---------------------Kamiya Yukie

Communicative

Curator's Text------------------ -------------------------~

Approach, from Asia

Kamiya Yukie

Sharinggaze to everyday

life

November 2000: early winter in Beijing - Curator Kim Sunjung from Seoul and I
were busily visiting artist's studios, guided by fellow curator Pi Li, who is based in Beijing. The
streets were filled with Chinese characters, but the simplified style of characters commonly usedin China was less familiar to me than the Western alphabet that can be seen everywhere in Japan.
Our research for our project began by talking to Chinese artists, a profession that is becoming
increasingly international in this rapidly changing country. China is so close to Japan, yet so
unfamiliar that I had no clue how to find my way around. We communicated with the artists by
writing in Chinese characters and using English along the way. In the past, Japan had used its
position as ruling power to force other countries to use Japanese . But today, English, due to its
pervasive use in cyberspace, is the lingua franca that enables us to communicate on an equalbasis. To non-English speakers, using English as a communication device enables us to work-in a
new framework for our dialogue, despite the fact that the local language is being endangered byits pervasiveness. We have benefited from speaking English and being able to communicate with
Asians who do not speak our own language.
One of the discoveries we made during our research was the common use of somewords in all of the three languages _ Japanese, Korea, and Chinese. The word for "art" is one ofsuch words "~j;jij" pronounced in each language as bijutsu in Japanese, mi-soo/ in Korean, and meishu in Chinese. The original word was invented by the Japanese secretariat [OJ to translate theGerman taxonomical wo.rd for the Vienna Expo in 1873. All three countries have been using thisJapanese invention.
It was a surprising to realize that the notion and category of "art" has been used forless than 150 years, and that we share the historical background of absorbing the art from theWest since the start of the modern era. Recognizing the lack of Asian-Asian relationships anddialogue, meaning that we had not shared an awareness of issues until now despite sharing thesame circumstances, was a starting point for re-considering our artistic expression within the
broader context of Asia.
In 1994, Wong Karwai's movie "Chungking Express" was premiered in Hong Kong, andwas distributed in Europe, Japan and the United States with the acclaim of Tarantino. The movie
captured everyday life in a contemporary Asia, conveying the atmosphere of its speed. Born inShanghai, Wong moved to Hong Kong and worked at a TV station before going into movies. He
turns his gaze to the nitty-gritty of the urban landscape, such as convenience stores and fast foodshops, and to sights from everyday life where elements of culture from domestic and foreign are
all mixed, such as scenes of slurping up noodles or cramming mouths full of rice at roadside stalls
accompanied by western music. Everyday life comes across as stylish and ever so attractive in his
portrayal. There are two intersecting stories in "Chungking Express," Wong directs with thesensuousness of a DJ, using sampling techniques that owe much to absorption of the subculture.
What emerges from it all is the reality and the fantasy that belong to Asians in an age where
things, information, and people are all moving. Beijing-born cantopop star Faye Wong sings"Dreams" by Irish pop-rock band The Cranberries, but she sings it up-tempo with the lyrics in
Cantonese. This cover takes a metaphorical roll to represent the hybridity and speed of Asian
cities that allow changes to be accepted without hesitation.
The gaze of new-generation Asian artists onto their everyday lives overlaps with thatrevealed in the movie of Wong Karwai, in which he is inspired by urban daily life. Mobile phones
have suddenly become ubiquitous, and people are using computers, connecting to the Net on line
and editing, all the while enveloped by TV, magazines, advertising, music and other media
inextricably linked with everyday life. Surely we can see present Asia in the expressions and133

O National Research Institute for Cultural
Properties , Tokyo(Ed.), Kotoru Genzai,

Kotororeru Koko, NihOn no Bijutsushigaku
I 00-nen(The Present that Tells, The Past
that is Told of: 100 Years of Art History inJapan).Oapan:Heibonsha.1999), p.317

Curator's Text

Kamiya Yukie

narratives grounded in the everyday experiences that have undergone such dramatic changes.
Based on the revelation I had when I began my research, we took "Everyday Life" asone of the keywords in starting a touring exhibition in Seoul, Beijing, and then Tokyo , as a small
step towards answering the big question of "What is Asia?" Beginning with the alluring culturaldifferences in food and eating, Asia is full of variety, including ethic and cultural variety.
Accumulating discoveries through directly experiencing things myself was the only way thatappeared to provide the chance of being able to properly see the Asia where we now live. The
process of setting up an exhibition through dialogue between curators and artists provided afurther opportunity to look carefully at Asia.

Relationalart in Asia

"I began by having a show at the art space in my university . But people did not come to

8 Interview of Navin Rawanchaikul by theauthor.

"In the Asian Density:

Navin

Rawanchaikul and T suyoshi Ozawa ." Cross,(Italy: Ed. Giulio Lacchini, 1999), p.26f) Other participants included Murakami
Takashi. lwai Shigeaki. Aida Makoto andothers . The following year ( 1994) , t hevenue shifted to Kabukicho in Shinjuku,with a total of 85 artists, some acceptedfrom public application, working pn the 'street project Shinjuku Shonen Art .

