Islands in the Stream Catalog by Apo Li

Venice Art Biennale 2017 / ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

Venice Art Biennale 2017

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM STAGING LIFE IN A LIQUID SOCIETY or THE LIQUID LANDSCAPE OF THINGS Working on this new exhibition of Alamak! Project “Islands in the Stream,” for the Venice Art Biennale 2017, with Yoichi Nakamuta we discussed whether it would be possible to get beyond that limit, to go beyond the distinctions between forms of expression and the very definitions of “art” and “design”: perhaps these concerns are not new, but what is new is the social and cultural context in which we are talking about them. Because one thing is certain: of all the definitions of society and therefore of contemporary culture, the most perceptive of all still seems to be the formulation of a “liquid society” advanced a few years ago by the philosopher Zygmunt Bauman. As the last of the Marxists, Bauman described a society totally focused on its economy, where people and places are like islands in the current of information and events over which they have only limited control: islands that are necessarily mobile in their own right. For people today, neither human relations nor expressive forms, or even industrial products,

can take on stable configurations. So why should design (“functional” objects) and art (“useless” objects) be immutable, permanent, determined in their identity only by the market and/or marketing? In this sense, the new, wide-ranging project of Alamak! for Venice is not just a tribute to Asian artists who observe contemporary society, with the distant but no less lucid gaze of the East of the world: “Islands in the Stream” also sets out to conduct an experiment through which to go beyond the old and new definitions of artistic endeavor, to make it into a reality that is no longer virtual, but as similar as possible to the real. The works in the show combine sculpture, applied arts, invention, copying, imitation, illusion, chance, memory and narrative. At Arsenale Docks the Alamak! Pavilion stages the visual spectacle of a possibility for observers: to see themselves reflected not only in the personal neurosis of the artist, but also in objects that demand a form of participation, something very similar to real life.

Venice Art Biennale 2017

We are accustomed to thinking of art exhibitions as places in which to display “things” of a more or less aesthetic nature. Our degree of interest and attraction to these things is determined by their evocative quality, their capacity to fascinate, to “entertain” the visitor/spectator (seeing art as a manifestation of the Society of the Spectacle, as foreseen by Guy Debord). In recent years the design of objects - “design” in the widespread sense of the term – has entered the orbit of this by now globalized spectacle with a number of events, exhibitions, solo and group shows. Among them, in 2016 the Alamak! exhibition organized for the Milan Triennale responded to the desire of Yoichi Nakamuta to inform the audience of that major international design event regarding the courageous positions of a group of Asian artists. Avoiding the uniformity and predictable character of many of the exhibitions in the Triennale, Alamak! challenged the boundaries between art anddesign, focusing on creative talents that could not easily be relegated to preset roles.

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STAGING LIQUID LIFE A young artist like Kawita Vatanajyankur chooses to work with the video medium, undoubtedly because it is the closest to the public perception of the world and its phenomena today, from the most dramatic to the most laughable, but also because the language with which Kawita wants to communicate is the eternal and very direct language of the body: a body staged with the techniques of cinema, but one that is still hers, the body with which she has to come to terms, on an everyday basis, with the ease and discomfort of existence, just like millions of other beings of her same gender. With respect to the now lengthy history of Body Art – referenced to some extent in her work – Kawita represents an exception, due to an approach that brings her somehow close to certain elaborate performances by Rebecca Horn with complicated useless machines, replaced by ingenious applications of very common useful objects (a citrus squeezer, a colander, a fruit crate), the everyday tools of the family ménage women are expected to sustain, sometimes for an entire lifetime. Objects that mean normality and routine thus become devices of moderate torture the artist inflicts upon herself to reawaken awareness of a difficult and often painful condition in the observer, male or female. In the end, what are these works if not the staging of a tranche de vie that repeats day after day, all over the world? Anon Pairot represents the other side of the

