Linke - Artinfo

60
theevent
Rethinking a Region
By Adeline ChiA
f
rom the broad swath of the Indian subcontinent to the thousands
of islands in the Indonesian archipelago, South and Southeast
Asia are home to some 20 nations. Yet despite a rich culture and
diverse contemporary art practices, the region has been woefully
underrepresented on the international art scene.
Now, a landmark exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum in New York is taking steps to address this imbalance. “No
Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia,” on view
March/april 2013 | BlouinArtinfo.comAsiA
poklong anading
through late May, is a broad-ranging exhibition that highlights
the richness and diversity of the contemporary-art scene in
South and Southeast Asia, showcasing top artists who are welltraveled
on the international biennial and exhibition circuit. They
include prominent Indian multidisciplinary artist Shilpa Gupta,
Filipino multidisciplinary artist Poklong Anading, Malaysian video
and photography artist Wong Hoy Cheong, and London-based
collective and Turner Prize nominee the Otolith Group.
BlouinArtinfo.comAsiA | march/april 2013
A wide-rAnging exhibition
brings contemporAry south
And southeAst AsiAn Art to
A top new york city museum
But how does one organize an exhibition with such a broad
geographical reach? June Yap, the Singaporean curator of “No
Country,” spent an intense three months of travel researching artists
in the region. A truly comprehensive survey, she says, is impossible.
All the same, she resisted the urge to stage a show where each
artwork was tasked with saying something representative about its
respective country; instead, she chose to subvert the idea of national
borders and boundaries.
A production
detail of poklong
Anading’s
Counter Acts,
2004, a light-box
mounted photo
transparency in
four parts.
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