Past Issues 2008
| TAASA Review Volume 17 no.1 March 2008 Cover: No Lotus (2006) Choi Jeong-Hwa, Waterproof cloths, ventilator, motor controller, 140cm x 140cm The artist view from 'Through the looking glass', at Asia house, London. Image courtesy of the author. |
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TAASA Review
CONT ENT S
3 Editorial - Natalie Seiz, Leong Chan & Josefa Green
4 What does hybridity mean for Asian art today? - John Clark
7 Closed off fusion - Tsutomu Mizusawa 9 Beyond Korea post 1989 Korean contemporary art - Jiyoon Lee
12 The new century of neo-aesthetics in animamix art - Victoria Lu
14 Mapping Taiwan activism in the work of Wu Mali - Natalie Seiz
16 No chinese - Aaron Seeto
18 Exhibition review: Chinglish - Leong Chan
19 Unpicking the minature: Shahzia Sikander at the MCE - Jim Masselos
20 Conference report: Chia 2008 – Crossing cultures - 32nd Congress of the international committee of the history of art - Sabrina Snow and Sarena Abdullah
22 Exhibition: Floating worlds – Christopher Koller at RMIT - Susan Scollay
23 Contemporary art courses: Asia contemporary at the Soas - Melisa Morel
23 Contemporary art courses: Mad at AIT Tokyo - Junko Yoda
24 Recent TAASA activities
25 TAASA member’s diary 26 What’s on: March – May 2008
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Editorial
Natalie Seiz and Leong Chan, Guest Editors
We are pleased to present the first 2008 issue of TAASA Review, devoted to contemporary East Asian art. While cognisant of the sociocultural and geo-political definitions of East Asia and the limitations of space, we have deliberately focused on selected art practices from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan within the broader contexts of national, regional and global issues. The papers presented are by no means a definitive overview of contemporary East Asian art, rather an attempt to draw out some of the concerns and relationships between the periphery and the centre in contemporary art which are informed and shaped by interactions between East Asia and Australia, Europe and North America, parallelled by cross-cultural 'inter-Asia' influences on mobile populations and lived experiences within greaterAsia. John Clark examines changing ideas in the use of the term 'hybridity' and the issue of motility for the artist in an international context, and his paper provides a conceptual space for the other authors in a dialogue that shifts our complacent ideas about the nature of contemporary Asia within a global community.
These ideas correspond with the paper by Jiyoon Lee, who charts the growth of contemporary Korean art from the early period of recognition primarily by curators in Asia, to its eventual development and exhibitions in regions not only outside Asia, but within Korea itself. In the same light, Tsutomu Mizusawa observes changes occurring in the exhibition and production of contemporary Japanese art, and in particular, collaboration between the artist and public volunteers in art projects, and site-specific works in various unconventional spaces outside the main centre of Tokyo. Natalie Seiz also considers changes in how contemporary art is produced and viewed in Taiwan by examining one artist, Wu Mali, and the process of art making in relation to local community and environment. Victoria Lu discusses a specific genre of contemporary Chinese art, "Animamix", linking it to a younger generation of artists whose approach to producing art is informed by the aesthetics, narratives and technology of the digital age. Aaron Seeto evokes the question of how the construction of Asian identity in the multicultural context of Australian society may have evolved from an ugly past, and how that past in some places still festers.
Leong Chan reviews an exhibition of provocative works by Hong Kong artists ten years after the return of the former British colony to China, and ponders on socio-political issues associated with the use of textual and visual language in emphasising and preserving cultural identity. It has been ten years since an issue of the TAASA Review was devoted solely to contemporary Asian art, and during that time there have been significant socio-economic and political developments in the region, particularly with reforms and trends in China. In this issue we have attempted briefly to highlight the impact of some of these changes on contemporary East Asian art. In doing so, we acknowledge that the complexity of art in the region lies beyond what is displayed in the context of the mainstream museum or biennale. East Asia is no longer that far away from us here in Australia, as today we are closer to it than ever before. We thank the writers for their generosity in their contributions to this issue. We look forward to an issue on contemporary Southeast Asian art in the future. Josefa Green, Editor It is with much pleasure that I take up the reins as editor of TAASA Review, confident that I inherit a high calibre journal that provides a valuable service to our relatively small but very enthusiastic Asian arts community. My thanks to Sandra Forbes for her outstanding work as previous editor and for her assistance in the hand over. What better topic to kick off 2008 than contemporary East Asian art, a particularly vibrant area of the international art scene. Apart from the contributions from invited experts provided by guest editors Leong Chan and Natalie Seiz , the remaining articles in this Review cover some interesting contemporary art events in Australia, including a significant conference recently held in Melbourne: the 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art. It is an indication of the globalisation of the art world that this is the first time the Congress has met in the southern hemisphere.