828 artis t s contributed , including

Maurizio Cattelan, Uam Gillick. Domi nique
Gonzalez.Foerster , Carsten Holler, Pierre
Huyghe, Philippe Parreno, Jason Rhoades,
Rirkrit Tiravanija.

see it. The art world is very small wherever you go. But it is completely isolated from thecommunity in my home town. I realize it was much more meaningful and much better tocommunicate directly with people in the local community." [@] Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul's
forthright confession is an unembellished account of the situation the young generation of artists
were facing in Asia in the 1990s, and of the ir motives for changing the form of expression theychose for their work. Venues for art were limited, and isolated from the artists ' ordinary lives.
There was no particularly dynamic market for art , and art space provision could in no way beconsidered comprehensive . Such an environment increased the doubts and frustrations of theyoung artists as expressionists , but they did more than just complaining about the situation ; they
responded to their predicament with humor and wit. In 1995, Rawanchaikul changed a Taxi into agallery, and used it as a mobile art space that could be inserted right into the middle of public
spaces. If there's no venue and no budget , then use what the town is full of instead, was theflexible response. The star of the Bangkok traffic jams, the taxi , made a quick change into agallery. What is more , I was able to encounter this sort of flexibility of expression all over Asia. If
something is not available, make it. In an environment where the cultural infrastructure is not inplace, or where there are far too many limits, then take a back route . This optimistic and positive
approach is one characteristic of artistic expressions originating in Asia.
From the first half of the I 990s , t he artists took to the street in Tokyo, too . In April
1993, Nakamura Masato played a central role and college friend artists co-organized in initiating
guerilla-like events in Ginza under the name "the Ginburart ." They perform and exhibit various
works on the theme of artists breaking free from the gallery system. [O] Ginza is a place ofconsumption , with high-class shops standing side by side, and also a place where there are lots ofgalleries available for rent. It was also the site of the performance, "Tokyo Cleaning Promotion
Movement, " in 1964 by Hi-Red Center , the collective formed by Takamatsu Jiro , Akasegawa
Gempei , and Nakanishi Natsuyuki. The pioneers of creating formless works through collaborationin the 1960s provided a trigger for the artists of the 1990s who took over from them .
One of the participants of the Ginburart, Ozawa Tsuyoshi , used the milk delivery box
often placed outside the doors of Japanese houses in the 70's, making mobile galleries t hat hecalled "Nasubi Gallery" (= "Egg Plant Gallery") . The galleries were painted white inside to make awhite cube, and although they were miniature, they were actively able to hold all sorts ofexhibitions, with visitors opening the tiny doors to peep inside . These gallery spaces were
Ozawa 's protest , a humorous way of countering the usual Japanese system of 'rental galleries'
where artists had to pay for use of a space to show their works . The "if it's not available, makeit " approach had blossomed here in Tokyo , too . From the late 1980s , Japan saw theestablishment of many art museums , but they were not linked in a way that was recept ive to theactual act ivities of the young generation of artists , leaving those artists to make their own venues
for expression here in Tokyo , too. The readily moveable miniature galleries that could easily beshifted site to site - from a roadside tree to the corner of a shop , perhaps - or even takenoverseas , were pointers to the growing interest in collaboration between the artists showing
their work and the people viewing lt.
In 1995, an exhibition , Traffic, at the Musee d'Art Contemporain, Bordeau x [0 ]focused on a range of artists whose means of building a relationsh ip with the viewers of theirworks . "Their works highlight social methods of exchange, interactivity with the onlooker within
the aesthetic experience proposed to him/her , and communication process , in their tangible
dimension as tools for linking human being and groups to one another . So they are all working
1 34

AKamiyaYukie

Curator's Text

within what we might call the relational realm," [0] wrote curator Nicolas Bourriaud, pointing
out the relational aesthetic seen in artists who emphasized the process of making a work rather
than its final product. As we entered the 1990s, interest in the multicultural grew, leading toBiennales, Triennales, and many other international exhibitions being held all over the world.
These gave artists the opportunity to move from place to place on a regular basis, providing astimulus that gave them a greater interest in others . As the forms taken by exhibitions become
more fluid, there was an increasing need for works to be more flexible and site specific, andthese changes in the forms of works provided additional stimulus .
The international exhibitions provided Asian artists with more opportunities to exhibit
in Europe and America . They had strong interests in communicating with onlookers and in
relating to the place where they were exhibiting that overlapped with those of theircontemporaries based in the Western countries. As the venues for artists' activities shift fromlocal ones to the stages provided by exhibitions in the Western countries, they attracted moreinternational interest, and many were "discovered." However, when we look at this again from
Asia's standpoint, we can see that they were not "discovered" within the stream of Western art.
The expressions of their works had emerged from their local context. For the artists in theWestern countries, there was a need to shift away from established art systems to liberate thepotential of their expression. For artists in Asian countries, this contrasted with the need tocreate a platform where they can express themselves and go out to public places to increase
their interaction with the public. Looking back, these two approaches started from very different
points, but their methods of making works to embody their interest in dialog are similar.

