image: Asia Art Archive

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Artists’ Publications Display at ART HK 12

White Fungus will be part of a selection of zines and artists’ publications on display at the ArtAsiaPacific booth at ART HK 12, May 17-20.

ART HK 12 will showcase the very best in contemporary art from 266 galleries representing 39 International territories. The fair will include a number of talks and events arranged by Asia Art Archive, the fair’s Official Education Partner.

ART HK 12 is produced in collaboration with Art Basel.

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White Fungus 12 Review in EyeContact

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John Hurrell has reviewed White Fungus Issue 12 in EyeContact.

“Actually, to call this just an ‘art magazine’ is inaccurate. Politics and activist art are the dominant components but the ingredients tend to be a swirling mix, with lots of (as mentioned) music and literature, plus anthropology and history – all in the form of well researched articles by experienced writers… As an appetite-whetter – a generator of new intellectual explorations – it can’t be surpassed.

Read the rest here.

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White Fungus on Self Publish, Be Happy

White Fungus Issue 12 has also been profiled by Self Publish,
Be Happy. Check it out here.

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Suntherain Meets White Fungus

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White Fungus in Art & Antiques

Kerry Tribe The Grand Hall (pre-production study for There Will Be ______) 2011.

Courtesy the artist

True Stories: Scripted Realities at Govett-Brewster

BY SARAH DUNN

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Testing boundaries and questioning realities, True Stories: Scripted Realities has been introducing its specific form of ambiguity to New Plymouth, New Zealand since early last month.

Running until 24 June, this free exhibition at the Govett-Brewster gallery consists of five documentary-style video works: Omar Fast’s The Casting 2007; Andrea Geyer’s Criminal Case 40/61: Reverb; Kerry Tribe’s There Will Be ________ 2012 ; Yael Bartana’s trilogy …and Europe will be Stunned 2007-2011; plus Liam Gillick and Anton Vidokle’s A Guiding Light 2010.

Each film uses structural narrative to encourage viewers to question the way meaning is constructed and accepted in conventional media.

The exhibition will be a chance for visitors to engage with perhaps unfamiliar social and political issues in very direct, personal way. Curator Mercedes Vicente is excited about the opportunity to showcase the hand-picked collection of international artists represented by the show in New Plymouth.

After living through 9/11-era New York, Vicente says she felt New Zealand art lacked a sense of political awareness when she first arrived in 2005: “I didn’t find it when I came. The urgency that we felt in the US, especially with artists, it wasn’t felt here.”

She thinks the deeper issues brought up by the exhibition –  what is and is not truth, the way culture constructs reality, the existence of personal constructed realities – may encourage local visitors to “hold up a mirror” to their own political beliefs.

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Omer Fast The Casting 2007 (video still).

Courtesy the artist

Fast’s work, The Casting 2007 addresses the consequences of the post-9/11 upheaval, featuring an interview with a US soldier. The piece uses actors, as a comment on the construction of news by the media. Fast says for him, the film was a way to reflect on how “experiences turn into memories, which in turn become stories and how these are ultimately recorded, mediated and broadcasted.”

Similarly, Geyer’s piece restages the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann with a single actor playing each role: reporter, accused, prosecutor, defence, audience and judge. The work is displayed in a six-channel installation, with each character’s part played on a different screen. “It’s not just a screening of a film,” Vicente says. Audience involvement is made possible by the arrangement of the screens around a central space, so viewers can follow each character speaking as if they are in the same room.

These video works represent artists branching out into new creative formats, says Vicente. The documentary tradition in contemporary art has recently been enriched by merging with other forms such as video art, performance and conceptual art.

She says through this fusion, artists can still engage with the social and political context of their work, but also begin to look at the art gallery as a location for political action and activism.

Vicente says that the exhibition as a whole is about encouraging viewers to think more critically about conventional media, and to disclose the mechanisms working behind the scenes to present subjective perspectives as fact. She hopes the exhibition will create a “resonance” with other galleries, stimulating debate outside Govett-Brewster’s immediate context.

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ZINE’S MATE SHOP is back!

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ZINE’S MATE SHOP opened in VACANT as a pop-up shop dedicated to Zines and artists’ publications. All the titles were renewed every three months in order to present the newest titles by zinemakers. Now in its fourth year we are enthusiastic about finding new zines. ZINE’S MATE SHOP 2012 will have a theme for each term to make the shop more specific and exciting.

For the April-June term we have gathered zines and magazines from Asian countries other than Japan. Even though the basic formatting is the same, as the culture differs the aesthetics changes drastically among the countries. Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Taichung, Singapore… We collaborated with six shops and publishers to gather amazing new zines that are rarely seen in Japan.

