts Management Residents are:
Joanna Barrkman, NT at Babaran Segaragunung, Indonesia; Thea Baumann, QLD at a little blah blah, Vietnam; Zoe Butt, QLD visiting Saigon Open City, Vietnam; Kelly Gellatly, VIC to Red Gate Gallery, China; Jane Hindson, VIC with Tokyo Performing Arts Market, Japan; Virginia Hyam, NSW to the Seoul Performing Arts Festival, Korea; Henry Judge, ACT at the Paradox Literary Centre, Indonesia; Hannah Matthews, WA to AIT, Art Front, Art IT, Japan; Vanessa McRae, QL to Videotage, Hong Kong; Jennifer Pfeiffer, VIC, to Teamwork, India; Kristin Phillips, SA to the Sonobudoyo Museum, Indonesia and Julien Poulson, TAS to Arte Moris / Bibi Bulak, East Timor.
From one funding body to another, the National Arts Council of Singapore has just released its Annual Report for last year, pumping some $S120 million a year into the arts over the past five years. If you can lay your hands on a copy of the report, I am sure you will be surprised at the breadth of their funding initiatives and with $S1 million granted to artist, art societies and collectives in 2005, the visual arts scooped 15% of General Grants funding for the year (positioned against literary and performing grants). Is it just Singaporean propaganda or does it plant the question of the often decried complaint that the NAC is all splash for Singapore’s hardware, pumping money into big gloss venues such as the Esplanade rather than support the ‘software’ – aka individual artist projects? Streaming down the list I notice an Emerging Artist Grant, International touring grants for individual artists to attend exhibitions (well awarded I might add), funding for artist associations and project grants that trickle to alternative spaces and individual artists. Given the population of Singapore, I would have to say the negative hypes seems to appear to out-weigh the figures… but then of course that is not the ‘popular’ view and some will say 15% is really not that great.
tutoK – a project with meaning
I am astounded by the energy of the tutoK project, launched in November 2006. A broad network of Filipino artists advocating human rights, Tutok Karapatan (TutoK) seems to be gaining momentum rather than flagging, opening their second exhibit this month (part of a series of three) pointed at the political killings in the Philippines. Dubbed Perspektiba 2, it features works by young edgy artists – their work carrying their passion. Showing at the Amrhein Gallery, St. Scholastica’s College (Metro Manila), Perspektiba 2 will conclude on 22 January with a forum and live performances lead by multi-media artist Jose Tence Ruiz and painter Iggy Rodriguez, who heads the artists’ group UGATLahi, and Lito Mondejar speaking in reaction. The forum will be moderated by painter Karen Ocampo Flores, TutoK’s project director. Multi-media artist Mideo M. Cruz has been the lead curator for Perspektiba.
To give you the background: “TutoK was formed in late 2005 after an artists’ workshop in Quezon City on women, art and healing as a response to what the participants described as the “deteriorating” human rights situation in the country. Based on data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), there have been more than 800 victims of extrajudicial killings from January 2001 – when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed power through a popular revolt – to December 2006. At least 340 of the victims are confirmed to have been affiliated with cause-oriented groups, Karapatan data further show. Meanwhile, Karapatan has recorded more than 200 cases of forced disappearances for the same period.” (source Tutok)
Carver’s Paintings – a trip better than speed
A kick show to catch this month is Matthew Carver at TAKSU Singapore. I was lucky enough to see the early stages of these works during his residency at the Taksu studio in Kuala Lumpur, and will catch the show when it opens in Singapore in February. They are dynamite paintings … The Saatchi Collection also felt so, snapping up Carver’s work from his MA show in London. Carver’s huge paintings approach Asia’s modern cities with the frenetic pace of dazzling night lights, traffic jams and neons blurred with speed. The distortions draw from the practice of anamorphic painting, a history that goes back centuries, which Carver overlays with today’s digital photography manipulation. His paintings are caught between time, memory and illusion. Showing 8 February through 7 March, for more, visit www.taksu.com
Ise’s 90-day outing journeys from Sydney to KL
Ise was the Australian High Commission’s resident artist for 2006 staying at Sydney’s Gunnery Studio during which time he produced a site-specific installation at Sydney Gallery 4a. His exhibition at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, carrying the same title “Keluar 90 hari” (90 day outing) is a visual diary of his Sydney experience. Opening 18 January, where I believe Simryn Gill is doing the honours, the show will continue through until February. Applications are currently open for The 2007 Australian High Commission Visual Arts Residency enabling an emerging to mid-career Malaysian artist to take up residency from 1 October – 9 December at the Gunnery. Applications close 23 February and the successful recipient will be announced in April.
