2019
2019 ASIA ARTS GAME CHANGER AWARDS HONOUREES
Imran Qureshi
Imran Qureshi is renowned for his site-specific paintings, installations, and videos created in the style of Indo-Persian miniature painting as a means to explore contemporary socio-political themes. His elegant miniatures often juxtapose figures in modern dress against ornate landscapes that reflect contemporary life in Pakistan while his large-scale works feature red leaves and floral patterns that are meant to provoke thoughtful reflection on the sometimes tenuous and often bloody relationship between religious ideologies and warfare. Qureshi has exhibited internationally, including at The Curve, Barbican Centre, London (2016); the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013); the 10th Sharjah Biennial (2011); and Asia Society Museum, New York (2009).
Moderated by Michelle Yun [Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia Society Museum, New York]
Natee Utarit
Natee Utarit is a Thai artist best known for his photorealist paintings that subtly critique the socio-political dynamics of post-colonial Thailand. His neoclassical compositions often feature biblical and Buddhist symbols and anthropomorphize animals in the manner of Aesop’s Fables and George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a means to illuminate uncomfortable truths about contemporary society. Utarit’s work has been the subject of international solo and group exhibitions including at the Ayala Museum, Manila (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art (now Kiasma), Helsinki (2001); and the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (1999).
Moderated by Boon Hui Tan [Vice President of Global Arts & Cultural Programs, and Director of Asia Society Museum, New York]
Christine Ay Tjoe
Christine Ay Tjoe is an Indonesian artist whose multimedia practice includes painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation. Her psychologically-charged abstractions address philosophical themes relating to spirituality and the human condition filtered through the artist’s personal experiences. Ay Tjoe recently had a major midcareer retrospective at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary, Kanazawa (2018) and has been featured in many international exhibitions, including at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung (2012); National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (2009); and Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2005).
Moderated by Noorani Sukardi [Former Deputy Director, Yuz Foundation and Yuz Museum, Shanghai]
Fang Lijun
Fang Lijun is one of the leading figures of the Cynical Realism movement that emerged in China in the 1990s. This group sought to capture the disillusionment of China’s youth following the optimism of the 1980s. Fang’s bald figures, captured in mid-yawn, portray the alienating feelings of apathy and helplessness that permeated contemporary society during this period. Fang has exhibited internationally, including at the Kunst Museum Bern (2016); Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (2011); Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2009); the 48th Venice Biennale (1999); Asia Society Museum, New York (1998); and the 22nd São Paulo Art Biennial (1994).
2019 TALKS PROGRAMME
4A in conversation with Project artist Heri Dono
Thursday 28 March 2019, 3.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Speakers: Heri Dono [Exhibiting artist] & 4A performance artist
Moderator: Mikala Tai [Director, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art]
Arts Hidden Forests: Connecting Art and Environmental Awareness
Thursday 28 March 2019, 5.30 pm – 6.30 pm
Speakers: James Prosek [Artist, Writer & Naturalist], Tam Wai Ping, Lucas [Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong] & Billy Hau [Principal Lecturer, HKU]
Moderator: Joyce Wong [Curator, Asia Society Hong Kong]
The speakers will discuss compelling topics that aim to interrogate relationships between contemporary art and the natural world, its historical implications and impact. James incorporates elements of wildlife in his artwork to ruminate the relationship between human desire and the fluidity of nature. Together they will initiate a dialogue to explore the changes that humans have made to disrupt the world’s ecosystems and share their thoughts on living in the Anthropocene through the lens of art, immersing the audience in a world that predates interconnectivity.
Light & Space
Friday 29 March, 5.30 pm – 6.30 pm
Speaker: Zheng Chongbin [artist]
Moderator: Michael Govan [Director of Los Angeles County Museum of Art]
Inspired by the current exhibition at Asia Society Hong Kong Center “A Story of Light: Hon Chi Fun”, the discussion identifies how light and space negotiates and interplays with the transparency and porosity of other materials.
Connecting City Landscape and Arts in Hong Kong
Sunday 31 March, 2 pm – 3 pm
Speakers: Christopher DeWolf [Author of “Borrowed Spaces: Life Between the Cracks of Modern Hong Kong], Ekkehard Altenburger [Sculptor & Assistant Professor, HKBU], Ying Kowk [Curator of PROJECTS, Art Central]
Moderator: Ingrid Chu, [Curator, Writer and Cultural Entrepreneur]
The Synergy in Collective Art
Sunday 31 March, 3.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Speakers: C&G Artpartment, Dirty Paper, Otto Ng [LAAB] and PHUNK
Moderator: Vivian Ting [Assistant Professor, CUHK]