Ming Wong, 4 Malay Stories
Pak Sheung-chuen, Idea Image for “Making(Perfect) World.”

53rd Venice Biennial: Selected Artists of Asian National Pavilions

7. June ~ 22. Nov. Giardini, Venice

A solo presentation of Hong Kong artist Pak Sheung Chuen, “Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams,” will be shown at the 53rd Venice Biennale. The exhibition will feature a series of newly commissioned site-specific works that are conceived and produced for the site and context of Venice and the Biennale. In addition to this, a selection of Pak’s past works will also be presented, bringing together a comprehensive illustration of his oeuvre. The exhibition is curated by Tobias Berger in association with Para/Site Art Space, and marks the debut for a solo representation of Hong Kong in Venice. ‘Making (Perfect) World” will be conceptually divided into four segments-Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams, and it will include a mixture of sculpture, photography, documentation of performances and texts from the artist’s intriguing yet humorous body of work- an exercise in constructing a humane, sensitive and thoughtful alternative to approaching and experiencing everyday life. Pak endeavours to encapsulate both hopes and losses in his ongoing quest for a better understanding of our, at times, confusing and imperfect world.
For Singapore’s 5th consecutive presentation at the Venice Biennale, Ming Wong will represent Singapore. The Commiss-ioner for the Singapore Pavilion is Lim Chwee Seng, Director of Visual Arts & Resource Development, National Arts Council (NAC), while Tang Fu Kuen, an authority in managing multi-disciplinary arts showcases, serves as curator. The Singapore Pavilion, entitled Life of Imitation, stages the co-existence of multiple worlds where language, gender, appearance and traditions constantly negotiate with one another. In playful and imperfect acts of mimesis and melodrama, this exhibition attempts to hold the mirror up to the Singaporean condition related to roots, hybridity and change.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum of Taiwan will present the Exhibition “Foreign Affairs: Artist from Taiwan” with artists HSIEH Ying-Chun, CHEN Chieh-Jen, Chien-Chi CHANG, Cheng-Ta YU and commissioner Fang-Wei CHANG. For a long time, the Taiwanese people have been locked in a difficult political conundrum in terms of foreign affairs, and have developed their own means of reaction and response, both individually and collectively. At this year’s Venice Biennale, the Taiwan Pavilion takes “Foreign Affairs” as its title and to serve as the exhibition’s unifying metaphor and concept. The selection of works explores the practical state of cross-regional art in the context of the operative logic of contemporary global politics, economics and society; alternative possibilities for communicative interaction; and also the question of Taiwan’s status and identity. The participating artists, enter into other regions, with their unique personal modes of practical application in order to communicate, interact and collide, concretely putting a system of foreign affairs into action.
Central Asia Countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) are participating in the 53 rd Venice Biennale in their Pavilion curated by Beral Madra, curator and art critic from Turkey. Beral Madra will operate in collaboration with the commissioner Vittorio Urbani (Nuova Icona, Venice) and from Central Asia, Ms. Nazira Alymbaeva (Kyrgyzstan) as assistant curator. Ermek Jaenisch, Jamshed Kholikov, Anzor Salidjanov, Oksana Shatalova, Yelena Vorobyeva and Viktor Vorobyev will participate.
www.labiennale.org