The Wire: Cultural Podcast of the 21st Century
Presented by Art Singapore, ‘The Wire: Cultural Podcast of the 21st Century’ is a cultural podcast initiated by Simon Petre and Woon Tien Wei for The Danger Museum (Singapore). It is a project responding to the lack of independent media coverage during the Singapore Biennale and consists of four downloadable ‘wire episodes’. Definitely worth a ‘check-out’ to get the alternate voice. Visit www.server-foundation.org/wire to download, or visit The Danger Museum at www.dangermuseum.com
What’s the future of future prospects?
It has been touted that Future Prospects, that grunge indie space in Manila’s city of Cubao, will be closing on 31st January. A sad loss, but like most things in this punchy alternative scene they tend to re-invent themselves, so some say it is not the end. Future Prospects evolved out of the spaces Surrounded by Water and Big Sky Mind set up by artists Luisito ‘Louie’ Cordero, Gary-Ross Pastran, Mizuki Endo (visiting Japanese curator) and Cocoy Lumbao in 2005. Stay tuned with their website to see if they go virtual in the interim, www.futureprospectsph.com
Beyond Foreordination
Art Seasons Singapore always put on a slick show in their gorgeous space. During January they present photography from China, Hong Kong and Singapore over the past decade – a period of great energy and re-invention within the region. Including Singaporean photographer Francis Ng; Hong Kong artist Chow Chunfai, who re-imagines Leonardo’s Last Supper raising questions of religion and cultural-specificity; the celebrated Chinese artist Ma Liuming, best known for his performance on the ruins of the Great Wall – Art Seasons will exhibit the collage of photographs documenting that performance; and works by Mu Chen & Shao Yinong (currently showing in APT5s presentation of the Long March Project). Also included are Chen Qiulin’s immortalized Tofu Surnames, evocative images of hundreds of blocks of carved tofu lining a never-ending road and Tian Taiquan’s veiled critique of the Cultural Revolution, Forgetting; and lastly, new kid on the block, Zhang Peng who makes a transition from his decadent paintings to photography picking up on the distortion of chastity and youthful innocence. Showing until 16 February, for more visit www.artseasons.com.sg
Indian art in Singapore
Bodhi Art Singapore has a great line-up to start the year. Currently showing Nataraj Sharma’s new body of work completed during his residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2006, Sharma will be followed by Akhilesh opening 8th February. Remember to check out Bodhi’s new space on Unity St, Singapore and visit their sensational website – www.bodhiart.in
…and Indian art at Danks St
Jitish Kallat’s exhibition Rickshawpolis Part 3, together with The Devotee Exhausts the Forces of Activity – a group of young, female artists from Indian, Pakistan and America living in Asia – opens at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney 17 January. Kallat’s series combines painting, sculptures and photos elaborating upon the theme of degradation and hysteria in the urban maelstrom. The eclectic group includes artists Mala Iqbal, Yamini Nayar, Prajakta Pallav, Seher Shah and Aditi Singh. Visit www.gbk.com.au
Roberto Robles @ SLOT
Roberto M. Robles is an enigmatic artist, a Filipino who has worked in the United States as well as Japan and Korea. He is like many of his countryman cognizant of both an Asian and Euro-American sensibility through their art making. Robles seems to be working in an environment that could be described as “already cross-pollinated”, moving effortlessly between traditions with sufficient delicacy to avoid dogma. His paper installation at Redfern’s SLOT window gallery, From the old Pond, I Ponder, combines these fused aesthetics with sensitivity, asking us to pause a moment… to ponder. Robles shows with Galleria Duemila in Manila and is most know for his zen marble and steel sculptures. This piece in SLOT was shown in 2006 with a new body of paintings at Duemila. For more visit www.galleriaduemila.com or www.slot.net.au
