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29/10/2013

No Country

Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong

The Asia Society Hong Kong Center will present No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, the inaugural touring exhibition of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, from October 30, 2013, to February 16, 2014. Featuring recent work by 13 artists from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, No Country presents some of the most compelling and innovative voices in South and Southeast Asia today. The exhibition was first seen in New York at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (February 22–May 22, 2013) as part of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, a multi-year collaboration charting contemporary art practice in three geographic regions—South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa— and encompassing curatorial residencies, international touring exhibitions, audience-driven educational programming, and acquisitions for the Guggenheim’s permanent collection. All works have been newly acquired for the Guggenheim’s collection under the auspices of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund. Following its presentation in Hong Kong, the exhibition will travel to Singapore.

S. Alice Mong, Executive Director, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, stated: “We are pleased to collaborate with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation and UBS in mounting No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. We share the vision of furthering the understanding of countries through arts and cultural exchange, and engaging Hong Kong and global audiences in our commitment. With the burgeoning arts scene and creative dynamism in the region, there is no better time than now to bring this world-class exhibition to Hong Kong.” Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, stated: “The Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative and our work with the Asia Society Hong Kong Center on this special presentation of No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia build upon our existing Asian Art Program and provide local, regional, and global audiences a deeper, more rewarding, and we hope, more nuanced cultural exchange.”

Kathryn Shih, UBS CEO Wealth Management Asia Pacific, stated: “UBS is proud to support contemporary art globally and we are particularly pleased that the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative will be presented in Hong Kong. The Initiative’s aim of identifying and supporting a network of art, artists, and curators from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa perfectly complements UBS’s commitment to bringing contemporary art to its clients.”

Exhibition Overview
No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia is curated by June Yap, Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, South and Southeast Asia, in collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center. The exhibition includes 18 paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and mixed-media works by 13 artists. According to Ms. Yap, “There is a tremendous diversity of artistic practice in South and Southeast Asia, and certainly more artists and artworks than any single project can accommodate. In this exhibition, the intention is to present the range of aesthetic developments and subjects of interest to contemporary artists, and to challenge the privileging of nation and national narrative as a basis for understanding them. Accompanied by programs for engagement with different local audiences, No Country is more than an exhibition; it is a platform for discussion and exchange.”

The artists in the Hong Kong presentation are:
Aung Myint (b. 1946, Yangon, Myanmar)
Bani Abidi (b. 1971, Karachi, Pakistan)
Reza Afisina (b. 1977, Bandung, Indonesia)
Khadim Ali (b. 1978, Quetta, Pakistan)
Shilpa Gupta (b. 1976, Mumbai, India)
Vincent Leong (b. 1979, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969, Gaibandha, Bangladesh)
Tuan Andrew Nguyen (b. 1976, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook (b. 1957, Trad, Thailand)
Vandy Rattana (b. 1980, Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
Norberto Roldan (b. 1953, Roxas City, Philippines)
Tang Da Wu (b. 1943, Singapore)
Truong Tan (b. 1963, Hanoi, Vietnam)

The exhibition—the title of which was drawn from the opening line of W.B. Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium” (1928), which was also adopted by Cormac McCarthy for his novel No Country for Old Men (2005)—proposes an understanding of South and Southeast Asia that transcends physical and political borders. The historical narrative of South and Southeast Asia stretches from the era of its ancient kingdoms and empires to that of today’s nation-states. The region is marked by traces of colonization, division, and intervention, events and processes that are inscribed in cultural memory. South and Southeast Asia is also home to numerous influential faiths, religions, and ethical codes, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam.

Adapted in collaboration with the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, and drawing on the central themes of cultural, historical, and political representation within the New York exhibition, the presentation in Hong Kong places added emphasis on the impact of South and Southeast Asian spiritual and moral teachings on the shaping of the region’s communities. No Country investigates the variety of contemporary artistic practice in this diverse region and demonstrates how the artists represented in the exhibition move beyond reductive representation to reflect on the manifestations and effects of belief. June Yap curated No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia with assistance from Helen Hsu, Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and guidance from Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, and Joan Young, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, are providing curatorial oversight for the entire multi-year Initiative. Dominique Chan, Exhibition Curator and Sharon Chan, Curatorial Officer, Asia Society Hong Kong Center will collaborate closely with June Yap and the Guggenheim curatorial team in staging the exhibition in Hong Kong.

About Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative
Conceived to engage a range of audiences, including artists, curators, and educators, the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative seeks to stimulate dialogue and creative interaction both regionally and globally, fostering lasting relationships among institutions, artists, scholars, museumgoers, and online communities. Launched in April 2012, the program builds upon and reflects the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s distinguished history of internationalism and significantly increases the Guggenheim’s holdings of art from these dynamic communities.

Expanding the Dialogue, on the Ground and Online
As part of its mission to encourage cross-cultural dialogue about contemporary art and cultural practice, the Guggenheim is presenting an extensive and innovative series of discussions and commentaries in collaboration with educators at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Programs seek to provide inclusive learning opportunities that enable a diverse constituency of young people, families, and adults to enjoy meaningful encounters with Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative programs. Through a dynamic process of cultural and professional exchange, the direct involvement of artists, the creative integration of technology, and an extensive range of programs in the visual arts, the education program will provide a vital international intellectual forum.

Educational programming will take place in Hong Kong and in conjunction with the exhibition tour of No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia. Program highlights include:
Teachers’ training workshop, family program offerings such as gallery tours and hands-on workshops
Tours for visitors with visual impairments
Symposium and food program, which explore cultural hybridity
A series of artist-led exhibition workshops during week-long artist residencies in Hong Kong
Multimedia tour featuring extended artwork information, artist commentary, and curatorial overview
Printed and online Family Activity Guide and Teacher Resource Guide
Interactive gallery tours for primary and secondary schools
A half-day museum educator conference on making art museums a part of everyday life
Printed and online student activity sheets

Online programs will transcend geographic boundaries to reach hundreds of thousands of people worldwide throughout the duration of the project and beyond. The Initiative’s online platform features writing, audio, and video by curators, art historians, artists, and regional experts. Launching in late September, individual pages for each exhibition artist will provide further information on their practices, and on the acquisitions made through the Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund.

About Asia Society Hong Kong Center
As one of the eleven centers of The Asia Society, Asia Society Hong Kong Center (the “Center”) was established in 1990 by a group of Hong Kong community leaders, led by Dr. the Hon. Lee Quo-Wei, the honorary chairman of Hang Seng Bank. As the leading regional knowledge-based platform for furthering the understanding of the countries and cultures of Asia and global issues that impact the region, Asia Society Hong Kong Center boasts extensive regional and international networks of leaders and scholars, and recognized expertise in business and policy, arts and culture, and educational programming for a wide range of audiences. In February 2012, the Hong Kong Center established its new permanent home in Admiralty, Hong Kong.

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has since expanded to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (opened 1997), and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (currently in development). Looking to the future, the Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international collaborations that take contemporary art, architecture, and design beyond the walls of the museum. More information about the Foundation can be found at guggenheim.org.

About UBS
UBS draws on its 150-year heritage to serve private, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland. Its business strategy is centered on its global wealth management businesses and its universal bank in Switzerland. Together with a client-focused Investment Bank and a Global Asset Management business, UBS will expand its wealth management franchise and drive further growth across the Group. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in more than 50 countries, with about 35% of its employees working in the Americas, 36% in Switzerland, 17% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 12% in Asia Pacific. UBS employs about 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

Image: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, The Treachery of the Moon, 2012. Color video, with sound, 12 min., 37 sec., edition 1/7 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund 2012.158 © Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook. Photo: Courtesy Tyler Rollins Fine Art

Press Contacts:
Floria Wun - Asia Society Hong Kong Center (852) 2103 9513 fwun@asiasociety.org
Peryl Tse - Asia Society Hong Kong Center (852) 2103 9570 ptse@asiasociety.org
Betsy Ennis/Keri Murawski - Guggenheim Museum (001) 212 423 3840 pressoffice@guggenheim.org
Amy Wentz - Polskin A&CC (001) 212 715 1551 wentza@finnpartners.com
Tamsin Selby / Charlotte Yip - Sutton PR Asia (852) 2528 0792 tamsin@suttonprasia.com - charlotte@suttonprasia.com
Mark Panday - UBS Asia Pacific (852) 2971 8221 mark.panday@ubs.com

Asia Society Hong Kong Center
9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Hours: Tues–Sun, 11 am-5 pm; last Thursday of the month: 11 am –8 pm. Closed on Mondays and public holidays (Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and the first two days of Chinese New Year)
Exhibition admission:
Adults (non-members): HK$30
Seniors (aged 60 or above) and individuals with disabilities: HK$15
Asia Society members, full-time students, aged 18 or below, and last Thursday of the month: FREE

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