ZINE’S MATE SHOP 2012 “ASIAN ZINES”

Dates: 2012.4.7(Sat) – 6.30(Sat)

Venue: Vacant 1F http://www.n0idea.com/index.php

Participating Shops and Publishers:
Banana Fish Books (Dalian)
GRAPHIC (Seoul)
The Little Dröm Press (Singapore)
Underscore Magazine (Singapore)
WHITE FUNGUS (Taichung)
Shimokitazawa Generation (Taipei)*Books will arrive in late April
And more!

The Taipei Art Scene on Rhizome

Image: The Institute of Critical Zoologists, Blind Long-tailed Owl, Desert Variant of Little Owl, 2011.

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THE INSTITUTE OF

CRITICAL ZOOLOGISTS

PREVIEW: Thursday 26 April, 6-8pm
EXHIBITION: Friday 27 April — Sunday 17 June 2012

Chapter Gallery
Market Road, Cardiff CF5 1QE, UK

The Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ) works with artists, scientists and researchers to develop a critical approach to the zoological gaze. Motivated by current ecological concerns, the heart of its practice addresses the human regard for animals as conveyors of meaning with values that are both culturally and politically specific.

Taking factional environments as a starting point for quasi-factual scenarios, projects are realised as installations, photographic art works, archive material and expedition reports. The ICZ aims to test the role of art and photography in the dissemination of knowledge and acceptance of truths.

Chapter has worked in collaboration with the ICZ to present its first UK retrospective exhibition that interrogates the boundaries between the seen and the unseen, art and artifice, credence and fantasy; exploring methods of allegorical representation and interpretation.

In March 2012, ICZ artist Zhao Renhui undertook a residency at the National Museum Cardiff that has informed part of the research for this exhibition. An installation by the artist is open in the Natural History Galleries at the Museum between 13 March and 17 June 2012.

Pauline J Yao writes, Zhao’s work “may be truthful depictions or artful fabrications, but it hardly matters: Zhao succeeds in proving that our assumptions about reality must be rigorously questioned if not, on occasion, fully abandoned”. (Best of 2010, Art Forum)

This exhibition is curated by Lauren Jury and Helen Warburton.

Biography
Under the organisational name of The Institute of Critical Zoologists, Zhao Renhui has shown in a number of international exhibitions and been the subject of extensive writing and commentary. He is currently undertaking an artist residency with Ffotogallery, UK on behalf of the Land Archive. Recent group exhibitions include: The Singapore Art Museum (2012); Langgeng Art Foundation, Indonesia (2011); Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan; Seoul Arts Center, Korea; (both 2010); Photo Levallois, Paris (2008), as well as solo exhibitions at The Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2012) and The Arts Gallery, London (2011). In 2011 he received the Deustche Bank Award in Photography from University of the Arts London and was Winner of the Sony World Photography Awards in Still Life. He was awarded the Singapore National Arts Council Young Artist Award in 2010 and won a distinguished art prize in Singapore, The United Overseas Bank Painting of the Year Award in 2009. Zhao graduated with a Masters in Photography from The London College of Communication under its graduate scholarship program. He lives in London and Singapore.

Facing Pages 2012

White Fungus will be part of the exhibition at Facing Pages 2012 in Arnhem, The Netherlands, April 20-22.

VENEZUELA FROM BELOW

Oliver Ressler & Dario Azzellini

Exhibition: March 31, 2012 – April 29, 2012 (Hours: Wed. – Sun. 2-8pm) Opening: Saturday, March 31, 2012. 3-6 pm TheCube Project Space: 2F, No. 13, Aly 1, Ln. 136, Sec. 4, Roosevelt. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan (MRT: Gongguan Station, exit no. 1, East side of Shui-Yuan Market) This exhibition VENEZUELA FROM BELOW directly presents the Bolivarian Process through the views of grass-roots Venezuelans. The three documentaries by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini shown in the exhibition, Venezuela from Below (2004), 5 Factories – Worker Control in Venezuela (2006) and Comuna Under Construction (2010), interviewed and recorded those who found hope thanks to the “Bolivarian Revolution”. Through their own oral testimony, the films meticulously portray how the development of a democratic socialism, participatory democracy and autonomy of workers that emerged over the past decade have changed the Venezuelans’ envisioning of politics and the social structure. more infomation | download news release
Comuna Under Construction In more than 30.000 Consejos Comunales the Venezuelan inhabitants decide on their concerns collectively via assemblies.Several Consejos Comunales can form a Comuna and finally a communal town. The film “Comuna Under Construction” follows these developments throughout the hillside of the shantytowns of Caracas and the vast and wet plains of Barinas in the countryside. (…more)	5 Factories – Worker Control in Venezuela The changes in Venezuela’s productive sphere are demonstrated with five large companies in various regions: a textile company, aluminum works, a tomato factory, a cocoa factory, and a paper factory. In all, the workers are struggling for different forms of co- or self-management supported by credits from the government. (… more)	Venezuela from Below In Venezuela, a profound social transformation identified as the Bolivarian process has been underway since Hugo Chávez’s governmental takeover in 1998. It concerns a broad process of self organization, from which has developed a progressive constitution, a labor law, new educational possibilities, and a number of further reforms for the impoverished majority of the population of what is potentially a wealthy state. (… more)

