HUGO BOSS ASIA ART 2019

The Rockbund Art Museum together with HUGO BOSS hereby announce the opening of an exhibition of artworks by the finalists of the 2019 HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists. Since its inception in 2013 the Award has supported and promoted young and emerging artists from Asia, who are at the early stages of their artistic career. This year’s competition employs the same process as last year’s, where finalists were carefully chosen from a list of names established by a multiregional group of nominators and a high-profile selection jury. Following from the deliberations of the jury, the finalist artists of the fourth edition of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award are: Hao Jingban (Mainland China), Hsu Che-Yu (Taiwan), Eisa Jocson (Philippines) and Thảo-Nguyên Phan (Vietnam).

Based on their individual identities and cultural backgrounds, the four artists have each developed their own unique manner of engaging in artistic research, resulting in the creation of substantial, breakthrough works. From body and sound performances to moving imagery, from fictional and non-fictional narratives to visual installations, these four artists are dedicated to exploring the many layers of cultural contexts and historical accounts, producing works which are creative responses to or modifications of such themes, and which present societal issues and artistic endeavors very relevant to their time.

With the fourth iteration of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Artists there is particular attention to symbolic boundaries that define our connection to a geography, the circulation of material in the information age that gives structure to our collective memories, and also migration within the region and its effects on the body and our language forms. The group exhibition format brings with it opportunities for interaction and exchange. Through the display of different works by these four artists, as well as the publication of exhibition-related materials and a series of educational activities (lectures, workshops, etc.) organized by the Rockbund Art Museum, the public will be able to receive further information and background on the artists and their positions.

As Larys Frogier, the Director of Rockbund Art Museum and Chair of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART jury elaborates, “As the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists has developed over the past years, we have consistently emphasized the motivation to go beyond the limits of both national and local frameworks. It has been a process of opening up forms of creation that traverse between new horizons in Asia, to celebrate artists from different localities and backgrounds.”

Since its inauguration in 2013, the “HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award” established a network of multiregional and multidisciplinary partners from all over Asia. Throughout significant societal, economic and cultural changes in Asia, the Rockbund Art Museum’s work has played an important role in the developments in contemporary art and exhibition projects in the region. Over the period of a few years, the exchange has developed alongside artists, independent curators, researchers and art institutions in the region, and has influenced the art network in Asia into one that goes beyond standard definitions and boundaries. It is within this context that the artists can observe, learn, and search for breakthroughs or opportunities to collaborate with one another, reimagining and developing art projects as well as a vision with regards to the definitions related to the region.

The exhibition of works by the four finalists runs from October 18, 2019 to January 5, 2020, curated by Billy Tang, Senior Curator of Rockbund Art Museum. The winner of the Award will be announced on November 6; the Award carries a stipend of RMB 300,000.