Moving Castle – Four City Exchange
Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei – four cities of rapid development where demolition, renovation and urban renewal dominate their skylines and erodes memories. It seems like an unconscious violence that stretches like a cancer to the environment, traditional culture and value systems. “Streets and architecture have lost their appropriate proportions, leading to a blindfold of aspiration for modernization. A city is imprinted with its numerous birthmarks – like Beijing’s Hutong, Taipei’s Japanese-style alleys and Macau’s Portuguese-style architecture – they become our memories.” Nine artists explore the city as a contemporary site of flux in Moving Castle, showing at the Old Ladies’ House Art Space, Ox Warehouse, Macau until 21 January. Visit http://oxwarehousenews.blogspot.com/
Land
Land has always been a contentious issue in the Philippines, tied up in oligarchies and agrarian reform. Manila’s Galleria Duemila’s January show, Land collects a dozen young artists, mainly from the University of the Philippines, to survey the implications of the nebulous title and to define the contemporary Filipino landscape. From Nona Garcia’s sculptural volcano to Pettyjohn’s earth installation to Villaruel’s epic panorama, the show navigates personal topographies and architectural fictions through various mediums. Other artist include: Juan Alcazaren, Miguel Aquilizan, Lyle Buencamino, Lena Cobangbang, Jed Escueta, Lara de los Reyes Jet Melencio, Gary Ross Pastrana, Paulo Romualdez Vinluan, and Maria Taniguchi. Showing until 31 January and visit www.galleriaduemila.com
2007 Hong Kong City Festival is in full flight. For Festival previews, interviews and reviews head to Arts editor Alexandra Carroll’s blog: http://blog.aziacity.com/alexandracarroll/ for the scoop on what’s hot… and what’s not! To highlight but a few projects: The Economist Gallery are presenting Weave a Maze sculptures by Hong Kong-born artist Annysa Ng exploring the structural and metaphoric potential of found materials such as bra straps, silk, hair, metal locks and coat-hangers – until 20 January. The Economist Gallery is also the launching point for bzb Art Outing tours of artist’s studios including the Fo Tan Artist Village, the Kwun Tong Artist Studios and Cattle Depot & Shanghai Street Artspace (Kowloon) and studio visits through January. For more visit The Fringe Club, www.hkfringeclub.com
Body Talk
China has a history of censorship. This exhibition of Chinese artists – Yan Huang, Qiang Wang, Zhichiao Yang and new talents Huan Zheng and Dagong Zheng – explores how the body can be used as a site for protest and expression, charged with memory and tension. Body Talk moves across mediums from performance-art to body-art and is a very cool looking show. Catch it at Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, until 10 March or visit www.eastlinkgallery.cn
WORM HOLE episode5
Tokyo’s magical ARTROOM presents Takuma Ishikawa and Kohei Takahashi this month. Ishikawa uses photography to construct uneasy images that leave one as witness to ‘an incident’ while Takahashi uses video in an equally unsettling manner with their stop-motion image, frozen as a steel photograph, prompting the question what are we looking at? Showing through 17 February visit www.magical-artroom.com – its worth a look at this funky space.