萬歲/山水 Long Live / Landscape

姚瑞中個展 Yao Jui-chung Solo Exhibition

2012.4.7-4.29 TKG
2012.4.7-5.20 TKG+

The Tina Keng Gallery (Taipei) is proud to present Long Live/Landscape, a two-part solo exhibition of Yao Jui-chung’s recent work (opening reception: April 7, 4:30-7:00pm). Landscape will be on view on the first and second level of the Tina Keng Gallery from April 7 to 29, and will include an expansive display of landscapes resembling traditional Chinese ink paintings. Long Live, on view from April 7 to May 20, will theatrically transform the TKG+ B1 level into a site reminiscent of Taiwan’s haunting authoritarian past.

For his landscape paintings, Yao deliberately ignores the rules and formats of traditional Chinese ink painting. Instead, he embeds himself and his family into the scenery of tall mountains and flowing water that resemble those of Chinese paintings from the Song to Qing dynasties, in an attempt to lessen the distance between himself and tradition. Yao rebelliously masks himself with the façade of Chinese ink paintings in order to lend the works a false authenticity, and alludes to a greater disconnect (“vacancy” as he terms it) between his living experiences and the tradition of Chinese ink painting.

Having lived through Taiwan’s recent turbulent political and social changes, Yao offers a discerning perspective when considering the marginalization of Taiwan’s political status and the ambiguity of a collective subjective consciousness. He culls from these experiences in his new video Long Live (2011-2012), building upon the historic phrase “Long Live (wansui),” which holds political and cultural significance in addressing a leader and wishing for his long life and reign. In light of the Republic of China’s centennial, Yao is critical of the national spirit of Taiwan, as he contemplates whether the island has moved beyond its past, or if it remains haunted by the ghost of history—only to continue and repeat itself.

Yao Jui-chung was born in Taipei, Taiwan (1969), and received a Bachelor of Arts in Art Theory at the National Institute of the Arts (now Taipei National University of the Arts) in 1994. He currently serves as an associate professor at the Taipei National University of the Arts and the Department of Fine Arts of the National Taiwan Normal University. His work has been collected by Taiwanese museums, including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, as well as international collections, such as the Queensland Art Gallery (Australia), the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (USA), the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He has represented Taiwan in the Venice Biennale (1997), participated in the Yokohoma Triennale (2005), the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2009), YES TAIWAN: 2010 Taiwan Biennial (2010), and Shanghai Biennale (2012). Most recently, his works have been on view in the solo exhibitions Honeymoon at MOT Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (2011); Dreamy at Goedhuis Contemporary, London, United Kingdom (2010), and Honeymoon, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China (2010); as well as in group shows, including Dual Senses and Dynamic Views—Contemporary Art Exhibition across the Taiwan Strait of 2011 at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2011) and will be on view in Ink: The New Ink Art from China at the Saatchi Gallery in London, United Kingdom in June, 2012.

For more information, please visit www.tinakenggallery.com. For press inquiries, please contact Connie Chen at info@tinakenggallery.com.

2012年4月7日至4月29日將於耿畫廊｜台北｜展出姚瑞中最新個展「萬歲/山水」。姚瑞中的作品涉獵層面相當廣泛，除了平面繪畫之外，攝影與錄像同樣是他次此個展的重點。「萬歲/山水」將展出四十四件新作，在耿畫廊偌大的一樓挑高空間展出「山水」平面繪畫系列，其中不乏多達十九連拼的最新力作「萬歲山水」；在TKG+ 地下樓空間則展出「萬歲」影像作品，將展至5月20日。姚瑞中試圖以兩種完全不同的形式探討「正統性」問題，包括傳統美學上的筆墨正統以及意識形態上的政治法統，以詼諧幽默的手法，顛覆這些被荒謬處境所建構出來的價值觀與認同感。

