Asian Art Biennale 2015 – Artist Making Movement

Curator: Iris Shu-Ping HUANG

The 5th edition of Asian Art Biennial reflects on the restlessness and instability observed in today’s Asian society, with these anxious movements coming from people’s feelings of discontent with life, dissipation of the so-called small happiness, a sense of comfort zone, and also security mechanism failures. The existing institutions can no longer stand up to the challenges in reality, causing different phenomena that reveal the current state of Asian contemporary culture, which is in the midst of reforming its system of governance for the everyday life, with new order and relationships pursued and attempts exerted at subverting social power allocation.

Facing these extreme changes in Asia, using art to examine today’s system of survival and taking part in the construction of the present history of life in Asia are important discourses explored by artists. As the themeArtist Making Movement suggests, the ability to make(create) and to move symbolizes Asian contemporary art is straying from how it was perceived in the past, as a static noun, and it is transitioning into a verb of assertive actions. This progression denotes Asian contemporary culture’s active function and the stance taken for the actualization of art, with actions exerted for creating a new chapter in Asian history and to break away from stagnant forms and systems. Through their active interventions in reality and also their awareness for life, artists have become more assertive with using art to instigate changes, with the belief that personal creative endeavors can become movements with social effects. Artist Making Movement intends to project these active efforts that are shaping Asia’s future.

The cultural significance with Artist Making Movement involves giving feedbacks and overturning Asia’s current problematic conditions. Looking at the art practices and creative formats observed in the recent years, Asian artists have already broken free from their confining historical identity, and with tangible actions taken in creating a sense of social mission through self-awakening, they devote themselves in raising and reacting to issues in Asia. Asia’s cultural development and art now place more focus on “personal value and cultural identity”, “localized experience and differentiated practice”, “expression and discussion of public issues”, with emphasis placed on new value systems such as individual creativity and self-production. Mechanism subverting qualitative changesare assertively initiated by personal perceptual innovations generated via self-actualization. This signifies the rethinking and making of a new cultural system in Asia, and this is something that is currently happening, with the vision that Asians hold for the future reflected in their active anticipations and actions.

Artist Making Movement: 2015 Asian Art Biennial will include artworks by more than 30 contributing artists. This year’s biennial continues to encompass a diversity of genres, including painting, sculpture, installation, sound, video, performance and action-based art, with artworks selected to reflect this year’s theme, Artist Making Movement.

In addition to the exhibition, Asian art and curatorial symposiums will be held on the weekend following the opening, with scholars invited to conduct discussions on the subject of Asia’s cultural diversity..