Indholdsfortegnelse for 2014 - Special i ArtAsiaPacific

An all-knowing Big Brother has revealed what we really talked about most in 2013. Around the world, whether in Istanbul, Dubai, Christchurch or Seoul—but not Beijing, Damascus, Tehran or Pyongyang—we chatted about our relationships, what recipe we just tried, the cute habits of a new pet and quitting a presumably bad habit, or several. We gossiped about our friends, enemies and “frenemies.” We also talked about the new Pope Francis, the royal baby George, about horrific floods and typhoons the world over—not to mention occasionally dipping into tawdry topics such as the ubiquitous dance phenomenon of “twerking,” courtesy of Miley Cyrus. This is the world according to Facebook, thanks to the 1.19 billion users who freely tap their data into the voracious media giant. The editors at ArtAsiaPacific also data-hoard,…

Illustrations by Choi Kim Hung Shozo Shimamoto ARTIST Shozo Shimamoto, the 85-year-old founding member of the Gutai movement, whose experimental practices aimed at freeing creative expression and breaking down barriers between art and the everyday, died on January 25. Shimamoto is credited with proposing the movement’s name, which translates to “embodiment” or “concrete.” Shimamoto exhibited in the 1998 touring exhibition “Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949–1979,” organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and participated in the 1993, 1999 and 2003 editions of the Venice Biennale. Raukura "Ralph" Hotere PAINTER Raukura “Ralph” Hotere, one of New Zealand’s leading abstract artists, well known for his enigmatic, black-painted surfaces striped with luminous lines of color, passed away on February 24, at the age of 81. His black paintings…

Leaving the confines of a white-walled gallery space can be a tricky business—or a great opportunity for the poetic. An example of the latter, Shilpa Gupta’s project I Live Under Your Sky Too (2013) blinked out the titular words in Hindi, Urdu and English along the Carter Road promenade in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. In London, Shanghai-based artist Zhang Enli painted the interior of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Theatre with swirling autumnal hues, underscoring social changes in China. Public artworks also serve as memorials. In New York, Imran Qureshi painted the floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 750-square-meter rooftop garden with ornamental motifs above a splattering of blood-red paint. Anthropomorphic sculptures by Kalliopi Lemos pointed to gender inequalities, and were aptly displayed in the abandoned Ioakimion Greek…

Touring New York, London, Hong Kong, Geneva and Doha is the world’s largest balloon, created by an in-the-know cartel of Americans, French, Italians, Swiss, Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese, Iranians and Arabs. Its immensity once buoyed prices for artworks across the board; today its achievements are blandly dependent on the hammer prices of lone prestige pieces. For instance, Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream (1895), sold at Sotheby’s New York in May 2012 for USD 120 million, was outperformed just a year later at Christie’s New York when Acquavella Galleries, bidding on behalf of an anonymous buyer, bagged a “rare” Francis Bacon triptych of his friend, the painter Lucian Freud, for USD 142 million. For auctioneers and moguls, ten-million-dollar increments are the new norm. To “ordinary” collectors and dealers—and particularly to artists, for…

A Clubby World The art world has plenty of closely guarded doors, but the hardest to break into stand before the top art fairs, each of which cost galleries many tens of thousands of dollars to participate in. The pinnacle is shared by three: The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF Maastricht), Art Basel and Frieze Art Fair, all of which have adopted expansionist policies. TEFAF (3/15–24), which embraces the best art forms, from all eras, and from all over the world, is elegance incarnate. Located in a remote corner of the Netherlands over three hours’ drive from Paris—the easiest way to get there is to aim your private jet at Maastricht, where the runway greets the highest concentration of chartered aircraft in the world during the ten-day gala—TEFAF requires participating…

Lee Mingwei’s projects are always personal, both to him and to others. He first garnered critical attention for The Sleeping Project (2000), in which he invited a member of the public to spend the night with him in the gallery and leave behind an object in the space in the morning. Lee returned to the idea of what artifacts and stories we bring to—and leave behind in—a social situation in “A Quartet and A Living Room” (6/28–7/27), held at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester, where he invited hosts—ranging from a film buff to a knitting collective—to occupy the living room with their collections and engage with visitors as they arrived. An emigrant from Taiwan to the United States as a teenager, Lee often revisits memories associated with his Chinese heritage.…

During Documenta 13, in June 2012, there sat in Kassel’s Karlsaue Park a small hut with a Japanese snack-bar sign and an upturned kayak on its roof. Visitors could press their faces against the windows of Shinro Ohtake’s Mon Cheri: A Self-Portrait as a Scrapped Shed (2012), peering inside at a huge suspended scrapbook, walls plastered with magazine cuttings, a deconstructed guitar and disassembled bicycle parts. Periodically, steam escaped and guitar riffs blared out over the park from loudspeakers on the roof. With this commission for Documenta 13 and a prime showcase at the 2013 Venice Biennale (6/1–11/24), Shinro Ohtake has gone from cult collage artist and noise musician to an internationally recognized figure. Yet, Ohtake is not being discovered by international curators for the first time. He was the…

Afghanistan faces an uncertain future as it struggles to rebuild its decimated economy and social structures following decades of military occupation. The country is preparing for 2014, which will see national presidential elections, withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force and the handover of all combat missions to Afghan armed forces. Three decades of conflict have debilitated the local cultural landscape. During the Taliban’s rule (1996–2001), the National Museum of Afghanistan, which once housed important antiquities collections, was repeatedly bombed and looted. In July 2012, the British Museum assisted in the return of 843 stolen artifacts, including first century CE Begram ivory carvings. The uncertain political situation has had a great impact on the development of Afghanistan’s art community, which has rebuilt itself slowly over the last decade with the…

Ilham Aliyev, the country’s long-standing president and son of the previous strongman, was again returned to office in elections held in October; this result came as no surprise since the election results were accidentally released before voting began. Despite recent economic growth, there have been scant improvements on human rights and severe restrictions on press freedom remain. The country remains in conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh territories, inhibiting collaborative regional events. Azeri cultural activities are centered in the capital Baku and receive support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, supplemented by the regional NGO, the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation. Applied arts and crafts still dominate the country’s state-run museums, including the Rustam Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Museum of Art. Other state-affiliated organizations such as the Vajiha Samadova Exhibition…

In July, the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan witnessed a major development in its newly democratic government when the opposition leader, Tshering Tobgay, was chosen as prime minister in the country’s second national elections. The new administration has announced that it will abandon Bhutan’s signature “gross national happiness” measure, promising instead to tackle the country’s growing national debt and high unemployment through more pragmatic solutions. While cultural preservation was a key focus of the previous government, its successor has proposed changes that are geared toward greater urbanization. The development of Bhutan’s small contemporary art scene still relies heavily on private funding, but there is hope for change with the dawn of new leadership. The leading venue for contemporary artists is the nonprofit Voluntary Artists’ Studio Thimphu (VAST), formed in 1998 by…

The first year of Xi Jinping’s presidency of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) brought a sharp escalation of tensions with maritime neighbors—particularly Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan—over competing territorial claims on islands in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea. As China’s economic growth slowed slightly in 2013, expectations that Xi would make economic and political reforms, emphasizing anticorruption and the rule of law, were not fully met. However, in November, the government began to ease its longstanding one-child policy and promised to close its “re-education through labor” camps, established in the late 1950s for political prisoners. Yet pro-reform groups, government critics and journalists continue to be widely persecuted, even as certain social problems are increasingly difficult to conceal. Tainted-food scandals and oppressive levels of air and water…

Since emerging from a decade of volatile, totalitarian statehood, Georgia has embraced democracy and a growing economy. This transitional period has also birthed an interesting contemporary art scene, inspired by modern-day political and social upheavals, as well as the long history and deep cultural traditions of the country. In October 2012, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia announced the first-ever open call for curatorial proposals for the 55th Venice Biennale’s Georgia Pavilion (6/1–11/24). The winning project, “Kamikaze Loggia,” curated by Joanna Warsza from Poland, comprised of a shanty-like structure atop an old building in the Arsenale, modeled after vernacular extensions added to Soviet buildings in Georgia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Pavilion hosted works by sculptor Thea Djordjadze, architecture-researcher and artist Nikoloz Lutidze, and…

