In this issue

In honor of ArtAsiaPacific’s 25th anniversary, our focus this year is on looking forward and backward, while still savoring the effervescence of the present moment. This juxtaposition is reflected in the main Features of our May/June issue. We introduce Istanbul-based artist Cevdet Erek, whose architectural installations are derived from his reflections on sound as a marker of time and social progression. In our cover Feature, we pay homage to the work of nonagenarian Hon Chi Fun, a modernist master who documented Hong Kong’s changing physical and social landscapes through introspective paintings. Young and Emerging, loosely themed around the idea of new spiritualities, spotlights the work of five up-and-coming artists. In Then and Now, we mine AAP’s archives for articles about projects that have made a lasting impact. Rounding up the Features section, our special column Inside Burger Collection chronicles the career of gallerist Maria Bernheim, who relates the tribulations of presenting contemporary art in Europe. In Essays, Hyunjee Nicole Kim examines the issue of Second World War comfort women and revisionist histories. We profile painter Niyaz Najafov, whose expressive works are informed by his checkered youth growing up in Azerbaijan, and Syrian-born, London-based photographer Hrair Sarkissian, who explores war, conflict and memory. We also meet the exuberant collector-couple Kim and Lito Camacho. Elsewhere in the magazine, North Korea expert Nicholas Bonner files a dispatch from Pyongyang; artist duo Slavs and Tatars write of their fascination with the “bad boy” of German philosophy, Johann Georg Hamann, in One on One; and in The Point, new-media artist Sputniko! argues for alternative outcomes for the development of the human race. Our Reviews section covers the Biennale of Sydney and the first Manila Biennale. Finally, in Where I Work, we explore the Manhattan studio of Rina Banerjee, which is filled with the artist’s playful sculptural mashups.

ArtAsiaPacific Magazine Description:

For 20 years, ArtAsiaPacific Magazine has been at the forefront of the powerful creative forces that shape contemporary art from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. Covering the latest in contemporary visual culture, ArtAsiaPacific is published 6 times a year in Hong Kong, with editorial desks in 25 countries around the world. Our special annual issue, the ArtAsiaPacific Almanac, published in January, covers the major art events of the past year and forecasts the key trends of the year to come.
The dominant artistic influence in the world today - and for many years to come emanates from the vast territory that lies between Turkey and the Pacific island of Tonga that we call the Asia-Pacific. This territory includes India, China, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Pakistan, New Zealand, Korea and Indonesia, whose combined populations make up an amazing half of the world's total population. Also included are Burma, Cambodia, Kiribati and Uzbekistan - places hitherto overlooked, but which like their gigantic neighbors, are producing cutting-edge art of stunning and unexpected quality.
ArtAsiaPacific is authoritative, accurate, even-handed, exact and essential. Included in each issue is an up-to-date directory of the major galleries, not-for-profit organizations and museums with a focus on contemporary art from our geographical footprint. ArtAsiaPacific offers thoughtful reportage, analysis, comment and criticism to its readers made up of collectors, gallerists, curators, artists and those who want and who need to know the latest developments in the fastest-growing and most astonishing region of the contemporary art world.