Taiwan Avant-Garde Documenta III
“Taiwan Avant-Garde Documenta (TAD) is a biennial exhibition that gathers, selects, and extensively documents recent works from the avant-garde of Taiwanese art.” The exhibition is curated from open submission and focuses largely on works produced in alternative art spaces and independent projects. With over 100 individual artists displayed across a series of spatially unique public venues, including cyberspatial links, TAD plays off this inter-connective flexibility of the cyber era furnishing venues with partition units, easily manipulated for installation or collaborations. As their press says, “TAD is not a piecemeal exhibition project, but intends rather to catalyze ferment throughout the artistic macro-ecology. The integral presentation of each year’s new work allows for an emergent focal point that may sustain creative intensity and enhance the development of a vivacious public discourse on art through systematic research, public forums, seminars, lectures and dialogue that will, it is to be hoped, serve as an important index and productive mechanism in the development of the avant-garde in Taiwan.” A mouthful… but laudible. C06 spreads seven exhibitions across various venues, including the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Details on this project are vast so visit the TAD website http://www.tad.org.tw. Exhibitions continue until 25 February.
Between
Gallery VER in Bangkok has been doing some interesting projects since it opened last year. It is currently presenting the work of the young Thai painter, Thakon Khao sa-ad. Thakon’s work is about a cerebral, metaphorical and physical journey that collects images and memories from varying sources, translating them to painting. Between is a reference caught between the resource and the result, the place for emotion and imagination that is the medium itself – painting. Showing until 7 February, check out Gallery VER at www.verver.info if you haven’t already.
Emerging artists hit Thai TV
For the first time in Thailand nine emerging Thai artists have been invited to create and show their works related to new media on TV. By using mass media, Hit & Run TV Art Lab explores a new space for artists collaborating with Whale Co. Ltd. and Beyond Channel, and broadcast on ThaiTV 7 from December through January. Artists still to screen include: Prachya Phinthong on 18 January and Soraya Naksuwan on 25 January (Thursday, 9.00-9.30pm). Program produced by Natthapong Rattana and curated by Thanavi Chotpradit.
Noosphere – getting exchange right!
The Ateneo Art Gallery teams up with The Philippines-Australia Studies Centre at La Trobe University to present an exhibition by Neil Fettling, following his time as Visiting Professor at the Ateneo Fine Arts Program to present an Art Management course, “Art in Context: Profession and Practice.” Noosphere plays with the notion that contemporary art is borderless and posits the absence of territories of the imagination, perhaps most evocatively illustrated by the genre of the landscape. Landscape is a synthesis of the ideas we construct about place, space and reality and how we place ourselves within that order of things. His images take a look at Australia’s vast interior, a desolate and largely unpopulated space quiet the antithesis of the Philippines. Fettling’s exhibition of photographs is the second exhibition in the Gallery’s “Engage” program initiated in 2005 to work with significant artists from overseas to connect with their permanent collection of modern Philippine art. “Fettling’s work engages on many levels with the imagery of two artists in Ateneo’s permanent collection: the late pioneering expatriate Filipino modernist Nena Saguil, whose mindscapes transpose her journey from the material world to the spiritual; and the sculptor/installation artist Junyee, who simulates primordial topographies.” (Ateneo) Noosphere is part of the 2006-09 Ateneo-La Trobe Arts Linkages project. Mid-2007 an exhibition My Country: Abstract Interpretations of the Australian Landscape will travel from the La Trobe University Art Museum collection to the Ateneo Art Gallery, and the Ateneo Art Awards Australian residency in 2007 will include a visit to La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in Bendigo. Fettling is the Coordinator for Visual Art and Design at La Trobe University-Mildura. His exhibition at The Ateneo Art Gallery continues until 31 January. For more visit www.ateneoartgallery.org
Delia engages Singapore landscape
Singapore artist Delia has collaborated with National Parks Singapore in an ambitious project that opens this month and continues through October 2007. Stretching across three locations PleinAir comprises oversized forms inspired by common objects, like lost, found and reconstructed ‘containers’ scattered along the shore at East Coast Park as though deposited by the tide. At Fort Canning Park Delia gives us three groups of sculptural installations and at One North Park a giant ‘flying carpet’ high on a grassy slope engaging with motorists, passing trains and surrounding buildings. Keep you eye out for her work next touring around Singapore. Visit www.pleinair.com.sg