The June issue of TAASA Review will be a general issue in which you will find a celebration of the life of Dee Court, whose recent unexpected death shocked us all. She was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable contributor to the Asian arts community, including as co-convenor of the TAASA NSW Textile Study Group. The group's meeting on 12 March will be held in Dee's honour - please see TAASA Members' Diary for the details.
| TAASA Review Volume 17 No. 2 June 2008 Cover: Two Rajput Princes, India (Jodhpur, Rajasthan), c. 1910 Opaque watercolour with gold. Silver and mica on cotton 75.6 x 91cm. Collection National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (1992. 1374): Shown in the recent exhibition Intimate Encounters at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. |
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TAASA Review
Contents
3 Editorial: Finding Focus - Sandra Forbes
4 Dee Court, 1944 – 2008: A Tribute - Gill Green
6 Tashi Kabum: A Mustang treasure revealed - Gerry Virtue
9 Tholing Monastery: Cooperation and conservation - Rong Fan
12 Collector’s choice: A Tibetan dragon chest - Todd Sandeman
13 Collector’s choice: A Mongolian Yama - Boris Kaspiev and Richard Price
14 Traveler’s choice: Polish art deco in India - Maria Wronska-Friend
15 New South Asian gallery in Toronto - Haema Sivanesan
16 Raffles and Prambanan - Philip Courtenay
18 Djuwadi: Folding the relational into art - Alexandra Crosby
21 Exhibition: Multiple lives, parallel traditions - Devleena Ghosh
22 Report: Funding developments, Asian arts
23 International symposium on Buddhist art - Ann MacArthur
24 TAASA member’s diary
25 Recent TAASA activities
26 What’s on: June – August 2008
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Editorial:
Finding a focus
Sandra Forbes
People everywhere have been appalled and saddened at the loss of life caused by the recent natural disasters in Burma and China. The scale of destruction been so horrifying that even to think about whether works of art and architecture will have survived or might be restored seems heartless or even irrelevant. But of course it is not irrelevant. The world's history and civilisation is recorded in its arts. As is clear from a number of articles in this issue of TAASA Review, the protection and conservation of Asian works of of art, particularly in situ, continues to be a significant problem. For example, Rong Fan describes the restoration of murals at Tholing Monastery, western Tibet, where the temple was used as a barn during the Cultural Revolution; Philip Courtenay's paper on Prambanan in Java mentions the significant damage inflicted by an earthquake in 2006. Museums and public and private foundations play a major role in both protection of sites and conservation of objects for future generations. Therefore I'm sure that TAASA members will be pleased to read in this issue (p. 22) about increased interest among Australian public galleries and museums in funding the arts of Asia. The National Gallery of Victoria has recently launched a new Asian Art Acquisition Fund; VisAsia at the Art Gallery of NSW is behind an increasing number of events and acquisitions; the Director of the National Gallery of Australia has announced that his Gallery's central priority will be to purchase Australian and Asia-Pacific works; the Art Gallery of South Australia is building a significant collection of Islamic Art (ref. TAASA Review December 2007); and Queensland's new GoMA focuses on the contemporary arts of the region.
Private collectors, too, play an important part in the preservation of art objects. It's always stimulating when a collector wants to enthuse about their love object, and two do so in this issue, writing about an energetic Mongolian bronze Yama and a spectacular Tibetan dragon trunk respectively. Sometimes, without any particular initial intention, an issue of TAASA Review seems naturally to develop a focus on a particular subject or geographic area. That has happened with this issue, where the majority of articles concern the arts of South Asia and the Himalayas. Some core articles were submitted - for example, Gerry Virtue's about his adventures in Mustang - others were commissioned because they seemed appropriately contingent. And there you are.
Maybe this South Asia leaning was in some subtle way due to our wish in this issue to celebrate the life of the beautiful Dee Court, whose gift for friendship combined with her passion for South and Central Asian art to provide wonderful experiences for so many people. A tribute to Dee is, appropriately, our lead article in this issue. While Dee's principal fascination and expertise in recent years was with the Islamic arts (particularly the textiles) of Central Asia, she also loved the decorative arts of the Indian sub-continent. She would have loved the two Rajasthani princes who appear on the cover of this issue, and would have analysed the details of their garments and jewellery meticulously - including their watches, of which they are so proud that they wear them outside their cuffs. She would have enjoyd the exhibition Intimate Encounters, in which this painting was recently shown, and have appreciated Devleena Ghosh's review here. Dee would have been pleased to know that a new South Asian gallery has opened in Toronto, and would have enjoyed knowing more about the Umaid Bhawan Palace at Jodhpur in Rajasthan - which is not far from where she died.
