The Study of
Curatorial Culture
Curatorial Culture
SPECIAL ISSUE
It’s Us, Not You: Curatorial Notes on the 6th Asia Triennial Manchester
It’s Us, Not You: Curatorial Notes on the 6th Asia Triennial Manchester
The Politics of identity, diversity, and cosmopolitanism: Asia Triennial Manchester
Given the impact of critical thinking about the concept of postcoloniality since the late 1980s, artistic and curatorial practices have also been centred on the politics of identity, especially those works produced by artists from non-Western cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The powerful exhibition, Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Pompidou in 1989, marked a significant acknowledgement of ‘global art’. Even though large-scale exhibitions, such as Magiciens de la Terre and other one-off or recurring art events (e.g. Documenta, and the Venice Biennale) are organised within ‘Westernised liberal democratic contexts as a platform’ and are ‘at odds with the Euro-American centrism of Western high modernism’, they do bring together artworks created by artists from a diverse range of countries.1
Kim Hong-hee, the Artistic Director of the Gwangju Biennale 2006, and currently director of the Seoul Museum of Art, states that ‘international biennials arose in order to serve as a new impetus from the conceptual background of third world discourses and post-colonialism’.2 Large-scale exhibitions which demonstrate themes of identity are often staged in major cities, both in the West and in non-Western states. The effects of cosmopolitanism and globalisation have boosted large-scale art biennials and triennials to be organised at many major cities around the world. In this paper, I explore specifically how and if the Asia Triennial Manchester (ATM) (introduced in 2008) can visualise the hybridised and even conflicting nature of contemporary Asian culture and presence in Asia, Europe, and beyond.
ATM was initiated in 2008 by Alnoor Mitha (current Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University) when he was Founding Artistic Director of Shisha (an international agency for contemporary South Asian Crafts and Visual arts, 2001-2011). Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha and Leon Wainwright stated that ‘[f]irst staged in 2008, the Asia Triennial Manchester has frequently stirred enthusiasm about the role of contemporary art in urban space, and at the same time reflected upon the motivations for “localising” the art of Asia in Manchester’.3 With an increase in the influence of cosmopolitanism and globalisation, Asia Triennial Manchester aimed to present contemporary art created by ‘Asian’ artists or by artists of Asian descent, and to offer opportunities for Asian artists in Britain to interact with international artists, curators, historians, and critics. Marsha Meskimmon addressed the term cosmopolitanism in her paper, The Promise of Cosmopolitanism: Art, Ethics and Imagination in a Global World (2011), arguing that:
[…] cosmopolitanism is grounded, materially specific and relational; it is a committed address to cultural diversity and movement beyond fixed geopolitical borders. Moreover, it is aesthetic in the strongest possible sense; as a politics that locates and affects us, it transforms our relationship with/in the world and, potentially, makes art one of its most significant forms of enunciation.4
It is evident that although it is the privilege of the wealthy and the educated to be able to move across geopolitical boundaries according to their own will, some scholars have proposed that contemporary cosmopolitanism should move beyond the limits of the bourgeois capability to pursue a world citizenship. Rob Wilson introduces the concept of ‘new cosmopolitanism’ and states that:
[…] globalisation is generating new forms of reflexivity, altered terms of citizenship, amplified melanges and ties to transnational culture, and thus provoking an aesthetic of openness toward otherness that is not just the chance for commodification, spectatorship, and colonisation.5
Arguably, we are living in a mutating world where things continue to travel, shift and influence each other; essentially, this is the phenomenon of globalisation, generating multiple identities for people. The improvements in everything from transportation to wireless connections have enabled people in most parts of the world to travel and communicate much more easily. Consequently, people, objects and ideas are transferred much more quickly and the relative distance between every individual has become much smaller. Therefore, cosmopolitanism and globalisation contribute to the sense of openness to diverse cultures and peoples, especially in the field of visual art.
1 Paul Gladston, “International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic De-Territorialisation of the ‘Identity’ Show: A Comparative Analysis.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, p. 21.
