ArtAsiaPacific

ArtAsiaPacific Foundation is an educational platform committed to spreading awareness and understanding of modern and contemporary art through publishing projects and public activities. Art plays a vital role in creating and maintaining a tolerant an

Participating Artists (as of 16 October 2023, subject to change) Hamra Abbas Sara Abdu Irene Agrivina Alia Ahmad Azra Akšamija Nabila Al Bassam Dhali Al Mamoon Reem Al Nasser Rasha Al-Duwaisan Abdulrahman Al-Soliman Mohammad AlFaraj Abdulla Buhijji &

“How long is forever?” asks Alice. “Sometimes, just one second,” replies the White Rabbit. There are dreams lasting an instant in which everything seems frozen for an eternity. Time is elastic in our personal experience of it. Hours fly by like minut

In a world of tragedies relayed by 24-hour news cycles and countless social-media accounts, injustice is perversely diminished and distorted by its frequent visibility. From the war in Ukraine to major social instability in Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and

The impacts of climate change are making natural disasters stronger and more prevalent. In New Zealand, the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki was forced to evacuate 80 crates containing nearly 500 artworks after heavy rain flooded its basement in lat

On October 7, Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting hundreds more. In response, Israel initiated a retaliatory offensive that decimated a third of Gazan infrastructure and killed more than 20,000 Palestinian

Seemingly overnight, as Asian countries attempted a return to business as usual by finally dropping draconian Covid-19 restrictions in late 2022 and early 2023, simmering issues over personal and political power returned to the forefront of public di

Despite apprehension about the post-pandemic economy, cultural organizations saw returns on their investment in new ventures. After a three-year renovation, Artspace, a contemporary art center in Sydney funded by the New South Wales government, reope

Major cultural awards in 2023 recognized internationally renowned artists. At a ceremony on November 10, the prestigious Kyoto Prize, Japan’s highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences, was awarded to Mumbai-based Nalini

Every two years the global art world falls into the clutches of the Venice Biennale industrial-complex, an ever-expanding network of national pavilions and off-site exhibitions that keep the sinking city’s industries above water. There may be drama i

Over 12 countries imposed Covid-19 testing requirements on arrivals from China Funeral for Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican SEA Focus & Singapore Art Week Exhibition “Goodbye in Seoul” closed for artworks criticizing the Korean president and first la

Uncover shared connections between the seemingly distant realms of Southeast Asia and Latin America with the latest blockbuster exhibition curated by the National Gallery Singapore. “Tropical” showcases the defiant attitude of artists, dreamers, and

The growth of the global economy in 2023 declined—inflation, wars, the costly impacts of climate change, low birth rates, and a possible recession in the United States undergirded the problem. Additionally, in Asia, the Chinese property market’s melt

When it comes to art fairs, size is everything. How many people attend? How many collectors fly in? How many galleries haul works across continents? How expensive are the booths to rent? How much carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere? These mu

In comparison to art fairs, where the artworks on display reflect what galleries hope is most appealing to collectors while transactional information is largely kept secret, auctions represent a relatively more transparent side of the art market—with

Informed by his critical engagement and close collaboration with individuals and communities suffering from intergenerational trauma brought about by colonialism, war, and displacement, Tuan Andrew Nguyen investigates the ramifications of memory and

With internecine conflagrations raging on multiple fronts, the world, at times, can feel dangerously close to having a nervous breakdown. With stoic pragmatism, Simone Fattal, who believes “one must first learn to govern oneself,” has tirelessly exca

“An eye for an eye, leaving everyone blind.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of civil resistance, satyagraha, the lines appear faintly on a nearly pitch-black screen at the beginning of Hajra Waheed’s 11-minute projection A Letter From My Sist

The Jakarta- and Bandung-based trio of Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans, and Ruddy Hatumena, who have worked together since 2006 as the collective Tromarama, are fascinated by the hyperreal intertwining of digital media and technologies in our daily live

In a world where digital devices dominate the means of communication and disrupt the exchange of information, ideas, and images, the nuanced alteration of our perceptions caused by such high exposure to virtuality can at times seem abstract and intan

Kohl-lined eyes framed by a leopard-print hijab; a tomato carved into the shape of a rose; an Islamic prayer rug draped over a stack of plastic chairs. These are some of the subjects featured in the richly textured, unabashedly colorful photographs a

Accelerating Realities: Korean Artists Today looks at the creative practices of 13 artists from South Korea. These artists explore the world around them with incisive depth and through innovative approaches, whether unearthing lost histories or quest

In India, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, more than 70 percent of the population use social-media networks as a news source, compared to just 21 percent in Japan, according to Statista. In Türkiye (Turkey), where the internet is highly censo

As the first exhibition in the newly renovated galleries of Artspace Sydney, can you speak about the way on which your multipart project untitled (transcriptions of country) bridges colonial history and contemporary society? The installation is a par

On March 11, 13 years will have passed since the triple nuclear meltdown at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)-owned Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan. In response to the ongoing ecological contamination, a collective of artists

Barely a week into 2023, Youn Bum-mo, the director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), South Korea’s premier public art institution, found himself in hot water after a special audit conducted by the Ministry of Cultur

After the unexpected complete lifting of Covid-19 restrictions at the end of 2022, Shanghai, due to the subsequent Omicron wave, did not immediately resume production or schooling for almost two months until after the Chinese New Year in early 2023.