expressive thrust of Alamak!: the “design” that contains a strong aesthetic component, so strong that the objects – freed of the constrains of serial production, which Anon nevertheless knows and works with assiduously – can approach the quality of sculpture, of threedimensional form charged more with meanings than with functions. Alongside his output as an industrial designer, Anon is able to make unique objects that express his cultural references, his everyday experience, his “citizenship” in the Asian universe, the cherished memory of his country. His works often wittily address the obsession with status symbols, not only in his country: cars, fashion accessories, weapons, even the simplest objects are transformed in his work into warnings on the fleeting nature of wellbeing that relies on things. The exhibition “Islands in the Stream” includes the large sculpture Changrai Ferrari, a reproduction in actual size of the world’s most famous car, but made out of rattan by a group of expert craftsmen: stripped of its mobility and original material nature, the Ferrari takes on the qualities of handmade things. In the same space of Arsenale Docks, another work evokes autobiographical moments of the artist, including his father’s labor as a merchant to improve the family’s quality of life: Anon himself painstakingly paints the texture of traditional woven hemp on the fake rice sacks of Larger than Life. Inflated and hung on the wall, the sacks leave the observer in doubt as to whether

they are really filled with rice or not. Life is also sound, and to incorporate the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the total artwork that attempts to resemble life as closely as possible, the exhibition also features the work of Invisible Designs Lab. (dir_). This is a Japanese group of composers, visual artists and computer experts led by Kenjiro Matsuo, a composer with a long career in the art world, who is particularly interested in the possibilities of sound manipulation, associated with different materials. The instrument/sculpture shown in Venice is a device for automatic reproduction of sound, a limited edition that works without electricity, simply with the force of nature. A sphere with a light balance, placed atop a complex construction entirely made and assembled by hand, rolls downward, producing impact with the wood to generate sounds, musical notes, multiple notes that together form the cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. The movement of the sphere seems to suggest fundamental moments of life: to venture too far, to make mistakes, to fall at times, but in any case to accept the challenges of existence. Finally, an alchemical note – a tribute to the work of scientists of wonder, who were the first to investigate the transformations of matter – emerges in the work of Kwangho Lee. This Korean artist began his career thanks to the influence of his grandfather (a farmer who passed away in 2005), who gave new

THE LIQUID LANDSCAPE OF THINGS More than an exhibition, “Islands in the Stream” becomes a large inhabited space where the main function is to create positive uncertainties and perplexities in visitors. There is no more dangerous – and therefore fascinating – environment than the one where all rules have been put aside. Is certainty more important than doubt? What counts more, the particular or the general? Is our worldview influenced more by a leaf, a tree, or the entire forest? If we are prevented from seeing the forest, at this point, due to the repetition and summation of the contradictions of society, and the extreme acceleration of the rhythms of life itself, why can’t an individual author or an individual work contribute to define a new “liquid” landscape of things?

These are some of the questions behind Alamak! Project: “Islands in the Stream” will also be a big experiment on the possible answers provided by the reactions of visitors, the other agents who – like the participating artists – contribute to give sense, meaning and life to the works exhibited in Venice in the Alamak! Pavilion. A short essay by Stefano Casciani Milan, 8 May 2017

Venice Art Biennale 2017

meanings and functions to everyday objects and materials. Kwangho learned to combine industrial materials and traditional techniques, in works with a common denominator: in-depth knowledge of the materials used, in pursuit of uniqueness. The Obsession Series is a work that continues the research conducted for the project “Knot – beyond the inevitable”.) The forms are reduced to the utmost simplicity, and Kwangho can concentrate on the material and the weaving technique, generating a soft but disturbing large “nest”. The Moment of Eclipse Series, on the other hand, takes its name from a science fiction story by Brian Aldiss, which Kwangho sees as a perfect description of his work: combinations of materials like marble, copper and steel narrate the encounter of different realities, the possibility of surprising reactions triggered by simple but unexpected juxtapositions of form and material. The results are “non-furnishings,” objects that seem to come from domestic memory but are impossible to decipher in their true essence, which has yet to be discovered.

