Michelle Antoinette

Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making

This book chapter was published in the book Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making [© ANU Press]. The definitive published version is available at https://press.anu.edu.au/catalog?search=Contemporary+Asian+Art+and+Exhibitions.

Deterritorializing Aesthetics: International Art and its New Cosmopolitanisms, from an Indonesian Perspective

This chapter examines the contemporary art practice of two “Indonesian” artists who form part of a new class of international, (hyper)mobile “cosmopolitan” artists: Heri Dono and Mella Jaarsma. Representing the Indonesian contemporary art scene, both artists have traveled frequently on the international art circuit with their work featuring in a number of international exhibitions since the 1990s. It is argued that the increased global mobility and interactions experienced by these Indonesian artists situates them and their art within a distinctive cosmopolitan milieu of contemporary international art practice which, at the same time, offers alternative definitions of Indonesian space, place and subjectivity. Significantly, the fact that one artist is a “native” to Indonesia and the other a “foreigner” – whose heritage relates to the former Dutch colonial power – is highlighted, in order to demonstrate how the artists’ respective cosmopolitan practices are rooted in and distinguished by different cultural histories and relationships, to Indonesia and to the world.

Endurance and Overcoming in the Art of Amron Omar and Melati Suryodarmo: Invoking Uncommon Alignments for Contemporary Southeast Asian Art History

Motivated by the potential of Southeast Asian intra-regional comparisons, this article considers the art practice of two Southeast Asian artists who are influenced by different cultural contexts and from different generational cohorts, but who share affinity in their mutual explorations of “the body” and “the self” in their art. I discuss the art of Malaysian artist Amron Omar (b. 1957), recognised for his paintings and drawings since the 1980s and widely regarded as one of Malaysia’s most accomplished figurative artists, and Indonesia-born artist Melati Suryodarmo (b. 1969), whose contemporary avant-garde performance art came to international prominence in the early 2000s. While Amron has developed his art largely from within Malaysia, Suryodarmo has made Germany her second home, living and working between Indonesia and Europe. Amron’s two-dimensional paintings and drawings trace a 30-year-long focus on the subject matter of silat, the traditional Malay martial art of self-defence, of which Amron is a practitioner, and of which his father was a noted master. As I will outline below, while Amron’s silat artworks

Monstrous Territories, Queer Propositions: Negotiating The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, between Australia, the Philippines, and Other (Island) Worlds

For the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art ( APT ) (2015–16), Sydney-based artists Justin Shoulder and Bhenji Ra collaborated to present Ex Nilalang , a series of filmic and live portraits exploring Philippine mythology and marginalized identities. The artists’ shared Filipino ancestry, attachments to the Filipino diasporic community, and investigations into “Philippine-ness” offer obvious cultural connections to the “Asia Pacific” concerns of the APT . However, their aesthetic interests in inhabiting fictional spaces marked by the “fantastic” and the “monstrous”—alongside the lived reality of their critical queer positions and life politics—complicate any straightforward identification. If the Philippine archipelago and island continent of Australia are intersecting cultural contexts for their art, the artists’ queering of identity in art and life emphasizes a range of cultural orientations informing subjectivities, always under negotiation and transformation, and at once both the product of and in excess of these (island) territories.

Reworlding Art History

Reworlding Art History highlights the significance of contemporary Southeast Asian art and artists, and their place in the globalized art world and the internationalizing field of ‘contemporary art’. In the light of the region’s modern art history, the book surveys this relatively under-examined area of contemporary art which first found broad international recognition in the 1990s. Richly illustrated and incorporating cross-cultural and interdisciplinary methods, Reworlding Art History is a foundational reference work for those interested in Southeast Asia’s contemporary art, including scholars of art history, Asian studies, curatorship, museology, visual culture, and anthropology, as well as professionals working in art and museum contexts.

Contemporary Asian art and exhibitions

Overview: This volume draws together essays by leading art experts observing the dramatic developments in Asian art and exhibitions in the last two decades. The authors explore new regional and global connections and new ways of understanding contemporary Asian art in the twenty-first century. The essays coalesce around four key themes: world-making; intra-Asian regional connections; art’s affective capacity in cross-cultural engagement; and Australia’s cultural connections with Asia. In exploring these themes, the essays adopt a diversity of approaches and encompass art history, art theory, visual culture and museum studies, as well as curatorial and artistic practice. With introductory and concluding essays by editors Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner this volume features contributions from key writers on the region and on contemporary art: Patrick D Flores, John Clark, Chaitanya Sambrani, Pat Hoffie, Charles Merewether, Marsha Meskimmon, Francis Maravillas, Oscar Ho, Alison Carroll and Jacqueline Lo. Richly illustrated with artworks by leading contemporary Asian artists, Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions: Connectivities and World-making will be essential reading for those interested in recent developments in contemporary Asian art, including students and scholars of art history, Asian studies, museum studies, visual and cultural studies.

The World and World–Making in Art: Connectivities and Differences

This contribution summarises the proceedings and emergent debates of world-making, especially through art and writing, from a multi-disciplinary conference held in Canberra, Australia.

A Space for 'Asian-Australian' art: Gallery 4A at The Asia-Australia Arts Centre

Abstract Since the late 1990s, Gallery 4A at The Asia-Australia Arts Centre has offered a space for the creative development and exhibition of Asian-Australian artists. The careers of a number of artists have been nurtured not only through the physical space of the Gallery, but also through its broader cultural networks. A decade later, the future of Gallery 4A has been challenged and questioned. Are the reasons for this part of the ordinary course of any alternative art space dedicated to such a specific community of artists and/or a reflection of Australias changing interests in Asian-Australian art and Asian-Australian matters more broadly? This paper considers the two major historical phases of direction in the Gallerys life thus far in relation to ‘Asian-Australian’ identity. It asks how has the meaning of ‘Asian-Australian’ changed in the life of Gallery 4A, especially against prevailing cultural currents in Australia? How has this ‘independent’, ‘alternative’ art space functioned within the mainstream of Australian multicultural policies, Australian art, and Australian communities of both Asian-Australian and other affiliations? In what ways have the policies of its various Directors tapped into Asian-Australian communities differently? How has this brought to bear on the current situation of Gallery 4A and its art community?