2 Hong-Hee Kim, “The 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 From the Perspectives of ‘Shift of Centre.’” Conference paper for the College Art Association 94th Annual Conference, Boston, MA, USA, February 22–25, 2006.
3 Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright, “Triennial City: An Introduction.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, p. 2.
4 Marsha Meskimmon, “The Promise of Cosmopolitanism: Art, Ethics and Imagination in a Global World – A Positional Parlay.” Conference paper for New Asian Imaginations, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, September 19–21, 2011.
5 Rob Wilson, “A New Cosmopolitanism Is in the Air.” In Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling Beyond the Nation, edited by Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998, p. 355.
There are several definitions of globalisation, but one compelling perspective relates to Marxism and neo-Marxist theories of development and under-development which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.6 According to this line of thinking, globalisation sets out to combine all aspects of the world, ideally to erase each nation’s boundaries to achieve the free exchange of goods, information, and ideologies on a worldwide basis. Roland Robertson, in describing globalisation, states that ‘as a concept [it] refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole’.7 Globalisation, as well as cosmopolitanism, therefore, act to integrate the ideas and nations of the world ideally into a unified whole. Meanwhile, the politics of cultural diversities and heterogeneity have also been placed in an important position, and yet as art historian Paul Gladston has asserted:
Although, divergent in their prima facie interests, many of those groups have tended – in the longer run, at least – towards the now critically dominant view that social identity is never made wholly present or stable, but is, instead, constructed, performatively, in such a way that it persistently traverses and, therefore, deconstructs neat conceptual divisions of class, gender, ethnicity, age, ability and sexuality, as well as the asymmetrical power relations imposed upon those divisions by the prevailing logic of Western(ised) liberal capitalism/modernity.8
Hence, since identities and the definition of ‘what is Asia’ could be problematic, the intention of organising a contemporary exhibition on Asia would be difficult to justify. From the 1960s through to the late 1980s, it is evident that the marginal and subaltern groups, in terms of gender, race, class and culture, serve as various and intellectual struggles against the established cultural and political mainstream. The 1980s is the period when international artistic and curatorial practices demonstrated themselves strongly with the aim of visualising and politicising the struggles of minority groups. Since the 1990s, many biennials/triennials showcasing contemporary art have been taking place around the world, and according to research by the Asia Art Archive, based in Hong Kong, the overwhelming majority of these began in the 1990s, especially with the inclusion of an increasing number of Asian artists and the mushrooming of biennial type exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific region.
6 Dean Forbes, “Globalisation, Postcolonialism and New Representations of the Pacific Asian Metropolis.” In Globalisation and the Asia-Pacific: Contested Territories, edited by Kris Olds, Philip F. Kelly, Lily Kong, Henry Wai-Chung Yeung, and Peter Dicken. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p. 239.
7 Roland Robertson, Globalisation, Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage, 1992.
8 Gladston, op. cit., p. 19.
A common perception of such exhibitions is that they are a visualisation of ‘the internationalised post-colonialist discourse’,9 which aims to demonstrate the identification of structural subaltern-ness, and to deconstruct the voices of the once-colonised by Western Imperialism. This phenomenon of curatorial practice in contemporary art is spread widely in the Asia-Pacific region. While globalisation, urbanisation and the explosive expansion of urban spaces have become the most dynamic and challenging issues in the Asia-Pacific region today, modernisation and cultural re-interpretation are also taking place at a rapid speed. In this region, a new understanding and new models of modernisation have been experienced, while its people, including artists, have been finding their own voices through which to negotiate this phenomenon. Consequently, under the influence of cosmopolitanism and globalisation, many people from these nations are moving around the globe, crossing borders, and propagating new ideas, languages and cultures which have been juxtaposed and hybridised in local areas. Jen Webb made the following observation regarding nations in this globalised environment:
9 Gladston, op cit., p. 22.
This, the blending of foreign and local to make a new form, is evident in the contemporary work of artists who are rarely just local, national or global in their approach, but who manifest the effects of a two- or multi-way traffic in the flow of cultural ideas and images.10
Under globalisation and cosmopolitanism, things have been changing in the Asia-Pacific region; i.e. old cultural forms have been replaced or reinterpreted, and new forms of cultures and values have been produced. This has had the effect of imposing new pressures on artists, but also of stimulating them to create new art. Webb also suggests that ‘artworks can act as “vehicles of social meaning” which both represent and realise “the world”, and as a corollary can confirm (or deny) the stories of nationhood’.11 Apart from this, a distinctive body of art can contribute to the identification of nationhood, although it could be conflicting and changing. It is recognised by most commentators that the exhibition, Magiciens de la Terre, organised by Jean-Hubert Martin and staged in Paris in 1989, was a key moment among a series of other exhibitions that dealt with globalisation.12 However, Magiciens de la Terre was not the first exhibition staged in relation to the issue of globalisation. The Commonwealth Institute in London held a series of shows by artists from Commonwealth countries in the 1950s and the 1960s, while the Venice Biennale has included international input over the years of its existence.13 Those works of art which have been selected for exhibition to the world reveal the most common forms of consciousness in identities and cultural diversification, or they have been strategically invited to express the conflicting nature and complexity of cultures themselves.
10 Jen Webb, “Art in a Globalised State.” In Art and Social Change: Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, edited by Caroline Turner. Canberra: Pandanus Books, 2005, p. 42.
11 Ibid., p 30.
12 Niru Ratnam, “Globalization and Art.” In Oxford Art Online, published online February 24, 2010. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2086277. Accessed March 3, 2025.
13 Ibid.
Under globalisation, modernisation and urbanism, any traditional forms and norms which have survived have been forced to change to fit into modern ideologies, as happens frequently in the postcolonial world. As Arif Dirlik noted, ‘the release of post-coloniality from the fixity of [the] Third-World location means that the identity of the post-colonial is no longer structural but discursive’.14 Identity issues in the postcolonial era have become complicated and plural, while information and ideas are moving across boundaries. Therefore, identities can be seen in the discourses of nationhood, gender, culture, religion, and ethnicity. Since artistic events can function strategically for raising issues and attracting the attention of the public, large-scale international exhibitions have been particularly active in this way, and have developed more self-recognition for those from the margins based on Westernised prejudice in postcolonial times. Kim Hong-hee argued that ‘it can thus be understood as a natural phenomenon that non-Western countries in the postcolonial period should have sought for a re-arrangement of the hierarchy in the world’s art and culture by setting up new biennials’.15 In this way, biennials serve not only as an artistic event, but also as the means to express identities, conflicts, and strengths.
14 Arif Dirlik, “The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism.” Critical Inquiry 20 (1994): 332.
15 Kim, op. cit.
Since the 1990s, there have been several biennials and triennials held internationally, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, including the Busan Biennale (Korea, 1981-), Fukuoka Triennial (Japan, 1999-), Guangzhou Triennial (China, 2002-), Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 1995-), Hong Kong Art Biennale (Hong Kong, 1975-), Shanghai Biennale (China, 1996-), Singapore Biennale (Singapore, 2006-), Asian Art Biennial (Taiwan, 2007-), Taipei Biennale (Taiwan, 1996-) and the Triennial of Chinese Contemporary Art (China, 2002-), and so on.16 They have created a kind of event that is specific to the Asia-Pacific region. The rapid expansion of international exhibitions in this region has reflected the radical transformation of contemporary Asian art, and even the characteristics of their traditions. These exhibitions also appear to be the arena in which competition in the contemporary art scene is played out among different nations in Asia. As one of the important indications of nationhood is the recognition accorded to the identity of its art and culture, many governments in the region have established funds and organisations to arrange their international biennials and triennials. For example, the first Singapore Biennale in 2006 was provided with a generous budget of more than two million US dollars.17 Furthermore, one of the largest budgets for a biennial since 1990 has been provided for the Gwangju Biennale, with an average budget in excess of 12 million US dollars.18
16 John Clark, “Contemporary Asian Art at Biennales and Triennales: The 2005 Venice Biennale and Fukuoka Asian Triennale, the Sigg Collection, and the Yokohama and Guangzhou Triennales.” CAA Reviews 9, no. 4 (2006): 7–22.
