The term “stranger” in the
exhibition title owes its inspiration to “marebito,” an ancient Japanese word
describing beings that come from afar with gifts of wisdom, which was theorized
by the Japanese ethnologist Shinobu Orikuchi (1887 – 1953). For the two
curators, the “marebito” can take the form of the migrant, the ethnic minority,
the colonist, the foreign merchant, the smuggler, the partisan, the shaman and
the traitor – figures that are conduits to an unknown outside, and who channel
forces that test the very limits of our sense of self, our society and our
species.
The “mountain” and the “sea”
of the title are present in the curators’ diagram as “Zomia” and the “Sulu Sea”. Zomia refers to a vast highland area that
cuts across Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma China, India, Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The high-altitude and rough
terrain of Zomia, as described by the American anthropologist James C. Scott,
forms a natural barrier against the control of the nation-states that surround
it, thus serving as a shelter for a variety of non-state peoples such as ethnic
minorities, guerillas of forgotten wars and drug empires. The Sulu Sea is a
marginal sea between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, bordered in the
South by Borneo and in the North by the labyrinthine archipelagoes of the
Philippines. Historically rich in maritime commerce, the Sulu Sea is also rife
with slave raiding and piracy, and is today the stage for the activities of
terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf. In the conceptual matrix developed by the two
curators, Zomia and the Sulu Sea function as tropes for the intersection of
geography and politics, altitudes and anarchism.
Another axis in the diagram stretches from “Clouds” in the
earth’s troposphere to “Minerals” beneath the earth’s surface. To view human
histories against the horizon of clouds and minerals is to open these
narratives up to the roles of non-human elements and non-human scales of time. Such
an expanded notion of history seems fitting for our historical moment – which
is one of ecological catastrophe at a planetary level. One of the questions
driving this edition of the Asian Art Biennial is how the unfinished project of
decolonization intersects with these new concerns.
This Biennial will feature
both existing works and new commissions, many of which are characterized by
cross-disciplinary research from which unexpected correspondences and
connections are established. For
example, Jiandyin, an artist duo from Thailand, will collaborate with
pharmaceutical research institutes in Taiwan and Thailand in a new commission
that weaves together the geopolitics of northern Thailand, the drug smuggling
routes of Zomia, black magic folklore and jade quarries. Another new commission is a joint project by
two artist groups - Lifepatch and Open-Contemporary Art Center. Initiated in
Indonesia in 2012, the members of Lifepatch are made up of artists, designers,
engineers and scientists, and their practice is characterized by civic
engagement, social innovation, and technological experimentation.
Open-Contemporary Art Center is a Taiwan-based artist collective that has
sustained an intense engagement with various Southeast Asian art scenes over a
long period.
A total of 33 artists/artist
groups will feature in “The Strangers from beyond the Mountain and the Seas:
Asian Art Biennial 2019.” The first part of the invitation list comprises
CHIANG Kai-Chun (Taiwan), CHIU Chen-Hung (Taiwan), Shilpa GUPTA (India),
Jiandyin (Thailand), Hiwa K (Iraq), LIU Chuang (China), LIU Yu (Taiwan), Gilad
RATMAN (Israel), Timur SI-QIN (Germany), Yuichiro TAMURA (Japan), Sawangwongse
YAWNGHWE (Burma), Lifepatch (Indonesia) + Open-Contemporary Art Center
(Taiwan), TING Chaong-Wen (Taiwan), and WANG Hong-Kai (Taiwan).
“The Strangers from beyond
the Mountain and the Sea: Asian Art Biennial 2019” is scheduled to open in
October 2019. A series of conferences, workshops and performances will unfold
in parallel with the biennial. For more details, please refer to the official
website of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
2019 Asian Art Biennial(https://www.asianartbiennial.org/2019/index.html)
Exhibition Dates：October 2019 – February
2020 (tentative schedule)
Venue：National Taiwan
Museum of Fine Arts
Coordinator: Fan Hsing-Yu TEL:
(04)23723552 #302
Media Contact: Emily Yi-Yin Wang
Tel:04-2372-3552 #133
Chun-Yi Kuo Tel:04-2372-3552 #326
National Taiwan Museum of
Fine Ats
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 09:00~17:00,
Saturday and Sunday 09:00~18:00,
closed on Mondays
Address: No.2, Sec.1, Wu-Chuan W. Road, Taichung,
Taiwan R.O.C
TEL: 886-4-23723552