Our cover painting was obviously influenced by photography, which has in itself played a vital role in recording Asian art, history and civilisation. The next (September 2008) issue of TAASA Review, guest edited by Dr Jim Masselos, will focus on photography. It is timed to coincide with the internationally significant exhibition Picture Paradise: the first century of Asia-Pacific photography 1840s to 1940s at the National Gallery of Australia, and other associated exhibitions to be held in Canberra. See our What's On section for more details. And don't forget to book for TAASA's seminar on Beijing (Sydney and Melbourne, in July and August).
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TAASA Review
Contents:
3 Editorial: Photographing Asia – Jim Masselos, Guest Editor
4 The Indian amateur’s photographic album - Divia Patel
7 John Edward Sache: Master of the picturesque - Stephanie Roy Bharath
10 The Royal Tour In India - Sophie Gordon
13 Paradise from within: Asian-born modernist photographers - Simeran Maxwell
16 In the public domain: Hedda Morrison in the Powerhouse museum - Christina Sumner
18 Body language: Contemporary Chinese photography - Isobel Crombie
20 Nasreen Mohamedi: The stillness of the captured moment - Russell Storer
21 The Chika project: Mayu Kanamori - Interview by Ann MacArthur
22 Yasumasa Morimura and Yukio Mishima – Seasons of passion - Judy Annear Research: Karen-Anne Coleman
24 In the public domain: Highlights from the National Library of Australia - Sylvia Carr
25 Recent TAASA Activities
25 TAASA members' diary
26 What’s on: September – November 2008
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Editorial:
Photographing Asia
Jim Masselos, Guest Editor
This issue celebrates photography in Asia from its earliest days when it was practised by an eclectic mixture of amateurs and professionals through to its present form in the hands of contemporary practitioners. Across the years, the technology of the photograph has developed and evolved - and with it the kind of image and the tones and colours that can be produced. So too have the ways in which the photograph is used and the purposes for which it is made. The photograph has been constantly reinvented in its existence as an artefact, in its usage and in the viewpoints it expresses.
The following articles provide an overview of the kinds of developments that have occurred in photography from the 1850s through to the recent past. There is the experimental, typified as much in Divia Patel's account of photographs created by a number of early - and outstanding - amateurs in Bombay in the 1850s and 1860s as in the images produced by artists of our time in China or Japan. There is also the commercial, as in the pictures produced by photographic studios throughout Asia, intended for sale to visiting Europeans and expats, as well as to local gentry, princes and others who were privileged, wealthy or established. The studio photographers are represented here by Stephanie Roy Bharath's analysis of Saché's career in India. In the last third of the 19th century possibly more photographic images were purchased and collected than any time since then. In her article about Royal tours in India, Sophie Gordon dwells on a special example of what happened to many of these purchased images. Commercial photographs - and not only those acquired by or for royalty - were regularly and customarily brought together in albums for official presentation and retained as part of the record of an important event, or else they were used as a store for personal memory, and in gifting exchanges. As with the preceding articles, this points to another underlying aspect of such photographs - the foreign gaze which looked at Asia through European eyes and through the eyes of foreign rule. Inevitably what they saw was different from what local nationals saw.
Simeran Maxwell picks up on a different gaze, that of the first Asian-born generation of photographers. She argues that they saw their own country and people differently from the way foreign rulers surveyed their dominions. yet, in common with preceding photographers who were much influenced by Victorian notions of the picturesque in art and by a drive to create photographs that were 'art' and 'artistic', this generation was equally subject to world wide artistic trends and influences, pictorialism and modernism among them. At the same time they continued to operate within their own autochthonous aesthetic norms. By the end of the 20th century and into our own times, photographers like those introduced by Russell Storer, Isabel Crombie and Judy Annear, picked up not only on their particular national environment - looking at it with the eyes of a local - but also played with conceptual forces in contemporary art and contributed to ongoing theoretical artistic debates as to the visual and what it constituted. It is a potent mix, as these Chinese, Japanese and South Asian photographers demonstrate.
This issue is timed to appear during a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Picture Paradise. Asia-Pacific Photography 1840s-1940s. The exhibition claims to be the first - anywhere - to bring photography in the Asia-Pacific region into the one conceptual and physical space, and signals an intention to continue to develop the Asian photography collection in the Gallery. Given that most of the images in the show are from the NGA's collection and that most in turn were acquired over the past three years, this bodes well for future study of the medium as practised in Asia. Other places in Australia also have collections of Asia-related photographs as the articles on the National Library of Australia and the Powerhouse Museum remind us - and this apart from holdings in state galleries, state libraries and other repositories. The great collections are overseas of course. Most are in publicly owned national collections like the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Library but there are also major private collections, among the most prominent of which is the Alkazi collection only recently built up and now located in Delhi. Let us hope that public collections in this country will also continue to grow and continue to reflect the great richness of the medium. And that there will be many more such shows.
