Capital idea
Ah… Artreview Asia’s new issue comes to you just at the same time as Art Basel’s Hong Kong art fair resurrects itself with the hope of regaining its former glory. (Yep, despite what Artreview Asia is about to say, that’s not a coincidence.) And this at a time when all Artreview Asia’s artworld friends are busy asking it – after the fanfare that accompanied new fairs launched in Seoul and Singapore over the past 12 months – which city will be ‘the art capital of Asia’. Because, obviously, no one wants to travel all over the place in these times of eco-consciousness. We need one destination to rule them all! Although that does sound a little colonialist. And that’s even worse than flying!
As far as Artreview Asia recalls, there were no art capitals during the past three years. (Although, tbh, it’s never believed in any of that stuff in the first place.) At least, not in the sense that those artworld people mean it. During lockdown we had the time to think about the cultural colonialism that the term ‘art capital’ implied, and to reflect on the fact that talking about that was really a disguise for measuring accumulations of actual capital. (And hey – might that also be a definition of art fairs?)
As far as Artreview Asia recalls, for the past three years or so most of us went back to a more local, dispersed kind of art experience. Laced with a heavy dose of screentime. Which hurts your eyes after a while. Which, in the traditional view of things, art isn’t supposed to do. Nevertheless, as a publication of the people (and for the people), Artreview Asia is prepared to go with the prevailing flow. So here you’ll find a light dusting of articles that look at the question of capital cities and what they might contain. As well as some others about caring, nurturing and those who are trying to crush all that underfoot. Artreview Asia