17 Choy Lee Wang, “Barely Alive: Funding for Independent Art in Singapore.” Art Asia Pacific 47 (2006): 26.
18 Asia Art Archive, “All You Want to Know About International Art Biennials.” http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/index.aspx. Accessed September 19, 2013.
Identity, Diversity and Visuality
Nations and their narratives (even though ambivalent) are transformed metaphorically into literary language to be visualised and understood. Homi Bhabha asserted that ‘[w]hat I want to emphasise in that large and limited image of the nation with which I began is a particular ambivalence that haunts the idea of the nation, the language of those who write of it and the lives of those who live it’.19 The concepts of a nation come from how history is written, and how nationalists attempt to record the narratives from specific perspectives. Terence Chong shows that, according to the British political theorist Anthony Smith, some of the characteristics needed for the development of a sense of national culture and belonging are:
the existence of social ties in the form of shared belief and myths of ancestry; a sense of common history and destiny; shared language and religion; identification with a specific geographical territory, all of which allows societies to form an ethnic [identity].20
As cities begin to expand, to develop and to create their own unique characteristics and properties, their inhabitants are required to adjust their ways of thinking to catch up with new trends in urban areas. It is in this context that a re-interpretation of values (old and new) is essential to survive. Through large-scale exhibitions, a new appearance of ‘Asian’ art is emerging, and this is becoming a powerful means through which to encourage the public to re-consider the complex issues of identity.
Asia Triennial Manchester
Asia Triennial Manchester was launched in 2008, as the first biennial/triennial dedicated to Asia held in Europe. Beccy Kennedy noted that ‘[t]he growing attraction of the biennial as a phenomenon can be interpreted as significant for its successful branding’.21 ATM branded itself as the only Asian Arts Festival in Europe, with a focus on new works created by artists from Asia at various venues across the city of Manchester, which is home to sizable Asian communities. The first ATM was organised by Shisha, with funding supported by the (then) North West Arts Board, to present contemporary art by those of Asian descent in the UK and from Asian countries.22 The theme of the inaugural ATM08 was ‘Protest’, while ‘Time and Generation’ was the theme for ATM11, which was co-organised by Manchester Metropolitan University and Shisha.23
‘Conflict and Compassion’ was the theme for ATM14, and in addition to key galleries in Manchester, its venues also included other major cultural organisations, such as, the Imperial War Museum, the National Football Museum, and Cornerhouse, among others. Following the closure of Shisha, and Alnoor Mitha’s appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), MMU became the organiser for ATM from 2014. The fourth edition of ATM in 2018 was themed ‘Who do you think you are?’ and ‘Where are you from?’, which explored the ambiguity in cultures of Asian diasporas living in and out of Asia. The theme of ATM21 was ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, which, through the lens of art, aimed to promote understanding and debate around the UK’s relationship and connection with Asia.
The Possibility of Visualising Asia
It would be rather naïve and problematic to exhibit Asian art, as the question of ‘what is Asia?’ remains open to debate. The early iteration of ATM invited artists from East and South Asia to present what the festival aimed to answer this ‘what is Asia?’ question. However, this was particularly challenging and resulted in the project seeming rather limited and narrow, as it did not relate to the reality of the complexity and diversity of Asia. In 2024, ATM was curated by Hongjohn Lin, with the theme, Transvaluation. Its curatorial strategy went beyond the ideas of ‘Asia’, and rather it focused on how we regard values with the perspectives of global politics, economics, labour, and art. ATM24 offered broader views from which to deal with timely and global discourses both through art projects and through a series of seminars, symposiums, publications and workshops. This was achieved in both physical and virtual formats, without prejudice and without stereotypical tropes.