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TAASA Review
CONTENTS Volume 17 No.4 December 2008
3 Editorial - Ann Proctor
4 Temples, wells and gardens – The central role of water in India - Frederick Asher
7 Vanished barks sail again - Julian Cribb
9 The symbolism of water in ancient east Javanese art - Lydia Kievan
12 Boats, crocodile ancestors and mermaid myths in the art and craft of Timor-Leste - Joanna Barrkman
16 The water festival in Cambodia - Gill Green
18 Water puppetry: Vietnam soul - Vuong Duy Bien
19 Notes on dragon-rulers of the waters - Adrian Snodgrass
22 Exhibition preview: The golden journey: Japanese art from Australian collections - James Bennett
24 In the public domain: Dadang Christanto. Washing the wound - Melanie Eastburn, with Dadang Christanto
25 Using the water character in architectural design - Graham Humphries
26 Roxanna Brown (1946 v- 2008) - Pamela Gutman
27 End of year message - Judith Rutherford
28 Recent TAASA activities
29 TAASA member’s diary
30 What’s on: December 2008 – February 2009
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Editorial
Anne Proctor, Guest Editor
'The wise find pleasure in water: the virtuous find pleasure in hills.' Or so said Confucius. Without claiming to be wise, it has indeed been a pleasure to source various articles on the subject of water, from both scholars familiar to TAASA Review readers and from writers new to the journal. Their contributions, I hope, will arouse your interest and knowledge of the fundamental role that water has played in the development of culture, sacred space and ritual across Asia and through the ages.
We are fortunate that Professor F.M. Asher from the University of Minnesota, the author of many books on Indian art and architecture, has written an article for this issue. Readers may remember that his photograph appeared in the March 2008 issue of TAASA Review beside Chaya Chandrasekhar and Khanh Trinh (both of AGNSW) at the CIHA, the international conference of art historians, held in January 2008. In his article, Professor Asher has provided a comprehensive discussion on the significance of water for pleasure, power and ritual in the Indian context; it provides the perfect background for understanding the way in which water is regarded in Hindu and Islamic societies.
Julian Cribb, a familiar contributor, has written about the traditional boats of Bangladesh - a country that immediately conjures up associations with water. He introduces us to the work of Runa Khan Marre and her Rolex award winning endeavour to preserve the disappearing skills of the traditional boat builders of Bangladesh. One of the stunning images he has provided is on the cover of this issue.
Amongst the new contributors is Lydia Kieven, whose PhD research involves the narrative relief sculpture of Java. She offers new insights into the way water symbolism has been transformed and syncretised through the absorption of Hindu and Buddhist religions into local beliefs. Other first time contributors include the director of the National Puppet Theatre of Vietnam, Vuong Duy Bien and Graham Humphries, a Canberra based architect. Vuong Duy Bien raises the intriguing, and as yet unanswered question, as to why water puppetry, a particularly clever and enchanting form of entertainment, developed in Vietnam and not in other wet rice producing societies. Australian architect, Graham Humphries, recently won a contract to construct a building complex in Changchun, China. He relates the way in which the serendipitous use of the Chinese character for water in the design concept helped clinch the deal for his company.
The Brisbane based, Indonesian born, Dadang Christanto's moving work 'Heads from the North', in the sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Australia, is the 'In the Public Domain' piece for this issue. Melanie Eastburn and Dadang discuss the different metaphorical uses for water that the artist incorporates in his performances and installations that address issues of political and social oppression.
In their articles, Gill Green and Adrian Snodgrass have focused on the incorporation of Buddhist water related imagery into the cultures of Cambodia and Japan, their respective areas of expertise. Gill Green describes the water festival in Cambodia that occurs at the end of the rainy season, while Dr Snodgrass' article, 'Notes on Dragon- Rulers of the Waters', provides an East Asian perspective. He discusses, amongst other things, the way in which the body of the dragon is assimilated into a conceptualisation of the country of Japan. Albeit in another cultural context, there is an interesting parallel in the stories Joanna Barrkman relates of the sacred crocodile ancestor in Timor-Leste and the way in which the shape of that island is imagined as crocodile based. Her article, 'Boats, Crocodile Ancestors and Mermaid Myths in the Art and Craft of Timor-Leste', gives an enticing introduction to the exhibition currently on show at the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory until July 2009.
Another exhibition that will attract the interest of TAASA members - opening March 2009 at the Art Gallery of South Australia - is reviewed by the Curator of Asian Art, James Bennett. Whilst not directly related to water issues, the 'Golden Journey' exhibition will be full of treasures from Australian collections.
For those interested in pursuing the water theme further, the 3rd SSEASR Conference being held in Bali, Indonesia on 3-6 June, 2009 will be on the topic "Waters in South & Southeast Asia: Interaction of Culture and Religion". For further information, go to www.sseasr.org. And, finally, the elemental theme will continue next year with a TAASA Review issue focusing on Fire. Watch out for it!