The world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia is also home to Christian, Hindu and Buddhist communities, 300 ethnicities and 700 languages, all spread over thousands of islands. A prosperous, secular republic, Indonesia is struggling to combat corruption, unemployment and a rise in right-wing fundamentalism. Artist communities, found mainly in the cities of Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bandung, and on the island of Bali, offer younger practitioners a chance to express their views and concerns, although most art remains a luxury pursuit for the elite. Artists contend with a number of censorship laws, including a 2008 antipornography bill that was widely contested due to its vague provisions. Another law, passed in 2009, prohibits depictions of drug use and gambling, and requires filmmakers to have their scripts approved by the Ministry of Culture…

In 2013, journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid went from writing headlines to making them. His newly formed centrist party Yesh Atid (“There Is a Future”) placed second in January elections, winning 19 of the 120 seats in parliament. This success was largely attributed to the party’s tactics, which keyed into the 2012 social protests, appealing to the neglected middle classes with the slogan, “Where’s the money?” An unexpected alliance with the nationalist Jewish Home party within the governing coalition—based on their shared disdain for ultra-Orthodox entitlements, such as exemption from military service—broke prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-time alliance with the extreme religious parties. In his new role as finance minister, Lapid’s popularity suffered in May when his austerity budget hiked taxes significantly. Ein Hod, an artist village in the north, even installed…

Ethnically and religiously diverse Kazakhstan facescontinuing challenges under president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s first and only post-Soviet leader. Despite his self-proclaimed success in ensuring the stable conditions necessary for economic progress, a crushing victory in the 2011 presidential election was followed by serious disturbances in the west of the country, and criticism of his oligarchic practices is growing. Although Kazakhstan has a rich cultural tradition in applied arts and music, fine arts were only introduced under direct Soviet rule, which lasted from the late 1930s to 1991. Today, the government offers only limited support for contemporary artists, who largely exhibit abroad. The Soros Center for Contemporary Art, the primary organization for artists, closed in 2009, limiting the domestic art scene’s activities. The biggest art institution in the cultural capital of…

The economic policies that kick-started the rapid growth of South Korea, now the most Web-connected nation in the world, were formulated under the autocratic rule of Park Chung-hee in the 1960s and 1970s before democracy arrived in the late 1980s. But the country’s fraught relationship with North Korea—the two sides are technically still at war—periodically threatens to derail its stability. Relations between the two Koreas wavered following a series of military clashes in 2012 and North Korea’s third nuclear test in February, prior to the election of Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-hye. Though the administration has changed, much of the arts infrastructure installed by the previous government has been kept in place—one exception being the new cultural minister, Yoo Jin-ryong. In fact, “Prospering Culture” is one of the four…

One of the few remaining one-party communist states, Laos lags behind its regional neighbors in infrastructure and services. To spur economic development, the government has embarked on plans to build a series of dams along the Mekong River to produce electricity, mostly for export to Thailand, but those downstream in neighboring Cambodia and Vietnam have raised environmental and social concerns. The government controls the media, and the majority of cultural funding is devoted to the preservation of Buddhist heritage, but Laos is increasing support for artists. The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism’s five-year development plan promotes traditional culture and artistic trends. The capital Vientiane is home to the National Institute of Fine Arts (NIFA), which operates additional schools in Luang Prabang and Savannakhet. The Institute houses the Lao Fine…

One of Southeast Asia’s most culturally diverse and prosperous nations, Malaysia has seen tensions in recent years over reforms to social policies that privilege ethnic Malays. This year, political turmoil followed the reelection of the Barisan Nasional party, with mass protests contesting the veracity of the results. However, there has been considerable support for the visual arts in recent years, including the 2011 National Visual Arts Development Board Bill, which encourages bilateral activities with foreign countries and conservation at art institutions. The National Visual Arts Gallery hosted “Absurd(C)ity” (7/1–31), an exhibition of fantastical urban visions drawn largely from its permanent collection (6/1–12/31), as well as an extensive retrospective of the late Chinese painter and scholar Huang Yao (7/21–10/5). The Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery presented “Fabrics of Society”…

The 607 vastly dispersed islands that comprise the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) form a sovereign state in a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States. The biggest challenge facing FSM’s American-style government—currently under the leadership of president Emanuel Mori—is ending economic dependence on annual US compact grants by 2024, when the COFA expires. Cultural preservation activities are strongest in the state of Yap, once the seat of a premodern thalassocracy. Aided by a EUR 60,000 grant from the French government, the Yap State Historic Preservation Office and Yap Visitors Bureau collaborated in constructing the Yap Living History Museum, in the state capital Colonia, modeled after the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia. The museum, which opened the first of several planned, traditionally styled buildings in 2011, is…

Nauru had the world’s second-highest per capita GDP until the 1980s thanks to a century of phosphate mining that devastated the local ecosystem and left only the steadily eroding coast of the 21-square-kilometer island inhabitable. The world’s smallest republic now depends on foreign aid and the scant revenue from its depleted mines. In 2012, in a bid to secure economic aid from Australia, Nauru reopened its offshore processing facilities for asylum seekers under Australia’s revived “Pacific Solution” policy. Furthermore, the island continues to struggle with political deadlock. Traditional Nauruan culture suffered during the phosphate bonanza, with most indigenous crafts all but abandoned. Today, a number of small handicraft shops, in addition to the Arts and Crafts Center operated by the National Tourism Office, preserve the country’s traditional art forms. Nauru’s…

Aotearoa New Zealand is a bicultural nation that is home to an active art scene made up of residents with diverse Pacific, Asian and European heritages. In addition to indigenous Māori art, New Zealand is the center for contemporary art from the Pacific, as it has a history of migration from many Pacific Islands. New Zealand’s economy has achieved some limited growth of late, but its second-most-populous city, Christchurch, is still rebuilding after two major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Most arts funding comes from the national arts council, Creative New Zealand, which distributes an annual average of NZD 4.5 million (USD 3.8 million) for visual arts-related projects, organizations, publications, spaces, research and travel. Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand, and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (AAG)…

A relative newcomer on the Gulf’s contemporary art scene, Oman is home to a nascent yet traditionalist visual arts community. The visible growth in the arts is a corollary to the country’s general development. The Sultanate already has a strong reputation for supporting music, crystallized by the opening of the Royal Opera House in Muscat in 2011. As the government prepares for the initiation of a national museum in June 2014, community-based initiatives and nonprofit organizations are still few and far between. Established in 1993, the Omani Society for Fine Arts is supported by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and by the General Authority for Youth Activities, Sports and Culture. With its generous, sprawling space, the society organizes educational programs to encourage development in the arts, and also sent…

On July 29, direct peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders resumed in Washington, DC, after languishing for several years in the background of the Arab Spring and the worsening crisis in Syria. The two sides negotiated a framework agreement for a two-state endgame, followed by gradual implementation. However, repeated announcements of more illegal Israeli settlement homes have stalled negotiations. Palestinian residents in the West Bank, now in their 65th year of Israeli occupation, remain subject to settler violence, hostile incursions by the Israeli military and increasing obstacles to movement between towns. Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza—whose Hamas-led government was not invited to the US-brokered negotiations—remains dire. Following the military coup that deposed Muhammad Morsi, Egypt, in coordination with Israel, has repeatedly closed the border and blocked the import or…

The world’s biggest buyer in the art market by value, the Gulf emirate of Qatar established itself on the international cultural map with the inauguration of the IM Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art in 2008, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in 2009 and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in 2010. In June 2013, the ruling emir abdicated in favor of his 33-year-old son. The new emir’s sister, Sheikha al-Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), wields the world’s largest acquisitions budget. The QMA oversees museum building and collection acquisitions, while the National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage administers cultural development. In June, Mathaf announced a new director, Moroccan-French curator Abdellah Karroum. The first exhibition under his stewardship was the controversial solo show…

As it approaches its 50th year since independence, Singapore is now attempting to position itself as the region’s cultural and artistic hub—despite scant progress in loosening its strict political and moral censorship laws, and having the tightest media censorship in the world among developed economies. Government-run arts institutions were reshuffled in late 2012, and so too were their priorities, although bureaucratic vagaries prevented a coherent sense of direction emerging. As art is increasingly bound by government purse strings, there is concern that it has become more of a commodity than a cultural asset. Furthermore, the government’s tendency to micromanage is seen by many as narrowing the potential for organic growth. The newly re-created Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) oversees the National Heritage Board (NHB), the National Art Gallery…

