Innholdsfortegnelse for Almanac 2025 (Jan/Feb 2025) i ArtAsiaPacific

MAJOR SPONSORS Stephen Cheng Stefan Rihs Chloe Suen Nicola Chu 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 and inclusive society, and for that reason we are dedicated to embracing the diverse ideas and points of view that are intricately woven into Asian art today. A sibling organization to the 32-year-old bimonthly magazine, ArtAsiaPacific Foundation is a nonprofit that offers a unique platform and voice in the fast-expanding field of contemporary art. At the heart of our mission is the advancement of knowledge about contemporary visual art from Hong Kong, Asia, and beyond, through research, scholarship, and the dissemination of cultural information to the…

Against all the odds, Julia Phillips remains invisible. Online searches yield documentation of her elegant sculptures and works on paper, yet the customary profile image of the artist (who, from all accounts, is charismatic, glamorous, but also somber) is simply nowhere to be seen. Among the rows of installation shots that bear Phillips’s name, the sole “portrait” is a black-and-white photograph of a slender figure donning a monochrome outfit, taken by the artist Keisha Scarville. Presumably this is of Phillips, who made sure that her face was covered with what appears to be her own hair. So any attempt to put a face to a name is a futile one, at least in the virtual realm. As frustrating as this might be, the message is clear: Phillips prefers not to…

1 CHENG CHUNG-CHUAN 1931–2024 One of the most important female modernist painters in Taiwan, Cheng Chung-chuan studied at the National Taiwan Normal University with key early modernists such as Chu Teh-chun, Liao Chi-chun, and Li Shih-chiao. She was a founding member of Taiwan’s Fifth Moon Group, and her works belong to major Taiwanese museums. 2 A. RAMACHANDRAN 1935–2024 Known for his stark depictions of the human condition, A. Ramachandran continually sought new inspiration throughout his long career, creating more than 5,000 sketches. A student of Kerala mural painting at Santiniketan, he is credited with redefining Indian modernism by drawing on millennia of the subcontinent’s artistic heritage. 3 YONG SOON MIN 1953–2024 A member of the New York-based Asian American artist collective Godzilla (1990–2001), Yong Soon Min was born in South Korea and…

1. New HQs in HK In the last two years, the four main international art auction houses (Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, and Bonhams) have all established new Asia headquarters in Hong Kong. Phillips was the first, in 2023, opening opposite to M+ on the ground floor of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Tower. In 2024, the others showcased their new real-estate and sales strategies. Sotheby’s opened its new Sotheby’s Maison on July 27 in the luxury Landmark Chater mall in Hong Kong’s Central district. The relocation to spaces formerly occupied by Giorgio Armani and other luxury brands represents the company’s pivot to a more retail-centric model. On the first floor, in glass-walled showrooms, Sotheby’s offers a mixture of artworks, dinosaur skeletons, first-edition books, antique and modern furniture, collectibles, jewelry, and…

Identity today is being explored and scrutinized with extreme nuance. In your case, how are you exploring all these identities—as an immigrant in the US and now coming back to Tokyo, but no longer a Japanese citizen? Some identities I associate with are: being queer, being part of the Japanese diaspora, and being a performance artist. As my show took place at a national institution, and as I will be raising children who are Asian American, I gave up my Japanese nationality to have a more critical distance from the idea of purity ascribed to being a Japanese person. I was surprised to see your work quoting David Medalla’s work, because one of his main obsessions was the Philippines’ history of being colonized, including by Japan. Do you find it is…

As your mixed-media works are characterized by historical subject matter, I’m interested to know how you arrived at the decision to explore your own history as well as that of Mongolia. In 2017, I gravitated from more personal, introspective themes toward subject matter inspired by historical and cultural elements. Around this time I traveled to northern Mongolia, specifically the Gobi Desert. The beautiful landscapes in this region inspired me as this is where the last remaining Tsaatan (“people with reindeer”) live. It was also here that I witnessed ethnic heritage displays at the local museums. These encounters made me feel connected to something from the past, and moved me to create mixedmedia works inspired by Buddhist thangka painting and silkscreen techniques. The deer and wolf are repeated motifs throughout your…

SYDNEY NICHOLAS MANGAN A WORLD UNDONE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AUSTRALIA APR 5 – JUN 30 Nicholas Mangan’s expanded sculptural practice examines human and nonhuman relations through the perspective of resource extraction and political struggles. The midcareer survey revealed the artist’s use of sculptures and material objects embedded in energy, capital, labor, and weather systems. Moving images of rock samples and space dust in A World Undone and A World Undone (Protolith) (both 2012) reference deep geological time, planetary formation, and the violence of excavation. More recent works, such as Core-Coralations (2021–) and Death Assemblage (2022), address the dying Great Barrier Reef and coral bleaching through film, UV lighting, and composite material. Blending scientific research with historical and poetic themes, Mangan’s practice is a poignant reminder of our complicity in…

