ArtReview Asia

A door closes, another opens…

Recently, Artreview Asia was hanging out with a bunch of artists in a teashop – one of the ones that doesn’t put on a tea ceremony, but stages a performance, such that each cup of tea takes half an hour to prepare and involves three different vessels...

Priyageetha Dia

Operator?

Recently, one of Artreview Asia’s operatives was talking at it. This happens often. Because Artreview Asia is all ears. In this case, their talking took the form of an aggravated whine about not knowing who they were. Although at some point in the past...

Sable flame

Going about its business over the years, Artreview Asia has had to come to terms with the fact that it’s generally operating in the context of an absence of facts. Histories get written and rewritten, borders and boundaries move or are moved, languages...

Try harder

What with missiles whizzing and airstrikes hitting on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, ongoing disputes about where you might actually be as you navigate the South China Sea, not to mention contrasting opinions as to whether or not Taiwan is a...

Iron Jaw

If you go around art galleries and biennials and read (or hear) the discourse of institutions and curators commenting on the exhibitions they are staging today, then you’d most likely believe that art is the solution to all the world’s ills. It can...

Wherever I lay my hat…

For a while now, artists seem to have been using the word ‘based’ rather than ‘live’ to explain their geographic choices – eg, ‘based in Seoul’, ‘based in Manila’, or the double hitters, ‘based in Tokyo and Amsterdam’. As if these sites are a...