Preview of Asian Art Biennial 2019 [SPONSORED]

*This post is sponsored by the Asian Art Biennial.

The 7th Asian Art Biennial, slated to open on October 5 at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) in Taichung, will bring together works by 30 artists and collectives from 16 countries under the title “The Strangers from Beyond the Mountain and the Sea.” Co-curated by multimedia artists Hsu Chia-Wei and Ho Tzu Nyen, the exhibition takes as a departure point the Japanese folklore of marebito, supernatural beings bearing gifts of wisdom and good fortune. Hsu and Ho have reimagined this figure as a representation of alterity, from migrants and minorities to spies and partisans. In the curators’ words: “Through encounters with strangers, we might confront the outlines of ourselves, the borders of our society or even the boundaries of our species. This is the stranger’s gift. And some gifts are not easy to receive.” 

The title’s “mountain” and “sea” respectively refer to the Zomia highlands and the Sulu Sea. These historical hotbeds for transnational conflicts and criminal activities serve “as tropes for the intersection of geography and politics, altitudes and anarchism,” setting the scene for the Biennial’s explorations of Asia’s past and present within the contexts of decolonization, geopolitical shifts, technological change, and ecological challenges.

Highlights at the exhibition will include filmmaker Korakrit Arunanondchai’s video installation No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5 (2018), created in collaboration with cinematographer Alex Gvojic and performer boychild, and part of Arunanondchai’s ongoing series exploring history, politics, culture, and spirituality in Thailand. No history 5 plumbs the controversy surrounding the supposedly stage-managed rescue of 12 schoolboys and their coach from Thailand’s Tham Luang Cave in 2018, accentuating notions of authenticity, community, and the creation and dissemination of politicized narratives.

Three works by Mono-ha pioneer Lee Ufan will anchor the exhibition at strategic locations across the venue. Among these will be Lee’s Relatum (2007/19), a sculptural installation comprising a curved iron sheet and a large rock. The Biennial will also showcase two works from Charles Lim’s mixed-media SEA STATE (2005– ) project, examining the significance of the sea in the Singaporean national consciousness through photographic and video installations. 

Additionally, the Biennial will debut nine new projects (all 2019)—the highest number of special commissions for the festival to date—that respond to this edition’s theme. Virgin Land, an immersive multimedia installation by Taiwanese artist Ting Chaong-Wen, traces the history of the malaria drug quinine to recall its colonial associations and fateful transformation from a medicine to a weapon of imperialism. Other projects include Wang Hong-Kai’s workshop project This Is No Country Music, which uncovers the story of persecuted Taiwanese composer Koh Bunya (Chiang Wen-yeh). Thai duo JIANDYIN will present Friction Current, which examines disputed territorial claims on the stateless Zomia. 

The 7th Asian Art Biennial runs from October 5 to February 9, 2020. 

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