The national conflict in Syria, which began with a bloody crackdown on peaceful protests in southern Dara’a back in 2011, continued to worsen, with president Bashar al-Assad’s regime reportedly using chemical weapons on its citizens in August. The country remains under siege and is partitioned between rebel- and regime-controlled areas, although the presence of global jihadist fighters is increasingly dividing the opposition. In the capital Damascus, the National Museum has a strong modern art collection, but does not exhibit contemporary works. Other regime-controlled institutions, such as the Damascus Opera House (Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts), run skeleton programs in what appears to be an attempt to maintain a facade of normalcy. The nonprofit AllArtNow, one of the few initiatives that held cultural programs in Damascus in 2011 and 2012,…

In November, after a relatively stable half-term in office, the Yingluck Shinawatra administration encountered the worst political turmoil since 2010. The national crisis began with a monthlong protest against a proposed blanket amnesty bill that would have exonerated Yingluck’s brother and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is currently in exile after being overthrown in a military coup in 2006. The protests gradually accelerated into violent riots between pro- and anti-government supporters, which killed four and injured more than 100 people. Anti-government protestors have since carried out mass demonstrations, occupied several government buildings and created an impasse that could lead to the dissolution of the government. In arts and culture, programs and events focusing on the ASEAN Economic Community—the proposed economic integration of ten Southeast Asian countries by 2015—was organized…

Since Kurbanguly Berdymuhamedov became president in 2006, natural-gas- rich Turkmenistan has gradually opened up to international trade. Although the country is home to a rich tradition of weaving and jewelry-making, in the post-Soviet-era Turkmenistan’s artists have been instrumentalized in the service of the personality cults that surround the country’s autocratic leaders. In June 2012, an exhibition of sculptures by Erdem Tsybikjapov, the Russian cultural attaché in the capital Ashgabat, marked the first time that nude figures had been permitted to go on view. Travel abroad by Turkmen artists is largely restricted, leading to their ongoing exclusion from most regional and international exhibitions, including the Central Asia Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (6/4–11/23). Art activity is confined almost entirely to Ashgabat. The country’s main arts venue is the Museum of…

Despite a rich artistic history, Uzbekistan struggles to escape the legacy of its Soviet past, in political, economic and cultural spheres. The art scene suffered a major blow on November 21 when Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the country’s president, Islam Karimov, and chairperson of the main funding body for the arts, the Forum of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan Foundation (Fund Forum), announced that its activities would be halted temporarily. Many assume this is due to the political maneuvering surrounding presidential succession—Karimova is seen as a potential candidate. Since its establishment in 2004, the Fund Forum has organized the Tashkent Biennale—the country’s sole contemporary art event—and other state-endorsed exhibitions. These remain heavily censored and restricted to the capital, Tashkent, under Karimova’s patronage. In 2013, the seventh Tashkent Biennale, (10/22–27) took…

Home to an al-Qaeda insurgency, southern separatists and northern Shiite Muslim rebels, the Yemeni state remains fragile, further hobbled by widespread poverty, drought and US military drone strikes. Yet its political transition to democracy is proceeding: the National Dialogue Conference, comprising members from all parts of society, kicked off in March. Located in the Old City of Sana’a, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the National Museum houses antiquities. In calmer times, the Bab al-Yemen Gallery exhibits colorful paintings by founder Mazher Nizar and others. Another prominent painter, Fuad al-Futaih, runs Gallery No. 1 and the National Centre for Arts. Two new venues have opened in the last year. On the southern outskirts of Sana’a, the Raufa Hassan Gallery, serves as a salon for intelligentsia and displays works by local artists,…

The year 2013 was a period of consolidation for the contemporary art scene in India, which applied not only to the physicality of the gallery infrastructure but also its programming. The year has been exceptionally good for a few and a point of reckoning for many within the community. With the slowing Indian economy and the depreciating rupee, there were signals of a rally against the current trough of the contemporary Indian art market. Several galleries moved to smaller spaces and focused on tighter programs; others decided to work with fewer international fairs, giving more attention to their home programs. This resulted in galleries hosting dedicated solo exhibitions. Overall, it was an excellent year to feel the pulse of the scene and see some top-quality shows. The year’s most viewed…

When I was asked to write this essay it was difficult to decide what to say, because so much of my work is both directly and indirectly related to many facets of my life. During 2013 I traveled to over ten different locations, including Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States—living out of a suitcase, staying in hotels and working from project to project that ranged from being an exhibiting artist to a visiting critic, with bouts of homesickness and exhaustion in between. Where shall I begin? I remember arriving in Ottawa, Canada, in May, after a 24-hour flight from Auckland, to take part in the opening reception of the Sakahàn International Indigenous Art quinquennial, happening that day at the National Gallery of Canada. The only way I could get…

3/13-5/13 "Re:emerge, Towards a New Cultural Cartography" Curator of the 11th edition of the Sharjah Biennial, Tokyo-based Yuko Hasegawa based her exhibition on the anachronistic idea of the courtyard as a semipublic place for resting and conversation—an architectural hallmark of both West and East Asian cultures. Selecting more than 100 artists purportedly representing the “Global South,” Hasegawa filled the Sharjah Art Foundation’s five resplendent new spaces, as well as its existing venues, various public squares and a bank building slated for demolition, with projects that included more than 35 new commissions and architectural installations. A delightful variety of musical and sound-based works brought pathos and humor, surpassing the hackneyed curatorial concept. On the opening days, Wael Shawky filled a corridor with local workers singing excerpts from the curatorial statement translated…

Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris Brook Andrew is a traveler and collector of artifacts from early anthropological studies—many of which are tainted by colonialism and theories of racial supremacy. For “Anatomy of a Body Record: Beyond Tasmania,” Andrew created a large glass-shelved vitrine that resembles a Wunderkammer, containing a human skull and historical books, papers and artifacts relating to the legacy of colonization. The glass structure is appended with an immense wooden gramophone that, symbolically, amplifies the lost voice of the skull within, or serves as a communication device between the living and the dead. On the walls were 52 portraits of “unknown people” from communities around the world, each printed on a shimmering silver surface that gave their features a cinematic, almost Warholian appearance. HGM Taymour Grahne Gallery New York…

Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party hasn’t softened its chokehold on freedom of expression, and self-censorship remains de rigueur on the mainland. At the major retrospective of sculptor Wang Keping at Beijing’s Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), which opened in September, the artist’s iconic 1979 carved-wood head with a plugged mouth, entitled Silence, was notably absent. Citing the government’s recent crackdown on online content, UCCA director Philip Tinari and Wang himself believed that the entire show would have been put at risk by the work’s inclusion. Also in the realm of strategic (self-)censorship, Andy Warhol’s iconic silkscreens of Mao Zedong were conspicuously missing from a Warhol Foundation-organized touring exhibition that stopped at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in September. Similarly, Anselm Kiefer’s painting…

Images of collapsed buildings marred the year 2013. In April, there was the implosion of the Rana Plaza garment-factory building, outside of Dhaka, which killed more than 1,100 workers. In November, the world watched as Typhoon Haiyan wrought devastation on the Philippines; thousands died and millions were displaced and made homeless as whole villages were flattened by the storm. Deflation was another visual thread—particularly on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. M+’s amusingly conceived “temporary sculpture park,” “Mobile M+: Inflation!,” which opened in late April in West Kowloon, featured Jeremy Deller’s scale-replica of Stonehenge as a bouncing castle, Paul McCarthy’s 15.5-meter-tall pile of excrement and Cao Fei’s pig-shaped funhouse. The buoyant works struggled to stay in shape during weeks of heavy rain and wind. Meanwhile, in May, an unaffiliated but much-beloved giant…

It was a year of new prizes, and new winners. The first edition of the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award—this time focused on “greater China”—was awarded at Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum to Hong Kong conceptual artist Kwan Sheung Chi, earning the 33-year-old USD 49,000. Kwan beat out several better-known contemporaries including Lee Kit, Shanghai photo duo Birdhead, Hsu Chia-Wei and Hu Xiangqian. Hosted by the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) in Beijing, the inaugural Multitude Art Prize winners were Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, the Turkish collective Ha Za Vu Zu, Korean duo Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho, New Delhi-based researchers Raqs Media Collective and Yao Jui-chung of Taiwan; each received USD 20,000 and an exhibition at UCCA in late April. On January 10, the first Han Nefkens Foundation BACC Award of…

