SOFTPOWER: ASIAN ATTITUDES
LIDA ABDUL, GULNARA KASMALIEVA & MURATBEK DJUMALIEV, CHEN CHIEH-JEN, LEUNG MEE PING, MAHMOUD YEKTA, QIU ZHIJIE
6 June - 13 July 2008
Lida Abdul White House [2006]
image courtesy the artist
CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ART PROJECTS 2008 PROJECT 5, SOFTPOWER: ASIAN ATTITUDE, presents 6 videoworks from Soft Power: Asian Attitude, with artists Lida Abdul (Afghanistan), Chen Chieh-Jen (Taiwan), Gulnara Kasmalieva & Muratbek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan), Leung Mee Ping (Hong Kong), Qiu Zhijie (China) and Mahmoud Yekta (Australia/Iran). Soft Power: Asian Attitude was originally exhibited at Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art in November 2007, and curated by Zendai MOMA Director Shen Qibin, with Binghui Hangfu & Biljana Ciric. PROJECT 5 has been curated from that exhibition by CACSA Executive Director Alan Cruickshank.
The term 'soft power' was coined in the 1990's by Harvard Professor Joseph Nye to describe an international relations strategy to modify behavior of others without use of force or financial incentive. In this context Soft Power: Asian Attitude investigates the phenomenal international success experienced by Asian Artists in recent years, and the complex cultural exchange and development that has resulted.
Soft Power's curator Shen Qibin has suggested that contemporary art is fundamentally a Western cultural achievement deeply intertwined with the long and complex evolution of Western society and culture. Consequently he believes Asian contemporary art is overwhelmingly influenced by a Western cultural language and logic, and that contemporary Asian art is yet to fully express the culture and attitudes of Asians. In the presence of the rapid transformation of Asia as a result of economic development throughout the region, Soft Power asserts the importance of Asian cultural heritage and presents Asian artists that seek to deeply infuse Eastern consciousness within their practice in order to share these attitudes with world.
Internationally acclaimed artists are- Lida Abdul, based in Afganistan and the USA, has recently exhibited in numerous major exhibitions Thermocline of Art, New Asian Waves, ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe (2007), Turbulence, 3rd Auckland Triennial (2007), Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum (2007), Gwangju Biennial (2006), 27th Bienal de Sao Paulo (2006), and the 2005 Venice Biennale; Chen Chieh-Jen, based in Taiwan, has exhibited in Istanbul Biennial (2007), Asia Society Museum New York and Tate Liverpool as part of the 2006 Liverpool Biennale, Biennale of Sydney (2006), 2005 Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, 2005 Venice Biennale, 2004 Taipei and Shanghai Biennales; collaborative duo Gulnara Kasmalieva & Muratbek Djumaliev's A New Silk Road debuted at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2007 to great international acclaim Ñthey have also exhibited at the 2006 Singapore Biennale, 2005 Venice Biennale, Kiasma Museum for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, and the OK Centre for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria; Qiu Zhijie, based in Beijing, has exhibited in Time: Possibility of The Time Expression, Central Academy of Art, Beijing, The Real Things: Contemporary Chinese Art, Tate Liverpool, UK and Moscow Biennale (all 2007), 2004 Shanghai Biennale, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taiwan, International Photography Center, New York, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, & Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Leung Mee Ping, based in Hong Kong has exhibited at Zendai MOMA Shanghai, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, De Appel Foundation Art Centre, Amsterdam, Gallery 4a Asia Australia Arts Centre and Ivan Dougherty Sydney, Earl Lu Gallery and The Substation in Singapore; Mahmoud Yekta, based in Sydney, has exhibited at Documenatalista Venezuela, Today Art Museum Beijing, Gallery 4a Asia Australia Arts Centre and Ivan Dougherty Gallery Sydney, and has participated in numerous film festival in Australia and internationally.
Softpower: Asian Attitude catalogue (pdf) by Shen Qibin