CURATORS

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

YOICHI NAKAMUTA Yoichi Nakamuta is a founder of alamak! project, an independent editor, producer and curator for art and design. He has been curating art and design exhibitions, including a retrospective of Sori Yanagi, in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taipei. In 2015 he produced and co-curated with Stefano Casciani the exhibition “The Alchemists” at Triennale di Milano, then at Singapore Art Museum. In 2016 he curated the exhibition “alamak! Design in Asia” at the XXI Triennale International Exhibition and “KISSA KURSI KA” by Gunjan Gupta at the Kochi Art Biennale 2016.

STEFANO CASCIANI Stefano Casciani is a renowned italian writer, curator and designer: awarded with the Premio Compasso d’Oro ADI (Golden Compass Award) in 2000, he has been Managing Editor of Domus magazine for 10 years, from 2001 to 2011. Since 2012 he is Editor in Chief and Publisher of the design review on paper Disegno. la nuova cultura industriale (The New Industrial Culture), media partner both for “The Alchemists” and the “Islands in the Stream” exhibitions.

FEATURING ARTIST ANON PAIROT ( T hailand )

KAWITA VATANAJYANKUR

KWANGHO LEE ( South Korea )

INVISIBLE DESIGNS LAB. (dir_)

Venice Art Biennale 2017

( T hailand )

( Japan )

+ Magazine Lounge By Pon Ding Books & Gabriel Lichauco ( Philippines )

SPACE A-1 / A-2

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A-1

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INVISIBLE DESIGNS LAB. (dir_) ( Japan )

Invisible Designs Lab. (dir_) is an artist collective of composers, visual artists and other technicians. The team has a long career as a composer, working in the medium of art and experimenting with manipulating sounds in conjunction with various materials. Following a joint performance for a Issey Miyake show in Paris in 2010, the group embarked on an unstoppable journey to creating sound performances, crossing over the borders of art, performance and products. In 2013 the group created a band called Z-Machine, that manages the rarity of blending both analogue and electronic sounds. The music act already attracts a huge real life audience. KO-TONE is a limited edition automatic playing device with no electricity but only with a power of nature. A ball triggers sound as it rolls down unsteadily, falling off sometimes. The movement seems reminiscent of life itself - going too far, making mistakes, living with challenges and sometimes failing. The tones played by this work would suggest something to our daily lives. Like the title of this tune by Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach – Joy of Man’s Desiring, BWV147 The instrument is defined as “music” itself and symbolises a mixture of art, design and music that escapes the borders of categorization. Much like the disparate mix of its creators - artist, composer and technician, the KoTone is fluid in its interpretation as kinetic art or musical instrument.

Venice Art Biennale 2017

KO-TONE SPIRAL XYLOPHONE , 2016 , Hinoki (Japanese cypress) wood structure and keys

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A-2 KWANGHO LEE

( South Korea )

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Kwangho is a South Korean artist. He began to find, look and approach things in the way his grandfather (a farmer who passed away in 2005) would have done; giving new meaning and function to everyday objects and materials. From industrial materials to traditional techniques, he uses various mediums for his works. The common factor to all of Kwangho’s work is his knowledge and interpretation of the material he uses, and the confidence of the uniqueness he can portray through his works.

“The Obsession Series” started as an extended work of the “knot-beyond the inevitable”, initiated at “Craft Punk” - a project by Fendi in 2009. The inspiration and methodology is identical and the shapes resemble the simplest forms possible. This allows Kwangho to concentrate on the material and weaving method. The reward of “Obsession” is that the monotonous and repetitive labour of weaving, gives inspiration and motivation for the next piece, as well as the pursuit to discover infinite possibilities and proportions in every woven piece created. “The Moment of Eclipse Series” started out in 2014 as an in depth discovery of the moment when materials meet, or join together. The title comes from a short science fiction story written by Brian Aldiss in 1969, which Kwangho thought expressed his new series dramatically. Up until then, he had worked with marble + marble, copper + enamel, steel + steel, and had been trying to describe the moment of instant union. Ever since he has shown in various galleries world wide, also participating in group projects and major international exhibitions. His work is kept as a permanent collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Venice Art Biennale 2017

