Nowadays, most of us watch the world change through a screen. This was the case for multimedia artist Simon Fujiwara, who observed the torrent of images on social media as the pandemic and social movements revealed societal fractures. For our cover Feature, he spoke to contributor Frances Arnold about his latest works that revolve around Who, the cartoon bear seen on this issue’s cover, who is on a quest to define themself in a world full of projected personas and images: “In the past I’ve dealt with people who have become like cartoons. But what if I make a cartoon that then walks into the real world and sees it in this reduced way that’s essentially already there?”
For five decades, experimental filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik has explored the question of national identity in the context of the Philippines, where a long history of colonialism is woven into aspects of daily life. For our second Feature, Manila-based writer Portia Placino spoke to the iconic, charismatic figure about his open-ended approach to making films and his recent series of large-scale installations that dramatically narrate episodes from Philippine history.
In Up Close, editors spotlight three new works: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ riotous video installation CRUCIFIED TVS—NOT A PRAYER IN HEAVEN (TRADITIONAL CHINESE/CANTONESE/ENGLISH VERSION) (2021), artist-duo Breakwater’s tapestry-and-audio work Fermented Flower (2021), and Yuko Mohri’s Piano Solo (2021), a networked sound installation. Closing the Feature section, for Inside Burger Collection, writer Johannes Hoerning examines how growing up in China’s post-reform era has shaped Cao Fei’s approach to making art about labor and utopia.
In Profiles, contributor Tiffany Leung inspects the drag personas that Sin Wai Kin has devised throughout their practice to date, and delineates how “every time Sin puts on a face and embodies a role, it changes them in some way.” In the same section, deputy editor HG Masters looks at Barış Doğrusöz’s latest video trilogy Locus of Power (2017– ), which examines the archeological and cultural legacy of the ancient walled city of Dura-Europos in present-day Syria, and which despite being covered by desert sand for thousands of years, is again at the crossroads of civilizational conflict and war.
Reflecting on his own teaching experiences and Oscar Murillo’s Frequencies (2013–) project, where the artist compiles canvases that school children across the globe have doodled on, Christopher Whitfield’s Essay explores pedagogical models that encourage international solidarity among students instead of reinforce nationalistic ideas. Extending this interrogation of education in The Point, Liang Jianhua, director of Guangzhou’s nonprofit platform HB Station, explains the organization’s past and present approaches to providing alternatives to China’s art education.
For Dispatch, we hear from Brunei-based cultural workers Osveanne Osman and Aqilah Ali about how histories of colonialism and Brunei’s economic reliance on petrochemicals continue to impact the local arts community. In Tribute, writer Rayya Badran reflects on the deepening resonances of late poet and painter Etel Adnan’s words ever since a teenage introduction, and Rhana Devenport, director of Adelaide’s Art Gallery of South Australia, mourns the sudden passing of Australian-Iranian artist Hossein Valamanesh. In a new column titled Making Of, assistant editor Nicole M. Nepomuceno and editorial intern Victoria Chan reveal the processes behind Tino Sehgal’s ever-evolving performances, or what he calls “constructed situations,” guided by individual participants and their creative choices.
Last but not least, in One on One, artist and curator Enoch Cheng pays homage to writer and actor Michaela Coel, whose work has given him the courage to say that underneath attempts at maintaining the cartoonish appearance of normalcy, we are not alright.
A digital edition of the full issue is now available for purchase on Zinio, Google Play, iTunes, and Magzter.
