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5/7/2002

Text & Subtext

Nikolaj Kunsthal - Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen

22 Asian artists

Asia lands at Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center

A painting made of chocolate, 400 pairs of shoes made of human hair from all over the world, and images of brassieres in a colourful 1960s style. These are some of the temptations that visitors at Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, can feast their eyes on at this summers extensive exhibition.

For this is where 22 Asian artists will come together as a part of the international travelling exhibition Text & Subtext. They all represent contemporary art, coming from widely different countries such as Singapore, Thailand, India, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines and China.

Today, several of these women live and work outside Asia, and quite a few of them have already made a name for themselves at various biennials and in international art circles. This applies, for instance, to Indian artist Nalini Malini, who has exhibited at Tate Modern in London in 2001, and to Sora Kim, Korea, and Suzann Victor, Singapore, who were featured at the Venice Biennials in 1999 and 2001, respectively. But this is the first time that a selection of vibrant contemporary art from 10 Asian countries can be seen at one exhibition in Copenhagen.

Text & Subtext itself has been around the world. The initiator of the exhibition was curator Binghui Huangfu, who was born in Beijing in 1959 and who is the daily leader of the Singapore gallery Earl Lu and LASALLE-SIA College.

Since the 1970s, women have made their mark on European art. However, in Asia, the trend is still for womens art to somehow have a lower ranking than mens: whereas the latter defines the overall text, female art still constitutes a subtext. Therefore the exhibition title Text & Subtext.

The main common denominator of these artists is their wish to communicate. Using several different modes of expression, ranging from painting to sculpture, over photography and video to giant installations, they take on current issues. The exhibition is about a wide range of subjects such as consumer culture, nationality, race, taste, sex and sexuality, all of which challenge the modern individual in a globalised world.

The idea with Text & Subtext has in no way been to say anything in general about Asian art as a whole. Quite the contrary, in fact: the exhibition salutes diversity and demonstrates emphatically that Asian contemporary art ? irrespective of nationality or gender ? belongs to the forefront of todays international avant-garde. Here is a unique opportunity to see why that is.

The opening of Text & Subtext will take place on Friday, July 5 at 4-6 pm.

Open all days from 12 noon to 5 pm

A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue is available, offering background articles and presentations of all of the artists (in English).

The participating artists are:
Suzann Victor, Ye Shufang and Joyce Vyvyann Lim (Singapore); Varsha Nair (India/Thailand); Chila Kumari Burman (India/England); Ham Kyungah, Sora Kim and ium (Korea); Nalini Malini (India); Zhang Xin and Yin Xiuzhen (China); Hung Liu (China/USA); Qin Yufen (China/Germany); Tari Ito and Hiroko Inoue (Japan); Wu Mali (Taiwan); Judy Freya Sibayan (the Philippines); Mee Ping Leung (Hongkong/France); Hening Purnamawati and Arahmaiani (Indonesia); Nguyen Thi Chau Giang and My Le Thi (Vietnam).

Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center
Nikolaj Plads
DK-1067 Copenhagen K
Tel: +45 33 93 16 26
Fax: +45 33 32 15 74

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