Syed Thajudeen @ Pelita Hati
Initially criticised for its ‘Indian-ness’, Malaysian artist Syed Thajudeen’s work found testimony as a statement of modern Malaysia and has since been recognized for its place in the development of the arts movement there. With a distinctive style fusing elongated figures and indigenous motifs and symbols filtered from his Indian heritage, Thajudeen’s exhibition Cinta tercipta… and there is Love at Pelita Hati Gallery Kuala Lumpur has all the colour and hybridity of facets of Malaysian art. Showing through 3 February visit www.pelitahati.com.my
Quick hits ‘round the region
Tran Van Thao at Vietnam’s Galerie Quynh showing through February; Hamidi Hadi’s exhibition Alum at Weiling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (www.weiling-gallery.com/Alun.htm); and how about checking out Plum Blossom’s group show to kick off the year, featuring a kick line up: Ding Yi, Dominic Lam Man-Kit, Guo Wei, Ju Ming, Lois Conner, Peng Wei, Tran Trong Vu, Wei Qingji, Zhang Dali and Zhu Wei. Showing in their Hong Kong space until 6 February visit www.plumblossoms.com And for those interested in new media, check out Play> – An Experimental Video/Play Project a forum and group exhibition at the Kao Yuan Art Center, Kao Yuan University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan until 21 January. Curated by Phoebe Chingying Man and Yukyiu Ip for more visit http://km.kyu.edu.tw/art
Malam Buka Panggung
Oh no! Not another arts centre! – Former editor of Malaysia’s kakiseni arts website Pang Khee Teik has directed his energies and charisma into steering Kuala Lumpur’s new Central Market Annex – an arts centre for exhibitions, performance, multidisciplinary projects and workshops. Whilst this might sound a bit of a yawn to some of us with excessive access to the arts, this venue plays a vital role in taking the visual arts in Malaysia to a more ‘ground roots’ engagement. Opening 17 January with performances by Hishamuddin Rais, Juliana Yasin, Ray Langenbach and Marion D’Cruz among others, be sure to take time out from your next KL Shop-over to check out what’s happening at The Annex.
ASIAN ARTISTS ABROAD
LI JIN: Eat Drink Man Woman
Haines Gallery, San Francisco – my old stomping ground – is presenting Li Jin this month. We have become familiar with these fantastic scrolls fusing traditional elements of calligraphy and soft watercolor washes and scenes of domestic China with a kind of ‘jovial irreverence’ locally at Sydney’s Ray Hughes Gallery. “Colorful, playful, and thoroughly postmodern, the texts in these paintings are derivatives of the titles and allude to a larger narrative at play within the image. Jin’s work combines characteristics of the New Literati school, led by artists such as Zhu Xin Jian and Zhou Jing Xin with elements of the avant-garde, as seen in the oil paintings of Fang Li Jun and Zhang Xiao Gang.” (Haines) Showing 18 January through 24 February, for more visit www.hainesgallery.com – a super gallery in a super city with a strong Asian connection.
Ho Tzu Nyen: Singapore to Berlin
“Sparwasser HQ (the Offensive for Contemporary Art and Communication, Berlin) is launching its new program called The Glowing Whistle Festival. The first artist involved will be Ho Tzu Nyen who will present his last project Bohemian Rhapsody, a film recently produced for the Singapore Biennale. The film is shot in the City Hall, the former Supreme Court of Singapore. Ho Tzu Nyen’s work, based on Queen’s well-known 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody, is simultaneously a court room drama (young men being sentenced to death), a documentary of its own production as well as a vehicle that incites the spectators’ participation in an exercise of mental karaoke. By utilizing the exhibition space as a stage to accommodate moments of authenticity – or a scripted choreography of ideas – we suggest with the festival to look at different artistic positions working within performance and other ‘staged’ productions.” Showing through 11 March visit www.sparwasserhq.de (listing courtesy Asian Art Archive)
The Paradox of Polarity: Contemporary Art from Central Asia
Bose Pacia Gallery, New York, presents this exhibition curated by Leeza Ahmady as part of her ongoing project The Taste of Others intended at promoting and unifying the largely unknown and scattered artists of Central Asia, a region comprising of five nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. This region has begun to attract global attention, namely because of its strategic location as a neighbor of the Middle East and also because of its abundance of natural resources. The Paradox of Polarity is a small survey of the art flourishing in Central Asia today, and it is the first time these fifteen artists have been shown in NYC. Ahmady, born in Afghanistan, is currently the Managing Director of Asian Contemporary Art Week, at the Asia Society. Check out her showing at www.bosepacia.com until 17 February — hit Google for more on The Taste of Others– an interesting journey!