1 Paul Gladston, “International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic De-Territorialisation of the ‘Identity’ Show: A Comparative Analysis.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, p. 21.
2 Hong-Hee Kim, “The 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 From the Perspectives of ‘Shift of Centre.’” Conference paper for the College Art Association 94th Annual Conference, Boston, MA, USA, February 22–25, 2006.
3 Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright, “Triennial City: An Introduction.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, p. 2.
4 Marsha Meskimmon, “The Promise of Cosmopolitanism: Art, Ethics and Imagination in a Global World – A Positional Parlay.” Conference paper for New Asian Imaginations, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, September 19–21, 2011.
5 Rob Wilson, “A New Cosmopolitanism Is in the Air.” In Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling Beyond the Nation, edited by Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998, p. 355.
6 Dean Forbes, “Globalisation, Postcolonialism and New Representations of the Pacific Asian Metropolis.” In Globalisation and the Asia-Pacific: Contested Territories, edited by Kris Olds, Philip F. Kelly, Lily Kong, Henry Wai-Chung Yeung, and Peter Dicken. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p. 239.
7 Roland Robertson, Globalisation, Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage, 1992.
8 Gladston, op. cit., p. 19.
9 Gladston, op cit., p. 22.
10 Jen Webb, “Art in a Globalised State.” In Art and Social Change: Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, edited by Caroline Turner. Canberra: Pandanus Books, 2005, p. 42.
11 Ibid., p 30.
12 Niru Ratnam, “Globalization and Art.” In Oxford Art Online, published online February 24, 2010. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2086277. Accessed March 3, 2025.
13 Ibid.
14 Arif Dirlik, “The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism.” Critical Inquiry 20 (1994): 332.
15 Kim, op. cit.
16 John Clark, “Contemporary Asian Art at Biennales and Triennales: The 2005 Venice Biennale and Fukuoka Asian Triennale, the Sigg Collection, and the Yokohama and Guangzhou Triennales.” CAA Reviews 9, no. 4 (2006): 7–22.
17 Choy Lee Wang, “Barely Alive: Funding for Independent Art in Singapore.” Art Asia Pacific 47 (2006): 26.
18 Asia Art Archive, “All You Want to Know About International Art Biennials.” http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/index.aspx. Accessed September 19, 2013.
19 Homi K. Bhabha, “Introduction: Narrating the Nation.” In Nation and Narration, edited by Homi K. Bhabha. London and New York: Routledge, 1990, p. 1.
20 Terence Chong, Southeast Asia Background Series No. 9: Modernisation Trends in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005, p. 29.
21 Beccy Kennedy, “Pavilioning Manchester: Boundaries of the Local, National and Global at the Asia Triennial.” Open Arts Journal, Issue 2 (2013). http://openartsjournal.org/issue-2/2013w10bk/. Accessed February 27, 2025, p. 3.
22 Alnoor Mitha, “Shisha and the First Asia Triennial Manchester.” Asia Art Archive, September 1, 2007. https://aaa.org.hk/en/like-a-fever/like-a-fever/shisha-and-the-first-asia-triennial-manchester. Accessed March 4, 2025.
23 “Asia Triennial Manchester.” Manchester Metropolitan University. REF2014 Research Excellence Framework. https://ref2014impact.azurewebsites.net/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/43531. Accessed March 3, 2025.
Bibliography
Asia Art Archive. http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/intro.asp. Accessed on 1 March 2025.
“Asia Triennial Manchester.” Manchester Metropolitan University, REF2014 Research Excellence Framework. https://ref2014impact.azurewebsites.net/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/43531. Accessed on 3 March 2025.
Bhabha, Homi K. “Introduction: Narrating the Nation.” In Nation and Narration, edited by Homi K. Bhabha. London and New York: Routledge, 1990.
Chong, Terence. Southeast Asia Background Series No. 9: Modernisation Trends in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005.
