ArtAsiaPacific Magazine - July - August 2018

In this issue

In ArtAsiaPacific issue 109, we take a look at what can be learned from fluid adaptation and internal resistance, as opposed to outright rejection of institutionalized systems and singular narratives. We spotlight Saudi Arabian artist Ahmed Mater, who was recently appointed executive director of Misk Art Institute. AAP’s Dubai desk editor Kevin Jones asks: “Will the soft-power posturing and cultural-diplomacy of his job curtail or delimit his own artistic practice?” Also in Features, we look at the diverse works of Manila-based Patricia Perez Eustaquio, who has embraced her label as a “feminine artist” while operating outside of restrictive gender structures. In Young and Emerging, we highlight Mari Katayama, Justin Shoulder, Mary Maggic, Behnaz Farahi and Gary Zhexi Zhang, who envision new biologies. Then and Now digs up articles from our Digital Library, while Inside Burger Collection focuses on the text-based creations of Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury. Elsewhere in the magazine, we profile Melbourne-based collector Michael Buxton; artist, curator and activist Jaishri Abichandani; and video artist Hsu Chia-Wei. In Dispatch, independent researcher Fiona Cheng writes of the anti-institutional activism practiced by the artists in Taichung. In The Point, artist Yan Xing laments the overripe topic of “identity.” Multimedia artist and activist Kacey Wong, for One on One, remembers a departed friend who taught him about the emotional nuances of patriotism. In Reviews, we catch Haegue Yang’s midcareer retrospective at Cologne’s Museum Ludwig, as well as other shows around the world. For Where I Work, we visit the studio of Emre Hüner, who blurs the lines between science fiction and archaeology. In Essays, contributor Ben Valentine probes the practice of Cambodian-American choreographer and queer dancer Prumsodun Ok and the reclamation of derogative stereotypes. Together, the articles in 109 suggest that to set ourselves free, we need only rework the structures of the past.