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At the beginning of each year, ArtAsiaPacific publishes a record of the art world’s development over the past 12 months in over 50 countries, compiled in the annual compendium, the Almanac. This creates a more nuanced understanding of evolving—and sometimes fragile—creative ecologies. Check out contributor Stefan Tarnowski’s entry on Syria, which tracks how the country’s artists and art institutions have survived as the conflict continues.
Elemental Forces
While governments big and small seem to be treading water, writhing in the muck of infighting, the art world is busy and active, creating changes in perception in the lives of those whom it reaches.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh was, up until April 1975, known as the “Pearl of Asia.”
Navigating Laws and Accessibility in Exhibition Practices
I am always mindful of how I identify and present myself in the art world—at the same time, I’m aware of how much certain laws, rules and expectations have shaped me.
Man, Machine or Dragonfly?
The buzz surrounding Xu Bing’s new film Dragonfly Eyes (2017) is that it was created from cutting and compiling more than 10,000 hours of video surveillance footage and is possibly the first such “film” to combine the technologies of over 245 million global surveillance cameras and cloud computing.
Grand Designs
Penelope Seidler
Protruding from a wall in Penelope Seidler’s Sydney penthouse is a three-dimensional painting by American minimalist Frank Stella.
Landscapes Scarred and Renewed
Inas Halabi, Andrew Luk, Kim Heecheon, Karrabing Film Collective and Genevieve Chua
We dream of green and blue, but live in concrete and plastic. Pixel resolutions surpass our eyes’ capacities; screens become the world.
Negotiating the Future
Sixth Asian Art Biennial
In the sixth Asian Art Biennial, titled “Negotiating the Future” and organized at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung, Japanese artist group Chim Pom’s site-specific installation Street(2017) is an asphalt road that runs from the museum’s foyer through the main entrance to the street outside.
Mecca Journeys
Ahmed Mater
Moving between the sacred and secular, Saudi artist Ahmed Mater’s photographs, videos and installation works at the Brooklyn Museum situate the city of Mecca as both a historical pilgrimage site for Muslims and a locus of contemporary urban development.
Want to read more about the 53 countries covered by ArtAsiaPacific?
Purchase Almanac XIII, a compendium of the most significant art events of 2017 and a look ahead at what’s next in 2018.