JAN 9–12 Mumbai Gallery Weekend 17–19 Art SG, Singapore 17–26 Singapore Art Week 18–26 SEA Focus, Singapore 25–May 25 Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah 31–Feb 16 Yebisu International Festival for Art, Tokyo FEB 6–9 India Art Fair, New Delhi 6–Jun 15 Sharjah Biennial 16 15–May 4 Hawai'i Triennial 2025 20–23 Melbourne Art Fair 21–23 Frieze Los Angeles MAR 13–21 Asia Week New York 15–20 TEFAF, Maastricht 26–30 Art Central, Hong Kong 28–30 Art Basel, Hong Kong APR 11–13 Art OnO, Seoul 11–13 Selection Seoul 12–May 11 Kyotographie, Kyoto 18–20 Art Dubai 18–May 25 Setouchi Triennale 2025 MAY 1–4 Aotearoa Art Fair, Auckland 2–4 Berlin Gallery Weekend 7–11 Frieze New York 8–11 Art Busan 8–11 Photofairs Shanghai 9–11 Taipei Dangdai 9–13 TEFAF, New York 10–Nov 23 Venice Architecture Biennale TBA Gallery Weekend…

EI ARAKAWA-NASH was born in 1977 in Iwaki City, Fukushima, and is a Japanese American performance artist living in Los Angeles. VALENTINA BUZZI is an Italian curator and writer. She is currently pursuing a PhD in cultural studies in Seoul, and was the artistic director of the Italian Pavilion at the 14th Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju. HARRY C.H. CHOI is an art historian, curator, and writer who is a regular contributor to Artforum and Texte zur Kunst. He is currently completing his PhD in art history and film and media studies at Stanford University. SAM DEL CASTILLO was born and raised in Manila and studied art at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She was a student journalist for the Philippine Collegian before serving as associate editor. BRETT GRAHAM is…

In the aftermath of the Women, Life, Freedom movement in 2022, Iran has ramped up its cultural repression. On April 12, Atena Farghadani was violently arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while hanging one of her political caricatures on a wall near the presidential palace in Tehran. She was given a punishment of six years of imprisonment. In May, award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as a flogging, for alleged national security crimes. He fled to Europe, where he attended the premiere of his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Elsewhere in Asia, creative liberties were threatened. While visiting relatives in China, artist Gao Zhen was detained by local authorities in Yanjiao on…

From handblown cherries and a crushed supermarket trolley to glass shrimps and pig’s trotters made of candle wax, Steph Huang’s practice revolves around a fundamental matter: food. Informed by research, as well as her previous job as a chef, the London-based Taiwanese artist explores the socioeconomic paradigms behind global trade routes, where food comes from, who produces it, and how it is consumed (and often wasted) at the expense of our environment. The impacts of climate change on food cultures were a focus of her projects in 2024. For “the water that bears the boat” at Freiburg’s Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Huang presented cast-plaster and glass sculptural works investigating the drying up of the Rhine river, a major transportation artery, food source, and cultural landscape in Europe. In May, Huang unveiled…

Another year, another blinding spotlight on the art ecosystem of Seoul, and South Korea at large. The third edition of Frieze Seoul marked a particular milestone, showcasing international and local talent in addition to other significant accomplishments—such as South Korea’s strong presence at the 60th Venice Biennale and two domestic biennales: the 15th edition of the Gwangju Biennale and the 2024 Busan Biennale. South Korean art also continued to gain worldwide attention through exhibitions in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific region, thanks to the efforts of national funding provided by KAMS (Korean Art Management Service) and initiatives supported by various Korean conglomerates—Lee Bul’s Genesis Facade Commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Mire Lee’s major Hyundai Commission at the Turbine Hall in London’s Tate…

How did the name Art Labor come to be? We chose Art Labor because “labor” has a dual meaning. To us, art is a form of labor that is similar to other kinds of labor—for example, a housewife is a laborer, a farmer is a laborer. By respecting all kinds of labor we blur the lines so that we can collaborate in a cross-disciplinary way. Labor also stands for “laboratory.” Every collaboration starts as a test; it’s an experimentation of relationships, ideas, methods, production, and mediums. Why did Art Labor choose this methodology of deliberately “slow” artmaking? When collaborating with others, we don’t want instant “in-and-out” production, like fast food. Instead, we want to engage with people, to build relationships and trust. Especially with the Jrai, it needs to take…