The return of onsite art events and exhibitions across the Philippine islands finally happened in 2023, with a renewed focus on specific localities beyond Metro Manila. The country had suffered through the longest community quarantine in the world du

Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien opened their exhibition “Offerings for Escalante” at the Hong Kong nonprofit space Para Site in late October. Featuring handmade paper works and a 16mm stop-motion animation, the exhibition centered around a new film Langit

Ho Chi Minh City—known more colloquially as Saigon—never fails to reinvent itself. Dubbed “the city that never sleeps,” Saigon and its inhabitants wasted no time rebounding from the dark gloom of alternating lockdowns and economic uncertainties, and

What are your reflections on the curatorial process of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2022–23), and what particular moments and artworks from the Biennale inspired you the most? A biennale isn’t just a collection of artworks, but a sharing of an ethos, of w

Your solo exhibition “Matrilineal” at 100 Tonson Foundation was one of three shows, along with Flowers Gallery and CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile) in Hong Kong, that opened in November. What is this exhibition built around? This latest ser

A sure sign that the Indian art world had finally emerged from its Covid cocoon was the staging of the India Art Fair, on schedule, in February 2023. Attracting 85 exhibitors, the fair nudged New Delhi’s galleries to mount a slew of noteworthy exhibi

When a wave overwhelms you, you forget your voice and surrender to the void. Tempestuous events have penetrated my being, reaching deep within, hitting that infinitesimal point in a relentlessly throbbing nerve whose beats never cease to haunt me, ev

In Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, there are nine circles of hell. After the May election defeat of Turkey’s unprecedentedly optimistic opposition reaffirmed the illiberal authoritarianism of President Erdoğan, the nation’s residents, including

Austerity is a policy that seeps into your skin and mushrooms in your flesh and bones. It tenses the muscles in your rib cage and drives schisms between your actions and your values. As a Londoner of one year, I now embody these conditions, like so m

Sim Chi Yin had an active year in 2023, participating in nine group shows, including at the Barbican in London, Gropius Bau in Berlin, and Camera Austria in Graz. Meanwhile, M+ in Hong Kong acquired 17 works from across the ongoing One Day We’ll Unde

Biennials keep surfacing, reaching new audiences around the world. The first edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale debuted in Jeddah in January 2023, organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. Titled “Awwal Bait,” or “First House,” after the sacred

DEC 23 APR 10 The fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), curated by Singaporean artist and writer Shubigi Rao, “In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire,” focused on the power of storytelling during global crises, celebrating optimism and satire in

FEB 3 FEB 11 With the climate crisis at the forefront of the collective conversation—no more so than in Bangladesh, a country prone to severe flooding—the sixth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit (DAS) excavated the ramifications of adverse weather. The

JAN 10 APR 10 Led by Guangdong Museum of Art director Wang Shaoqiang, the 7th Guangzhou Triennial featured works by 59 artists from across the globe. “Symphony of All the Changes” took inspiration from Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi’s idea of permanence

FEB 7 JUN 11 Inspired by the curatorial concept of the late Okwui Enwezor (1964–2019) to reimagine the emancipatory potential of postcoloniality, Sharjah Biennial 15 (SB15) “Thinking Historically in the Present” was led by Sharjah Art Foundation dire

APR 7 JUL 9 For the 14th Gwangju Biennale, artistic director Sook-Kyung Lee took inspiration from the Tao Te Ching for the event’s theme, “soft and weak like water,” highlighting the aqueous nature of power and art’s role therein. Across five venues

SEPT 21 NOV 19 In the 12th edition of the Seoul Mediacity Biennale (SMB12), “THIS TOO, IS A MAP,” artistic director Rachael Rakes, along with associate curator Sofía Dourron, explored the potential cartography of speculative histories and subjective

OCT 6 NOV 25 The 17th edition of the Jogja Biennale—titled “Titen: Embodied Knowledge, Shifting Grounds”—saw curators Eka Putra Nggalu, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Hit Man Gurung, and Adelina Luft explore the decolonization of knowledge production through

NOV 9 MAR 31, 2024 Led by artist-curator and e-flux cofounder Anton Vidokle, with a curatorial team of Zairong Xiang, Hallie Ayres, and Lukas Brasiskis, the 14th Shanghai Biennale took place at the Power Station of Art. Vidokle’s research into Russia

DEC 9 APR 30, 2024 The third Thailand Biennale, titled “The Open World” and led by artistic directors Rirkrit Tiravanija and Gridthiya Gaweewong, took place in heritage-rich sites around Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle region, as well as in the ne

NOV 18 MAR 24, 2024 For co-curators Freya Chou, Brian Kuan Wood, and Reem Shadid, the title of the 13th Taipei Biennial, “Small World,” contains both “a promise and a threat.” Reflecting on the pandemic era, they explored ideas of scale, intimacy, pr