As arts and culture directives gain priority across the globe, new venues are upping the ante on this 21st-century “arts race.” In November, Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art inaugurated its new branch in Seoul with a strong series of programs including special commissions by Do-Ho Suh and U-Ram Choe. The 52,100-square-meter, USD 230 million complex has been restored from the former Defense Security Command compound. Earlier in the year, on July 15, in South Korea’s second-largest city, the Busan Museum of Art announced its plan to build a new annex dedicated to the Korean-born artist Lee Ufan, who was a founding member of the avant-garde group Mono-ha in the late 1960s. Japanese architects were active this year, including Sou Fujimoto, who unveiled the Serpentine Gallery’s temporary Pavilion in June,…

Each year, in the “Five Plus One” section of the Almanac, ArtAsiaPacific’s editors select five artists who have had an outstanding year, plus one rising star who is poised for a breakout year ahead. In our selection process, we consider artists at all stages of their careers: those who have won major international prizes, held solo exhibitions at leading institutions and participated in major festivals. Visibility and prestige are important criteria, yet some of our choices run counter to trends in the commercial sector. Instead, we pay tribute to those artists whose work has left an indelible impression on the places where it has been shown and on the communities from which they originate, as well as to those artists who have come to define new currents in art-making practice.…

Every evening from February 16 to March 9, 2013, a ten-meter-wide billboard blinked out the words “I live under your sky too” in English, Hindi and Urdu along a promenade in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. Commissioned by Creative India and the Bandra West Residents Association, the illuminated sentence was Shilpa Gupta’s tribute to the spirit of coexistence in an area home to Christians, Muslims and Hindus. For more than a decade, Gupta has created artworks that address ideas of cultural, ethnic and religious difference, drawn from people’s perceptions and experiences. In a solo exhibition at Brisbane’s MAAP Space (7/26–8/30), her video projection of simple line drawings, One Hundred Hand Drawn Maps of India (2007–12), revealed the mental image Indians have of their homeland. Similarly, 1:14.9 (2012) is a ball…

Art is often an exercise in mutual flattery, both parties confirming the shared yet unfathomable depth of their aesthetic and intellectual understanding. Perhaps forgivably, few artists risk inserting grit into this exchange, yet the Berlin-based, British-Japanese artist Simon Fujiwara is one. In layered, autobiographical installations, he aims his sharp, satirical eye not just outward at society or his peers but, with equal acerbity, inward at himself. The niggling uncertainty about whether his work is honest, or even serious—even when personally revelatory—makes the encounter between art and viewer an uneasy one. Did, as Fujiwara claims in his performance-installation The Mirror Stage (2009–12), a prepubescent encounter with a rainbow-striped abstraction by Patrick Heron really reveal both his own homosexuality and his métier as an artist? Yet Fujiwara’s barbed intrusions into the complicities…

The former Soviet state of Armenia holds an influential position internationally on account of the nation’s rich culture and history, as well as the reach of its diaspora. Within the region, however, relations remain tense with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory. In September, Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev pardoned an Azeri soldier who had been sentenced to life in prison for killing an Armenian military officer in Hungary, causing protests to erupt in Armenia. International mediators have expressed concern that this decision will set back peace negotiations. The capital Yerevan has a strong Soviet ethos, but its cultural foundations are improving. The National Gallery of Armenia presented “The Arutchyan Anniversary Exhibition” (10/6–31) in celebration of Mikael, Sergey and Ruben Sergey Arutchyan, a three-generation family of Armenian graphic artists. Yerevan’s main…

A small archipelago near the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom of Bahrain has experienced continuous instability since 2011, as tensions between the Shia minority, democracy advocates and the government erupted into mass protests. These demonstrations were met with violence on the part of the security forces, but a number of reforms stipulated in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Enquiry (2011), set up by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, have been implemented. While instability has subsided, protests are recurring. A new session of the National Dialogue, seeking a compromise between the government and the opposition, occurred in December. Bahrain has long been a pioneering Gulf country in the arts, establishing painting classes in 1917. The Annual Fine Arts Exhibition—the second oldest in the region—has been held for four decades.…

Courtesy of its oil industry, citizens in Brunei enjoy an impressive standard of living, but with those reserves dwindling, the government is finally pursuing plans to diversify the economy. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports organized “Big Ones Little Ones” (1/19–2/19), with more than 300 works by disadvantaged people from 27 countries, including Brunei, at the Waterfront Art Gallery in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. The collaboration with Trish Amichi, founder of the “Big Ones Little Ones” visual arts and literacy program in Australia, highlighted the nurturing of visual and verbal communication skills through creativity. The ministry also operates the Brunei Young Artists Space for local art activities and exhibitions. The result of a new museum partnership with the Netherlands, the exhibition “Borneo Cultures in Brunei and Dutch Collections”…

The youngest nation in the Asia-Pacific region, Timor-Leste, better known as East Timor, is little more than a decade old, having won independence from Indonesia in 2002. Over the last five years, it has diversified its economy and reduced human-rights violations. East Timor still has limited cultural funding, although international organizations, such as AusAID, UNESCO and Timor Aid, organize and sponsor events. In the capital Dili, the heart of East Timor’s contemporary art scene is the nonprofit Arte Moris, founded in 2003 by Swiss couple Gabriela and Luca Gansser. The art school, cultural center and artist association work closely with the community, offering free art education to Timorese youth, hosting lectures and staging exhibitions with the support of government and private donors. This year, the institution coordinated “Myths & Murals,”…

Despite a rebound in economic growth—estimated at over three percent for 2013—Hong Kong has displayed signs of nervousness of late. As a Special Administrative Region of China, progress toward resolving its political future remains tortuous, and there are worries that its importance as a trading and financial center will be undercut by economic, and possibly social, liberalization in China. Shanghai’s free-trade zone is being watched closely as a guide to things to come. Some of this disquiet has spilled over into an art scene intent on cementing its position as the art hub for Asia. Following a staid but successful first edition, Art Basel Hong Kong (5/23–26) was pronounced the continent’s leading art fair, and the presence of international galleries and auction houses has reinforced Hong Kong’s position as the…

After a four-year period of political crisis and despair, Iranians finally managed to elect a new, moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, in June 2013. Though this has brought a breeze of hope and optimism, the Islamic Republic of Iran still has a long way to go to become a socially and culturally open society. Iran maintains a strict policy of censorship when it comes to depictions of nudity, women without veils and particularly antigovernment sentiment, which can lead to imprisonment. Opened in 1977, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) houses an impressive cache of modernist works, including masterpieces by Monet, Pollock, Warhol, Bacon and Picasso, estimated to be worth as much as USD 5 billion. This year, TMoCA hosted the well-organized “A Retrospective Exhibition of Works of Saqqakhana Movement” (8/20–11/12),…

Newly reappointed prime minister Shinzo Abe coined the term “Abenomics” to refer to his government’s aggressive policies to revive Japan’s stagnant economy. In September, Tokyo was chosen by the International Olympic Committee to host the 2020 Summer Games, which is also expected to provide an economic boost. Such news was, however, overshadowed by societal issues. Problems persisted at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, with continuing radiation leakages and water contamination. The US military’s deployment of additional aircraft to its base in Okinawa, without the consent of local citizens, incited a national debate on Japan’s democracy—even as tensions with China over uninhabited islands in the South China Sea ratcheted up sharply. The Japanese art world has reflected on this political climate in a variety of social commentary projects. Art Tower Mito,…

Low-lying Kiribati—a string of 33 coral atolls—is, along with Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, likely to become uninhabitable in the near future due to rising sea levels. The government approved a plan to buy up to 5,000 acres of land in Fiji to relocate part of its population if necessary—a cost diverted from other areas of public spending, including cultural funding. In October, the issue resurfaced when a Kiribatian man made a bid for “climate change asylum” in New Zealand. The Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs operates Kiribati’s primary cultural institutes, located on the Tarawa atoll: the National Cultural Centre and Museum (Te Umwanibong) in Bikenibeu and the recently opened National Art Gallery in Bairiki. In the local artists’ area of the National Cultural Center and Museum is a…

Home to a vibrant art scene in the 1960s and 1970s, Kuwait was ahead of other Arab nations when it created a National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters in 1974. Despite little state or private funding for artists, and no ambitious museums, the art scene has picked up momentum recently with new spaces showing work by a younger generation. The royal family supports various projects. The National Museum , under renovation for many years, will use two buildings to display work from the al-Sabah Collection of Islamic art—currently displayed by the cultural organization Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah. The Museum of Modern Art has a permanent collection of Kuwaiti and Arab modernists but rarely organizes temporary shows. Instead, the primary independent organization supporting artists is the Kuwait Arts Association, which held…