Clark, John. “Contemporary Asian Art at Biennales and Triennales: The 2005 Venice Biennale and Fukuoka Asian Triennale, the Sigg Collection, and the Yokohama and Guangzhou Triennales.” CAA Reviews 9 (2006): 7–22.
Dirlik, Arif. “The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism.” Critical Inquiry 20 (Winter 1994): 328–356.
Forbes, Dean. “Globalisation, Postcolonialism and New Representations of the Pacific Asian Metropolis.” In Globalisation and the Asia-Pacific: Contested Territories<?, edited by Kris Olds et al. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Gladston, Paul. “International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic De-Territorialisation of the ‘Identity’ Show: A Comparative Analysis.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, 18–37.
Iqbal, Nosheen. “Asia Triennial Manchester: Introducing New Eastern Art to the West.” The Guardian, 5 October 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/oct/05/asia-triennial-manchester-art#comments. Accessed on 28 February 2025.
Kennedy, Beccy. “Pavilioning Manchester: Boundaries of the Local, National and Global at the Asia Triennial.” Open Arts Journal 2 (2013). http://openartsjournal.org/issue-2/2013w10bk/. Accessed 27 February 2025.
Kennedy, Beccy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright, eds. Triennial City: Localising Asian Art. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014.
Kennedy, Beccy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. “Triennial City: An Introduction.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, 2–15.
Kim, Hong-Hee. The 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 from the Perspectives of ‘Shift of Centre’. Conference paper presented at the College Art Association 94th Annual Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 22–25 February 2006.
Mal, Jessica El. “In Conversation with Alnoor Mitha, Founding Artistic Director of Asia Triennial Manchester.” Corridor 8, 16 November 2018. https://corridor8.co.uk/article/in-conversation-with-alnoor-mitha/. Accessed on 28 February 2025.
Meskimmon, Marsha. The Promise of Cosmopolitanism: Art, Ethics and Imagination in a Global World – A Positional Parlay. Conference paper presented at New Asian Imaginations, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 19–21 September 2011.
Mitha, Alnoor. “Shisha and the First Asia Triennial Manchester.” Asia Art Archive, 1 September 2007. https://aaa.org.hk/en/like-a-fever/like-a-fever/shisha-and-the-first-asia-triennial-manchester. Accessed on 4 March 2025.
Montero, Gustavo Grandal. “Biennalization? What Biennalization? The Documentation of Biennials and Other Recurrent Exhibitions.” Art Libraries Journal 37, no. 1 (2011): 13–23.
Ratnam, Niru. “Globalization and Art.” Oxford Art Online, 24 February 2010. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T2086277. Accessed 3 March 2025.
Robertson, Roland. Globalisation, Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage, 1992.
Wang, Choy Lee. “Barely Alive: Funding for Independent Art in Singapore.” Art Asia Pacific 47 (2006): 26.
Webb, Jen. “Art in a Globalised State.” In Art and Social Change: Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, edited by Caroline Turner. Canberra: Pandanus Books, 2005.
Wilson, Rob. “A New Cosmopolitanism Is in the Air.” In Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling Beyond the Nation, edited by Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998, 351–361.
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Author
Ming Turner is a Professor at the Institute of Creative Industries Design at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan. She gained her PhD in Art History and Theory at Loughborough University in the UK. She served as the Head of Visual and Performance Arts at NCKU Art Center. Ming has published several books, including Infinitely Ephemeral: Contemporary Women’s Art in Taiwan, 2003-2023 (2024), Visual Culture Wars at the Borders of Contemporary China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), The Art of Contemporary Curation and Its Realisation: Body, Gender and Technology (2018), Crossing Borders: Transition and Nostalgia in Contemporary Art (2015). To date, she has curated more than 50 contemporary art exhibitions, examples of which include Faceted: Debates on Contemporary Art in Tainan (Tainan Art Museum, 2024), Are You Working Now? (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2023), When Oceans Meets (Siao-Long Cultural Park, Taiwan, 2023-2024), Invisible Dimensions: 2019 Next Art Tainan (Tainan, 2019), Bodyscape: Patricia Piccinini (Yu- Hsiu Museum of Art, Taiwan, 2016), Surface Epidermis: Phil Sayers (Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2015), Pop-up Republics (Asia Triennial Manchester, UK, 2014), and Post-humanist Desires (Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, 2013- 2014).