How many people experience contemporary art around the world? As Art Basel Miami Beach concluded on December 10, the giant commercial event reported that 79,000 collectors, professionals, and scenesters had strolled the aisles, with tickets costing U

mOTHERTONGUE Australian Centre for Contemporary Art APR 22 JUL 18 “mOTHERTONGUE,” curated by Max Delany, assembled 40 artworks and 12 new commissions that span Mithu Sen’s two-decade-long career. It explored a vast range of politically loaded themes

A CURVE IS A BROKEN LINE Art Gallery of New South Wales SEPT 2 JAN 21, 2024 Since her time working as a photojournalist for a newspaper in Tehran (the city of her birth), Hoda Afshar has exposed the lives of the unseen and the unheard. She rose to in

WHAT CAN I DO? Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery OCT 13 DEC 24 Despite the prolific nature of Mao Ishikawa’s photographic career, “What Can I Do?” was her first solo exhibition in a Tokyo museum. She joined the Workshop Photography School 50 years ago to

HOW TO BECOME A ROCK Leeum Museum of Art JUL 27 DEC 3 Since the 1990s, Kim Beom has channeled the spirit of Dadaism across a range of media. At once tender, ironic, and absurd, Beom’s process pushes us to think about what we see (or what we think we

THE THREADS OF DESTINY BANK JUN 10 JUL 23 “The Threads of Destiny” at BANK was the first major exhibition to display the collaborative works of the influential artistic couple who bridged China’s and Europe’s postwar cultural landscape. The exhibitio

THE SECOND INTERROGATION Blindspot MAR 21 MAY 6 Conceptual artist Wang Tuo’s short film The Second Interrogation (2022) is a timely investigation into the pernicious realities of censorship in China and a deconstruction of art as a vehicle for collec

STATEMENTS Ilham Gallery JUL 18 DEC 24 Born in Malaysia in 1941, the late Nirmala Dutt shunned labels: “woman artist,” “feminist artist,” “political artist.” For her, they were reductive. “I am an artist first and foremost.” Dutt’s practice was nonet

Museum MACAN NOV 18 APR 14, 2024 Curated by Museum MACAN director Aaron Seeto, along with Rizki Lazuardi and Putra Hidayatullah, “Voice Against Reason” explored various artistic expressions and challenges to the status quo by delving into themes such

THE RETURN Sfeir-Semler MAY 4 AUG 16 Lebanese artist Rayyane Tabet investigates appropriated histories that cross cultural boundaries, and questions notions of heritage, subjectivity, and perception. Through works that are wryly conceptual and heavil

TIME & THE TIGER Singapore Art Museum NOV 24 MAR 3, 2024 Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen’s midcareer exhibition “Time & the Tiger,” curated by Eugene Tan, alluded to his fascination with the symbolism of tigers and the cultural history of time in the

Ishara Art Foundation JAN 18 JUN 2 In “Notations on Time,” co-curators Sandhini Poddar and Sabih Ahmed surveyed 20 artists from South Asia who explore the political and philosophical dimensions of time and the ontological vagaries between the past, p

PASSIONATE PILGRIM Ikon Gallery MAY 17 SEPT 3 Ikon Gallery in Birmingham presented the first UK solo exhibition of Indonesian performance artist Melati Suryodarmo, spanning her artistic journey over the past 30 years by bringing together archival rec

MALICIOUS MISCHIEF KW Institute for Contemporary Art / Camden Arts Centre / Stedelijk Museum BERLIN FEB 25 MAY 14 LONDON JUN 16  SEP 17 AMSTERDAM NOV 3 APR 1, 2024 “Malicious Mischief,” curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen and Agustín Pérez Rubio, was the

TIME MACHINE Hayward Gallery OCT 11 JAN 7, 2024 While some photographers lean toward instinct, reaction, and immediacy (Cartier-Bresson, Moriyama, Maier), others are more considered; metaphysical, even. After all, the medium is by its very nature con

Walker Art Center / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art MINNEAPOLIS APR 15 SEPT 3 SAN FRANCISCO OCT 21 JAN 28, 2024 This comprehensive retrospective of Pacita Abad (1946–2004) tracked the late artist’s diasporic, feminist practice, beginning from her

PROLOGUE TO THE STORY OF THE BIRTH OF FREEDOM The Museum of Contemporary Art NOV 12 JUN 16, 2024 Honolulu-born multimedia artist Paul Pfeiffer is an excavator of our technological landscape. Through a meticulous process of creation, manipulation, and

Singapore JAN 12–APR 14 Known for her experimental moving-image work, Hanoi-based filmmaker Nguyen Trinh Thi continues to push the boundaries of film and video art. Produced as part of the Han Nefkens Foundation’s Moving Image Commission 2021, the mu

We are dismayed by the decision of the director, Yasmin Meinicke, and the board of the Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, taken in consultation with German state authorities to unilaterally cancel the 2024 edition. For 18 months, we worked with 44 art