Interpreting Indonesian History
The colonial period, the Japanese occupation, the revolution and Indonesian independence all left their traces in the Indonesian cities. The Past – The forgotten Time, organized by Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta takes the work of six Indonesian artists to the Netherlands for a show at Artoteek Den Haag, Denneweg. Including the work of Irwan Ahmett, Eko Nugroho, Yuli Prayitno, Agus Suwage, Prilla Tania and Wimo Ambala Bayang this exhibition explores visual aspects of this decolonization through comics, videos, photos, paintings and objects. “The artists interpret scientific studies, which are part of the research program Indonesia across Orders: ‘Street images: Decolonization and changing symbolism of Indonesian urban culture between the 1930s and 1960s’, a program by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. New authorities often tried to destroy the symbols of the previous authority figures, and replace them with new ones, in order to embed new identities in culture and society and to visualize them in the cities’ outward appearances. Thus, street names were changed, monuments were replaced, and buildings were given a different function and were used by different people. The cities’ inhabitants occupied public space that in colonial times was not accessible to them.” These Indonesian artists, through their art, often use a similar guerilla engagement with the city, its history and cultural memory. An 80 page catalogue accompanies this exhibition and the project has a long list of supporters. Showing through 28 January, for more visit www.cemetiartfoundation.org
RESIDENCIES: NEWS & GRABS
Call for Proposals: Residency at the Ningbo Art Museum, China
Since 2005, the Ningbo Art Museum and Artist Residence Program has invited international artists to participate. Eight furnished high-ceiling studios are available (each with a private garden) fully equipped with kitchen, bathroom, internet and laundry facilities. They are open to artists working in traditional media or contemporary formats such as video, multimedia presentation, installation, earth art, performance, as well as curators, critics, and researchers. Residencies are broken into three terms. Application deadline for the next round is Term 2 due 23 April 2007 for a residency period 8 May – 8 July 2007. The third term is October – December. For more visit Website: www.nma.org.cn
Call for Applications: ComPeung Artist-in-Residence Program 2007
ComPeung has revamped its artist-in-residence program and website. It is the first non-governmental artist-in-residence program in Thailand and was founded early last year by art professionals who strongly believe that places that defy the mainstream “obsession” with art commerce are needed. ComPeung aspires to be a place that experiments with, and questions the role of art and the interdependence of the artist and socity. Located just outside of Chiang Mai (Doi Saket), ComPeung invites interested artists to submit their proposals for a residency. For more visit www.compeung.org
Call for Applications: De Appel Curatorial Training Program 2007/2008
De Appel is a contemporary Arts Centre, located in the heart of Amsterdam. Over its 25 years it has been operating, it has been running its renowned Curatorial Training Program for ten of those years. In September 2007, the new version of their 8-month long Curatorial Program will start. This year an international selection committee, chaired by Ann Demeester, director of de Appel and Head of the program, selects about 6 participants of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Applications are currently open and close end of January. For more visit www.deappel.nl
Call for Applications: Rijksakademie Residency January – December 2008
The Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam is a working and meeting place for young professional artists from all over the world. Fifty studios are available for resident artists who can work for one or two years on research, projects and production. A work period at the Rijksakademie is most valuable with three to five years professional experience, following an art study program. Each year approximately 25 artists are given residencies. Artists can apply online for residencies in January to December 2008. The deadline is 1 February 2007. For more visit www.rijksakademie.nl
BAROMETER: BIENNALES, FAIRS & AWARDS
