The Making of the New Silk Roads

Co-exhibitors:

Participants include:

Ark Fongsmut, independent curator, Bangkok University Gallery, Thailand, Agung Kurniawan, artist/curator, Indonesia, Alexander Ugay, artist, Kazakhstan, David Cotterrell, artist, UK, Els Silvrants, Curator, Belgium/Beijing Theatre in Motion, Gary Pastrana, artist, Philippines, Ho Tzu Nyen, artist, Singapore, Howard Chan, Artist/Curator, Hong Kong, Iani Arahmaiani, Artist, Indonesia, Jiang Jun, Urban China, Beijing China, Kyong Park, Architect, University of California USA/Korea, Lina Saneh artist, Lebanon, Mu Qian, Ethnomusicologist, China, Nikusha Chkhaidze (Nika), artist, Georgia, Onno Dirker, artist/ Architect/ Researcher, The Netherlands, Pratchaya Phinthong, artist, VER Gallery , Thailand, Rahraw Omarzad artist, Afghanistan, Samah Hijawi, artist, Space Makan, Jordan, Shaarbek Amankul, artist, Kyrgyzstan, Stefan Rusu, Artist/ freelance Curator, Project Manager Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau, Moldavia, Hakan Topal, artist/curator Xurban.net, Turkey, Zoe Butt, curator, Long March Project, Beijing/South East Asia, Seph Rodney, Ph.D. candidate at the University of London- Birkbeck College, UK, Veronica Sekules, Head of Education at the Sainsbury Centre, UK, Adeline Ooi, curator and arts writer, RogueArt, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Agung Hujatnikajennong, artist, Indonesia, Nguyen Trinh Thi, filmmaker, Hanoi, Vietnam, Supersudaca, architect/artist collective, South America/ The Netherlands, Edwin Zwakman and Liu Gang, the Netherlands/ China, Speedism, collective, Belgium/ Germany.

The New Silk Roads is a highly constructed and symbolic subject that keeps fascinating East and West alike as a source of never ending story-telling. The New Silk Roads are a variable place for instable connections and uncertain achievements: leading all to cultural hybridity.

ArtHub, a Hong Kong based non-profit dedicated to art creation in China and the rest of Asia, organised a four-day symposium Friday, August 27th through Sunday, August 30th to take place in Bangkok University Gallery (BUG), in collaboration with the Prince Claus Fund, Bangkok University (BUG) and National Research Center of the Kingdom of Thailand.

Arthub’s summit examined the recent rapid developments in Asia, its cast of characters, issues and mediums as the impetus for artists, curators, and cultural thinkers from a wide array of viewpoints to imagine, challenge and transform our visions for arts and culture in progress in Asia in relation to the rest of the world.

A select group of China and Asia’s leading academic and cultural institutions presented lectures and works in a semi-public forum. The panels were designed to provide a channel for dynamic, cross-disciplinary conversations among artists, curators and scholars in order to expound on strands of investigation pertinent to the subjects such as cultural development, and non-profit management. Arthub explored connections between cultural circulation, activism, and social/political issues by creating an international platform for the examination of and response to Asia’s cultural issues. The organizations individuals invited presented artworks/ presentations/ installations that can summarize or represent a possible story-telling about a specific condition.

The symposium was orchestrated by Arthub as a two day happening where each of the participants performed/ presented a specific condition/ angle of the already specific area (both physical and artistic) in which they operate.

The event was staged within the 250m2 exhibition space of BUG. At the end of the symposium, the space was opened as a public exhibition. The process was video recorded and a film + catalogue produced. The exhibition will tour internationally in 2010.