In the absence of governmental support, and with political tensions still lingering since its civil war (1975–90), the revival of Lebanon’s art scene has been spearheaded by a small group of resilient artists and organizers. Due to their work, Lebanon has emerged as a key player in the regional art scene since the mid-1990s. In recent years, the arts in Beirut have seen growth in local philanthropy and international funding. Despite complaints of a glass ceiling, younger artists and curators continued to benefit from institutional and infrastructural developments in 2013. The only art museum in Lebanon, the private Nicolas Sursock Museum, which holds a collection of modern and Islamic art, has been closed since 2008 for refurbishment. Its supposedly annual “Salon d’Automne,” once an important vehicle for artists to show…

The low-lying island chain of the Maldives has been rocked by recent political instability, and the turmoil has spilled over into the art community. Employees of the Maldives National Museum, located in Malé, were outraged when its relics were rearranged for a state-sponsored reception in July—a petition in protest was signed by director Ali Waheed among others. Also in Malé is the National Centre for the Arts (NCA), which promotes Maldivian cultural events and administers the National Art Gallery (NAG). In March, in collaboration with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Cultural Centre and the Maldives Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the NCA organized the SAARC Artists’ Camp and Exhibition (3/25–28), at which artists from eight countries participated in workshops on the Kuda Bandos islands. The NAG…

Nestled between the industrial powerhouses of Russia and China, Mongolia has a strong economy based on itsraw materials, and increasingly on tourism. The ministry in charge of tourism also oversees Mongolia’s cultural development, meaning that the country’s small art community, centered in the capital Ulaanbaatar, primarily relies on support from corporate and private sources. The leading NGO, Arts Council of Mongolia (ACM), focuses on cultural advocacy, education and heritage-conservation. It also runs the Red Ger Art Gallery, which this year hosted conceptual sculptures by Davaa Dorjderem (9/18–30). Khan Bank, an ACM supporter, also hosts shows in the gallery. Mongolia has two state-run museums that periodically host contemporary exhibitions: the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery (MNMAG) and the National Museum of Mongolia. In partnership with Arts Council Korea, MNMAG hosted “Ger…

Political turmoil has roiled this small Himalayan nation in the five years since the abolition of the monarchy. In general elections held in November, the Maoist party that had dominated since 2008 suffered a huge defeat—as the country is still hobbled by electricity shortages and the lack of jobs beyond those provided by agriculture, forcing young people to find work abroad and send remittances. Instead of accepting defeat, Maoist leader Prachanda alleged that there had been a widespread conspiracy of vote-rigging and promised to launch a campaign to destabilize the country. With the government a revolving door of leaders, the small but growing art scene relies primarily on private support. The main arts organization, the Nepal Association of Fine Arts (NAFA), is run by the Department of Arts and Crafts…

The tiny island of Niue is an autonomous protectorate of New Zealand, and all Niueans are given joint citizenship. The population is now less than 1,300 and has been in decline since 2004 when Cyclone Heta ravaged the island’s infrastructure, including its National Museum and the Huanaki Cultural Centre. This year, the country hosted the third edition of its biennial Niue: Arts and Cultural Festival (4/19–26), for which some of its eminent artists working abroad, including New Zealand-based artist-poet John Pule, returned to home soil. Pule’s eight large-scale canvases were the centerpiece of the weeklong event in what was the artist’s largest exhibition in his birthplace to date. New Zealand is home for the majority of émigrés, and this is where most Niuean contemporary art is being made. The fifth…

Following the victory of Nawaz Sharif’s party in May elections, Pakistan witnessed its first democratic handover of power in its 66-year history, ushering in a new era of hope in a country racked with corruption, poverty and the violence and chaos caused by the spread of the Taliban insurgency in recent years. Advances in the art scene are set against Pakistan’s struggle to establish itself as a truly democratic state in which constitutional guarantees such as freedom of speech are upheld. In past years, many institutions, such as the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), have banned performances deemed too controversial. The PNCA devotes much of its funding to projects promoting the country’s heritage in poetry and theater, as well as fine arts, and also oversees the country’s only…

The most populous island nation in Melanesia is highly diverse, with more than 750 languages and 1,000 ethnic groups. Despite strong recent economic growth—driven by resource extraction—the low rate of human development in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is abetted by corruption, poor governance and rapid population growth. State infrastructure and support for the visual arts are meager, with most artists practicing self-reliance. The National Museum and Art Gallery in the capital Port Moresby is a repository of 55,000 anthropological and archaeological artifacts and 7,000 contemporary works, and is led by Cambridge-educated director Andrew Moutu. The 11th “Luk Save Art Show” (9/21–22) at Port Moresby’s Crowne Plaza Hotel comprised around 200 artworks, ranging from drawings, paintings and sculpture to pottery and, for the first year, photography, by more than 56 artists.…

The first Polynesian nation to attain independence, in 1962, Samoa is a steadfast defender of its traditional identity. Despite the islands’ lean economy, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture enjoys popular support. In 2011, the ministry opened the National Culture Centre, which oversees the country’s museums. Aside from its regular showcasing of cultural artifacts, this year the Museum of Samoa in the capital Apia, on Upolu Island, hosted “Road of Gratitude” (9/2–16), featuring the work of students from the Leulumoega Fou School of Fine Arts. The Leulumoega Fou School of Fine Arts, in Apia, is the country’s sole institution providing tertiary arts education. Apia’s nonprofit Tiapapata Art Center offers community workshops in printmaking, ceramics and wood and bone carving. The National University of Samoa, in collaboration with the arts…

The population of the Solomon Islands is a culturally rich mix of Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian people, speaking a total of more than 70 languages. The country is slowly recovering from a five-year civil war (1998–2003), which destabilized the government and crippled the economy. In February, a tsunami swept over several of the low-lying islands’ shores, causing widespread damage and death. In Honiara, the Solomon Islands National Museum, in cooperation with the Solomon Islands Artist Association, organizes the occasional contemporary art exhibition. In May, one of the association’s members, 29-year-old Fred Oge, was awarded the USD 10,000 Youth Award from the Solomon Islands government in recognition of his work, which has been exhibited internationally. This year, Oge and fellow Solomon Island artist Brian Feni were sponsored by Pacific Trade &…

When Esther Lu, curator of Taiwan’s 2013 Venice Biennale Pavilion, announced that for the first time ever it would feature non-Taiwanese artists, nationalistic grumbling quickly ensued. Editorials debated the Taiwanese-ness of the exhibition and what sort of nationality quotas, if any, should be in place. Lu’s plan for the Pavilion was allowed to go forward, and three artists were featured: Czech Republic’s Kateřina Šedá, German-Taiwanese Bernd Behr and Taiwan’s Hsu Chia-wei. Its theme, “This Is Not a Taiwan Pavilion,” was a comment on Taiwan’s official exclusion from the Biennale due to Chinese political pressure and on exclusionary practices inherent in all systems of power. Then something strange happened. The exhibition was a critical success. Grumbling gave way to acknowledgments of quality, and a small but significant step was made toward…

The only Pacific nation never to have been colonized, Tonga held historic elections in 2010, paving the way for its transition to a fully constitutional monarchy. The Ministry of Education, Women’s Affairs and Culture organizes public cultural programs, including the annual national heritage event, Heilala Festival (6/24–7/6). Because of the government’s investment in expanding the tourist trade, Tonga has a well-developed system of cultural institutions centered in the capital Nuku’alofa, but none exhibit contemporary art. Instead, the Langafonua Women’s Handicraft Association and Gallery supports Tongan craftswomen, and its Royal Art Gallery division showcases historical royal items donated by Princess Pilolevu and Princess Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho. Tapa makers from the association assisted New Zealand-based artists Robin White and Ruha Fifita (who is of Tongan heritage) in creating a barkcloth painting…