The question of what the future holds for us and the planet remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The new year is rising like the sun at dawn, just out of sight but already spreading its glow. Yet 2024’s preoccupation among many artists working across Asia was a reckoning with history. For an artist such as Archie Moore—winner of the Golden Lion at the 60th Venice Biennale for his monumental installation kith and kin (2024) in the Australia Pavilion—who went back 65,000 years to trace his Aboriginal bloodlines and the legacy of the colonial state, the past holds the key to understanding the present. The horizon line on our cover and throughout these pages represents this liminal space as we reflect and prepare to begin the cycle anew. In…

Last year, Southern Hemisphere institutions racked up multiple personnel changes. Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Michael Brand announced his departure in July 2025 after 12 years and a major expansion. At nonprofit Artspace, Alexie-Glass Kantor stepped down as executive director in mid-September. In Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia director Rhana Devenport ended her six-year tenure in early July, with Jason Smith, director at the Geelong Gallery in Victoria, stepping into the role in February 2025. Melbourne’s Australian Centre for Contemporary Arts (ACCA) recruited Myles Russell-Cook as artistic director and CEO, plus a new board chair, Terry Wu. As for the Biennale of Sydney, Sharjah Art Foundation’s president Hoor Al-Qasimi will lead the 25th edition in 2026. In Singapore, Eugene Tan was crowned CEO…

1. How are the Big Two? After significant changes in the ownership and management structure of the two major international art fair companies in recent years, Art Basel and Frieze face challenges as the art market has retracted overall. The London-based art magazine Frieze that launched a hipster art fair in a tent in Regent’s Park 21 years ago is now owned by a publicly traded, Beverly Hills-based entertainment and sports conglomerate, Endeavor, whose largest investor will take it private in 2025. In the process Endeavor is looking to offload assets like Frieze, which now owns seven art fairs, including five branded editions plus the Amory Show in New York and Expo Chicago, and a London gallery building as well as the legacy media brand. What that means for the…

Along with your father, you were one of several artists from Aotearoa New Zealand to exhibit work in the 60th Venice Biennale. How did you both respond to this year’s curatorial theme of “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere”? Indigenous populations remain minorities in their own land—ostracized by the majority culture and viewed as outsiders. Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand resist this characterization. The curator, Adriano Pedrosa, chose my father’s work, along with works by Sandy Adsett and Selwyn Wilson, all of whom represent a generation of Māori artists who absorbed aspects of European modernism while maintaining a Māori worldview and narrating Māori stories. Two of my father’s sculptural works—Ngā Tamariki a Tangaroa (Children of the Sea God) (1970) and Tinirau and the Whale (1971)—are about guardianship over the land and…

In Implantation you carry a CRT (cathode-ray tube) television. Can you tell us about how your performance relates to the imagery on screen? When I first performed Implantation in 2022 it was part of “Nothing Has Happened,” a dual exhibition with filmmaker Chan Tze Woon, curated by Emilie Choi Sin Yi at HART Haus. Tze Woon prepared archival video footage of Hong Kong in the 1960s, and from his childhood. I executed the live action, which was originally a five-hour-long, durational piece. We were thinking about the tangibility of memory and the weight of history quite directly. An old-style CRT television holds a certain weight; it has a very rigid form. I positioned my body around this big, heavy object to create as many postures as possible. At the time,…

DIRIYAH CONTEMPORARY ART BIENNALE 2024 AFTER RAIN FEB 20 – MAY 24 Following a heavy storm comes fresh air, and, in the desert, a flourishing of plant and animal life. This moment of regeneration inspired the second edition of the Diriyah Biennale. Titled “After Rain,” it was helmed by artistic director Ute Meta Bauer, working alongside a curatorial team comprising Wejdan Reda, Rose Lejeune, Anca Rujoiu, Ana Salazar, and Rahul Gudipudi. Installed in warehouses in the historic city’s former industrial area, the exhibition featured 177 works by 92 artists from 43 countries—more than 30 hailing from the Gulf region. The “Environments and Ecologies” section included a photographic collaboration between Saudi artist Ahmed Mater and Italian photographer and filmmaker Armin Linke, Saudi Futurism (2024), for which the two traveled around the…

PAN DAIJING: Sudden Places MINNEAPOLIS WALKERARTCENTER JAN 16–JUL 6 In her atmospheric exhibitions, Pan Daijing combines sound and moving images with impermanent materials, live choreography, and architectural interventions to elicit deeply emotive and sensory experiences. For her first US institutional solo show at the Walker Art Center, the Berlin-based artist and composer will construct a site-specific audiovisual landscape of old and new major works. AYOUNG KIM: Many Worlds Over BERLIN HAMBURGERBAHNHOF FEB 28–JUL 20 Ayoung Kim is known for constructing simulated worlds using artificial intelligence, virtual reality, video, and sonic fiction, merging her research of ancestral origins with technology and imminent futures. “Many Worlds Over” will be Kim’s first solo exhibition in a German museum. With themes of migration, xenophobia, queerness, and geopolitics, the exhibition will observe the symbiosis between…