How are cultural borders depicted and disrupted? This program discusses new media works by three post-1980s East Asian artists who have all witnessed rapid globalisation, the rise of new capitalist powers, and swift advancements in digital technologies that are predominately manufactured in East Asia. Musquiqui Chihying (Taiwan), Hao Jingban (China), and Au Sow Yee (Malaysia), all use moving image as the main medium to articulate their research-based projects. They work across geographic and cultural boundaries, with interests in decoloniality, migration, and early moving image and photography practices in war time.
The two-day program includes screenings of each artist’s work, featuring the two-channel video Café Togo, where Musquiqui Chihying and Gregor Kasper narrate the little-known colonial relationship between Togo and Germany; Hao Jingban’s From South Lake Park to Hongqi Street, tracing the early moving image industry during the Japanese occupation of Northern China; and Au Sow Yee’s Pak Tai Foto, weaving fictional narratives by South Asian migrant workers with footage of an early photo studio in Kuala Lumpur. Each artist’s time-based works can be understood in various site-specific contexts although it is not possible to label them as culturally specific, local, or global.
Following the screening program is a keynote lecture by curator and researcher Kim Machan, presenting pioneering research on cross-sections of early video in East Asia.
On day two, Musquiqui Chihying will present a performance lecture using African crafts as examples revealing the emerging cultural and economic landscape connecting China and Africa.
Organized by Yu-Chieh Li, Judith Neilson Postdoctoral Fellow in Contemporary Art, UNSW Art & Design with Dr. Veronica Tello, UNSW Faculty Research Forum and Julia Mendel, UNSW Galleries. Supported by the Faculty Research Fund, UNSW Art & Design.