A tiny cluster of nine islands with a total landmass roughly a third of the size of Manhattan, Tuvalu is located halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Like many small Pacific Island nations, Tuvalu is challenged by limited resources, geographical isolation and the threat of rising sea levels. The country survives on a combination of foreign aid and royalties from leasing its highly marketable “.tv” internet domain. Lacking a national policy on culture and operating on a minimal budget, the Department of Culture is staffed by a single officer who has made a concerted effort to revitalize the country’s cultural heritage, carrying out programs in dance and traditional arts, and promoting Tuvaluan cultural identity at regional exhibitions such as the Pasifika Festival and the Festival of Pacific Arts. This year was…

Since the mid-2000s, the 80-odd islands of Vanuatu have experienced sustained economic growth driven by its tourism industry, yet this does not meet the needs of the country’s expanding population. Vanuatu also has the highest disaster risk in the world. Already prone to earthquakes and tsunami, Vanuatu is further threatened by rising sea levels. The nation’s major public arts institution, the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (VCC), is located in the capital Port Vila and serves as the current home of the Pacific Islands Museums Association. In May, the National Museum, which is part of the VCC, celebrated International Museum Day by running four exhibitions (5/17–24) centered on this year’s theme of social change. The first featured artifacts associated with funerary rituals, while the second examined the traditional Toka ceremony. For the…

Illustrations by Agata Marszałek As in past issues of the Almanac, we have invited commentaries and impressions on the year in contemporary art from curators, patrons, artists and gallery directors active across the Asia-Pacific region. Our six contributors offer frank and personal responses, from meditations on the obstacles facing artists working in rapidly developing societies, to personal reflections on the challenges that lie ahead, even for well-funded art scenes. This year in particular, with the emergence of more new epicenters for contemporary art, our contributors consider their own newfound positions in the world. Together, these reflections provide a spectrum of perspectives on where we are at the beginning of 2014.…

It has been an intense year, with the opening in March of Sharjah Biennial 11 and the inauguration of our new spaces at Sharjah Art Foundation. When asked to contribute to the Almanac about what mattered the most to me in 2013, I wasn’t sure how to go about it—I have seen so many exhibitions and have liked certain things about various shows. Of course, firstly, I have to include Sharjah Biennial itself, and the great support and engagement we had with our local audiences and communities in Sharjah and the other Emirates. Speaking of biennials, I should also mention the Istanbul Biennial—in particular Halil Altındere’s film Wonderland (2012), a hip-hop music video that portrays angry Roma youth whose community is being forced out of its historic settlement in Istanbul’s…

I have always been a “museum person.” As a Chinese deeply devoted to Chinese culture, when I moved to Shanghai it was my greatest dream to open my own museum as a way of sharing my art collection with others. In the three years since the project began, we have seen many ups and downs, including moving the site of the museum from Jiading, in the Shanghai suburbs, to the more urban Xuhui district, working over the blueprints with the designers and then finally breaking ground. The year 2013 was a particularly busy and difficult period for the project. Thanks to the cooperation of the entire team, I have seen the realization of my longtime dream taking place, one step at a time. And in January this year, the Yuz…

How will a given year be remembered? As topics and styles becomeurgent or in vogue, and then fade from critical view, before being resurrected again, who can say what creates these tendencies? Changes in society, politics and the economy, as well as any developments in other artistic fields, all have an impact. But what we register as important is some unquantifiable combination of the pleasingly novel and the tried-and-true; these are experiences that snap us back to attention, to things that we haven’t seen, or didn’t know—or have forgotten along the way. One of the most notable rediscoveries of recent years comes in a genre that we all think we understand. Yet who said abstraction couldn’t be performative, political, historical or autobiographical? Or that it couldn’t be about materials as…

In 2013, dozens of curators and directors assumed various positions of greater visibility and responsibility at major institutions around the world. Singapore has been abuzz with hiring news. Concluding a prolonged search in April, its National Art Gallery, slated to open its doors in 2015, finally named Eugene Tan as its director. Tan had previously been the program director at Singapore’s Economic Development Board where he is credited as having spearheaded the Gillman Barracks development. In October, German-born Ute Meta Bauer was installed at the helm of the Centre for Contemporary Art—part of Nanyang Technological University. Meanwhile, the Singapore Art Museum will be led by writer-artist and art educator Susie Lingham, who replaces Tan Boon Hui, now head of programs at the National Heritage Board of Singapore. In October, Bala…

It was a year of protests and controversy in Istanbul, as arts organizations were caught up in the country’s larger culture war. Longstanding frustration stemming from the privatization of cultural initiatives and the government’s calculated indifference spilled over into petitions, guerilla actions and disruptive protests. In February, the Santralİstanbul Museum of Contemporary Art, after closing in 2012 following less than five years of operation, announced that it was putting up for auction 150 works of art by seminal Turkish artists, including Yüksel Arslan, Nil Yalter, Ayşe Erkmen, Selma Gürbüz and Canan Tolon. Despite efforts by the art community, the Maçka Mezat auction house carried out the sale on February 17. A month later, members of the groups ArtHack, Youth Labor and Student Collectives entered Salt Beyoğlu to protest against the…

It has been 25 years since the death of Japanese emperor Hirohito, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the fall of the Berlin Wall—events that still symbolize the political, environmental and economic achievements and challenges of our time. As these events are marked, the art world will continue to spin on its own axis of auctions, fairs and biennials. Yet even here there are still occasions worthy of reflection. The pioneering photojournalism organization Drik Photo Agency in Dhaka will mark its own 25th anniversary. In January, London’s Delfina Foundation, a home base for visiting artists and researchers from the Middle East and South Asia since its founding in 2007, will open renovated spaces following a GBP 1.4 million transformation with an exhibition exploring the politics of food that will feature pieces…

Marking their Territories Auction houses have aggressively branched out beyond their usual markets in recent years, and when the Chinese government sought to open up the domestic market by creating free-trade zones and relaxing laws that constrain foreign companies, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s were quick to jump in. In September 2012, Sotheby’s announced that they had formed an alliance with Beijing GeHua Art Company, a state-owned cultural conglomerate with a large footprint in Beijing’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ), and that they had become the first international auction house permitted to hold actual sales on the mainland. However, in April 2013, Sotheby’s was trumped by Christie’s, who struck a deal with the Shanghai government and obtained a license to operate as an independent auction house in that city, which is also…

"Aboriginal Art—It’s a White Thing." The phrase launched Richard Bell’s career when he stenciled it across his 2003 canvas Scientia E Metaphysica (Bell’s Theorem) adorned with Jackson Pollock-like drips and modernist patterns. More than a decade ago, "Bell’s Theorem" laid out the endemic problems with the assimilation of cultural objects from Australia’s many Indigenous peoples into European models of art history. The painting won Bell the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2003. Since then, Bell, who hails from the Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang communities, and calls himself "an activist masquerading as an artist,"" has continued to provoke the public on the contentious subject of Australian race relations. Australia’s persistent racist and colonialist attitudes are exposed in the paintings and installations—including a re-creation of the…

Attuned to the inherent resonances found in traditional materiality and craft, Sopheap Pich’s open-weave sculptures collect memories from Cambodia’s traumatic past and locate their lingering effects on the present, while also proposing a spirit of acceptance. Weaving and tying thin strips of the country’s indigenous materials, the Phnom Penh-based artist transforms rigid bamboo and rattan grids into fluid, organic forms that often resemble interior organs, the shape of the Buddha or, recently, rising skylines. In February, Pich became the first living artist from Southeast Asia to have a solo exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. His “Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich” (2/23–7/7) featured ten recent sculptures highlighting the breadth of his oeuvre, including such free-flowing forms as the fully blossomed Morning Glory (2011) and Cycle (2011)…

Wrapped up in the tight embrace of an art scene, with its attendant jumble of frustrations and, occasionally, fulfillments, it can be hard to step back and see whether any real progress is being made. Perhaps surprisingly, putting together a compendium that reviews a single year’s artistic activity across the Asia-Pacific region engenders a certain sense of optimism, as well as a dangerous urge to indulge in generalization. The pages that follow certainly bear testimony to constant, wearying battles against government bureaucracy, belt-tightening, mismanagement or, on occasion, far worse: tales of corruption, censorship and detention all make sobering appearances here, even in the most “open” of countries. The brutal steamrolling, or co-opting, of the arts by commercial interests has become a norm. And there are nations in which economic hardship…