「山水」作品雖說是水墨臨摹，但有別於古畫畫作，以「針筆」(硬筆)對應於傳統水墨畫的「毛筆」(軟筆)，線條堆疊在粗糙紙材表面，產生濃淡的變化，造成繁瑣而近乎神經質的線條刻畫，在視覺上形成扁平化的錯覺，大量身體勞動所形構的「偽山水」，頗有「春蠶到死絲方盡」的悲壯；另敷以金箔填補留白之處，具有如同佛龕壁畫般的特殊魅力；此外，姚瑞中不落款、不用壓角章、不用宣紙、不落苔點、不做傳統裝楨、不使傳統椿法、不用水染…等刻意使用的材質與手法，都是回應這個偉大美學傳統的隱性反叛，透過改寫與挪用中國美術史的經典畫作，再將其轉化成個人日常生活樣貌，這種看似可用傳統美學進行辨識、卻又無法驗明正身的變異混搭風格，似與姚瑞中過去的攝影或行為作品無所關聯，但其實是呼應了長期以來竄改歷史文本以顛覆正統性的創作軸線。

「萬歲」系列則以冷戰前線的金門為切入點，充滿著肅殺氛圍的古寧頭三角堡地雷滿佈，蕞爾小島下的地底隧道綿密交織，全球最大的北山心戰播音塔不斷地朝中國大陸發出「萬歲！」之聲；穿透喇叭，只見陽明山中山樓(曾召開國民大會會議)旁廢棄的青邸營區介壽堂內，獨裁者(姚瑞中扮演)不斷地對著空無一人的禮堂高喊著「萬歲！」，平板的低沉嗓聲迴盪在滿目瘡痍的空間內，昔日歌功頌德的標語掉落滿地；隨著高舉的手臂與不絕於耳的萬歲聲，鏡頭逐漸拉遠，場景慢慢地轉換到廢棄的金門金沙電影院內，電影螢光幕上正播映著這場荒謬的獨白劇，在夕陽餘暉的照射下，空蕩的電影院只留下飄盪著灰塵的觀眾席，萬壽無疆的口號，似乎已成為歷史宿命的永劫輪迴…。

姚瑞中1969年 出生於台北，1994年畢業於國立藝術學院(現國立台北藝術大學)美術系，目前任教於國立台北藝術大學美術系及國立臺灣師範大學美術系。作品曾被台北市立美術館、高雄市立美術館、國立台灣美術館、澳洲昆士蘭美術館、美國康乃爾大學美術館、法國國家圖書館以及許多國內外私人單位典藏。曾代表台灣參加1997年威尼斯雙年展、2005年橫濱三年展、2009年亞太三年展、2010年台北雙年展聯動計劃及2012年上海雙年展，海內外聯展百餘次，也曾從事過小劇場、電影、美術史教學、藝術評論、策展等工作。近年個展包括：MOT Arts「甜蜜蜜」(2011)、倫敦葛豪士畫廊「如夢令」(2010)、香港漢雅軒「甜蜜蜜」(2010)、台南加力「恨纏綿」(2009) 以及新苑藝術「歷史幽魂」(2008)等。

 

Special Gala Preview: Breaking the Frame

Director Marielle Nitoslawska will be joined by Carolee Schneemann for an onstage dialogue following the film!
  

Deftly weaving archival images with contemporary footage of Schneemann’s journals, paintings and rural home, Nitoslawska captures the multi-dimensionality of the artist’s work. By highlighting the sheen of photographic prints, the fibres of diary pages and the gloss of wet paint, she provides a textured mise-en-scene that resonates with Schneemann’s corporeal focus. The visual composition of the film is complemented by a soundtrack replete with the music of James Tenney. The late composer was Schneemann’s companion and collaborator for many years, and the two remained close friends until his death in 2006.  

SCREENING INFORMATION 

Special Gala Preview: Breaking the Frame
Director Marielle Nitoslawska and artist Carolee Schneemann in person!
Wed 4 Apr 2012 7:00pm – 9:00pm
@ THE ROYAL 

失聲祭 Listen57

2012, March, 16(Fri)＠南海藝廊
入場時間︱19:20入場 19:30準時開始
入場費︱NT$.50
每場限定80位觀眾

【駐祭計畫 1.2】

演出者︱ CraftWeak Lite
表演簡介︱手藝孱弱 (輕便版)

「大腦即螢幕」 (Le cerveau, c’est l’ecran)
─ 吉勒.德勒茲 (Gilles Deleuze)

這是一個關於螢幕頭盔與身體動態感應的表演性裝置。
根據表演者身體的律動，臉上的顯示器、