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The Moment of Eclipse Series , 2014 ,

Copper sheet, authentic Korean glass enamel

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Obsession Series, Black Circular Bench , 2015 ,

Nylon rope

SPACE B

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SPACE C

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ANON PAIROT

( Thailand )

Anon is an artist especially interested in mixing art and design by objects which express his cultural references to and his experience in the asian world and daily life. He sees even the processes of industrial manufacturing and marketing as stages of social action to improve people’s quality and conscience of life. In his words, “Design is the art of changing people’s valuation process.” His witty and ironical art works deal with the excess of value that common taste gives to products as status symbols: cars, fashion accessories, weapons or simple devices are transformed by his art in mementoes of the impermanence of material things. Born in 1979, Pairot grew up in a family of five. His parents were owners of a small convenience store in Nonthaburi, just on the outskirts of Bangkok. In 1997, Pairot graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB). He later shifted his focus from engineering to industrial design enrolling in the Faculty of Architecture at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL). According to Pairot, design is about people’s problems. In an interview with DPI magazine, Pairot said that he wanted to create and produce something that people would love to have and interact with for its practical use: “Design museums are not just to keep my design works in glass boxes but [to] use them in everyday life, too ... Things on Earth come from a kind of creation, either man-made or natural. And I see their value as equal in terms of one function only: to solve people’s problems. ”As a Thai citizen, Pairot believes that design from his country was undervalued, therefore in his design and art works he often focuses on traditional Thai construction techniques and materials. Despite much overseas experience and success (his works have been exhibited in fairs and art shows in galleries, in Thailand, Singapore and Europe) Pairot is still drawn by the potential of Bangkok and Thailand. “Nobody knows what will happen next in Bangkok. It’s a city filled with chaos and complexity. No other city is so stimulating. What we seek daily is to change invisible charm into a miraculous charm.”

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Chiangrai Ferrari , 2015 ,

Hand woven rattan

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Bigger Than Lift , 2017 ,

Mixed-media

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C KAWITA VATANAJYANKUR

( Thailand )

Kawita is a Thai-Australian video artist: she creates works that offer a powerful examination of the psychological, social and cultural ways of viewing and valuing the challenges of women’s everyday labour. In her staged performances, Vatanajyankur undertakes physical experiments that playfully, often painfully, test women bodies’ limits - a challenge that is both unavoidably compelling and uncomfortable to watch. The alluring, luminous colours in Vatanajyankur’s work are distinctive of the artist’s aesthetic and tap into a globalized and digitally networked visual language of consumption and instant gratification. Since graduating with Distinction in 2011 from BA Fine Arts ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, Kawita has held numerous solo and group exhibitions at Australian’s most significant public institutions and museums including Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Australian Centre for Photography (ACP), Federation Square (Big Screen), Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), Campbelltown Arts Centre, and Royal Exhibition Building. Vatanajyankur is currently represented by Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia who also presented her work at the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair (2015) and Melbourne Art Fair (2014). Vatanajyankur has also exposed her work in many countries around the world including “PROXIMITY: An art exhibition of distance and relativity” at The National Museum, Szczecin, Poland, “The Ice Shaver” at Sencus Luoghi per l’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy, “Thailand Eye” at Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom, “Thailand Eye” at the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre, La Movida, Biblioteca Municipal de Barranco, Lima, Peru, and “Art Normal” in collaboration with Duangrit Bunnag at Rachaburi, Thailand. Kawita Vatanajyankur’s work is held in private collections in Australia and Asia.

Kawita’s exhibit is kindly supported by Petch Osathanugrah.