The largest country in the Pacific, Australia is home to a relatively small population of 22.7 million, most of which hugs the continent’s coasts in series of highly developed urban clusters. Drawing from rich Indigenous, colonial and migrant histories, the arts in Australia reflect the population’s diverse cultural connections as well as the regional specificities of each state and territory. After a decade under Labour rule, federal elections in September resulted in a landslide victory for the conservative Liberal Party, currently under the leadership of Tony Abbott. The primary governmental arts-funding and advisory body, the Australia Council for the Arts—known as the Australia Council—oversees the country’s sizable, complex network of museums and noncommercial galleries. The Council also manages Australia’s representation at the Venice Biennale, where it presented a solo exhibition of…

The secular Awami League party has been in power for five years, and Bangladesh enjoyed relative stability until the last months of 2013. Both political life and the press remain nominally free, and the government continues to provide modest support for the visual arts. The arts community is largely based in the capital Dhaka, and the main recipient of government funding is the national art school, the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, established by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in 1974. The academy is also home to the National Art Gallery (NAG), which has hosted its Asian Art Biennale since 1981 and also the National Art Exhibition since 1975. This year, the 20th edition of the National Art Exhibition (6/22–7/12) featured 280 artworks by 255 artists. Independent initiatives are the most energetic…

Cambodia’s slow and painful recovery from the genocidal policies of the Khmer Rouge (1975–79) is finally beginning to bear fruit. The kingdom has achieved a moderate level of political stability and economic growth. However, an influx of foreign investment has led to societal tensions following instances of land grabbing and forced evictions. A disputed national election in late July returned to power the Cambodian People’s Party, which has now led the country for 28 years. In recent years, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has begun to support contemporary art. The government-run Department of Plastic Arts is led by artist Suos Sodavy, who organizes periodic exhibitions. The National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, which houses traditional Khmer artifacts, holds temporary shows focused on the nation’s cultural heritage. The…

Fiji is governed by a military regime and suffers from a slow-growing economy. Nonetheless, a significant emphasis is placed on cultural heritage, and the Ministry of Education, National Heritage, Culture and Arts (DNCHA) has benefited from an increased budget in 2012. The DNCHA administers annual grants to the Fiji Museum and the Fiji Arts Council (FAC), the two primary government-backed sponsors of the arts. The FAC coordinates Fiji’s participation at regional and international festivals, sending a 100-plus delegation this year to the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts in Honiara, Solomon Islands (7/1–14). The Fiji Museum in the capital Suva hosted John Bryan Mausio’s brightly colored paintings at its temporary exhibition space in “Who Will Fight for Me” (6/13). While visual-arts degrees are not offered at Fiji’s universities, academic institutions contribute…

India is home to extensive art scenes in New Delhi and Mumbai, as well as growing art communities in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. India’s second-tier cities, such as Kochi, Pune, Patna and Coimbatore, are also developing art initiatives. With minimal government support for the arts, galleries and institutions collaborate with a rising number of nonprofits and foundations to support experimental artistic and curatorial practices. A midyear economic downturn affected some artistic ventures, but heavyweight galleries marked major milestones, and in December international auction house Christie’s held its inaugural sale on the Subcontinent in Mumbai. Censorship, corruption, right-wing political activism and sedition charges still impede arts initiatives across the country. Although the government lags behind the private sector, in recent years national museums have begun to host contemporary art shows and…

The invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the years of ensuing sectarian violence have decimated the nation’s cultural community. Today, the majority of Iraq’s artists live in exile and few galleries remain, most with limited operations. This year, the city was named the 2013 Arab Capital of Culture, but some of the worst bombings for five years inhibited the efforts of local artists and limited viewer participation. During the years of conflict, the National Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad lost around 7,000 artworks to looting and damage. Full operation was only resumed in December, with the first Baghdad Forum for Plastic Arts (12/1–3) attended by over 300 artists. Gallery activity in the capital is hampered by security enforcement, as the city is divided into heavily guarded compounds. Prominent…

Known for its relative political stability, Jordan has experienced an upsurge in sociopolitical consciousness that has invigorated the arts. This is tempered by the general sense of unease as the crisis across the border in Syria worsens, with more than 500,000 refugees seeking shelter in the kingdom. Nonetheless, 2013 saw the opening of a number of new art spaces and initiatives. Along with its monthly exhibitions of established figures, the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts presented “70 Years of Contemporary Jordanian Art” (5/21–8/31), trumpeted as the country’s largest art exhibition with works by almost 200 artists. The Iraqi painter Rafa al-Nasiri, a resident of Amman, opened his 50-year retrospective at the museum (11/11–12/10), just before passing away in early December at age 73. The center of the art community…

One of the world’s most oppressive and isolated countries, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was founded by the autocratic Kim Il-sung in 1948, and is now ruled by his grandson Kim Jong-un. The young “supreme leader” has raised eyebrows due to antics ranging from hosting retired American NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang, to upgrading the country’s long-range rocket launch site and publically dispatching over-powerful uncles. All artists in the DPRK must enlist as an “official artist” in the guild-like Korean Artists Federation (KAF), and produce work in government-approved studios, receiving monthly salaries to create propaganda art. It is compulsory to receive formal training before being admitted into the KAF. The most talented head to the nation’s top art school, Pyongyang University of Fine Art. A comprehensive arts…

In late July, the New York-based Open Society Foundation, a key benefactor for the arts community in Central Asia, announced that its arts and culture program would stop at the end of the year. Though the closure is a serious loss, the Kyrgyz art community is still seeing development through alternative sources of domestic and foreign funding. Contemporary art activity is centered in the capital Bishkek, which has a lively and growing scene. The Gapar Aitiev Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts (GAKNMFA) houses an extensive collection of 20th-century Kyrgyz and Russian art. In 2013, the museum held “April 2010” (4/2–18), an exhibition of Nina Gorshkova’s black-and-white photographs documenting the 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution. The country’s leading NGO is the Bishkek Art Center (B’Art), founded in 2002 by the Artists’ Union…

A former Portuguese colony and a Special Administrative Region, Macau is increasing its status as a major entertainment hub of China, hosting the tenth Huading Image Awards, styled on the Oscars, in October. In just a decade, Macau transformed itself into the world’s biggest gambling mecca—producing six times the revenue of Las Vegas, thanks to millions of fortune seekers from the mainland, where gambling is illegal. In recent years, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB), which subsidizes a majority of the local arts and culture initiatives, has begun to place a stronger emphasis on developing the city’s creative industries. CAB offers annual support for cultural activities, arts management training and, in October, presented a new funding opportunity for cultural associations working with the local community. Another significant development in government support…

A protectorate of the United States, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a string of over 1,000 small islands, is heavily supported by annual US grants as well as by assistance from Taiwan. Tourism revenues remain the best hope for achieving financial independence and, as with many Oceanic states, sales of art and crafts are an important source of revenue. Art initiatives in RMI concentrate on revitalizing traditional heritage. The Marshallese Cultural Center (MCC) on Kwajalein Island organizes events to promote local cultural awareness. The highlight of the MCC’s programming is its “Jaki-ed” exhibition and auction of traditional woven mats. This year, the artifacts were made available for viewing online in The Virtual Museum of Marshallese, which offers a compilation of Marshallese woven mats from collections all over the…

Following the dissolution of the military junta in 2011, Myanmar has witnessed one of the world’s fastest socioeconomic transitions since the transformations that swept eastern Europe in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Changes abound: internet cables and pipelines now connect Myanmar to India, China and Thailand; the World Economic Forum occupied Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw for an entire week in June; President Thein Sein was considered for the Nobel Peace Prize; and the former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi continues to travel the world, building networks for the people of Myanmar. However, the transition is not without its drawbacks. The country faces deeply ingrained ethnic conflicts, widespread environmental impacts due to foreign investment and a severe lack of educational structures and funding, leaving local…

This semiautonomous territory of France has one of the largest economies in the Pacific Island region, with a resilient GDP per capita due to its nickel reserves. But the cost of living has been rising, and this year thousands took part in protests against the country’s reliance on European trade. In July, the French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault affirmed that an independence referendum would take place by 2019. New Caledonia’s close relationship with France ensures strong funding for cultural programs. The centerpiece of its small but active cultural scene is located eight kilometers northeast of its capital Nouméa—the Renzo Piano-designed Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre operates under the auspices of the Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture. It has a permanent collection of more than 800 contemporary artworks, organizes touring…

