Contagious Cities: Faraway Too Close 26 January – 21 April, 2019 Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong In 2003, the SARS outbreak led to a shutdown of Hong Kong. The virus infected 1,755 people in the city, killing 299. Fear of the epidemic led many, mainly expats, to flee. Those who didn’t leave avoided public spaces. A … Continue reading
If with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, and the concomitant displacement of jobs that ensues, only those servicing the über wealthy will remain employed, then it would appear that the art world, with its numerous advisors, dealers, collection managers and specialists catering to wealthy collectors––minted by the minute like Zimbabwean currency––should be just fine. It … Continue reading
A charred and reflective post-apocalyptic scene looms large in the entrance to Qiao Space in Shanghai. On a sheet of mirror, a cone-shaped architectural structure is etched on the surface, referencing Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Tower of Babel (1563), rising like a utopian Brigadoon out of the ashes of a scorched recomposed landscape. Pieced … Continue reading
Art fairs are like the Hydra—chop one head off and several more sprout up in its place. This month saw the inauguration of two new fairs in Asia alone, with Taipei Dangdai kicking off in the third week of January, followed by S.E.A. Focus the very next week in Singapore (24–27 January 2019). February also … Continue reading
It is perhaps fitting that French-born Algerian artist Kader Attia is based in Berlin, a city of scars. A city where the ruins of a wall that once divided it are still visible; a city in which the atrocities committed during wars and by two repressive regimes are memorialised; where the architecture of communism and … Continue reading
Launched in 1996 and now in its twelfth edition, the Shanghai Biennale is the longest-running biennial in China, presented at the Power Station of Art, China’s only government-funded art space in a landscape dominated by private museums. This year’s edition (10 November 2018–10 March 2019), curated by Mexican-born Cuauhtémoc Medina, brings together the work of … Continue reading
There has been a huge proliferation of biennales in recent years, with nearly 250 biennials currently operating globally, listed by the Biennial Foundation’s Directory of Biennials. They have become a marker of a must-see modern city, a showing off of soft power, a rapacious consumption of culture and a drawcard for cultural tourism. … Continue reading