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The Scale , 2015 ,

HD video Still

The Carrying Pole , 2015 ,

HD video Still

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Scale of Justice , 2016 ,

HD video Still

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The Ice Shaver , 2013 ,

HD video Still

The Scale2 , 2013 ,

HD video Still

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Squeezers , 2015 ,

HD video Still

D MAGAZINE LOUNGE Concept and Design by

GABRIEL LICHAUCO

( Philippines )

Gabriel Lichauco holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Design from Scuola Politecnica di Design of Milan. He has been practicing design since 2005, the same year he established his design firm Openstudio. Openstudio is a multi-disciplinary design practice based in Manila, Philippines. It focuses on space design, installations and everyday objects by combining references and studies from art, architecture, interiors, industrial design and manufacturing. To date, Gabriel has participated in several International trade ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

shows and exhibitions, such as Messe Frankfurt Talents, Citem Manila FAME, Design Junction London, Singaplural IFFS (Asian Star in 2014 and as a curator of NEWFOLK, a platform of Filipino designers in 2015), and the Asia Talents of Bangkok’s Industrial Echo exhibition. Last year, Gabriel was invited to participate in an exhibition titled “alamak!”, which brought together artists and designers from Asia. The exhibition, curated by Yoichi Nakamuta, is a response to the theme “21st Century Design After Design” at the XXI Triennale International Exhibition 2016 in Milan. His recent works are directed towards design/art objects where he collaborated with Czech glass masters, a project by Spektacularis. Participated in Singapore Art Stage, Art Fair Philippines and Fuorisalone at Milan, Italy. Books selected by Pon Ding (Taiwan) www.pon-ding.com Collaboration with Mauro Pasqualin (Venice)

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10a m - 6p m

( c l o s e d o n M o n d a y s / f ree ent ry )

Venue: A rsenal e Dock s, S . P i et ro d i Castello 40 (Canale di San Pietro) 30122 Venezia

13 MAY - 24 SEPTEMBER 2017

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The alamak! project was established to give a platform to emerging creative talent in Asia and explore the work of Asian artists and designers as a driving force behind future art and design movements. Taking its name from the word alamak! â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a common expression to exclaim surprise in daily conversation throughout South East Asia and Japan, the project was created by Yoichi Nakamuta with the intention to provoke an appraisal of contemporary creativity in the region. The alamak! project aims to tour the World with a series of events and exhibitions to illustrate and give rise to these creative undercurrents driving art and design in Asia.

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CONTACT :

PUBLISHED TO COINCIDE WITH THE EXHIBITION

alamak! project www.alamakproject.com alamak.venice@gmail.com

“ISLANDS IN THE STREAM” 13th May - 24th September 2017

@alamakproject

EDITED BY YUKI INOUE IN COLLABORATION WITH :

Concilio Europeo dell’Arte (Venice) concilioeuropeodellarte@gmail.com MEDIA CONTACTS :

CONCILIO EUROPEO DELL’ARTE press.cea@gmail.com GIUSEPPINA FLOR (Milan) gf@giuseppinaflor.com PHOTOGRAPHY :

ALESSANDRO BRASILE www.alessandrobrasile.com

ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN BY APO LI

TEXT BY STEFANO CASCIANI PHOTO CREDITS :

ALESSANDRO BRASILE (Front cover, pp.12-18, 22-27, 29-33, 36-39) YUKI INOUE (pp.6,10,19,21,40,43) KAWITA VATANAJYANKUR (pp.34-35), APO LI (Back cover) PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY alamak! project

2F, 7-18-8, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Japan

alamak! project in Venice, Italy 2017 Curators Y O IC H I N A KA M U TA |

S T EFA N O C A S C IA NI

Assistant Curator Y U KI IN O U E Graphic Designer A P O LI

FA BIO M A RA FAT T O M A RIN A BERT O LD IN I N IC O LET TA S A GGIO

Venice Art Biennale 2017

Special Thanks to

M A RIA GIU LIA BERT O LIN I GIULIA TREVISANATO / LUCA ARTUSO / VERONICA SALAMI

Supported by P E T C H O S AT H A N U G R A H LA TRIENNALE DI MILANO