1

Expressioninternalizing

dialogue

The attempts of artists to approach regions and observers unused to more openly
communicative attitudes can be seen in this exhibition in a variety of forms. The new awarenesshas even penetrated through to artists who work in media like photographs and video, or inthree-dimensional expressions. Their work is also broadening the range of approaches available
for communication.
Kim Sora bought everyday products in Beijing in order to be able to exchange them
one-for-one with things owned by visitors to the exhibition (pp.100-101). People visiting theexhibition are invited to join in the process whereby cash becomes a product, the productbecomes an exhibit, then the visitor's belonging replaces the exhibit to become part of the art
work. Noguchi Rika stayed in Beijing in mid-winter, taking photographs of the swimmers who
brave the cold and break the ice on a lake so that they can swim (p.118). Her method starts off
like a documentary, but Noguchi and the people she met were linked by the act of taking
photographs. Making daily visits and showing the locals the photographs she had taken became ameans to build up an involvement with the community despite being unable to understand eachothers' language. Jung Yeondoo also sees taking photographs as a means of constructing a
relationship with the subject. He interviews young people that he meets on street corners
throughout Asia, and in front of the camera he changes them into the image of their dreams forthe future. The photographs he produces remain as witnesses of the collaboration with thesubject (pp.064-065).
The work by Shinoda Taro, who creates mechanical objects, has been added to thosethat have been developed while the exhibition has been touring (pp.162-163). Shinoda searches forgardens as ideal spaces in the middle of everyday scenes, and is investigating an unknown town
under the guidance of a fortune-teller. The irrationality of trying to become involved with theland through the folk beliefs found in every part of Asia is somehow humorous.
The works of these artists who place emphasis on process are not necessarily
produced with consideration for making something that has sufficient durability and an
appropriate form for adding to a collection, so they utilize inexpensive and ephemeral materials
that cannot hold their shape for long. Mareeya Dumrongphol's works are the immaterial traces
left after working with clay in a space (pp.048-049). Rhii Jewyo transforms everyday objects likeplastic, bottles and towels to make tools for retaining moisture and temperature, demonstrating
gems of knowledge useful for daily life and providing a healing effect, however simple and small(pp.126-127). Gimhongsok's lifeboat is packed full of the daily necessities of urban life (p.054), and as
it moves around the different cities, its load is replaced with local objects whenever it moors in
the "harbor" of the exhibition venue. Since video makes it easy to record a process, Jiang Zhi..& 135

0 Nicolas Bourriaud "An introductio n toRelational Aesthetics," Traffic,(Bordeau x
CAPC. Musee d'Art Contemporain , 1995)

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Curator's Text

Kamiya Yukie

borrows the line of sight of a small, carved wooden doll, and shows the scenes of Seoul (where he is an
in conjunction with pop to classic music to produce a poetic video diary, and Yang
·Zhenzhong shoots urban everyday life in an impromptu manner (pp.178-179). Saki Satom uses
performances such as going round and round in the revolving doors of an office building to makelittle changes through repetitive movements, intervening in the everyday world of the unindividual
city (pp.156-157).
The way that these artists view everyday life is bringing changes to expressions that
artist in residence)used to lack a historical dimensior:) or political awareness . Through sincere attempts to view local
circumstances, political themes are now being reflected in the artists' works, even if it is in aeuphemistic manner with the addition of a peculiar humor. For instance, Ozawa Tsuyoshi takes
portrait photographs of people holding weapons made with foodstuffs. He first makes theweapons with the ingredients of a hotpot dish recommended by locals, and then afterwards holds
a party using the same ingredients for the food. His works use the same materials for bothwarlike gestures and peaceful actions, switching from one to the other simply by changing theway they are used, This can be seen as a metaphor for Asia's situation, where interpreting thesame history in different ways has led to problems on numerous occasions, As such, it gives us
something to think about, Ham Jin's imagination works have created fantastic worlds with dolls
made from tiny everyday things like chewing gum or medicine capsules, He is now in military
service, and his military life has inspired him to create miniature soldiers that make you think of
the state of the world after 9, 11 (pp.058-059),

Changefrom an Asia being looked

at, to an Asia that looks

There is a trap in expression by artists reacting to the local context emerging from
Asia. They tend to be aware of being looked at by the West, and spontaneously give in to thetemptation of acting the role of being different and exotic. There is a tacit understanding that
artists won't receive recognition unless they ascend from a western stage, The situation whereby
even Asia-oriented actions issue via the West is caused by the vulnerable and undeveloped
systems for supporting art in Asia, From modern art onwards, there has always been feeling of
being inferior to the West. However, the attitudes we have learned from our own experiences
are our realities, incorporating both the admiration and the pain inherent in the conflict ofmeeting different cultures, and these are no_w emerging in the fields of view of artists in Asia,
We should not be positioning "ourselves" according to the viewpoint of "others" who look at"us." What is important is that we need to memorize the dialogues exchanged between us,
layering them one on top of the other as our experiences. It is time to change from an Asia being
looked at to an Asia where we ourselves are doing the looking. "Under Construction" is just thefirst step in that endeavor. What we are trying to do has only just begun.

aKamiya Yukie (Independent Curator, Japan)

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