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19 Homi K. Bhabha, “Introduction: Narrating the Nation.” In Nation and Narration, edited by Homi K. Bhabha. London and New York: Routledge, 1990, p. 1.
20 Terence Chong, Southeast Asia Background Series No. 9: Modernisation Trends in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005, p. 29.
21 Beccy Kennedy, “Pavilioning Manchester: Boundaries of the Local, National and Global at the Asia Triennial.” Open Arts Journal, Issue 2 (2013). http://openartsjournal.org/issue-2/2013w10bk/. Accessed February 27, 2025, p. 3.
22 Alnoor Mitha, “Shisha and the First Asia Triennial Manchester.” Asia Art Archive, September 1, 2007. https://aaa.org.hk/en/like-a-fever/like-a-fever/shisha-and-the-first-asia-triennial-manchester. Accessed March 4, 2025.
23 “Asia Triennial Manchester.” Manchester Metropolitan University. REF2014 Research Excellence Framework. https://ref2014impact.azurewebsites.net/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/43531. Accessed March 3, 2025.
Bibliography
Asia Art Archive. http://www.aaa.org.hk/onlineprojects/bitri/en/intro.asp. Accessed on 1 March 2025.
“Asia Triennial Manchester.” Manchester Metropolitan University, REF2014 Research Excellence Framework. https://ref2014impact.azurewebsites.net/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/43531. Accessed on 3 March 2025.
Bhabha, Homi K. “Introduction: Narrating the Nation.” In Nation and Narration, edited by Homi K. Bhabha. London and New York: Routledge, 1990.
Chong, Terence. Southeast Asia Background Series No. 9: Modernisation Trends in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005.
Clark, John. “Contemporary Asian Art at Biennales and Triennales: The 2005 Venice Biennale and Fukuoka Asian Triennale, the Sigg Collection, and the Yokohama and Guangzhou Triennales.” CAA Reviews 9 (2006): 7–22.
Dirlik, Arif. “The Postcolonial Aura: Third World Criticism in the Age of Global Capitalism.” Critical Inquiry 20 (Winter 1994): 328–356.
Forbes, Dean. “Globalisation, Postcolonialism and New Representations of the Pacific Asian Metropolis.” In Globalisation and the Asia-Pacific: Contested Territories<?, edited by Kris Olds et al. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Gladston, Paul. “International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic De-Territorialisation of the ‘Identity’ Show: A Comparative Analysis.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, 18–37.
Iqbal, Nosheen. “Asia Triennial Manchester: Introducing New Eastern Art to the West.” The Guardian, 5 October 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/oct/05/asia-triennial-manchester-art#comments. Accessed on 28 February 2025.
Kennedy, Beccy. “Pavilioning Manchester: Boundaries of the Local, National and Global at the Asia Triennial.” Open Arts Journal 2 (2013). http://openartsjournal.org/issue-2/2013w10bk/. Accessed 27 February 2025.
Kennedy, Beccy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright, eds. Triennial City: Localising Asian Art. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014.
Kennedy, Beccy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. “Triennial City: An Introduction.” In Triennial City: Localising Asian Art, edited by Beccy Kennedy, Alnoor Mitha, and Leon Wainwright. Manchester: Cornerhouse Publications, 2014, 2–15.
Kim, Hong-Hee. The 6th Gwangju Biennale 2006 from the Perspectives of ‘Shift of Centre’. Conference paper presented at the College Art Association 94th Annual Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 22–25 February 2006.
Mal, Jessica El. “In Conversation with Alnoor Mitha, Founding Artistic Director of Asia Triennial Manchester.” Corridor 8, 16 November 2018. https://corridor8.co.uk/article/in-conversation-with-alnoor-mitha/. Accessed on 28 February 2025.
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