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a trust territory of the United States, with a special status in regard to immigration and labor laws that has led to egregious violations. For decades CNMI businesses imported thousands of Chinese laborers to work in sweatshops, but in recent years the islands have made incremental reforms. The cultural budget has been tightened since 2009, and the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture (CCAC), which oversees most cultural activities, faces ongoing budgetary constraints. CNMI’s largest cultural celebration, the Flame Tree Arts Festival (4/19–21) at the Civic Center Beach Park in the capital of Saipan, invites delegations from Micronesia to showcase both traditional and contemporary arts. The CNMI Bridge Capital Art Competition Award is the festival’s highlight. Xiaoping Chen, a Chinese painter…

Enjoying a per capita income twice that of the Philippines, citizens of Palau (often spelled “Belau” following local pronunciation) have one of the highest living standards in greater Micronesia. Since mid-2010, thanks to the rising prosperity of many East Asian countries, Palau’s tourism-driven economy has seen a boom. Measures to foster sustainable growth in the tourism industry include a proposal to build a cultural village on the main island, Babeldaob. The country is now in the process of developing a cultural policy. Public arts funding is limited to the Bureau of Arts and Culture (BAC), which promotes indigenous culture as well as contemporary art. The BAC maintains Belau National Museum (BNM) in Palau’s former capital Koror. Established in 1955, the museum is Micronesia’s oldest and contains more than 30,000 traditional…

The Philippines was hit by a series of natural disasters—including the devastating Typhoon Yolanda (a.k.a. Haiyan) in early November that razed whole towns and killed thousands—and political scandals in 2013, with outcries against an ever-powerful oligarchy and the misuse of public funds. The Reproductive Health Law remains stalled in the Supreme Court, opposed mostly by the Catholic Church, which continues to dominate public and private life in much of this archipelago of 7,107 islands. That said, the current administration is credited with maintaining robust economic growth and pushing corruption reforms, as well as launching a successful tourism campaign. The contemporary art scene seems to be living up to the nation’s new catchy tourism slogan, “It’s more fun in the Philippines”—with a series of exciting shows in 2013, the launch of…

The Arab Spring continues to have an impact on the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with migrant workers protesting new labor laws and women demanding the right to drive. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has offered only minor, liberalizing concessions, including the possibility of women voting in the 2015 local elections, although they are still not allowed to drive. Slow shifts in Saudi Arabia’s ultraconservative Wahhabist culture are mirrored in the art scene. Many artists still tend to work in abstract styles to avoid conflicts with official censors over figurative works—nudes are banned—but often show more provocative works abroad. Government patronage is negligible and there is no fine arts museum. In May, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) took a delegation to Saudi Arabia to assess the local art scene…

Since the end of a 26-year civil war between the government and Tamil separatists in May 2009, Sri Lanka has had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with significant development in tourism in particular. The government actively supports the arts, though much of the focus is on programs involving literature, folk music and theater. Sri Lanka’s visual-arts community is supported primarily by private organizations. In the capital Colombo, the National Art Gallery (NAG) houses a permanent collection of traditional Sri Lankan paintings, and occasionally holds temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Among the private organizations is the George Keyt Foundation, a patron of contemporary art, music and dance. This year marked the 20th anniversary of “Kala Pola” (1/26–27), its annual open-air festival held in Colombo, which featured works by…

Since its civil war in the 1990s, this landlocked country in Central Asia has remained economically unstable, with the lowest per capita income in the region. Tajikistan’s foreign revenue comes mainly from exports of aluminum and cotton, along with remittances from nearly one million Tajiks working abroad, primarily in Russia, although the country’s GDP grew an estimated 7.5 percent in 2013. With Persian roots, Tajik culture remains under-examined due to the lack of interest in Soviet times and the political and social difficulties since. The aftermath of Soviet rule, ongoing civil unrest and the limited economy have created multilayered obstacles for local art development. The first contemporary art exhibition was not held until 2006, as part of a collaboration with other artists in the region related to the participation of…

In late May, long-simmering tensions between the Islamist-inspired Freedom and Justice Party (AKP) and an alliance of secular, environmental and labor groups exploded into protests around the country, following a brutal police crackdown on a small gathering to protest the transformation of Istanbul’s Gezi Park into a neo-Ottoman-style shopping mall. The countrywide upheaval marked a watershed moment of opposition to the 11-year rule of prime minister Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan, whose leadership has grown increasingly sectarian, authoritarian and corrupt. The Gezi protests had a profound impact on the country’s premier art event, the 13th edition of the Istanbul Biennial, “Mom, Am I Barbarian?” (9/14–10/20), curated by Fulya Erdemci. The Biennial was meant to examine the idea of the public sphere as a site of ideological conflict—a topic that proved particularly timely…

Located between South Asia, Africa and West Asia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a key business center whose economy has grown rapidly in the past 30 years. Since the early 2000s, the UAE has also endeavored to focus on tourism and culture, lavishing outsized budgets on arts infrastructure. As a result, the UAE is now a regional destination for galleries, auction houses and art fairs, and boasts a modest but notable community of Emirati artists. The UAE’s art scene is guided by a predominantly regional cultural sensibility abiding by Islamic customs. Arts leaders must negotiate between conservative attitudes and the enforcement of political censorship. In general, this is balanced by a progressive approach to exhibition-making, as well as support for the building of contemporary art institutions and the broadening…

Since introducing market-led reforms in the late 1980s, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party has presided over a rapidly growing economy. Censorship of cultural and political dissent remains stringent with the enactment this September of a new internet law that restricts online discussion to personal information only. State-owned museums contend with government restrictions and limited funding. At the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum (HCMCFAM), a permanent exhibition of acclaimed lacquer painter Nguyen Gia Tri opened in June, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his passing. The museum also showed Le Hien Minh’s paintings and installations created using traditional Vietnamese paper (7/20–25), and works by 11 Australian artists that explore urban Indigenous identity (5/24–6/13). This year Hanoi’s Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts exhibited drawings, paintings and videos by 14…

As founders of Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Nindityo Adipurnomo and I have a lot to celebrate this year. The status of Indonesian art has reached a position that we could only dream about when we started 25 years ago. Large, successful art events have increased interest in Indonesian contemporary art, both nationally and internationally, which has created unprecedented opportunities for artists. Biennale Jogja XII, entitled Equator #2, “Not a Dead End: Indonesia Encounters the Arab Region” and curated by Agung Hujatnikajennong from Indonesia, and Sarah Rifky from Egypt, opened its doors to the public in Yogyakarta in November. For the first time, we truly felt that the event had become a destination for an international audience. Visiting delegations toured artists’ studios and the city’s many art hubs, which…

This year was one of momentous growth and ambition for the art community of Azerbaijan. Certainly, it should be described not only by what we have managed to produce on home soil, but also by how widely our artists have traveled to engage with audiences around the world. As founder of the nonprofit organization Yarat, established in 2011, and as an artist in my own right, I have been fortunate to be at the heart of this burgeoning scene. At Yarat, we have sought to engage audiences both at home and abroad. We have brought international artists to show their work and teach classes in Azerbaijan and have also participated in biennials overseas. Appointed as curatorial director at the Baku Museum of Modern Art during 2013, my first special project…

It is easy to complain about mega-exhibitions—with their predictable “universal” topics such as globalization, identity politics or new geographies decentered from traditional European and North American centers of capital, and curators’ rote adoption of works that address hot-button topics, whether political activism, the global economy and the ubiquitous rise of Western culture amid the decline of indigenous traditions or migrant labor flows and experiences of exile, alienation and other-ness. That said, the biennial remains a format that permits a curator, or team of curators, to create a particular geographical or political universe—often transcending institutional shackles or purviews—and briefly re-center, or de-center, our understanding of the art world and its concerns. In recent years, there has been an overemphasis on experimenting with exhibition mechanics in efforts to reinvent the biennial format:…

James Cohan Gallery New York In Hiraki Sawa’s immersive audiovisual installation Lineament (2012), a lone man in a room interacts with a surreal sequence of animated objects, including an old vinyl record. Lineament was the centerpiece of “Figment” at James Cohan Gallery, New York, and the latest in a series of works in which the London-based Japanese artist looks at the mechanism of memory. The two-channel video was accompanied by a modified turntable that played this record backward and forward. In a separate section of the show were two other video installations, For Saya (2011) and Souvenir Study 4 (2012), each featuring an enigmatic female figure performing repetitive movements and gestures. By creating loops and through meditative reiteration, Sawa explores the trickery of remembrance and how it can be manipulated…