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Guest Editor's Introduction: Twenty Questions

Guest Editor's Introduction: Twenty Questions long-running art journals like Bijutsu Tech¯ (Tokyo) and, more recently, Art o Asia Pacific (New York, formerly Sydney), the Web site Chinese-art.com, Yishu (Vancouver/Taipei), and Focas (Singapore). These and similar publications have given the modern and contemporary art in Asia much-needed visibility, not only in terms of alerting its presence to the visual art centers of Euro-America but also in terms of encouraging viewers to pay rigorous critical attention to the contexts in which works are created and where artists live. Yet increased visibility has brought with it an increased awareness of the critical tensions underlying interpretations of contemporary art in Asia, and/or made by Asian artists. The most pressing, it seems, are those tensions concerning the prioritization of specific geographical locations, origins, and histories as critical points of analytic departure. To what extent should these specificities be emphasized? Attempting to cobble a response to these questions provokes further and more deep-rooted tensions. What does “the contemporary” mean? Does it refer, in Jamesonian terms, to a continuation of the project of late capitalism? Is it a subhistory comprised of the past ten, twenty, or fifty years, whose presence is made palpable only by milestones of political, social, or http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Guest Editor's Introduction: Twenty Questions

positions asia critique , Volume 12 (3) – Dec 1, 2004

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References (15)

Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2004 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-12-3-599
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

long-running art journals like Bijutsu Tech¯ (Tokyo) and, more recently, Art o Asia Pacific (New York, formerly Sydney), the Web site Chinese-art.com, Yishu (Vancouver/Taipei), and Focas (Singapore). These and similar publications have given the modern and contemporary art in Asia much-needed visibility, not only in terms of alerting its presence to the visual art centers of Euro-America but also in terms of encouraging viewers to pay rigorous critical attention to the contexts in which works are created and where artists live. Yet increased visibility has brought with it an increased awareness of the critical tensions underlying interpretations of contemporary art in Asia, and/or made by Asian artists. The most pressing, it seems, are those tensions concerning the prioritization of specific geographical locations, origins, and histories as critical points of analytic departure. To what extent should these specificities be emphasized? Attempting to cobble a response to these questions provokes further and more deep-rooted tensions. What does “the contemporary” mean? Does it refer, in Jamesonian terms, to a continuation of the project of late capitalism? Is it a subhistory comprised of the past ten, twenty, or fifty years, whose presence is made palpable only by milestones of political, social, or

Journal

positions asia critiqueDuke University Press

Published: Dec 1, 2004

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