While the Cairo Biennale continues through January, we turn to the next on the calendar, the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art scheduled to open 1 March. ‘The main project of the Biennale will be hosted by three exhibition spaces in the Russian capital: the former Lenin Museum, the Schusev State Museum of Architecture and a new space at the TSUM Shopping Center (before it is put into operation). The total exhibition space will be approximately 10,000 sq m. Unlike the First Moscow Biennale, the international team of curators will present a number of shows produced by individuals instead of a common collective project. All projects share the common theme of “Footnotes”, exploring ideas of geopolitics, markets and amnesia, and together will present more than 80 artists.’ (listing courtesy Asian Art Archive calendar) For more visit www.moscowbiennale.ru/english
2006 Taipei Arts Awards
The Taipei Fine Arts Awards, an annual contest held by the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Taipei Fine arts Museum under the supervision of the Taipei City Government… yikes! …gives expression to the vitality and progress of Taiwanese contemporary art. As their press announcement says, “Using a competitive approach, the exhibition is intended to offer a feeling for the pulse of contemporary art, and encourage artists possessing extensive potential, innovation, and vision via the professional museum mechanism.” A total of 22 artists were selected as Taipei Arts Awards finalists for 2006, whose average age is under 30, spanning video, installation, photography, and painting. The winners of The Taipei Fine Arts Awards are Jen Ta-hsien, Chen Chih-chien, Chen Wan-jen, Huang Pei-ying and Hsieh Mu-chi. The finalists are on show at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan until 4 March. For more visit www.tfam.gov.tw
Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artist Awards 2006 Exhibition
The Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artist Awards (DECAA) 2006 is the second installment of the competition organized by Art Scene China and sponsored by Hong Kong’s Dragonair. The top 20 artists were selected from over 1,100 applicants from China and internationally. Chen Jiao, only 23 years old, was awarded the Golden Dragon Award winner and the Silver Dragon Award was awarded to 25-year-old Yang Fan. The Viewers’ Choice Award went to He Juan. An exhibition of the finalist is on view at Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai until 31 January. Visit www.artscenewarehouse.com if you want to check out more hot young things from China…
NEWS: MUSEUMS & MOVEMENT
The latest bible, Indonesian Contemporary Art Now was launched at Nadia Gallery, Jakarta this month, a book by Marc Bollansee and Enin Supriyanto published by SNP Editions. Nadia Gallery have presented an exhibition to coincide with the book launch which continues through 23 January. For more contact www.nadigallery.com
The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum online database
The 2020 permanent collection pieces of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum collected from 21 Asian countries and regions can now be searched through the museum’s new online database. Search the collection at http://faam.city.fukuoka.jp/search/index.php?lang=en
Kidlat Tahimik @ Lopez
The Philippine’s Lopez Memorial Museum’s contribution to the Museum Consortium Project, ‘Zero-In’, will present a talk by Kidlat Tahimik, renowned Filipino filmmaker on 20 January from 2 – 4pm. Tahimik will speak about art and technology and the compatibility of new and old practices. How does one sustain the other and where does this lead us in terms of film practice and education in the future?
Introductory Talks on Arts Administration
Gradually we are seeing more courses and seminars starting to pop up around Asia encouraging professional practice, such as the Ateneo University in the Philippines initiative in partnering with La Trobe and Singapore’s La Salle joining forces with Sotheby’s last year. The latest is Hong Kong Arts Development Council presenting a series of twelve introductory talks from 16 January through February, catering to the arts community and general public. Perhaps with a little too much focus on the performing arts, nevertheless I see this as part of HKs growing push to position itself as a hub of the region, the talks neatly coinciding with the ever-popular cultural festival in January. For more www.hkadc.org.hk
