Guggenheim hosts special Asian art show
Newly acquired: The painting, What Do We Want, by Truong Tan, is on show at the Guggenheim Museum in central Manhattan as part of an exhibition of Asian art.
HCM CITY (VNS)— Vietnamese artists Truong Tan, Tran Luong and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, as well as members of Propeller Group, are taking part in a major contemporary art exhibition of 22 well-known artists from South Asia and Southeast Asia in New York City.
The exhibit, titled No Country, can be seen at the internationally famous Guggenheim Museum in central Manhattan.
It also includes work from artists of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The exhibition features painting, sculpture, photography, video, works on paper and installation.
All works have been newly acquired for the Guggenheim’s collection under the auspices of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund.
Works by the artists and collectives represent some of the most compelling and innovative voices in South Asia and Southeast Asia today.
Focusing on the region’s shifting spectrum of creative practices, the exhibition traces networks of intellectual exchange and influence, and considers the various impacts of ethno-nationalism, colonisation and globalisation on national identity.
In a press release to Viet Nam News, Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, said: “With No Country, we begin to take local, regional, and global audiences into a deeper, more rewarding, and we hope, more nuanced cultural exchange.
“As the exhibition’s title suggests, we have tried to take nothing for granted – including the concept of ‘country’ itself – in thinking about the art that is now being made, in adding to our mutual knowledge and understanding across borders, and in building a vital area of the Guggenheim’s collection.”
“We recognise the immense economic potential which these regions have, and they are high on our own list of priorities. But their importance will not only be measurable in business terms.
“They are challenging the Western world’s virtual monopoly in many disciplines. Art is something which many of our clients are very passionate about, and our collaboration with the Guggenheim makes an ideal fit with our long-term objectives: the promotion, education and collection of art among a wide audience at an international and local level.”
The artworks are expected to contribute to a deeper and more critical understanding of the region, both for audiences in the US and those in Asia.
Accompanied by programmes for engagement with different local and international audiences, No Country is also a platform for discussion and exchange, and for the undoing of barriers to mutual understanding.
The exhibition will be open until May 22, and then travel to the Asia Society’s Hong Kong Centre between October 2013 and February 2014. The exhibition is also expected to appear in Singapore.
Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programmes, research initiatives and publications. — VNS